Last-place Mavericks knock off Cavaliers
DALLAS — Harrison Barnes scored 24 points and the last-place Dallas Mavericks knocked off a title contender for the second straight night, beating LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers 104-97 on Monday.
Wesley Matthews had 21, and rookie point guard Yogi Ferrell scored a career-high 19 in the second game of a 10day contract, a night after hitting two key 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 were without fellow All-Star Kevin Love because of recurring back spasms.
• Celtics 113, Pistons 109 — At Boston: Isaiah Thomas scored 24 of his 41 points in the fourth quarter, and the Celtics extended 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.
• Heat 104, Nets 96 — At Miami: Goran Dragic scored 20 points, Dion Waiters added 19 and the Heat pushed the NBA’s longest current winning streak to eight games.
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.
• Timberwolves 111, Magic 105, OT — At Minneapolis: Andrew Wiggins scored 27 points and Ricky Rubio made a career-high six 3-pointers to lead Minnesota to the home win.
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. 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.
• Grizzlies 115, Suns 96 — At Phoenix: Mike Conley scored a career-high 38 points, Memphis just missed a franchise record with 16 3pointers and the Grizzlies rolled past Phoenix.
Conley matched his career best with seven 3s (in 10 attempts) and made 12 of 18 shots overall in his fourth 30point game of the season. He had five the rest of his career.
Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph each added 18 points for the Grizzlies in their third stop of a season-high, six-game road trip.