Los Angeles (AFP) - The Cleveland Cavaliers fended off a furious Charlotte rally to snatch a 102-101 NBA victory over the Hornets in wild style on Friday.
Jarrett Allen scored 29 points and pulled down 22 rebounds for Cleveland and Kevin Love made two free-throws to seal the win with 1.2 seconds remaining.
The Cavaliers led 76-65 going into the fourth quarter, but their fortunes changed when Ed Davis, who was on the Cleveland bench but didn't play in the game, interfered with a three-point attempt by Charlotte's Terry Rozier, thinking the play had been whistled dead.
He was assessed a technical foul and Rozier was credited with a three-pointer -- and made the technical free throw to cut the deficit to six points.
Back-to-back three-pointers from P.J.Washington and a three-pointer from Kelly Oubre gave the Hornets a 101-98 lead with 46.2 seconds remaining.
Allen's tip-in of a Love miss pulled Cleveland within 101-100 with 35.3 seconds left.That was the score with 2.1 seconds remaining when Cavs guard Brandon Goodwin missed a jumper.Love grabbed the rebound and missed the follow-up -- sparking celebrations on the Hornets bench.
But officials deemed on review that Love had been fouled, and he was awarded the game-winning free-throws.
Allen said the Cavaliers were "all feeling like we wanted to send a message" after a loss to the Houston Rockets on Wednesday.
"I think tonight was obviously a way to show who we are as a team," he said.
Love scored 25 points -- 22 of them in the second half as the Cavs handed the Hornets a third straight defeat.
Raptors down Hawks
In Toronto, the Raptors pushed their winning streak to five games, following up their overtime triumph over the Chicago Bulls on Thursday with a 125-114 victory over the Atlanta Hawks.
Pascal Siakam equalled his season-high with 33 points.Fred VanVleet scored 26 points and handed out 11 assists as the Raptors beat the Hawks for the second time in a week.
De'Andre Hunter and John Collins scored 23 points apiece for Atlanta, Trae Young had 22 points and 13 assists for the Hawks a day after his 43-point performance in the Hawks' victory over the league-leading Phoenix Suns.
Boston's Jayson Tatum scored 24 points to help the Celtics push their winning streak to four games with a 102-93 victory over the Pistons in Detroit.
After the Celtics held the Pistons to a season-low 31 first-half points, Tatum scored 10 points in the third quarter as Boston powered to a 78-56 lead heading into the fourth on the way to a wire-to-wire victory.
Jaylen Brown added 13 points for Boston.Josh Richardson scored 12 and Robert Williams had 11 points, 11 rebounds and five blocked shots.
Chicago center Nikola Vucevic scored a season-high 36 points and grabbed 17 rebounds and DeMar DeRozan added 31 points to power the Bulls to a 122-115 victory over the Indiana Pacers.
Vucevic connected on 16 of his 21 attempts from the field.He also handed out four assists and blocked three shots as the Bulls withstood a 42-point performance from Indiana's Caris LeVert.
