James, Cavs beat Magic to snap 4-game skid
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Cleveland, OH (SportsNetwork.com) - LeBron James had 29 points and 11 assists playing just three quarters and the Cleveland Cavaliers rolled to a 106-74 win over the Orlando Magic on Monday night to snap a four-game losing streak.
James had 22 points in the first half to help the Cavaliers take an 18-point lead into the break and they went up by as many as 33 in the fourth quarter.
Anderson Varejao added 14 points and Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving each scored 12 for Cleveland, which also snapped a three-game home losing streak.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"A win will always make things feel better," said James, "but we still have a lot of work to do."
Victor Oladipo had 22 points and Nikola Vucevic scored 18 with 13 rebounds to lead the Magic, who have dropped eight in a row to the Cavs and four of their last six games overall.
They played a second straight game without starting forward Tobias Harris, who is nursing a strained right calf. Harris averages 18.8 points and 8.4 rebounds per game.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"We're missing 19 points," said Magic coach Jacque Vaughn. "That puts pressure on other guys to do things they don't normally do."
It was a season low in points for the Magic.
"Your goal should be 22 points or under a quarter (on defense) and we did that," said Cavaliers coach David Blatt. "We made some small adjustments but things were looking pretty good so we didn't need to reinvent the wheel."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Cleveland's win meant avoiding a rare five-game losing streak with James as a member of the team.
The last time the Cavs lost five in a row with James on the roster came during a six-game skid from Nov. 28-Dec. 8, 2007 -- but James missed the last five of that streak with a sprained finger and the team won his first game back.
James' first stint with the Cavs lasted from 2003-10.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He scored 16 points in the first quarter, five of them coming during a 9-0 run punctuated by Will Cherry's 3-pointer for a 26-14 lead.
The Cavs' advantage reached 21 on Tristan Thompson's dunk with 3 1/2 minutes left in the second quarter.
James scored his 22 first-half points on 7-of-12 shooting while Vucevic led Orlando with 16 points. Cleveland shot better than 51 percent in the half and the Magic shot under 34 percent.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Cavs lead reached 26 in the third quarter at the end of a dunk-filled 16-2 run.
Game Notes
The Cavs had 30 assists on 42 made field goals ... Orlando's last win in the series came Nov. 23, 2012 ... The Cavaliers play Washington on Wednesday ... The Magic are home against Golden State on Wednesday.