CLEVELAND — Tim Duncan and Boris Diaw scored 19 points apiece and the San Antonio Spurs beat Cleveland for the 10th straight time — and got the best of LeBron James again — with a 92-90 win over the Cavaliers
CLEVELAND — Tim Duncan and Boris Diaw scored 19 points apiece and the San Antonio Spurs beat Cleveland for the 10th straight time — and got the best of LeBron James again — with a 92-90 win over the Cavaliers on Wednesday night.
Manu Ginobili scored on a layup with 18 seconds left, made a free throw with 9.1 to go and harassed James into a turnover with 1.9 seconds remaining for the defending NBA champions. It was the first meeting between the Spurs and James since last June, when San Antonio overpowered the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals.
Anderson Varejao scored 23 points, Kyrie Irving added 20 and James 15 for the Cavs, who fell to 5-5.
James was just 6 of 17 from the field and Kevin Love went 4 of 12. After Ginobili missed his free throw, James tried to rush the ball up the floor for a possible game-tying basket but lost control near mid-court.
Varejao scored nine points in a 3-minute stretch to give Cleveland an 86-85 lead. But Duncan scored inside and fed Ginobili underneath for a bucket with 17.7 seconds left to put the Spurs up 91-88.
Irving’s two free throws got the Cavs within 91-90.
BUCKS 122, NETS 118, 3OT
NEW YORK — The Milwaukee Bucks overcame Brandon Knight’s shocking missed layup at the end of the first overtime to outlast the Nets in coach Jason Kidd’s return to Brooklyn.
Knight made the tying 3-pointer in the second overtime and the clinching free throws with 5.6 seconds to go in the third, allowing the Bucks to leave with a victory that he should’ve provided much sooner.
Rookie Jabari Parker scored a season-high 23 points, O.J. Mayo added 21, and Knight and Giannis Antetokounmpo each had 18 for the Bucks, who won their third straight.
Brook Lopez scored a season-best 26 points for the Nets, who have dropped five in a row.
Ersan Ilyasova and Khris Middleton each made two baskets in the third overtime for the Bucks, whose players celebrated with hugs for Knight, who still looked a little dazed when it ended.
RAPTORS 96, GRIZZLIES 92
TORONTO — DeMar DeRozan scored 21 points, Terrence Ross had 14 of his 16 in the fourth quarter and Toronto beat the undermanned Memphis Grizzlies.
Kyle Lowry scored 18 and Lou Williams had 13 as the Eastern Conference leaders won for the seventh time in eight games.
Marc Gasol had 22 points and 12 rebounds, and Zach Randolph added 18 points and 18 rebounds for the Grizzlies (10-2), who came in with the NBA’s best record but had their four-game winning streak stopped.
Mike Conley scored 19 points and Tayshaun Prince added 15 for Memphis, which had just 10 active players.
Grizzlies guard Courtney Lee and forward Tony Allen were among five players ruled out because of illness. Memphis center Kosta Koufos, forward Jon Leuer and guard Beno Udrih were also unavailable.
All five players spent time at a Toronto hospital Wednesday, suffering from dehydration. They stayed back at the hotel before the game to remain away from their teammates, and were sent home on a special charter flight while the game was going on.
LAKERS 98, ROCKETS 92
HOUSTON — Kobe Bryant had 29 points, Wesley Johnson made key free throws down the stretch and Los Angeles took advantage of Dwight Howard’s absence in a victory over Houston.
It was the second consecutive win for the Lakers following a 1-9 start.
Los Angeles used a 7-1 run, highlighted by Bryant’s three-point play and capped by four free throws from Johnson, to take a 94-92 lead with less than a minute left. Nick Young and Bryant added two free throws apiece to secure the victory.
Tarik Black, a rookie who was filling in for the injured Howard (strained right knee), missed a free throw and a jump shot down the stretch. James Harden led the Rockets with 24 points.
SUNS 88, PISTONS 86
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Eric Bledsoe scored 18 points, including the winning basket with 28.7 seconds to play, to lift Phoenix.
P.J. Tucker added 16 points for the Suns, who have won four of their last six.
Brandon Jennings scored 19 points to lead Detroit, losers of three straight and six of seven.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s 3-pointer with about 40 seconds left put the Pistons ahead 86-85 before the Suns regained the lead on Bledsoe’s driving layup. Jerebko tried to drive, but the Suns knocked the ball out of bounds with 11.7 seconds left.
Jennings had his shot blocked and Caldwell-Pope missed a 3-pointer before Bledsoe made 1 of 2 from the line with 1.3 seconds left.
The game was played on the 10th anniversary of Pacers-Pistons brawl at the Palace of Auburn Hills that was started when Indiana’s Ron Artest went into the crowd after being hit by a thrown beer. The closest thing to a repeat came in the second quarter, when Markieff Morris and Caldwell-Pope exchanged shoves.
MAVERICKS 105, WIZARDS 102
WASHINGTON — Dirk Nowitzki limped off to the locker room after a fourth-quarter fall, then returned to make a key 3-pointer, and Monta Ellis scored 24 of his 34 points in the first half to lead Dallas past Washington for its fifth straight win.
Nowitzki went down in the key with about eight minutes left after twisting his left ankle. But he came back in with 3 1/2 minutes to go and Dallas trailing by a point. With 80 seconds left, Nowitzki sank a 3 to put the Mavs ahead 102-97.
Washington lost at home for the first time this season, despite Bradley Beal’s first action following left wrist surgery.
Beal was terrific, too, leading Washington with 21 points, and even drawing a charge on Ellis with about 30 seconds to go. But with a chance to tie the game, John Wall missed a 3-pointer at the other end. Ellis then made two free throws to push Dallas’ edge to five points.
NUGGETS 107, THUNDER 100
DENVER — Wilson Chandler had 21 points, including a key 3-pointer late in the game, and Timofey Mozgov finished with a season-high 17 to lift Denver over Oklahoma City.
Ty Lawson added 15 points and 15 assists for the Nuggets, who returned home following a 2-1 trip that included a win over LeBron James and the Cavaliers.
Serge Ibaka had 22 points and 13 rebounds for Oklahoma City, with reigning NBA MVP Kevin Durant (broken right foot) and All-Star guard Russell Westbrook (broken right hand) on the bench in suits. The Thunder have dropped four straight.
CELTICS 101, 76ERS 90
PHILADELPHIA — Brandon Bass scored 23 points, Jared Sullinger added 22 and Boston sent Philadelphia to its 11th straight loss to start the season.
Rajon Rondo had 13 assists with nine points, and Jeff Green chipped in 11 points for the Celtics, who snapped a three-game losing streak.
Tony Wroten led five 76ers in double figures with 21 points. Philadelphia is seven defeats from tying the 2009-10 Nets for the worst start in NBA history.
Three of Philadelphia’s 19 wins last season came against Boston.
CLIPPERS 114, MAGIC 90
ORLANDO, Fla. — Jamal Crawford had 22 point, and Chris Paul added 16 points and nine assists as the Clippers beat the Magic.
Blake Griffin scored 20 points, and Jordan Farmar and Matt Barnes each had 13 as the Clippers opened a seven-game East Coast trip with an easy victory.
Tobias Harris led Orlando with 25 points. Nik Vucevic contributed 19 points and 14 rebounds, and Channing Frye and Andrew Nicholson each had 10 each points for the Magic, who had won five of eight.
PACERS 88, HORNETS 86
INDIANAPOLIS — Solomon Hill tipped in a miss by Rodney Stuckey as time expired, and the Pacers overcame an early 18-point deficit to beat the Hornets.
Hill finished with six points. Roy Hibbert had 18 points and 11 rebounds as the Pacers spoiled Lance Stephenson’s first trip back to Indianapolis since signing with Charlotte in July.
Luis Scola contributed 15 points and seven rebounds for Indiana.
Stephenson had 10 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. Al Jefferson added 28 points and eight rebounds. Kemba Walker was the only other Hornets player in double figures with 12 points.
TIMBERWOLVES 115, KNICKS 99
MINNEAPOLIS — Kevin Martin shook off an illness to score 37 points, and the Timberwolves, missing three starters, beat the Knicks.
Martin tied a career high with seven 3-pointers and Shabazz Muhammad had 17 points and eight rebounds for the Wolves, who were missing Ricky Rubio, Thaddeus Young and Nikola Pekovic. Rubio and Pekovic were out because of injuries and Young was away because of the death of his mother.
Carmelo Anthony had 20 points and Amare Stoudemire added 19 for the Knicks. But New York had nothing else on the second night of a back-to-back following a loss in Milwaukee.
Anthony and Stoudemire combined to shoot 14 of 19 and the rest of the Knicks were just 20 for 50.
