Cavaliers off to best home start

The Cleveland Cavaliers have never been better at home.

LeBron James scored 21 points and then grabbed an early seat on the bench as the Cavaliers improved to 10-0 on their floor for the first time in franchise history with their 14th win in 15 games, 118-82 over the New York Knicks last night.

Wearing replica wine-and-gold uniforms from their 1970 expansion season, when they played at dingy Cleveland Arena, the Cavaliers built a 42-point lead in the second half and breezed to their sixth straight win to improve to 15-3. They also remained the Eastern Conference's only unbeaten team at home.

Cleveland opened 9-0 at home in both the 1976-77 and 1991-92 seasons at Richfield Coliseum.

Mo Williams added 16 points and Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 14 points and 10 rebounds. None of Cleveland's starters played more than 28 minutes.

The 36-point margin of victory was Cleveland's largest in 171 games against New York.

Al Harrington scored 20 points, Anthony Roberson had 19, and David Lee had 16 with 16 rebounds for the Knicks, who committed 28 turnovers.

James didn't play in the fourth quarter. He was pulled with 2:33 left in the third but still managed 6 assists, 5 rebounds, and 5 steals, and made 10 of 10 free throws before cheering on the backups.

Lakers 114, 76ers 102 - At Philadelphia, Kobe Bryant tormented his hometown team again by scoring 32 points and helping Los Angeles bounce back from a last-second loss Tuesday night.

The Lakers, who improved to 15-2, never let the middling Sixers get too close. Philadelphia was within 6 in the third quarter when Derek Fisher and Bryant nailed 3-pointers that ballooned the lead to double digits.

Andre Miller scored 26 points for the Sixers, who played the end of the third quarter and the entire fourth quarter without Elton Brand, who suffered a strained right hamstring. Brand was limited to 3 points on 1-for-7 shooting in 25 ineffective minutes.

Trail Blazers 98, Wizards 92 - Brandon Roy took over down the stretch in Washington, scoring 12 of his 22 points in the final eight minutes, as Portland extended its winning streak to six games.

Magic 100, Timberwolves 89 - With its top three players in the backcourt out with injuries, host Orlando leaned on Dwight Howard, who supplied 23 points and 14 rebounds.

Hornets 104, Suns 91 - Chris Paul had 24 points and 15 assists to pace New Orleans in a home win over Phoenix, which was unable to keep pace without Steve Nash (illness).

Heat 93, Jazz 89 - Dwyane Wade scored 23 points and Miami climbed back above .500 while wrapping up a five-game road trip.

Rockets 103, Clippers 96 - Houston beat visiting Los Angeles for the seventh straight time as Yao Ming totaled 24 points and 10 rebounds.

Bucks 97, Bulls 90 - Charlie Villanueva came off the bench to spark host Milwaukee, scoring 11 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter.

Hawks 105, Grizzlies 95 - Host Atlanta built a big lead before holding off Memphis as Joe Johnson finished with 26 points and Mike Bibby totaled 20 points and 10 assists.

Bobcats 103, Thunder 97 - Emeka Okafor had 25 points and 13 rebounds as host Charlotte won consecutive games under coach Larry Brown for the first time.