George leads Pacers past Pistons

(The Sports Xchange) Small forward Paul George poured in 31 points and added 10 rebounds, four assists and four steals to lead the Indiana Pacers to a 99-91 victory over the Detroit Pistons Tuesday night.

The Pacers (4-0) remained the league’s lone undefeated team by downing the Pistons (2-2) for the sixth consecutive time.

Guard C.J. Watson contributed 15 points, forward David West chipped in 12 points and eight rebounds and center Roy Hibbert had eight points, 10 rebounds and seven blocks for Indiana, which is off to its first 4-0 start since 2004-05.

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Rockets 116, Trail Blazers 101

Rockets guard James Harden and center Dwight Howard were simply too much for the Trail Blazers, combining for 62 points to lead Houston to victory.

Harden collected 33 points and seven rebounds, and Howard had 29 points and 13 boards as the Rockets rebounded from a 137-118 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday and improved to 4-1.

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Spurs 102, Nuggets 94

Point guard Tony Parker scored 24 points, forward Tim Duncan dropped in 17 as the San Antonio Spurs beat the Denver Nuggets.

Forward Kawhi Leonard scored 14 points for the Spurs (3-1).

Point guard Ty Lawson had 20 points and eight assists for the Nuggets, who are off to an 0-3 start for the second consecutive season.

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Mavericks 123, Lakers 104

Guard Monta Ellis sliced through the Los Angeles Lakers for 30 points, leading the Dallas Mavericks to a comfortable victory.

The Mavericks (3-1) led by as many as 30 points and were able to rest their starters late. Reserve Nick Young had 21 points to lead the Lakers (2-3).

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Heat 104, Raptors 95

The NBA champion Heat continued their domination of the Toronto Raptors with their 12th straight win against them, as forward LeBron James scored 35 points to lead the way.

James also had eight assists and eight rebounds and guard Dwyane Wade added 20 points for the Heat (3-2).

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Nets 104, Jazz 88

Brook Lopez scored 27 points to lead six Nets players in double figures as Brooklyn beat Utah.

Missing four of its key players in Trey Burke, Jeremy Evans, Brandon Rush and Andris Biedrins, the Jazz could not keep up. Guard Gordon Hayward led the team with 22.