MIAMI — Paul Pierce scored 17 of his 29 points in the third quarter, Mirza Teletovic scored 17 off the bench and the Brooklyn Nets beat Miami for the third time in as many tries this season, topping the Heat
MIAMI — Paul Pierce scored 17 of his 29 points in the third quarter, Mirza Teletovic scored 17 off the bench and the Brooklyn Nets beat Miami for the third time in as many tries this season, topping the Heat 96-95 Wednesday night.
Shaun Livingston scored 13 points, Andray Blatche added 11 and Deron Williams had eight assists for the Nets, who’ve won seven of their past eight games and are 23-9 since Jan. 1.
Chris Bosh scored 24 points for Miami, giving him 15,003 for his career. Dwyane Wade scored 22, LeBron James finished with 19 and Mario Chalmers scored 14 for the Heat.
Clippers 111, Warriors 98
LOS ANGELES — Blake Griffin had 30 points and 15 rebounds, Danny Granger added 18 points off the bench, and Los Angeles surged past Golden State for its ninth straight victory.
Chris Paul had 16 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds for the Clippers, who split their four-game season series against their Pacific Division rivals with an impressive finish to a tight game.
Los Angeles has the third-longest winning streak in club history and the team’s best record after 66 games (46-20).
Klay Thompson scored 26 points and David Lee had 20 for the Warriors, whose five-game winning streak ended with their fourth straight loss to the Clippers at Staples Center. Stephen Curry had just 13 points and 11 assists before sitting out the final minutes.
Kings 115, 76ers 98
PHILADELPHIA — Rudy Gay scored 27 points, Isaiah Thomas added 20 and Sacramento extended Philadelphia’s losing streak to 18 games.
DeMarcus Cousins had 19 points and 12 rebounds, and Ben McLemore scored 15 points for the Kings, who snapped a three-game skid. Jason Thompson added 14.
The Kings are in the midst of a seven-game, 12-day road trip, their longest of the season. They are 2-3 on the trip.
Henry Sims posted career-highs of 20 points and 10 rebounds, James Anderson added 17 points and Thaddeus Young had 16 for Philadelphia, which fell to 15-49 in dropping its 14th in a row at home, an ongoing franchise record. Michael Carter-Williams had 13 points, seven rebounds and two assists two nights after earning his second career triple-double.
Spurs 103, Trail Blazers 90
SAN ANTONIO — Patty Mills scored 15 points, Tim Duncan had 10 points and 11 rebounds in limited minutes, and San Antonio rolled to its eighth straight win.
Damian Lillard had 23 points for Portland, which lost LaMarcus Aldridge to a bruised back early in the second half.
Danny Green added 14 points for San Antonio, Manu Ginobili scored 13, Kawhi Leonard had 12, and Tiago Splitter had 12 points and 10 rebounds.
San Antonio’s bench outscored Portland’s 46-23, enabling coach Gregg Popovich to limit Duncan, Parker, Ginboli, Splitter and Green to less than 30 minutes.
Portland opened the third on an 8-0 run after trailing by as many as 17 in the first half, but lost Aldridge 43 seconds into the quarter.
Knicks 116, Celtics 92
BOSTON — Carmelo Anthony scored 19 of his 34 points in the first half as New York opened a 24-point lead and coasted past Boston for its fifth straight win.
Tim Hardaway Jr. added 22 points, J.R. Smith 13 and Cole Aldrich had 12 with 10 rebounds in his first career start for the Knicks, who are making a charge for the Eastern Conference’s eighth and final playoff spot.
The victory moved the Knicks into ninth place, a half-game ahead of Detroit, which lost in Toronto on Wednesday. They are three games behind eighth-place Atlanta.
Jeff Green led Boston with 27 points. Kris Humphries and Jerryd Bayless each had 15 for the Celtics, who have lost nine of 12.
Cavaliers 110, Suns 101
PHOENIX — Kyrie Irving scored 12 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter and Cleveland spoiled Eric Bledsoe’s return for Phoenix.
Spencer Hawes added 19, 17 in the first quarter, and Luol Deng scored 18 as the Cavs snapped a four-game losing streak.
Bledsoe, who had knee surgery and missed 33 games, had 15 points on 5-for-16 shooting and a team-high nine assists.
Goran Dragic scored 20 points, Markieff Morris 18 and Channing Frye 17 in the Suns’ third straight loss.
Irving also had nine rebounds and six assists for the Cavs, who never trailed, building a 14-point first-quarter lead. The Suns twice cut it to two in the third quarter.
Raptors 101, Pistons 87
TORONTO — DeMar DeRozan scored 25 points, Amir Johnson had 20 against his former team and Toronto handed Detroit its 10th straight road defeat.
Kyle Lowry added 19 points and Jonas Valanciunas had 13 rebounds for the Atlantic Division-leading Raptors, who won for the fourth time in five meetings with Detroit. Toronto has won 15 of 19 at home after losing eight of its first 12 home games this season.
Toronto won for the 10th time in 13 games and improved to 30-7 when holding its opponent below 100 points.
Brandon Jennings scored 24 points for the Pistons, who have not won away from home since beating Washington on Jan. 18. It’s Detroit’s longest road skid since losing 11 in a row from Feb. 23 to April 5, 2011.
Grizzlies 90, Pelicans 88
NEW ORLEANS — Mike Conley hit a driving layup against Austin Rivers with 1.5 seconds remaining to complete Memphis’ comeback victory over New Orleans.
Conley’s basket closed out a 9-0 Grizzlies run to end the game. Memphis trailed 88-81 with 3:22 remaining, but the undermanned Pelicans, playing without guards Tyreke Evans and Eric Gordon, were held scoreless from that point.
Conley scored 16 points to lead the Grizzlies, who won their fourth straight game. Marc Gasol added 15 points, and Zach Randolph and Tony Allen 13 each for Memphis.
Anthony Davis scored 29 points, including 22 in the first half, for the Pelicans, who had won their past three games. Rivers added 14, Brian Roberts 12 and Anthony Morrow 10.
Davis, who turned 21 Tuesday, also had 10 rebounds and four blocked shots.
Mavericks 108, Jazz 101
SALT LAKE CITY — Dirk Nowitzki scored 31 points and moved into sole possession of the No. 12 spot on the NBA’s career scoring list in Dallas’ win over Utah.
The big German made 12 of 14 from the field and all four his 3-point attempts to help the Mavs snap a three-game road skid.
Trey Burke scored 20 points and Enes Kanter had 18 points and 11 rebounds, but the Jazz wilted down the stretch against Dallas’ long-range shooting. The Mavericks converted 13 of 21 3-point attempts while the Jazz went 5 of 26.
On the first possession of the game, Nowitzki rained his trademark one-legged fade-away jumper, which moved him past John Havlicek for 12th place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list.
Bobcats 98, Wizards 85
WASHINGTON — Al Jefferson had 26 points and 10 rebounds, and Gerald Henderson went 6 for 9 in his return from a calf injury to lead Charlotte over Washington.
Henderson finished with 13 points, and Kemba Walker’s 16 points included four consecutive free throws during a late fourth-quarter run for the Bobcats, who have won four of five and sit in seventh place in the Eastern Conference.
John Wall scored 23 points to lead the Wizards, but he went scoreless in the fourth and received little help from his teammates. Washington had won eight of its previous 10 and began the day in fifth, one-half game ahead of the Brooklyn Nets.
Nuggets 120, Magic 112
ORLANDO, Fla. — Kenneth Faried scored 26 points and Wilson Chandler added 21 points and 10 rebounds to rally Denver past Orlando.
JJ Hickson had 20 points and nine rebounds, and Ty Lawson added 17 points and 12 assists for the Nuggets, who ended a two-game losing streak.
Arron Afflalo led Orlando with 24 points. Nikola Vucevic added 20, but had only four points in the second half. Jameer Nelson scored 19 points and had nine assists in Orlando’s fifth loss in six games.
After trailing by as many as 13 points in the first half, Denver took an 85-74 lead into the fourth quarter. A fast-break layup by JJ Hickson gave the Nuggets a 105-92 lead with 4:49 to play.
The Magic trimmed the deficit to five on two occasions, but got no closer.
