CLEVELAND (AP) — Donovan Mitchell scored 27 points, Sam Merrill added 22 and the Cleveland Cavaliers pulled away in the second half for a 141-118 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday night.
Nine of the 11 players used by the Cavaliers players scored in double figures as they won consecutive games for the first time since Nov. 21-23. Cleveland also evened its December record at 5-5.
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Cleveland Cavaliers' Donovan Mitchell (45) defends as New Orleans Pelicans' Derik Queen (22) shoots during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Cleveland, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
Cleveland Cavaliers' Darius Garland, right, keeps the ball from New Orleans Pelicans' Zion Williamson (1) during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Cleveland, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
Cleveland Cavaliers' Jarrett Allen (31) drives to the basket as New Orleans Pelicans' Trey Murphy III (25) defends during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Cleveland, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
Cleveland Cavaliers' Darius Garland (10) shoots as New Orleans Pelicans' Yves Missi (21) defends and Jeremiah Fears (0) and Bryce McGowens, right, look on during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Cleveland, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
Cleveland Cavaliers' Donovan Mitchell, left, drives against New Orleans Pelicans' Trey Murphy III (25) during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Cleveland, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
The 23-point victory was the Cavaliers' second-biggest margin this season.
It was the fifth time in the NBA this season and the second time in three days a team has had nine players score in double figures. According to Sportradar, it was only the second time in franchise history the Cavaliers had done it. The previous time was Nov. 10, 1992, against the Washington Bullets.
Cleveland scored at least 139 points for the second straight night and eighth time this season.
The Cavaliers got 57 points from their reserves as Jaylon Tyson scored 18 and Jaylon Tyson added a season-high 15.
Center Jarrett Allen had 14 points, including his first 3-pointer since Jan. 29, 2023.
Zion Williamson scored 26 points off the bench as New Orleans had a five-game winning streak snapped. Derik Queen added 21 points.
Merrill, who returned to the lineup Monday night after missing 14 games with a sprained right hand, was 7 of 12 from the field and 6 of 10 on 3-pointers in 26 minutes. It was the third time this season he scored at least 20 points.
Queen's 3-pointer got the Pelicans within 76-70 before the Cavaliers blew it open with a 17-4 run. Mitchell had 13 points and made all six of his shots in the quarter as Cleveland was 17 of 26 from the field.
Pelicans: Host Phoenix on Friday.
Cavaliers: At New York on Christmas Day.
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
Cleveland Cavaliers' Donovan Mitchell (45) defends as New Orleans Pelicans' Derik Queen (22) shoots during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Cleveland, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
Cleveland Cavaliers' Darius Garland, right, keeps the ball from New Orleans Pelicans' Zion Williamson (1) during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Cleveland, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
Cleveland Cavaliers' Jarrett Allen (31) drives to the basket as New Orleans Pelicans' Trey Murphy III (25) defends during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Cleveland, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
Cleveland Cavaliers' Darius Garland (10) shoots as New Orleans Pelicans' Yves Missi (21) defends and Jeremiah Fears (0) and Bryce McGowens, right, look on during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Cleveland, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
Cleveland Cavaliers' Donovan Mitchell, left, drives against New Orleans Pelicans' Trey Murphy III (25) during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Cleveland, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Christina Chavarria had already prepared almost 200 tamales, but she was back at Amapola Market in Southern California early Tuesday morning for more masa.
The dough made from ground corn was the best there, so it didn't bother her that the line was wrapped around the parking lot.
“It's always seasoned perfect, ready to go,” Chavarria said.
During the holiday season, tens of thousands of people head to one of three market locations in the Los Angeles area seeking the freshly produced masa that's a staple ingredient for tamales. Many Latin American families will gather to make them assembly-line style, spreading the paste on dried corn husks and filling them with sweet and savory ingredients.
Chavarria is excited to make them with her mother and 26-year-old daughter this year, who's “at that age where she doesn't always want to do stuff with me.” Her mother will bring roasted chiles from El Paso, Texas, infusing their tamales with a touch of the family heritage from Chihuahua, Mexico.
Amapola Market calls it the annual “masa pilgrimage.”
“We want them to have a good Christmas,” said CEO Rolando Pozos. “It kind of becomes more of a responsibility than a job.”
Some of the market's customers travel from as far as Bakersfield, California, or Las Vegas. Many arrive well before dawn to get in line, hours before the store opens. One group drove from Hesperia, about 60 miles (95 kilometers) away and camped overnight to be at the Downey location early Tuesday.
Pozos doesn't take the grocer's now 64-year responsibility lightly. The dough is so crucial to the holidays that in 2016, when the grocer sold masa made with the wrong corn, loyal customers declared Christmas was ruined when their tamales wouldn’t cook properly. Some people said they got sick. The company said it cut ties with the corn supplier and vowed to do better.
With his slicked back salt-and-pepper hair, Pozos is well-known to the store's regulars, doling out handshakes and personal greetings in Spanish. Pozos, himself, is a regular on local TV networks demonstrating the art of making tamales. He took charge of the company five years ago and says he's proud of keeping prices stable for the third year in a row, as families feel the pinch from inflation.
Prices matter for families that generally making hundreds of tamales at a time and need a lot of masa, said Melissa Perkins, who was waiting in line with her father. Her family has used Amapola's masa for nearly 30 years, since before she was born. The production line now includes almost two dozen siblings, nephews, aunts and uncles.
“This is my mom's favorite masa,” Perkins said.
The store sells prepared masas for savory tamales like pork and chile to sweeter versions that are pineapple and strawberry flavored. There are other uses, too, for tortillas and champurrado, a thick Mexican hot chocolate.
In the busy season, employees begin churning out bags of masa at 3 a.m. daily, producing them as quickly as they fly out the door.
In the back, cooked corn is delivered to be ground up in massive vats in combination with salt, lard, and other ingredients in industrial mixers. The bowls are lifted eight feet (2.4 meters) into the air and poured into a giant funnel that fills bags that are then double-bagged by a worker. Behind them, fresh tortillas spill out onto a conveyor belt by the hundreds.
After arriving at 4:15 a.m. in pajamas, Giselle Salazar waited with her sister and cousin, bundled up in blankets while catching up from college. Some families sent sleepy kids to hold their place in line while looking for parking blocks away, bringing chairs and snacks when they returned.
The three women were waiting again two hours later in a separate line for more pineapple masa.
“At first it was just our moms together," Salazar said. “They passed the torch down to us basically. We're the new generation of aunties.”
They had already filled up a small wagon and shopping cart with almost 100 pounds (45 kilos) of masa. Cousin Alexa Campos examined each bag carefully, exchanging one that looked watery at the bottom. Consistency is key for tamales to cook through properly, she said.
“After Christmas we're done with tamales for the rest of the year,” Campos said. “(Be)cause we make a lot and eat them for a week straight.”
As the sun rose, the line outside Amapola moved along, but more people arrived just as quickly.
Mark Monroy was passing on the tradition to his 9-year-old daughter Avery, bringing her on the masa trek for the first time. They drove 1 1/2 hours from Riverside.
Raised in the Los Angeles area, Monroy has memories of going to Amapola as a child so his family returns every year despite moving away.
“You can have a little bit of presents or maybe not even any presents for certain years, but you'll always have a tamale to unwrap,” Monroy said.
People wait in line to buy masa, a dough used to make tamales, outside Amapola Market in Downey, Calif., early Tuesday morning, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Antonio Alvarez, 11, rests his head on a shopping cart as he and his mother wait in line to buy masa, a dough used to make tamales, at Amapola Market in Downey, Calif., early Tuesday morning, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Bags of masa, a dough used to make tamales, are stacked on a counter at Amapola Market in Downey, Calif., Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
People wait in line to buy masa, a dough used to make tamales, outside Amapola Market in Downey, Calif., early Tuesday morning, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Alex Diaz, left, reaches for a bag of masa, a dough used to make tamales, as shoppers wait in line at Amapola Market in Downey, Calif., Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
