Irving shot downs Wizards in overtime
WASHINGTON — Kyrie Irving scored 11 of his 23 points in overtime, including a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 35 seconds left, and the Cleveland Cavaliers edged the Washington Wizards 140-135 in a playoff-type atmosphere Monday night.
The loud, sellout crowd was standing, and so were the players on both benches, when James somehow missed a gimme layup late in the fourth quarter. Moments later, he banked in a maximum-degree-of-difficulty, step-back 3 with 0.3 seconds left to send the game overtime, where he fouled out and Irving took over for Cleveland.
James finished 32 points and a careerhigh 17 assists. Kevin Love had 39 points and 12 rebounds for the Eastern Conference leaders, who ended surging Washington’s winning streaks of 17 in a row at home and seven in a row overall.
• Heat 115, Timberwolves 113 — At Minneapolis: Goran Dragic scored 33 points and hit a career-high seven 3pointers to lead Miami to its 11th straight victory.
Hassan Whiteside had 19 points and 13 rebounds, and the Heat shot 53.6 percent (15 for 28) from 3-point range. Miami made 10 more 3s than Minnesota and held on late after a furious comeback attempt by the Wolves.
Karl-Anthony Towns had 35 points and eight rebounds for the Timberwolves, who have lost four straight games. Andrew Wiggins added 27 points, but missed two shots with chances to win the game in the final 8.5 seconds.
• Grizzlies 89, Spurs 74 — At Memphis, Tenn.: Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph scored 15 points each, Mike Conley added 12 points and nine assists and Memphis held San Antonio to a season low in points.
The game was close until Memphis stretched the margin to double digits just past the midway point of the fourth quarter and maintained the cushion the rest of the way.
• Pacers 93, Thunder 90 — At Indianapolis: Paul George had 21 points and eight rebounds, Jeff Teague scored 17 points and Indiana rallied from an 11point halftime deficit to beat Oklahoma City.
Indiana has won seven straight games — its longest winning streak in almost two years.
• Raptors 118, Clippers 109 — At Toronto: DeMar DeRozan had 31 points and Toronto overcame a triple-double from Blake Griffin to beat Los Angeles.
Griffin, who had his fifth career triple-double and first of the season in three quarters, finished with 26 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists. It wasn’t enough to prevent the Clippers from a third straight defeat against the Raptors and their seventh in eight games in Toronto.
• Jazz 120, Hawks 95 — At Atlanta: Gordon Hayward scored 30 points and Utah broke open a close game with 10 straight points in the third quarter to beat Atlanta.
Hayward scored a season-high 33 points in Utah’s 105-98 win over Charlotte on Saturday and had 15 points as the Jazz built a 27-14 lead in the first quarter in this one.
• Lakers 121, Knicks 107 — At New York: Lou Williams scored 22 points, Nick Young had 17 and Los Angeles handed New York an embarrassing defeat to stop a 12-game losing streak on the road.
Julius Randle and Brandon Ingram added 14 points apiece for the struggling Lakers, who won for only the third time in 13 games overall. They had dropped 17 of their previous 18 away from home, with the only road victory during that stretch coming on Dec. 16 in Philadelphia.
• Pelicans 111, Suns 106 — At New Orleans: Anthony Davis capped his 34point night with a key rebound and six made free throws in the final half minute, Jrue Holiday scored five of his 30 points in the last minute and a half and New Orleans ended a four-game slide with a victory over Phoenix.
E’Twaun Moore scored 12 points for the Pelicans, who led by as many as 10 in the first half but found themselves behind for much of the fourth quarter until Davis and Holiday took over late.
• Nuggets 110, Mavericks 87 — At Denver: Will Barton scored 31 points, connecting on five 3-pointers, and Denver overcame the absence of three starters to beat Dallas.
Gary Harris added 20 points and Wilson Chandler had 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Nuggets, who were without forward Danilo Gallinari because of a left groin strain and guard Emmanuel Mudiay due to a recurrence of a lower back injury. Also missing the game was forward Kenneth Faried, who was excused to tend to personal matters.
• Pistons 113, 76ers 96 — At Auburn Hills, Mich.: Andre Drummond had 16 points and 17 rebounds, and Detroit pulled away at the start of the third quarter for an easy victory over Philadelphia.
Detroit led 55-46 at halftime, then made its first six shots of the third quarter. The Pistons went on to outscore Philadelphia 34-21 in the period and were never seriously challenged after that.