Thomas, Celts top Pistons
Last-place Mavericks topple Love-less Cavaliers
BOSTON — Isaiah Thomas scored 24 of his 41 points in the fourth quarter and the Boston Celtics held off the Detroit Pistons 113-109 on Monday night to extend their winning streak to four games.
Jae Crowder added 21 points and Al Horford scored 13 for Boston, which had to rally after Detroit surged midway through the fourth quarter and the teams traded the lead.
Andre Drummond had 28 points and pulled down 22 rebounds for the Pistons, who outscored Boston 60-38 in the paint and outrebounded the Celtics 51-44. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added 18 points for Detroit, which lost its third straight.
Thomas extended his run of games with at least 20 points to 32 in a row and carried Boston down the stretch, making nine free throws in the fourth quarter while going 15 for 15 from the line. MAVERICKS 104, CAVALIERS 97: In Dallas, Harrison Barnes scored 24 points and last-place Dallas knocked off a title contender for the second straight night, beating LeBron James and Cleveland.
Wesley Matthews had 21, and rookie point guard Yogi Ferrell scored a careerhigh 19 in the second game of a 10-day contract, a night after hitting clinching free throws in the final seconds of a win at Southwest Division-leading San Antonio.
James had 23 points and Kyrie Irving scored 18 — but just one between them in the fourth quarter — for the defending champs, who will be without fellow AllStar Kevin Love for Wednesday’s game against Minnesota because of recurring back spasms.
The Mavericks won for the first time after nine losses on the second night of back-to-backs, against the team that beat them by 38 in November. In Minneapolis, Andrew Wiggins scored 27 points and Ricky Rubio made a careerhigh six 3-pointers to lead Minnesota to a victory in overtime over Orlando.
Karl-Anthony Towns had 23 points and 12 rebounds, Rubio added 22 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, and Wiggins forced overtime with a jumper with 10 seconds to play to help the Wolves win for the eighth time in 11 games.
Elfrid Payton scored 21 points and Serge Ibaka had 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Magic, who came back from nine points down with five minutes to play to take the lead late in regulation. Evan Fournier scored nine points in 23 minutes in his first game since Jan. 13.
HEAT 104, NETS 96: In Miami, Goran Dragic scored 20 points, Dion Waiters added 19 and Miami pushed the NBA’s longest current winning streak to eight games with a victory over Brooklyn.
James Johnson had 17, Rodney McGruder scored 13 and Hassan Whiteside added 12 for Miami. Waiters and Dragic combined to hand out 17 assists for the Heat, who took the lead for good with a 17-0 run late in the first half.
Miami outscored Brooklyn 33-12 from 3-point range.
Bojan Bogdanovic scored 16 points for Brooklyn (9-39), which has lost six straight and 17 of its last 18. 76ERS 122, KINGS 119: In Philadelphia, Robert Covington had 23 points and 10 rebounds to rally Philadelphia to its latest surprising win.
The Sixers overcame 46 points from DeMarcus Cousins and won again without injured center Joel Embiid. Embiid sat out with a left knee contusion. He also will not travel with the Sixers for road games later this week against Dallas and San Antonio. The Sixers officially listed Embiid as doubtful for those two games.