NEW YORK: Rallying from a nine-point, third-quarter deficit, the Miami Heat earned a victory over the Toronto Raptors in a battle of division leaders.
LeBron James led the Heat with 30 points and the Southeast Division-leading Heat (26-8) won for the 10th time in their past 12 games.
Toronto got a team-high 26 points from guard DeMar DeRozan, who pulled Toronto to within 96-95 with 1:04 left in the fourth quarter before Miami closed the game at the free throw line.
Toronto, which leads the Atlantic Division at 16-16, had its five-game win streak snapped but is 9-4 since they traded forward Rudy Gay.
All-Star forward Paul George had a team-high 16 points and six assists, as the Indiana Pacers held off the stubborn Cavaliers.
The Pacers (27-6) saw their 16-point, fourth-quarter lead cut to just one in the final minute but recovered to seal it at the free throw line.
Dion Waiters scored 12 of his 14 points in the fourth to lead a comeback for the Cavs (11-23).
Klay Thompson scored 26 points on six 3-pointers and David Lee had 21 points and 11 rebounds as the Golden State Warriors won their ninth straight game.
The Warriors (23-13) used a 30-5 run during the third quarter to pull away and have won nine straight games for the first time since 1975.
Point guard John Wall had 14 points and 10 assists for the Wizards (14-17), who have lost three straight games.
Reggie Jackson scored a career-high 27 points in leading the Oklahoma City Thunder to a victory over the Boston Celtics.
Coming off a 48-point effort the night before, Kevin Durant posted 21 points, eight assists and seven rebounds in only 27 minutes for the Thunder (27-7).
Boston (13-21) lost its fourth game in a row and seventh in its last eight outings.
New York forward Carmelo Anthony scored a game-high 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds as the Knicks completed a solid four-game road trip.
The Knicks (11-22) split their four-game road trip, but they went 2-1 against the Texas trio of the San Antonio Spurs, Houston Rockets and Dallas.
The Mavericks (19-15) dropped their fourth consecutive home game.
Reserve forward Joe Leuer tied his career-high with 23 points and power forward Zach Randolph powered for 16 points and 16 rebounds as the Memphis Grizzlies blew out the Detroit Pistons.
It was the Grizzlies’ (15-18) eighth consecutive win over the Pistons.
REUTERS
