MIAMI // LeBron James added to his former team's misery by helping the Miami Heat to a 117-90 blow-out win over Cleveland, handing the reeling Cavaliers a franchise single-season record 21st straight loss.
James, who angered Cleveland fans when he announced his decision to sign with the Heat on a nationally televised show last July, had 24 points and eight assists while Dwyane Wade had a game-high 34 points in a rout of the NBA's worst team.
Antawn Jamison led Cleveland with 21 points and 10 rebounds but the Cavaliers (8-40) could not halt their skid and are now two losses shy of of tying the single-season NBA losing streak record shared by the Vancouver Grizzlies (1995-96) and Denver Nuggets (1997-98).
James, the two-times reigning NBA Most Valuable Player, has earned victories in each of the Heat's (34-14) three games against his former team this season.
The two teams will have their final meeting of the regular season on March 29 when Miami travels to Cleveland.
Elsewhere, The New Jersey Nets showed Carmelo Anthony why he might want to play for the franchise by beating the Denver Nuggets 115-99
The game was the first between the teams since Mikhail Prokhorov, the Nets owner, told his team to halt extended trade talks about Anthony, saying the drawn-out negotiations were hurting his team.
Anthony showed why he is so highly valued by scoring 37 points to keep the Nuggets in the game.
Brook Lopez scored 27 points and Devin Harris had a career-high 18 assists for New Jersey.
In Indianapolis, Frank Vogel made a winning debut as the Indiana Pacers's interim coach, beating the Toronto Raptors 104-93.
Vogel replaced Jim O'Brien, who was fired on Sunday. Vogel said he would allow Roy Hibbert to play through his mistakes, and the 2.15m centre rewarded his new coach with 24 points and 11 rebounds - his highest-scoring game since November 28.
Darren Collison and Paul George scored 16 points each for the Pacers.
Amir Johnson led Toronto with 18 points as the Raptors' losing skid reached 12 games and they gave up 100 points or more for the eighth straight game.
