CLEVELAND _ It might be merely another sign of the growing trust and cohesiveness as the Cavaliers extended the longest active winning streak in the NBA to 11 games Saturday night.
But the on-court dynamic between Cavs star LeBron James and Kevin Love seemed at its most demonstrative during a 116-111 victory over the struggling Memphis Grizzlies at Quicken Loans Arena.
On a powerful driving layup by James in the final 4{ minutes of the second quarter, Love grabbed James to prevent him from falling out of bounds.
James assisted on a Love 3-pointer at the 2:43 mark of the same period and James was pointing to emphasize a good play even before the ball went through the basket.
Love returned the favor, feeding James for a layup 30 seconds later.
During that stretch, Love and James seemed totally in sync.
It took the Cavs almost a quarter to achieve that as a team. But they rallied from a 12-point first quarter deficit to earn their 11th consecutive victory.
The ending was not without drama. Grizzlies forward Dillon Brooks hit a 3-pointer with 2:10 to go to tie the game at 109. James drove for a layup with 1:22 remaining to give the Cavs the lead. At the other end, Tyreke Evans missed and Love rebounded. James followed with an and-one to push the margin to 114-109 with 34.9 seconds left.
Brooks made two free throws with 28.8 seconds remaining, but James countered with a jumper with 5.3 seconds left to seal it.
James scored 15 points in the fourth quarter, including the final 13, and finished with 34 points, 12 rebounds and two assists. He and Love had their 15th double-doubles of the season, with Love contributing 20 points and 11 rebounds.
J.R. Smith played after the morning funeral of his cousin, according to his Instagram post. His relative, whom he described as like a brother, reportedly died in a house fire Sunday. Smith scored 17 points, making 6 of 8 field goals, 4 of 5 beyond the arc.
The Cavs also got another solid contribution from sixth man Dwyane Wade. Wade scored 16 points with four assists in 25 minutes. He drew a playful shove from Grizzlies interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff after drawing a foul after sinking a turnaround jumper with 3:28 left in the third quarter. Wade made the free throw to put the Cavs ahead, 91-72.
With Wade leading the second unit, the Cavs' reserves totaled 40 or more points for the 15th time this season, including six consecutive games. Jeff Green and Kyle Korver contributed nine points each as the Cavs' reserves outscored the Grizzlies' reserves 40-23.
The Cavs (16-7) have scored at least 100 points in all 11 consecutive victories. The last time the Cavs achieved that feat came in 1989 in a span from Dec. 15 to Jan. 7.
Playing on the second night of a back-to-back, the Grizzlies (7-15) lost their 11th consecutive game and fell to 0-10 without former Ohio State guard Mike Conley, out with a left Achilles injury.
The Grizzlies jumped out to a 28-16 lead in the first quarter with Marc Gasol scoring 10 easy points. But the Cavs ended the quarter on a 12-4 run to close the gap to 32-28 at the break.
The Cavs continued to pour it on the second quarter even though coach Tyronn Lue sat James to start the second quarter. The Cavs went on a 50-24 run over the final 15 minutes of the half to open up a 66-52 lead.
The Grizzlies refused to roll over. After the Cavs opened a 79-61 lead in the third quarter, the Grizzlies cut the gap to 99-96 with 7:37 to go.
Evans led the Grizzlies with 31 points, one shy of a season-high, Gasol had 27 points, six rebounds and four assists and JaMychal Green added 16 points and seven rebounds.
