OKLAHOMA CITY — Kevin Durant had 24 points and 13 rebounds, Serge Ibaka added 17 points and 11 rebounds and the Oklahoma City Thunder snapped the San Antonio Spurs’ 11-game winning streak with a 94-88 win Wednesday night. ADVERTISING OKLAHOMA
OKLAHOMA CITY — Kevin Durant had 24 points and 13 rebounds, Serge Ibaka added 17 points and 11 rebounds and the Oklahoma City Thunder snapped the San Antonio Spurs’ 11-game winning streak with a 94-88 win Wednesday night.
OKLAHOMA CITY — Kevin Durant had 24 points and 13 rebounds, Serge Ibaka added 17 points and 11 rebounds and the Oklahoma City Thunder snapped the San Antonio Spurs’ 11-game winning streak with a 94-88 win Wednesday night.
Reggie Jackson matched his career high with 23 points on 10-of-14 shooting for Oklahoma City, which is 7-0 at home, the franchise’s best home start since 2004-05, when it was in Seattle. The Thunder have won five straight games, their longest streak of the season.
The Thunder took control of a tight game with an 8-0 run in the third quarter and withstood a run by San Antonio midway through the fourth quarter.
Tony Parker had 16 points and seven assists for San Antonio (13-2), which was seeking the best start in franchise history. The Spurs also started 13-1 during the 2010-11 season. Portland, which entered Wednesday on an 11-game winning streak, is the only other team to have beaten San Antonio this season.
PACERS 99, BOBCATS 74
C.J. Watson knocked down five 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and finished with 18 points to send Indiana past Charlotte for its fifth straight victory.
The Pacers (14-1) came in with the NBA’s best defense and limited the Bobcats to 31 percent shooting.
Watson, who had made just 6 of 29 3-pointers this season, was 6 of 8 against the Bobcats.
Lance Stephenson had 15 points and 10 rebounds and Roy Hibbert added 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Pacers. Paul George had 15 points to surpass 3,000 for his career.
Al Jefferson had 16 points and nine rebounds for the Bobcats, who have lost six of their last seven at home.
HEAT 95, CAVALIERS 84
CLEVELAND — LeBron James scored 28 points and seemed more relaxed than in previous games back in Cleveland, leading Miami to its eighth straight win.
James added eight rebounds and eight assists in his fifth game as a visitor against the Cavaliers, the team that drafted him and the one he left as a free agent three years ago to chase championships in Miami. He improved to 11-1 against Cleveland.
Dwyane Wade added 22 points and Michael Beasley 17 for Miami, which coasted during long stretches and never appeared threatened.
Dion Waiters, the subject of trade rumors, scored a season-high 24 and Kyrie Irving had 16 for Cleveland.
The Heat opened a 15-point lead in the third and responded to every spurt by the Cavs, who got within eight in the final two minutes.
GRIZZLIES 100, CELTICS 93
BOSTON — Jerryd Bayless scored 22 points and Mike Conley had 14 with nine assists to propel Memphis past Boston for its fifth straight road win.
Zach Randolph scored 13 points, Tony Allen 12 and Ed Davis had 11 with seven rebounds for the Grizzlies, who were coming off two straight losses at home.
Jeff Green led the Celtics with 26 points, Jared Sullinger had 23 and Avery Bradley 16. Sullinger added 12 rebounds.
The Grizzlies grabbed the lead in the game’s opening minutes and never trailed the rest of the way — though Boston made a late charge in the last 2 minutes.
LAKERS 99, NETS 94
NEW YORK — Wesley Johnson made the tiebreaking basket on a steal and dunk with 1:35 left, and the Lakers blew a 27-point lead before beating the Nets.
Nick Young scored a season-high 26 points to spark a huge effort from the league’s most productive bench. Pau Gasol added 21 points for the Lakers, moving into second place on the NBA’s career list for points by a European player 15,773 points. The center from Spain now trails only Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki
WIZARDS 100, BUCKS 92, OT
MILWAUKEE — Marcin Gortat scored 25 points, John Wall added 19 points and Washington extended Milwaukee’s losing streak to 10 games.
Milwaukee’s O.J. Mayo hit a 25-foot 3-pointer with 6.9 seconds remaining to tie it at 87-87 and Wall missed a driving layup at the buzzer.
The win was the Wizards’ third straight and fifth in their last six. Gortat hit 11 of 12 shots and grabbed eight rebounds. Martell Webster added 18 points.
MAGIC 105, 76ERS 94
Nik Vucevic had 21 points and 16 rebounds as the Magic beat the 76ers to post back-to-back wins for the first time since early this month.
Glen Davis had 19 points, and Arron Afflalo and Victor Oladipo each added 18.
The game was the first meeting between rookies Michael Carter-Williams and Oladipo, and both played big roles.
The Magic led by 15 points before fighting off several second-half surges by the Sixers, which they beat for 17th time in 20 meetings.
Thaddeus Young led Philadelphia with 26 points and Carter-Williams added 23. It was Young’s first game in a week after missing three games while dealing with a death in his family.
BULLS 99, PISTONS 79
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Taj Gibson had a career-high 23 points and the Bulls pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat the Pistons.
The Pistons stayed close for most of the game, but managed only seven points in the first 10 minutes of the fourth quarter. That allowed Chicago to increase their lead to as many as 24 points as they ended a four-game losing streak.
Luol Deng led the Bulls with 27 points. Rodney Stuckey finished with 25 off the bench for Detroit but no one else had more than 13. Josh Smith had 13 points and 11 rebounds and Andre Drummond had 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Pistons.
NUGGETS 117, TIMBERWOLVES 110
MINNEAPOLIS — Ty Lawson scored 23 points, reserve Nate Robinson added 15 and the Nuggets held off the Timberwolves.
Kenneth Faried added 13 points and had three alley-oop dunks as Denver won for the seventh time in nine games after a horrible start.
Kevin Martin scored 29 for Minnesota and Ricky Rubio added 17 points and 10 assists. Nikola Pekovic had 21 points and Kevin Love finished with 19. All five Minnesota starters scored in double figures.
Minnesota’s bench was outscored 47-10 and was overmatched by Robinson and Denver’s high-octane reserves.
ROCKETS 113, HAWKS 84
HOUSTON — Francisco Garcia scored a season-high 21 points, Aaron Brooks also had 21 and the Houston Rockets cruised to their third straight win.
Houston never trailed and again used a balanced scoring attack with James Harden out for the third straight game with a foot injury.
The Rockets went up by 12 on John Jenkins’ 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter. Then Brooks outscored the Hawks 8-4 over the next 1½ minutes to extend Houston’s lead to 90-74. Houston shot almost 52 percent from 3-point range with Brooks and Garcia combining to make seven of Houston’s 14 3-pointers.
MAVERICKS 103, WARRIORS 99
DALLAS — Dirk Nowitzki scored 22 points to offset a rough night for playmaking partner Monta Ellis, and the Mavericks held off a late charge from Golden State.
Nowitzki was 11 of 19 from the field and added three assists. He matched the team high with two steals.
Ellis finished with a season-low four points on 2-of-16 shooting, but he had 10 assists, including one to get Samuel Dalembert a dunk and push Dallas’ dwindling lead to six at 101-95 with 1:21 remaining.
Stephen Curry led Golden State with 29 points as the Warriors stayed close a night after a tough one-point win in New Orleans.
By wire sources
