The Cavaliers secured a workmanlike victory against the Nets on Friday night.

The Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Brooklyn Nets 116-108 Friday night in the Big Apple. The game saw the return of both Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving for the Cavs and both stars were needed to secure the victory. Bolstered by the return of two of the Big Three, fans probably thought this game would be an easy win for the Wine and Gold but Brooklyn was competitive throughout the game.

Evan Turner scored 12 points in the final frame, and L.A. came up empty from the field for over five minutes down the stretch, helping the Blazers to a franchise record ninth consecutive win against the Lakers.

Damian Lillard’s return from a 5-game absence was supposed to be the story tonight when the Portland Trail Blazers and Los Angeles Lakers faced off at the Moda Center.

But the Blazers’ much maligned Evan Turner upstaged Lillard down the stretch, scoring 12 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter, and inspired the Blazers to a 118-109 victory. D’Angelo Russell led the way for the Lakers with 22 and Jordan Clarkson added 21 off the bench.

The NBA on Thursday released its first All-Star fan voting update, which featured a league-high six Golden State Warriors.

LeBron James and Kyrie Irving are the top two overall vote-getters, with Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry leading all Western Conference players. Durant owns the highest scoring average in All-Star Game history (25.6 ppg).

In addition to Durant and Curry, Zaza Pachulia, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala all placed in the Top 10 in their position group.

Despite the team’s turnovers, Curry’s aggressiveness pays off

Ahh, the Golden State Warriors. On paper this goes down as yet another solid victory over a potential playoff opponent, but in between the opening and closing whistle, we saw a lot of good, bad, and ugly from the Warriors.

The Spurs outscored Denver 69-46 after intermission.

When Darrell Arthur hit a bucket and a free throw early in the first quarter Thursday night in Denver, good for an and-one, the Nuggets had connected on every one of their first 10 shots.

Denver was red-hot, but only led 22-18, thanks to a similarly sizzling start from San Antonio.

Jimmy Butler scored 14 in the 4th quarter and led the Bulls to another win over LeBron in the regular season.

Jimmy Butler struggled mightily in this game but upped his game in the 4th quarter. Luckily for him, his teammates picked up him before then, as the Chicago Bulls won another regular season game against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers 106-94. Though James played after being questionable with the flu, Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving, and JR Smith were all out for the Cavs.

The Hawks didn’t come away empty-handed from the Kyle Korver trade but that doesn’t always make it easier.

The Atlanta Hawks pulled the trigger on a trade to send Kyle Korver to the Cleveland Cavaliers and the reported return is a 2019 first-round pick and the rights to Mike Dunleavy Jr. At this juncture, nothing is official on the deal, including the fact that details are very much up in the air with regard to the final destination for Dunleavy.

With that said, it seems quite clear that Korver is headed to Cleveland and, in the aftermath of Atlanta’s fifth straight win, it was clear that the past several years with the Hawks meant a great deal to Kyle.

The Grizzlies tried to muck it up on Hawaii night, but the Clippers beat Memphis at its own game.

No Chris Paul, no problem. Austin Rivers stepped into the star’s void and through the Memphis Grizzlies’ defense for a season-high 28 points as the Clippers toppled their rivals, 115-106.