Lakers roll past Heat after Clarkson, Dragic ejected
LOS ANGELES — Lou Williams scored 24 points and Luol Deng added 19 points and 14 rebounds in the Los Angeles Lakers’ fourth victory in 20 games, 127-100 over the Miami Heat on Friday night.
Goran Dragic scored 16 points for Miami before getting ejected along with Los Angeles’ Jordan Clarkson after a third-quarter scuffle in which both players appeared to be narrowly stopped from throwing punches.
With the Heat’s leading scorer in the locker room, the Lakers seized control in the fourth quarter of just their second win in 10 meetings with Miami. Williams led a decisive 19-4 run while scoring 16 points in the final period.
• Cavaliers 116, Nets 108 — At New York: LeBron James scored 36 points, carrying Cleveland while Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love had slow starts in their return to the lineup, and the Cavaliers beat the Brooklyn Nets 116108 on Friday night.
Irving added 32 points and Love had 17 points and 13 rebounds, but both shot poorly early as the Nets kept it competitive for 1 1/2 quarters. James helped the Cavs open a double-digit lead by halftime and they led comfortably most of the rest of the way in the opener of a six-game trip.
The Cavs were still working to finalize a trade with Atlanta to acquire shooting guard Kyle Korver. Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue said before the game he didn’t have any new information about when that would happen.
• Rockets 100, Magic 93 — At Orlando, Fla.: Ryan Anderson had 19 points, all in the second half, and Eric Gordon scored 17 off the bench as Houston extended its winning streak to seven games with a victory over Orlando.
Anderson led five Rockets players in double figures. He hit five 3-pointers on a night when Houston attempted 49 of them and made 15.
Patrick Beverley also scored 17 points, while leading scorer James Harden had an off shooting night and finished with 14.
• Celtics 110, 76ers 106 — At Boston: Avery Bradley had 26 points and nine rebounds, and Boston rallied in the fourth quarter to beat Philadelphia.
Isaiah Thomas added 24 points, and Al Horford scored 14 of his 19 in the final period. The Celtics have won nine of their last 11 and four straight at home.
Boston was trailing by two when Horford got wide open in the corner and hit a goahead 3-pointer with 17.2 seconds left.
• Knicks 116, Bucks 111 — At Milwaukee: Carmelo Anthony had 26 points and 10 assists, including a clutch 3-pointer late in the fourth quarter, and New York stormed back from 18 down to beat Milwaukee and stop its six-game losing streak.
Kristaps Porzingis returned after a three-game absence due to a sore left Achilles tendon and added 24 points for the Knicks, who trailed by 13 heading into the fourth.
With less than a minute remaining, Anthony drained a 3 to put New York in front 112-111. On the ensuing possession, Lance Thomas stripped Giannis Antetokounmpo, leading to a fast-break dunk by Courtney Lee.
New York rebounded from a last-second loss to the Bucks on Wednesday when Antetokounmpo hit a stepback jumper at the horn that gave Milwaukee a 105-104 win at Madison Square Garden.
• Wizards 112, Timberwolves 105 — At Washington: John Wall had a seasonhigh 18 assists and scored 18 points to help Washington beat Minnesota for its ninth straight victory at home.
Andrew Wiggins had 41 points on 16-of-30 shooting for the Timberwolves after scoring eight points Tuesday night in a loss to Philadelphia.
Bradley Beal had 22 points for Washington, and Marcin Gortat hit all nine of his field goal attempts and scored 19 points. The Wizards have won 10 of 15 overall.