76ers beat Hornets despite Walker’s 60 points

PHILADELPHIA’s Jimmy Butler delivered the overtime dagger as the 76ers withstood 60 points from Kemba Walker in a 122-119 NBA victory over the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday.

Another nail-biter saw the two-time defending champion Golden State Warriors drop a 112-109 decision to the Mavericks in Dallas.

Slovenian rookie Luka Doncic scored 24 points, including the jump shot that put Dallas ahead for good with 1:10 remaining.

The Warriors, missing injured starters Stephen Curry and Draymond Green – and still smarting from the dust-up between Green and teammate Kevin Durant earlier this week – led by eight in the second half before Dallas rallied to beat the Warriors for just the second time in their last 19 meetings.

The champions have now lost four of their last six, and have lost two in a row for the first time this season.

Durant scored 32 points, but only three in the fourth quarter. Klay Thompson added 22 for Golden State, but theWarriors had multiple shots in the final minute to tie or take the lead and came up empty.

Far from pushing the panic button, coach Steve Kerr said he was pleased to see the Warriors play well enough to win – even if they came up short.

“What we did tonight was fantastic,” he said. “The effort was great. We got incredible energy from the bench. Our guys competed the whole way through. It’s a first step to kind of getting our groove back.”

In Charlotte, Walker’s career night ended in disappointment as Butler, acquired this week in a blockbuster trade with Minnesota, blocked a Walker shot to keep it tied at 119-119 with 15.7 seconds left in overtime then drained a 27-foot jump shot with three-tenths of a second remaining to secure the win.

“As much as I wanted the shot to go in to win the game, I also wanted it to go in because I didn’t want Kemba to give me 70,” Butler quipped. “I wanted it to stop at 60.”

Walker is the first player in Hornets history to score 60 points in a game.

Meanwhile, LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers saw their promising four-game winning streak come to an end with a listless 130-117 loss to the Orlando Magic in Florida.