Griffin, Paul help Clippers hold off Blazers
LOS ANGELES — Blake Griffin had 26 points and 12 rebounds, Chris Paul had 21 points and 14 assists, and the Los Angeles Clippers held off the Portland Trail Blazers 121-120 Monday night to sweep the season series.
J.J. Redick finished with 19 points, hitting all eight of his free throws — including three in the closing seconds to push Los Angeles’ lead to four points.
Portland’s Damian Lillard hit a 3-pointer with 1.7 seconds left for the final margin.
• Mavericks 112, Nuggets 92 — At Dallas: Wesley Matthews scored 25 points and the last-place Dallas Mavericks enjoyed a rare blowout, beating the listless Denver Nuggets 112-92 on Monday night.
Harrison Barnes had 18 points for the Mavericks, who led 65-43 at the break. They expanded the margin to their biggest of the season at 28 points in the third quarter and won consecutive home games for the first time in an injury-plagued season.
The NBA’s worst-shooting team coming in at 41.5 percent, Dallas shot 65 percent in the first half and a seasonhigh 58 percent for the game. The Mavericks were 12 of 26 from 3-point range after missing six of their first seven.
• Rockets 122, Nets 118 — At Houston: James Harden had 36 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds to lead the Houston Rockets to their seventh straight win, 122-118 over the Brooklyn Nets on Monday night.
Eric Gordon scored 24 points on 6-for-10 shooting on 3-pointers, and Ryan Anderson added 19.for the Rockets. Houston shot 17 for 43 on 3s, making at least 10 for an NBA-record 24th straight game.
Brook Lopez scored 26 points and Sean Kilpatrick added 17 for the Nets.
Brooklyn trailed for much of the game until Joe Harris tied it at 118 with a layup with less than 40 seconds remaining.
• Heat 112, Wizards 101 — At Miami: Goran Dragic scored a season-high 34 points, Hassan Whiteside had 17 points and 16 rebounds and the Miami Heat beat the Washington Wizards 112-101 on Monday night to snap a five-game slide.
Dragic scored 13 points in the fourth for the Heat, who opened a six-game homestand. James Johnson scored 14 off the bench for Miami, which won for only the third time in 11 games at home.
• Raptors 122, Bucks 100 — At Toronto: DeMar DeRozan scored 30 points, Terrence Ross added 25 and Toronto beat Milwaukee for the sixth straight time.
Jonas Valanciunas had 13 rebounds and 11 points for his team-leading seventh double-double of the season as the Raptors won for the 12th time in the last 13 meetings with the Bucks.
• Pacers 110, Hornets 94 — At Indianapolis: Paul George and Myles Turner scored 22 points each to lead Indiana past Charlotte.
Jeff Teague had 16 points, 11 assists and five rebounds, and Rodney Stuckey added 14 points for the Pacers, who have won two straight since returning home from a fivegame road trip.