Brooklyn wins without Kyrie
Playing without injured Kyrie Irving for the first time this season last night at United Center, the Nets rallied down the stretch behind 20 fourth-quarter points from Spencer Dinwiddie for a 117-111 victory over the Bulls. The win ended a three-game Nets losing streak and gave them a 2-3 record at the end of their five-game road trip.
The teams were tied at 86 when the Nets put together a 13-6 surge to take a 99-92 lead on a Taurean Prince threepointer with 3:43 to play. Dinwiddie had six points in that stretch, and when he made three fouls shots at the 1:35 mark, it pushed the Nets’ lead to 105-96.
Seven straight Bulls points by Zach Lavine cut their deficit to 109-105 with 28.1 seconds left, and a Lauri Markkanen’s three-pointer made it a two-point game with 9.5 seconds left.
The Nets (5-7) hit their final 15 foul shots in the final period. Dinwiddie had 24 points and Joe Harris added 22. But the Nets were only 10-for-43 on threepoint attempts and were outrebounded, 56-40.
Hornets 103, Knicks 102 —
Devonte’ Graham made his ninth 3-pointer of the game with 2.8 seconds remaining, finishing with 29 points to lead Charlotte to a victory in New York.
P.J. Washington scored 19 points, Terry Rozier had 16 and Marvin Williams added 13 off the bench for the Hornets, who won on a late 3-pointer for the second straight night.
RJ Barrett scored 22 points and Mitchell Robinson had 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Knicks.
Bucks 102, Pacers 83 —
Giannis Antetokounmpo had 26 points, 13 rebounds and six assists as Milwaukee won in Indianapolis.
Brook Lopez added 15 points and eight boards. His five blocked shots helped hold Indiana to a season-low 32 percent from the field.
Donte DiVincenzo contributed 14 points, and Eric Bledsoe finished with 10 points and five assists for the Bucks.
Myles Turner, playing his first game since Oct. 30, had 16 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks for Indiana.
Heat 109, Pelicans 94 —
Kendrick Nunn scored 22 points and Miami remained unbeaten at home with a win over New Orleans.
Bam Adebayo had 18 points and 14 rebounds, and Jimmy Butler added 16 points, 13 assists and eight rebound. Miami is 5-0 at home and 9-3 overall — tying the best 12-game start in team history.
Duncan Robinson scored 15 points and Kelly Olynyk had 13 for the Heat — who committed a franchise-record-low six fouls.
Nickell AlexanderWalkler led the Pelicans with 27 points, while E’Twaun Moore scored 18.
Rockets 125, Timberwolves 105 —
James Harden scored 49 points on a career-high 41 shots from the field and Houston won its seventh straight game.
With Russell Westbrook resting, the Rockets needed Harden to shoulder an even bigger scoring load than usual.
Harden made 16 of the 41 shots, going 8 for 22 from 3-point range. He was 9 of 11 on free throws.
Ben McLemore scored 20 points. Undrafted rookie Chris Clemons scored a career-high 19 off the bench for the Rockets. Austin Rivers also scored 19 points.
Karl-Anthony Towns had 27 points and 15 rebounds for the Timberwolves.