NEW YORK — LeBron James scored 31 points, Mo Williams made a tiebreaking jumper with 41 seconds left and the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the New York Knicks 90-84 on Friday night for their eighth straight victory.

Cleveland remained unbeaten since dropping its opener at Chicago and matched its best start through nine games at 8-1.

Williams scored Cleveland’s final six points and finished with 20.

Carmelo Anthony scored 26 for the Knicks, but 22 came in the first half and his only field goal in the second half was a follow dunk as James kept his friend in check when it mattered.

Arron Afflalo had 14 points for the Knicks.

Bulls 102, Hornets 94CHICAGO — Jimmy Butler had 27 points, Pau Gasol added 19 points and 13 rebounds and Chicago beat Charlotte.Nicolas Batum scored 12 of his 28 points in the third quarter and was 5 of 6 from 3-point range for Charlotte. Kemba Walker had 16 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.Charlotte trailed for most of the fourth quarter, but Jeremy Lamb scored eight straight points to pull the Hornets within 88-87 with 5:54 left.But Butler hit a jumper and made a pair of free throws and Derrick Rose had a driving layup to get the lead up to 94-87 with 4:32 left.Lamb missed a 3-pointer with 27 seconds left that would have tied it at 100. Butler then iced it with a 22-footer to put the Bulls up 102-97.