Lakers struggle, defeat Wizards

A night after joking about wanting to face the Washington Generals, the Harlem Globetrotters’ longtime foils, Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers even struggled to put away the Washington Wizards.

Bryant scored 30 points, and reserve Jodie Meeks added 24, helping the visiting Lakers beat the Wizards 102-96 on Friday to end a four-game losing streak.

Cartier Martin scored a season-high 21 points for Washington, which fell to an NBA-worst 3-17.

After his team’s 116-107 loss at the New York Knicks on Thursday night, Bryant opined: “At this point, I wish we had the Washington Generals on our schedule.”

Instead, they got the Wizards, who actually took a 4132 lead on Martin’s three-point play with 7½ minutes left in the second quarter.

Magic 99, Warriors 85: J. J. Redick had 16 points and Nikola Vucevic added 12 points and 17 rebounds to help host Orlando Magic beat Golden State.

The Magic led by as many as 20 before having their lead trimmed to 10 points late. But they connected on nine 3-pointers to help secure the win. Andrew Nicholson added 15 points and nine rebounds.

Stephen Curry led Golden State with 25 points and David Lee had 24.

Raptors 95, Mavericks, 74: Linas Kleiza scored 12 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter, rookie Terrence Ross had 18 points and host Toronto whipped Dallas, snapping a sixgame losing streak.

DeMar DeRozan and Jose Calderon had 14 points each for the Raptors, who had lost 14 of their previous 17 meetings with the Mavericks.

Pacers 95, 76ers 85: Paul George scored 28 points and Roy Hibbert played his best allaround game of the season, leading host Indiana over Philadelphia.

Bucks 90, Cavaliers 86: Monta Ellis scored a seasonhigh 33 points, Brandon Jennings added 16 and visiting Milwaukee defeated the Cleveland.

Kyrie Irving scored 26 points to lead Cleveland.

Timberwolves 113, Hornets 102: Nikola Pekovic scored a season-high 31 points, Andrei Kirilenko had 21 points and 11 rebounds, and visiting Minnesota beat New Orleans.

Pekovic was 14 for 18 from the field, scoring almost exclusively inside where Minnesota finished with a whopping 7042 scoring advantage despite an off night for Kevin Love, who made only 4 of 18 shots.

Thunder 113, Kings 103: Kevin Durant scored 31 points, Serge Ibaka added 18 points and 11 rebounds and host Oklahoma City defeated Sacramento for its 10th straight win.It’s the franchise’s longest winning streak since 1996, when it won 11 in a row as the Seattle SuperSonics.

Rockets 101, Celtics 89: James Harden scored 21 points and Greg Smith added 20 to help host Houston beat Boston.

Harden had 10 points, four assists, two rebounds and a steal in the third quarter as Houston built its lead.

The Rockets used a 9-2 run capped by a 3-pointer by Harden to open the period and go on top 52-47. They never trailed after that and cruised to the victory.

Paul Pierce led Boston with 18 points after scoring a season-high 34 in the Celtics’ double-overtime win at Dallas on Wednesday.

Nets 107, Pistons 105 (2 OT): Joe Johnson made a jumper from just inside the arc as time expired in the second overtime, giving host Brooklyn Nets a victory over Detroit.

Johnson finished with 28 points, scoring the Nets’ final five in the second extra period. Gerald Wallace added 25 points and 10 rebounds.