Nets leapfrog Sixers to top

NEW YORK • Jeff Green scored a team-high 21 points as the Brooklyn Nets became the first Eastern Conference team to win 20 National Basketball Association (NBA) home games this season with a 111-89 rout of the Charlotte Hornets on Thursday.

Kyrie Irving tallied 15 points and 11 rebounds and Landry Shamet and Tyler Johnson scored 17 and 15 points respectively off the bench for the Nets, who won despite missing injured All-Stars James Harden and Kevin Durant.

"Tonight, we did just what we expected to do coming out of the gate," Green said. "We got stops and defence turned into offence and that's how we were able to get rolling."

The Nets did not need both their All-Stars as they surged to a 32-11 first-quarter lead in front of a pandemic-limited crowd of 1,700 at New York's Barclays Centre.

LaMarcus Aldridge made his Brooklyn debut, starting at centre and had 11 points, nine rebounds and six assists, while teammate Bruce Brown had 14 points for the Nets, who were 20-for-45 on three pointers and won for the 20th time in the last 23 games.

"We just tried to talk on defence. I tried to lead. Tonight was great. I was trying to bring that energy," said Aldridge, who spent six seasons with the Spurs.

Gordon Hayward and Devonte' Graham each scored 13 points and Terry Rozier had 12 points for the Hornets, who had another low-scoring quarter with just 17 points in the third.

The Philadelphia 76ers kept pace with the Nets for the No. 1 seed in the standings, wrapping up their six-game road swing on a winning note by beating the Cleveland Cavaliers 114-94.

"That was a heck of a trip for us," said coach Doc Rivers of the Sixers (33-15), who are a half game behind leaders Brooklyn (34-15).

Shake Milton came off the bench to score a team-high 27 points, while Seth Curry finished with 19 points and Dwight Howard had 18 points and 15 rebounds for Philadelphia.

The win put a halt to a two-game losing skid as they completed their road trip with four wins and two losses.

"We did a good job of holding the fort down without the big fella (All-Star Joel Embiid has missed the past 10 games due to injury)," said forward Tobias Harris.

Rivers also revealed his star centre was "close" to returning, but he declined to go into details.

Collin Sexton had 24 points and Dean Wade added 16 points and eight rebounds for the Cavaliers, who were going for a three-game, season sweep of the 76ers.

Cleveland's Kevin Love returned from an eight-game injury absence to score all 13 of his points in the first quarter.

Elsewhere, Trae Young scored 15 of his 28 points in the two overtime periods as the Atlanta Hawks outlasted the San Antonio Spurs 134-129 in a double-overtime thriller, while Jamal Murray scored 23 points and the Denver Nuggets led wire-to-wire to beat the Los Angeles Clippers 101-94.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE