CHICAGO -- The Cleveland Cavaliers won their third straight on Tuesday night, thanks to a career milestone performance by LeBron James and eight triples by Kevin Love.
LeBron finished with 19 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds. Those 11 dimes gave him a career total of 6,142, surpassing Bulls great Scottie Pippen by six.
Love, meanwhile, scored 24 points on 8-for-14 shooting from long distance and the Cavs sank the host Pistons, 102-93, at The Palace of Auburn Hills in Michigan.
"That's a fabulous achievement, especially when you consider that he just turned 30 years old," Cavs head coach David Blatt told ESPN about LeBron's record-breaking feat.
Cavs point guard Kyrie Irving neither had a career night nor eight triples, but the All-Star inflicted enough damage against the Pistons, finishing with 18 points and five dimes. Timofey Mozgov added 14 points and six boards for Cleveland.
After taking a 30-27 first quarter lead, the Cavs trailed 62-53 at halftime after the Pistons uncorked 35 second quarter points. But the Cavaliers went back to form in the third period and held the Pistons to 12 points to lead 77-74 entering the final period.
Reggie Jackson, who was acquired from the OKC Thunder in last week's trading deadline, had 22 points, eight rebounds and nine assists for Detroit. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added 21 while Andre Drummond had 17 points and 10 boards.
With an improved 36-22 record, the Cavs crawled to within 1/2 game of the 36-21 Chicago Bulls for third place in the Eastern Conference. And the Cavs are just 1 1/2 game behind the 37-20 Toronto Raptors for second place.
Detroit, meanwhile, fell to 23-34, but remained in the hunt (1 1/2 games behind) for the eighth and last playoffs berth in the East.
Photo: LeBron James lays in as easy 2 as the Cavaliers rallied from a first-half deficit to beat the Detroit Pistons, 102-93.
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