Clippers Relish Home Return, Beat Spurs
The Los Angeles Clippers shone on their return home, cruising to an authoritative 115-92 victory over San Antonio in Monday's clash of NBA divisional leaders.
The Clippers performance was the highlight on a day when Detroit handed Indiana its first home-court loss of the season, Atlanta was too good for the misfiring Los Angeles Lakers, and LeBron James led Miami past Utah.
Blake Griffin scored 27 points, hitting 11 of 15 free throws, as the Clippers relished a return to Los Angeles following a seven-game road trip.
Chris Paul added 23 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for the Clippers, who repelled several threats in the third quarter to maintain their lead.
Tim Duncan had 17 points and 11 rebounds for the Spurs, whose four-game winning streak ended.
Detroit's Josh Smith had 30 points to lead the Pistons to a surprise 101-96 win at Indiana.
Greg Monroe finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds for Detroit, which had lost on its previous nine visits to Indiana.
Lance Stephenson had a season high 23 points for the Pacers, who had won their first 11 home games. The defeat left Oklahoma City as the only team unbeaten at home with a 12-0 record.
Indiana tied the score four times and got as close as 96-94 late in the fourth.
Atlanta's Kyle Korver sank three 3-pointers in a dominant third quarter which set up the Hawks' 114-100 win over the Lakers.
Al Horford scored 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Hawks.
Los Angeles' Kobe Bryant made only 4 of 14 shots for eight points, with his game emblematic of his team's poor shooting.
Nick Young led the Lakers with 23 points while making five 3-pointers.
Miami's LeBron James finished with 30 points, nine rebounds and nine assists despite sitting some of the second half after twisting an ankle, and led the Heat to a 117-94 win over Utah.
Dwyane Wade added 27 points for Miami, which notched its 17th straight victory over a Western Conference opponent, the second-longest regular-season streak by an Eastern Conference team in NBA history. Boston won 20 straight over the West during a nine-month span of 1973.
Alec Burks scored 31 points for the Jazz.
Boston's Jared Sullinger had 24 points and 11 rebounds, including a tie-breaking 3-pointer with 2:22 left that helped the Celtics hold off Minnesota and win 101-97.
Sullinger had 15 points and six rebounds in the fourth quarter, and Avery Bradley had 19 points for the game.
Kevin Love had 27 points and 14 rebounds for Minnesota, which has not won in Boston since 2005. The Timberwolves went 8 of 29 from 3-point range.
Washington's Bradley Beal sank a driving layup with 6 seconds remaining to give the Wizards a 102-101 win over New York.
The Knicks didn't use one of their three remaining timeouts after Beal's basket. Carmelo Anthony took the inbounds pass, dribbled the up court and attempted a 3-pointer that bounced off the rim as time expired.
Beal led the Wizards with 21 points, including their final seven as Washington erased a six-point fourth-quarter deficit.
Martell Webster added 30 points for the Wizards.
Anthony finished with 32 for the Knicks.
Orlando's Arron Afflalo scored 23 points to help the Magic beat slumping Chicago 83-82.
Glen Davis had 14 points and 11 rebounds despite playing with a sore left shoulder, powering Orlando to a 54-45 edge on the glass.
The Bulls had a chance to win despite shooting 34.6 percent from the field during another terrible offensive performance. Trailing 81-79 with 6.8 seconds left, Joakim Noah made a terrific bounce pass to a streaking Luol Deng, but he missed the easy layup.
Deng had 26 points and eight rebounds for Chicago, which has dropped five of six.
Brooklyn's Joe Johnson made 10 3-pointers, most in the NBA this season, and scored a season-high 37 points to lead the Nets to a 130-94 win over Philadelphia.
Johnson finished 10 for 14 from behind the arc, including 8 of 10 during an incredible third-quarter shooting performance which yielded him 29 points — the most in any quarter in his career.
Deron Williams had 13 points and 13 assists for the Nets, who led by as many as 42.
James Anderson scored 17 points for the 76ers, who have dropped 11 in a row on the road since winning their first.
Source: Associated Press
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