Washington: 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. Lebron James scored 30 points, narrowly missing a triple-double, to lead the Miami Heat to 106-91 win over the New York Knicks. 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.
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.
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.
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. 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.
Reuters
