NBA: John Wall has 37 points in Wizards’ 127-115 victory over the Cavaliers

John Wall scored 37 points, Bradley Beal had 27 and the Washington Wizards began a challenging trip by beating LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, 127-115, on Saturday night.

Wall scored 18 points in the first quarter, when the Wizards shot 82%, and Washington held on down the stretch to avenge an overtime loss to the NBA champions last month.

James, who briefly wore goggles to protect an eye injury suffered Friday night, had 24 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists. Kyrie Irving had 23 points and Kevin Love had 17 for Cleveland.

Washington’s victory cut Cleveland’s lead in the Eastern Conference to half a game over idle Boston.

Toronto 94, at Dallas 86: DeMar DeRozan and Serge Ibaka each had 18 points for the Raptors, who scored seven unanswered points to start the game and never trailed in winning their fifth in a row.

The Raptors, who came back from 15-point deficits to win each of their last two games, dealt the Mavericks’ playoff hopes a damaging blow. Dallas is now four games behind Denver for the final playoff spot in the West.

Harrison Barnes scored 23 points for Dallas, which missed 18 of its first 22 3-pointers and finished just 7 of 28 from behind the arc.

at San Antonio 106, New York 98: Kawhi Leonard scored 29 points, LaMarcus Aldridge contributed 19 points and 10 rebounds, and the Spurs won their fourth consecutive heading into home games against Cleveland on Monday and Golden State on Wednesday.

San Antonio (56-16) is two games behind the Warriors (58-14) for the league’s best record.

Derrick Rose and Willy Hernangomez each scored 24 points and Hernangomez added 13 rebounds. Mindaugas Kuzminskas had 19 points starting in place of Carmelo Anthony, who missed his second straight game because of a sore left knee.

at Portland 112, Minnesota 100: CJ McCollum scored 32 points and the Trail Blazers continued their push for the playoffs with a 112-100 victory over the Timberwolves.

Damian Lillard added 21 points for the Blazers, who have won 10 of their last 13 games. Portland has seven of its last 10 games at home.

The Blazers pulled within a game of the Denver Nuggets for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.