Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James, right, drives past New Orleans Pelicans’ Dante Cunningham. AP
CLEVELAND — Kyrie Irving scored 29 points, LeBron James added 27 and the Cleveland Cavaliers bounced back from two straight losses with a 99-84 win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday (Sunday Manila time).
Irving and James combined for 17 points in the fourth quarter as Cleveland improved to 6-3 since Tyronn Lue replaced David Blatt as head coach on January 22.
Kevin Love was out with a bruised left thigh, but the Cavaliers went ahead early in the game and never gave up the lead despite a strong rally by New Orleans in the second half.
Norris Cole scored a career-high 26 points while Anthony Davis scored 24 points with 11 rebounds for New Orleans, which has lost four straight.
Cleveland nearly blew a 15-point lead for the second straight night. The Cavaliers were ahead 54-39 late in the second quarter, but the Pelicans cut the lead to four on several occasions in the second half.