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Cavs get win to hand Rockets 12th straight loss

David Liam Kyle / National Basketball Association / Getty

HOUSTON (AP) — Collin Sexton scored 39 points and the Cleveland Cavaliers handed the hapless Houston Rockets their 12th straight loss with a 101-90 victory on Monday night.

The Cavaliers have won four straight after losing their previous 10 games.

Cleveland had a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter before John Wall scored all of Houston’s points in a 6-2 run that cut the deficit to 95-89 with 3 minutes left.

The Cavaliers scored the next four points with the help of a steal by Darius Garland to push the lead back to 10 a minute later.

It’s Houston’s longest losing streak since dropping 15 in a row in 2001 and the first time the Rockets have lost five straight at home since March 2006. Wall's performance was the only thing that kept the Rockets in this one. He had 23 points by halftime finished with a season-high 32.

Houston led by one early in the fourth quarter after a 3-pointer by Ben McLemore when the Cavaliers used a 13-0 spurt to take a 90-78 lead midway through the period. Cedi Osman had two 3-pointers in that stretch and Sexton added five points.

The game was tied at 63-all after a 3-pointer by P.J. Tucker with about 5 minutes left in the third quarter. The Cavaliers used an 8-2 run after that, with the first five points from Dean Wade, to make it 71-65.

Osman made a 3 for Cleveland after two free throws from Tucker before Mason Jones finished the quarter with a three-point play to cut Houston’s deficit to 74-70 entering the fourth.

Though they couldn't pull it out late, the Rockets played better than they did in a 49-point loss to Memphis. They made just 4 of 45 3-point attempts on Sunday night in a game where they shot a franchise-low 27.7% overall.

On Monday they’d made four 3s by early in the second quarter and finished 10 of 31 from long range.

TIP-INS

Cavaliers: Sexton has scored 22 points or more in nine straight games. ... Garland had 14 points and seven assists. ... Osman added 11 points off the bench.

Rockets: Eric Gordon sat out with a sore left knee. ... Danuel House left in the second quarter with a bruised right knee and didn’t return. ... Wall had five assists after finishing without an assist on Sunday for the first time in his career.

UP NEXT

Cavaliers: Host Indiana on Wednesday night.

Rockets: James Harden will face his former team for the first time since a January trade on Wednesday night when the Rockets host Brooklyn.

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More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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