The Cleveland Cavaliers slumped to another NBA loss despite LeBron James reaching a major milestone on Tuesday. With a jump shot in the closing seconds of the first quarter in San Antonio, James became the seventh player in NBA history to score 30,000 points in his career.

The milestone basket put the Cavaliers up 29-25 after one quarter, but by the end of the second quarter, the Cavs were down by eight, 63-55. Despite the latest in James' infinite list of accomplishments, this was not the night the Cavs were to bust out of their funk. A James dunk did cut San Antonio’s lead to three, 82-79, with one minute, 15 seconds left in the third quarter, but that is as close as Cleveland was going to get. From there, the Spurs outscored the Cavs 32-23 en route to a 114-102 victory. LaMarcus Aldridge led San Antonio with 30 points, and James finished with 28 for Cleveland.

Known more for his defence than his scoring, Kings seventh-year shooting guard Garrett Temple dropped a career-high 34 points, including 19 in the fourth quarter, as Sacramento won in Orlando 105-99 in a matchup of teams tied for the NBA's worst record (14-33). The win ended the Kings' season-high eight-game losing streak, and trade deadline buyers must have been paying attention to what Temple was up to. 

The Thunder snuck past the visiting Nets 109-108, but Carmelo Anthony does not get much of the credit. He scored just 10 points on four-of-12 shooting, had exactly zero assists and registered a minus-seven. He played about six minutes and scored only four points in the fourth quarter, when OKC erased an 11-point deficit.

In addition to James' 30,000th point, Jeff Green’s posterisation of Davis Bertans brought some joy to Cavaliers fans on another losing night.A few hours after being confirmed as a Slam Dunk Contest participant, Magic forward Aaron Gordon elevated over seven-footer Georgios Papagiannis.

TUESDAY'S RESULTS

Sacramento Kings 105-99 Orlando Magic
Oklahoma City Thunder 109-108 Brooklyn Nets
San Antonio Spurs 114-102 Cleveland Cavaliers
Golden State Warriors 123-112 New York Knicks
Los Angeles Lakers 108-107 Boston Celtics