Kyrie Irving makes triumphant return with Cavaliers

CLEVELAND: As Kyrie Irving dressed following his first game in six months, LeBron James popped on some music.
With Chris Brown’s “Picture Me Rollin’” filling the locker room, Irving, James and Iman Shumpert bobbed their heads in unison and did some small dance moves.
Close to full strength, the Cavaliers are grooving again.
Irving scored 12 points and played 17 minutes in his season debut and James had 23, leading Cleveland to a 108-86 victory Sunday over the Philadelphia 76ers, who lost their 10th straight and fell to 1-28.
Back on the floor for the first time since breaking his left kneecap in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, Irving showed some rust but that didn’t matter.
“Kind of been a long, long road, but finally getting out there with my teammates was a pleasure,” Irving said.
The Cavs managed to open the season 17-7 without Irving. But Cleveland is more complete with the All-Star point guard running its offense and being a headache for opposing defenses. Now that Irving’s back, the Cavs are as healthy as they’ve been since early in the playoffs last season.
“We’re almost there,” James said.
Matthew Dellavedova made four 3-pointers and added 20 points for the Cavs, who improved to 12-1 at home and are eyeing a Christmas Day game against Golden State. James didn’t play in the fourth quarter, logging a season-low 25 minutes.
Nerlens Noel had 15 points and 12 rebounds for the brutal Sixers, now 0-17 on the road and on their second double-digit losing streak.
At Miami, Chris Bosh scored 29 points and Hassan Whiteside shook off a slow first half to finish with 22 points and 11 rebounds in the Heat’s 116-109 win over Portland.
Dwyane Wade had 18 points and added seven assists for the Heat. They trailed by 12 at one point and were down 10 at the half.
The Heat shot 57 percent and played the final 13:37 without Goran Dragic. He was ejected for the first time in his career after arguing two foul calls.
Atlanta rallied to beat Orlando 103-100, with Kyle Korver scoring 13 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter.
Korver had four 3-pointers in the final period and six overall. Mike Scott added 15 points, and Al Horford and Jeff Teague scored 14 apiece in Atlanta’s third straight victory.
The Magic had the ball and a chance to tie with 7.3 seconds remaining, but the Hawks smothered an inbounds pass to Evan Fournier.
The Sacramento Kings ended a four-game road losing streak with a 104-94 win at Toronto, the Pelicans beat the Nuggets 130-125 and the Bucks beat the Suns 101-95 with Greg Monroe hitting a spinning, go-ahead layup with 20.6 seconds left to lift Milwaukee past Phoenix.
Bucks coach Jason Kidd said after the game that he will be taking an indefinite leave to have hip surgery. Assistant Joe Prunty will direct the team in his absence.
The Timberwolves beat the Nets 100-85, with Karl-Anthony Towns scoring 24 points in the building where he was taken with the No. 1 pick in the June draft, and Minnesota beat Brooklyn.