Towns leads Timberwolves past injury-depleted Clips
LOS ANGELES — Karl-Anthony Towns scored 37 points, including the go-ahead jumper with 45 seconds left, and the Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Clippers 104-101 on Thursday night.
Andrew Wiggins added 27 points, including two free throws with five seconds left that helped Minnesota snap its six-game road losing streak.
• Cavaliers 118, Suns 103 — At Cleveland: Kyrie Irving scored 26 points, All-Star teammate LeBron James had 21 points and 15 assists, and the Cleveland Cavaliers looked more like themselves at home in a 118-103 win over the Phoenix Suns on Thursday night. The Cavs were back in Quicken Loans Arena following a six-game road trip (their longest of the season) that concluded with an embarrassing 35-point loss at Golden State. But on their home floor, they had better offensive balance and ball movement while improving to 30-11 — the same record Cleveland had at the halfway point of its 2016 NBA championship season.
• Wizards 113, Knicks 110 — At New York: John Wall had 29 points and 13 assists, scoring Washington’s final four points in the last 32 seconds as the surging Wizards beat New York.
Otto Porter Jr. made six 3-pointers for the second straight night and added 23 points, but the Wizards needed big plays from Wall down the stretch to win their fourth in a row. • Heat 99, Mavericks 95 — At Miami: Goran Dragic had 32 points, Tyler Johnson scored 10 of his 23 in the fourth quarter and Miami topped Dallas.
Dragic shot 11 for 15 from the field and 4 of 4 from 3-point range. He also got a big offensive rebound in the final minute to extend a possession, and Johnson made a pair of free throws with 29.9 seconds left to give Miami an eight-point lead.
• Spurs 118, Nuggets 104 — At San Antonio: Kawhi Leonard scored 34 points, rookie Dejounte Murray added a season-high 24 and short-handed San Antonio overcame a pregame injury to Pau Gasol.
Denver’s three-game winning streak was snapped despite a career-high 35 points from Nikola Jokic.