Wolves devour Cavs
MINNEAPOLIS — Andrew Wiggins had 25 points in three quarters, Jimmy Butler pitched in 21 points and tight defense on LeBron James, and the Minnesota Timberwolves cruised to a 127-99 victory over Cleveland on Monday night (Tuesday, PHL time) that stopped a 12-game home losing streak to the Cavaliers.
Karl-Anthony Towns (19 points, 12 rebounds) and Taj Gibson (16 points, 13 rebounds) were tenacious around the basket for the Timberwolves, who outrebounded the Cavs 56-37 and had a 60-42 advantage in points in the paint.
James had just 10 points on 4-for-8 shooting, taking his first loss at Minnesota since Feb. 17, 2005. Cleveland fell behind by as much as 41 points in the third quarter after a dunk by Wiggins.
Butler had plenty to do with that, contributing nine assists and eight rebounds before resting during the fourth quarter, too. The Wolves led 69-42 at halftime.
Jeff Green scored 22 points off the bench to lead the Cavs, who've lost six of their last nine.
WARRIORS 124, NUGGETS 114
Stephen Curry scored 32 points and dished out nine assists in another superb performance during his sensational recent stretch, and the Golden State Warriors beat the Nuggets to avenge an ugly home loss to Denver in late December.
Nikola Jokic had his first triple-double of the season with 22 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists as four players scored 20 points or more for the Nuggets, who were coming off a 106-98 loss at Sacramento on Saturday.
Klay Thompson scored 19 on his bobbblehead night while Draymond Green added a season-high 23 points and 10 assists in the defending NBA champions' fifth straight victory on a night when Kevin Durant sat out his third consecutive game with a strained right calf.
In his 12th 30-point game of the season, Curry hit a long 3pointer with 56.1 seconds left in the third and the Warriors led 9381 going into the final quarter after the Nuggets had fought back to tie it midway through the period.
RAPTORS 114, NETS 113, OT
DeMar DeRozan scored 35 points, including a go-ahead three-point play with 26.1 seconds left in overtime, and Toronto shook off a late injury to Kyle Lowry to beat Brooklyn.
The Raptors lost a 10-point lead in the final 4 1/2 minutes of regulation and then lost Lowry after a hard fall in OT, but at least won the game, just as they always do against the Nets.
Toronto beat Brooklyn for the 10th straight time and won its fifth in a row overall.
Jonas Valanciunas had 21 points and 13 rebounds for the Raptors. Lowry finished with 18 points and 11 assists, but had to be carried off the court after landing on his lower back while going for a rebound.
Spencer Dinwiddie scored a career-high 31 points for the Nets, but his wild shot on a last drive went over the backboard.
PACERS 109, BUCKS 96
Domantas Sabonis had 17 points and 10 rebounds and three of his teammates each scored 15 to lead Indiana past Milwaukee.
Indiana has won two straight since a five-game losing streak. Victor Oladipo, Thaddeus Young and Myles Turner all scored 15 points.
The Bucks were led by Khris Middleton with 19 points and Giannis Antetokoumpo with 17.
It was a complete reversal from the Bucks' 21-point victory over Indiana last week.