Cavaliers Stay Hottest in NBA

LeBron James scored 36 points for the second game in a row and the Cleveland Cavaliers won their eighth straight game, 115-93, over the Boston Celtics on Tuesday night at Cleveland.

The Cavaliers (9-2) improved to 6-0 at home, winning by an average of 21 points there. Cleveland last won eight straight games in 1997 and is off to its best start since the 1976-77 team also went 9-2.

Larry Hughes had 25 points for the Cavaliers.

“We don’t feel like we should lose,” said Hughes. “That’s LeBron’s mentality and it’s trickling down to everybody.”

Ricky Davis had 27 points for Boston.

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Denver 108, Washington 105 -- Carmelo Anthony scored 28 points, Marcus Camby had 24 and Earl Boykins scored half of his 20 in the fourth quarter at Washington to help the Nuggets to their fourth consecutive victory.

Camby also had 14 rebounds and six blocked shots, including one on Gilbert Arenas’ three-point attempt just before the buzzer. Anthony also had 11 rebounds and his 18-for-22 free-throw shooting set career highs for makes and attempts.

Arenas finished with 36 points and 10 assists for the Wizards, who lost their fourth in a row.

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Dallas 102, Houston 93 -- Dirk Nowitzki made the go-ahead basket with six minutes left and finished with 31 points at Dallas to lead the Mavericks to their sixth straight victory.

Rookie Luther Head had 28 points for Houston, playing again without Tracy McGrady (back).

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Phoenix 90, Toronto 82 -- Shawn Marion had 28 points and 18 rebounds at Phoenix and the Suns used a 12-0 run in the fourth quarter to win consecutive games for the first time this season.

Chris Bosh led Toronto with 23 points.

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Utah 93, Seattle 87 -- Mehmet Okur had 24 points and nine rebounds at Seattle and the Jazz held on after leading by 15 points in the fourth quarter. Rashard Lewis had 26 points for Seattle.

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Portland 95, Memphis 87 -- Darius Miles scored 22 points at Memphis, Tenn., to help the Trail Blazers end a two-game losing streak.

Shane Battier led Memphis with 21 points.

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Houston Rocket guard Bob Sura, already rehabilitating from off-season knee surgery, had surgery to repair a ruptured disk in his back.... Golden State Warrior swingman Mickael Pietrus is expected to miss up to four weeks because of a sprained ligament in his right knee.