LeBron James scores 39 points, Cavs beat Clippers in OT
CLEVELAND: LeBron James scored 39 points, Kevin Love added 25 and the Cleveland Cavaliers won their fourth straight, 118-113 in overtime over the skidding Los Angeles Clippers Friday night. Love made a pair of 3-pointers in OT, when the Cavs outscored the Clippers 13-8. Dwyane Wade added 23 points and 11 rebounds for Cleveland. The Cavs’ win wasn’t eye-pleasing, but it was another step in the right direction for the Eastern Conference champions, who went 3-1 on a just-completed trip. The Clippers are headed the other way. Los Angeles has lost seven in a row and nine of 10 since a 4-0 start. Blake Griffin scored 23 points, and DeAndre Jordan had 20 points and 22 rebounds for Los Angeles, which didn’t give up the lead until the first minute of overtime.
SPURS 104, THUNDER 101 LaMarcus Aldridge had 26 points and San Antonio overcame a 23-point deficit to beat Oklahoma City. Danny Green added 17 points, and Pau Gasol had 14 points to help San Antonio end Oklahoma City’s threegame winning streak. Aldridge put back of Green’s missed 3-pointer gave the Spurs a 102-99 lead with 24.2 seconds remaining. The Thunder missed two 3pointers on the ensuing possession, but Carmelo Anthony tracked down a second offensive rebound and made a 25-footer with his foot on the 3-point line to cut the lead to 102-101.
HEAT 91, WIZARDS 88
Miami nearly wasted a terrific defensive effort against John Wall and high-scoring Washington, allowing a 25point lead to dwindle all the way down to one before holding on. Hassan Whiteside had 22 points and 16 rebounds for the Heat. They limited the Wizards to 29 first-half points - Washington’s lowest output for a half in more than 2 1/2 years. Wall wound up with only eight points on 3-for-12 shooting. The All-Star point guard’s first points of the night came with about 5 1/2 minutes left, on a 3-pointer that got Washington to 75-71.
RAPTORS 107, KNICKS 84
Kyle Lowry matched his season high with 22 points and added 10 assists, DeMar DeRozan also scored 22 points and short-handed Toronto beat New York for the eighth straight time. Lowry had eight rebounds as Toronto won its third straight and improved to 5-1 at home. Toronto played without injured starters in forward Serge Ibaka (swollen left knee) and guard Norman Powell (right hip). Reserve guard Delon Wright (dislocated right shoulder) also was unavailable. Tim Hardaway Jr. and Kristaps Porzingis each scored 13 points for the Knicks.
TIMBERWOLVES 111, MAVERICKS 87 Jimmy Butler led a balanced set of Minnesota starters with 21 points and the Timberwolves ended a five-game losing streak in Dallas. Andrew Wiggins added 19 points for the Timberwolves. They won in Dallas for the first time since March 19, 2014, two nights after getting their first win over San Antonio since just about the same time - April 8, 2014. The losing streak against the Spurs was 12 games. Northwest Divisionleading Minnesota rallied from 14 points down early in the third quarter, outscoring lowly Dallas 68-32 in the second half.
PACERS 107, PISTONS 100 Reserve guard Lance Stephenson scored all 13 of his points in the fourth quarter, including a key 3-pointer, and Indiana Pacers rallied from 22 down to beat Detroit. The shot clock was about to expire when Stephenson launched from well beyond the arc to give the Pacers a 101-97 lead with 2:03 remaining. —AP