Williams, Harden lead Rockets over Thunder
HOUSTON: Lou Williams scored 31 points while James Harden finished with 22 points and 12 assists as the Houston Rockets cruised to a 137-125 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday.
Oklahoma City star Russell Westbrook had 39 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists for his second straight triple-double and his 36th this season, but Harden led the Rockets to a 25-point lead through three quarters in the matchup between top MVP candidates.
Trevor Ariza and Eric Gordon added 24 points apiece for the Rockets, whose lead was trimmed to eight on a 3-pointer by Westbrook with about 90 seconds left. The Rockets then scored four quick points to secure the victory.
Harden left late in the game after crashing into the court and appearing to injure his left wrist, but said in a TV interview he expected to be OK.
112, HEAT 108: Isaiah Thomas scored 30 points, including 20 in the second half, as Boston beat Miami for its fourth straight victory.
The win moved Boston (48-26) within percentage points of Cleveland (47-25) for the top spot in the Eastern Conference. The Celtics also equaled their win total from last season.
Jae Crowder added 25 points and six rebounds for the Celtics.
WARRIORS 106, GRIZZLIES 94: Klay Thompson scored 21 of his 31 points in the second half as Golden State pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat Memphis for its seventh straight win.
Stephen Curry added 21 points and 11 assists, and Andre Iguodala scored 20 as the Warriors (59-14) extended their lead to 2½ games over the Spurs for the top spot in the West. Golden State began a stretch of five games in eight days when the Warriors will face playoff contenders Houston (twice), San Antonio and Washington.
TRAIL BLAZERS 97, LAKERS 81: Damian Lillard scored 22 points and Portland defeated Los Angeles to pull even with Denver in the race for the final Western Conference playoff spot.
Both the Trail Blazers and Nuggets are 35-38 with nine games left in the regular season. They play each other Tuesday in Portland.
Portland took control by outscoring the Lakers 37-24 in the third quarter and led by as many as 26 points. Los Angeles shot 39 percent from the field and was outrebounded 61-42.
PELICANS 115, NUGGETS 90: Anthony Davis had 31 points and 15 rebounds, helping to compensate for the absence of injured DeMarcus Cousins, as New Orleans boosted its flickering playoff hopes by beating Denver.
New Orleans is in 11th place in the West with nine games remaining and faces long odds in trying to overtake Dallas, Portland and Denver for the No. 8 seed.
BULLS 109, BUCKS 94: Nikola Mirotic tied a season high with 28 points while Jimmy Butler had 20 points and a career-high 14 assists as the Bulls pulled away for the win.
Butler broke his previous career best for assists (12) by the end of a pivotal third quarter, when Chicago stretched a onepoint lead at the half to 91-79 going into the fourth.
98, CLIPPERS 97: Willie Cauley-Stein made a follow shot with two seconds left, lifting Sacramento to the road win.
Down 85-67 early in the fourth, the Kings rallied while Blake Griffin, Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan were resting. Buddy Hield hit three 3-pointers in the final minutes, pulling the Kings to 96-93 with 2:10 to play.