(The Sports Xchange) – Forward Chris Bosh’s three-pointer with 0.5 of a second remaining lifted the Miami Heat to a 108-107 points victory over the Portland Trail Blazers at the Moda Center. Bosh scored a season-high 37 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Heat (23-7), who played without injured forward LeBron James.
Portland had a final chance to win, but forward LaMarcus Aldridge missed a short jumper after a lob pass at the rim as time expired.
Guard Wesley Matthews scored 18 of his team-high 23 points for the Trail Blazers (24-6), who lost for only the third time at home this season. Aldridge added 22 points and seven boards for the Blazers.
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Clippers 98, Jazz 90
Forward Blake Griffin scored 40 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, leading the Los Angeles Clippers to victory over the Utah Jazz at Staples Center.
It was the second game in a row in which Griffin scored at least 30 points, following his 35-point, 11-rebound performance in an overtime loss on Thursday at the Portland Trail Blazers. Griffin has 23 double-doubles this season.
Point guard Chris Paul just missed recording a triple-double. He scored 21 points, dished out nine assists and had 10 rebounds. He also had five steals as the Clippers (21-11) ended a two-game skid and beat the Jazz (9-24) for the sixth consecutive time.
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Pacers 105, Nets 91
Indiana forward Paul George scored 24 points and played strong defense on Brooklyn guard Joe Johnson to lead the Pacers to victory over the Nets.
Red-hot guard Lance Stephenson had 23 points, nine rebounds and seven assists for the Pacers, who won their fourth in a row and improved their Eastern Conference-best record to 24-5.
Brooklyn (10-20) fought hard but was held back by a porous defense that allowed Indiana to match a season best with 53.5 percent shooting from the field.
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Wizards 106, Pistons 82
Wizards point guard John Wall had 20 points and 11 assists and center Marcin Gortat scored 16 points as Washington turned a dominant first half into a rout over the Detroit Pistons.
Guard Bradley Beal started and scored 15 points for the Wizards (13-14) one night after having to be carried off the court with a knee injury in a 120-98 loss at the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Coming off its worst loss of the season, Washington produced its largest margin of victory. The Wizards never trailed and closed the first half on a 20-4 run for a 62-41 halftime lead.
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Raptors 115, Knicks 100
Guard Kyle Lowry had season bests with 32 points and eight rebounds and equaled his season high with 11 assists as the Toronto Raptors defeated the New York Knicks.
Guard-forward Terrence Ross added 23 points for the Raptors (13-15), who completed a sweep of their back-to-back games over the injury-depleted Knicks following a win in New York on Friday.
Guard DeMar DeRozan added 20 points for Toronto and guard Greivis Vasquez chipped in with 11 points. Forward Amar’e Stoudemire scored 23 points to lead the Knicks (9-21), who have lost three in a row.
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Mavericks 105, Bulls 83
Dallas guard Monta Ellis scored 22 points as the Mavericks built a big lead and held on for a victory over the Chicago Bulls at the United Center.
Forward Dirk Nowitzki and guard Vince Carter added 18 points each and forward Shawn Marion contributed 14 points and 13 rebounds for the Mavericks.
The Bulls fell to 1-8 against Western Conference opponents this season. The Mavericks are 8-3 against the East. Entering Saturday’s action, the West held a commanding 96-44 advantage in out-of-conference games.
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Hawks 118, Bobcats
116 (OT)
Reserve guard Lou Williams scored 28 points and was 10-for-10 from the line in overtime to lift the Atlanta Hawks to a narrow victory over the Charlotte Bobcats.
Atlanta (17-13) got 33 points from forward Paul Millsap and 20 points from guard Jeff Teague to overcome a 14-point second-half deficit. The Hawks, who played three straight games in overtime, beat the Bobcats for the 10th consecutive time.
Charlotte (14-17) was led by forward Al Jefferson, who had 24 points and 23 rebounds, his fifth double-double in six games.
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Grizzlies 120, Nuggets 99
Forward Zach Randolph scored 20 points and reserve forward Ed Davis added 17 for the Memphis Grizzlies as the Denver Nuggets fell to a sixth consecutive loss, the franchise’s longest losing streak in nine seasons.
Denver, which won three of four against the Grizzlies last season, was playing Memphis for the first time this season.
Randolph averaged only 13 points in the four games against Denver last season, but was dominant early in the third quarter when the Grizzlies (13-16) pulled away.
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Rockets 107, Pelicans 98
Forward Chandler Parsons scored on a late putback of his own miss and the Houston Rockets closed with a hot shooting surge to beat the New Orleans Pelicans at the Toyota Center.
Rockets center Dwight Howard paced Houston (21-11) with 24 points and 18 rebounds. Parsons added 19 points and seven rebounds.
A sudden splurge from deep enabled the Rockets to seize the lead with 3:14 left and answer a Pelicans run that knocked Houston on its heels. New Orleans scored eight consecutive points after the Rockets pushed in front 86-82.
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Celtics 103, Cavaliers 100
The Boston Celtics have had all kinds of trouble holding second-half leads this season. They did it again on Saturday, but this time they survived.
Forward Brandon Bass blocked Cleveland guard Dion Waiters’ potential game-tying drive to the basket in the closing seconds, allowing the Celtics, who blew most of a 22-point third-quarter lead, to hang on for victory.
The loss, Cleveland’s fourth straight and sixth in the last seven games, came in the Cavaliers’ first game after handing center Andrew Bynum an indefinite suspension for “conduct detrimental to the team”.
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Timberwolves 117,
Bucks 95
Forward Kevin Love scored 33 points as the Minnesota Timberwolves rolled to victory over the Milwaukee Bucks at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.
In 35 minutes, Love went 11 of 17 from the field, made 4 of 6 three-pointers and pulled down 14 rebounds to go along with six assists. He paced a Timberwolves offense that shot 48 percent from the field and was 11 of 24 from beyond the arc.
Along with Love, Kevin Martin had a big night for the Timberwolves (15-15), finishing with 20 points.
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Suns 115, 76ers 101
Center Miles Plumlee scored a career-high 22 points and added 13 rebounds as the Phoenix Suns bounced back from their worst loss of the season to beat the Philadelphia 76ers. Plumlee took seven stitches to his chin after a third-quarter fall but did return to the game.
Guard Goran Dragic matched Plumlee with 21 points for the Suns, who lost by 29 points at Golden State on Friday but used 31 fast-break points to overcome a poor three-point shooting night (5 of 21) to win for a ninth time in their past 11 games.
Guard Eric Bledsoe scored 20 points and forward Marcus Morris had 18 as the Suns improved to 11-4 at home and won for the ninth time in December.
