(The Sports Xchange) – – –Lebron James scored 30 points, narrowly missing a triple-double, to lead the Miami Heat to 106-91 win over the New York Knicks on Saturday.
James also had eight rebounds, seven assists and six steals.
The Heat won for the sixth time in their last eight games.
Carmelo Anthony led the Knicks (19-28) with 26 points.
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Wizards 96, Thunder 81
Oklahoma City forward Kevin Durant’s return to his hometown ended rudely as All-Star guard John Wall and the Washington Wizards snapped the Thunder’s 10-game winning streak with a 96-81 victory.
Wall had 17 points, 15 assists and six steals for the Wizards, who pulled away from the Western Conference leading Thunder with a 27-11 second-half run.
Forward Trevor Ariza scored 18 points.
Durant, who was born in Washington and raised in the nearby Maryland suburbs, scored 26 points, but lacked consistency with his usually potent shot.
The NBA’s leading scorer missed all six of his three-point attempts and finished 8-of-21 from the field.
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Pacers 97, Nets 96
The All-Star duo of forward Paul George and center Roy Hibbert scored 20 points each to lead the Indiana Pacers to a 97-96 victory over the Brooklyn Nets.
The back-and-forth battle had nine lead changes and seven ties with the Pacers’ largest lead of 11 points early in the second half, while the Nets’ largest of seven was in the first.
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Pistons 113, 76ers 96
Center Andre Drummond led five players in double figures, four of whom scored at least 20 points, to help the Detroit Pistons earn a lopsided 113-96 win over the Philadelphia 76ers.
Drummond scored 22 points and added 14 rebounds, forward Greg Monroe had 21 points and 12 rebounds, point guard Brandon Jennings and forward Kyle Singler each scored 20 points and guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added 12 points for the Pistons.
Tony Wroten, filling in for injured guard Michael Carter-Williams who sat out the game with shoulder soreness, led five Philadelphia players in double-figures by scoring 18 points.
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Hawks 120, Timberwolves 113
Forward Kevin Love scored 43 points but it was not enough to finally get the Minnesota Timberwolves a victory in Atlanta.
Guard Kyle Korver had 17 points in the second half and the Hawks won for the 11th successive time over Minnesota at home with a 120-113 victory.
Korver, who was 3-for-5 from behind the arc, scored 24 points, and forward Paul Millsap had 20 points and 13 rebounds before fouling out with four minutes to play.
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Pelicans 88, Bulls 79
Forward Anthony Davis scored 15 of his game-high 24 points in the second half and grabbed eight rebounds and blocked six shots to lift the New Orleans Pelicans to a 88-79 victory over the Chicago Bulls.
Playing with a dislocated left index finger on his non-shooting hand, Davis did not seem bothered as he made 10 of 14 shots, including three mid-range jumpers in the fourth quarter.
The Bulls were led by guard D.J. Augustin’s 23 points.
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Grizzlies 99, Bucks 90
Memphis gave rookie Nick Calathes the first NBA start of his career and he rewarded the Grizzlies with career highs in points (22), made three-pointers (four) and rebounds (five) in a 99-90 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks.
It was a sixth successive win and 11th in their last 12 games for Memphis, who got another double-double from power forward Zach Randolph (23 points, 10 rebounds).
Milwaukee (8-39) lost their sixth in a row and are now 1-15 in 2014.
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Rockets 106, Cavaliers 92
Rockets point guard Jeremy Lin recorded his first career triple-double and provided the burst needed for a critical third-quarter run that pushed Houston to a 106-92 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Lin finished with 15 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists and served as the catalyst after the Rockets (32-17) surrendered the opening 11 points of the second half.
Lin emerged from the bench and sparked a 13-3 run that enabled Houston to suppress the Cavaliers for good.
