Irving was helped off the floor in the third quarter after falling awkwardly on a missed layup. A team physician cleared Irving to play and he returned in the fourth.

"When I went back it still didn't feel right," Irving said. "I thought the worst happened. I felt something pop in my knee. I was falling down around all over the place. It was a painful experience. I was praying to God everything was OK. I just have to hope for the best. We'll see what's going on."

Irving finished with 10 points, five assists and five rebounds.

"It's probably something slight, if anything at all," Irving said.

The Cavaliers have lost six straight.


NBA ADMITS NON-CALL MISTAKE


The NBA admitted an officiating mistake from Monday’s Mavericks-Timberwolves matchup that cost Minnesota’s Kevin Love a shot at tying the game. But that serves as little consolation to those in T-wolves land, given they’re still staring at a loss in the standings following a 100-98 defeat in Minneapolis.

“Through postgame video review, we have determined that Minnesota’s Kevin Love was fouled on the right arm by Dallas’ Shawn Marion while attempting a two-point field goal,” NBA president Rod Thorn said in a statement. “Love should have been awarded two free throws with one second left on the clock.”

Dallas led by 19 late in the first half and seven with 3 minutes to play, but the Wolves had the ball down two in the closing seconds. Love got the ball in the left corner and rose up for a shot, where replays clearly showed that Mavs forward Shawn Marion got a large piece of Love’s forearm.

Marion jokingly said afterward that it was not a foul, but Wolves coach Rick Adelman knew the real answer.

"He got fouled," Adelman said. "I wonder what that would have been if (Dirk) Nowitzki, LeBron James, all the top players in the league — a guy reaches on a last-second shot like that, instead of challenging it. Maybe they don't understand that Kevin is one of the top five players in this league. You make that call. But they didn't."

Love, who had 36 points, 11 rebounds and four assists, stood watching the scoreboard in disbelief, and the Mavericks walked off the court winners against the Wolves for the first time in three tries this season.

"I'm the type of person that if you see a foul, an obvious foul, you call it," Love said. "And I thought that was pretty, pretty obvious. ... You look at the replay and it was obvious he got arm."

The loss dropped Minnesota to 15-16, while Dallas improved to 18-13.

Ed Malloy was the official who watched the play and didn't make a call.


HORFORD'S SEASON OVER


Hawks center Al Horford has had season-ending surgery to repair a complete tear of his right pectoral muscle.

Tuesday's surgery at Atlanta's Piedmont Hospital was performed by Dr. Xavier Duralde and Hawks team physician Dr. Michael Bernot.

Horford, who was the Hawks' leading scorer and rebounder, suffered the injury in the first overtime of Thursday night's 127-125 double-overtime win at Cleveland.

Horford is averaging 18.6 points and 8.4 rebounds per game.

He suffered a similar injury when he tore his left pectoral muscle early in the 2011-12 season. He returned for the playoffs two years ago. The Hawks say Horford will miss the playoffs this season.

Contributors: Roger Kuznia, The Associated Press