Barea, Mavs snap Raptors’ win streak
J.J. Barea scored 20 points, including a clinching a layup in the final seconds, and the Mavericks ended a six-game winning streak by Toronto with a 98-93 victory against the Raptors last night in Dallas.
The Mavericks held DeMar DeRozan and the Raptors to season lows in shooting percentage as Toronto lost for just the second time in 14 games, with each loss coming after six straight wins.
Dirk Nowitzki scored 18 points and fellow German Maxi Kleber had 15 points and matched his rookie season best with five blocks. Harrison Barnes had 16 points and 10 rebounds.
Kyle Lowry led Toronto with 23 points but didn’t score in the fourth quarter, while DeRozan couldn’t get going at all after averaging 37 points on a three-game road winning streak. DeRozan scored eight points while shooting 19 percent (3of-16). His previous low was 20 percent (1-of-5) in his only other single-digit game this season, two points in a 112-78 win at Atlanta in November.
The teams combined to make just 5-of31 shots in the final eight minutes, including two misses by Serge Ibaka with the Raptors trailing by three before Barea hit a layup with 10 seconds left after dribbling out most of the shot clock.
The Raptors (23-9) came into the game with the best winning percentage in the Eastern Conference but shot less than 40 percent for the first time this season.
Pistons 107, Pacers 83 — Tobias Harris scored 30 points to help host Detroit rout Indiana.
The victory moved the Pistons past the Pacers and into the second spot in the NBA’s Central Division.
Andre Drummond added 21 points for Detroit. Ish Smith (12) and Reggie Bullock (11) also reached double digits.
Victor Oladipo led the Pacers with 13 points. Domantas Sabonis, Bojan Bogdanovic and Myles Turner each scored 10.
Bulls 115, Bucks 106 — Nikola Mirotic came off the bench to score 24 points in 28 minutes and Chicago won for the eighth time in 10 games, beating host Milwaukee.
Chicago’s surge coincides with the return of Mirotic, who missed the beginning of the season after suffering facial fractures in an October fight with teammate Bobby Portis.
Kris Dunn rebounded from a 1-for-12 shooting game Saturday against the Celtics with 20 points and 12 assists in 33 minutes for the Bulls.
Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 28 points and Eric Bledsoe had 22 to pace Milwaukee, which has lost five of seven.
Heat 107, Magic 89 — Josh Richardson scored 20 points, Wayne Ellington had 12 of his 18 points in a dominant fourth quarter and host Miami beat struggling Orlando.
Tyler Johnson added 17, Kelly Olynyk scored 15 and Goran Dragic had 14 for the Heat, who outscored Orlando 39-21 in the fourth.
Elfrid Payton scored 19 points for Orlando, which now has two separate nine- game losing streaks this season. The Magic started 8-4, and are 3-20 since.
Spurs 109, Nets 97 — Kawhi Leonard scored 21 points, LaMarcus Aldridge added 20 and host San Antonio beat Brooklyn in its first game of the season with every player healthy and available.
Playing in just his fifth game, Leonard was 8-for-17 from the field in scoring a season high.
Caris LeVert led Brooklyn with 18 points and Allen Crabbe added 15.
Suns 99, Grizzlies 97 — Tyson Chandler dunked Dragan Bender’s inbounds pass from the opposite sideline with 0.4 sec- onds remaining to give host Phoenix a victory against Memphis.
Bender threw a perfect pass and Chandler jumped over a defender to slam it down, though the play was reviewed by officials to see if there was offensive basket interference. After replay review, the basket counted, and Kobi Simmons missed the Grizzlies’ last attempt to tie at the buzzer.
Nuggets 107, Jazz 83 — Jamal Murray scored 13 of his 22 points in the first quar- ter and host Denver overcame the ejection of Nikola Jokic to beat Utah.
Clippers 122, Kings 95 — Montrezl Harrell scored 22 points and Lou Williams added 21, both off the bench, to lead host Los Angeles to a rout of Sacramento.