David West stole the ball from Dirk Nowitzki with two seconds left to preserve a 99-97 win for the New Orleans Hornets over the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday.
Dallas, trailing 98-97, was trying to set up for a potential game-winning shot when West — who finished with 17 points — stole the ball and made one of two free throws for the final margin.
Chris Paul had 20 points and 11 assists as New Orleans avenged their first loss of the season on Monday in Dallas.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Nowitzki had 29 points and nine rebounds for the Mavericks.
SPURS 103, BULLS 94
In San Antonio, Tony Parker scored 21 points, hours after his Hollywood actress wife filed for divorce, to lead San Antonio to its eighth straight win, defeating Chicago.
Actress Eva Longoria filed court papers earlier ON Wednesday to divorce Parker, citing irreconcilable differences between the Desperate Housewives star and the point guard. A swarm of media before the game waited for Parker, who called the divorce a private matter.
Derrick Rose scored 33 points for the Bulls.
LAKERS 103, PISTONS 90
In Auburn Hills, Michigan, Kobe Bryant scored 33 points without playing in the fourth quarter as Los Angeles downed Detroit.
Bryant scored 24 in the first half, helping the Lakers open a 14-point halftime lead, and the struggling Pistons allowed the first seven points of the third quarter to fall behind 66-45. Pau Gasol added 25 points and 12 rebounds for Los Angeles.
Rodney Stuckey scored 18 points for the Pistons, which had to cope with the early ejection of Richard Hamilton.
CELTICS 114, WIZARDS 83
In Boston, the home team was able to rest its starters in the fourth quarter of a dominant win over Washington.
Paul Pierce scored 23 points and Rajon Rondo had 12 points and 13 assists for the Celtics, who were ahead 89-69 at the end of three quarters and went ahead by as many as 37 in the fourth.
Nick Young scored 20 points for the Wizards, who were without No. 1 overall draft pick John Wall, who sat out because of a foot sprain.
RAPTORS 94, 76ERS 86
In Philadelphia, Andrea Bargnani scored a season-high 30 points as Toronto downed Philadelphia in a meeting of the two worst teams in the Eastern Conference.
Sonny Weems added a career-high 25 for the Raptors.
Elton Brand led the Sixers with 27 points.
JAZZ 98, NETS 88
In Salt Lake City, Deron Williams scored 23 points and dished out eight assists as Utah beat New Jersey.
Paul Millsap had 19 points, 15 rebounds and four assists for Utah. All five Jazz starters were in double figures by early in the third quarter.
Anthony Morrow scored 24 points to lead New Jersey.
HEAT 123, SUNS 96
In Miami, Chris Bosh scored a season-high 35 points before sitting out the fourth quarter as Miami ran away from Phoenix.
LeBron James had 20 points for Miami, which used two big runs — a 24-9 spurt to end the first half, followed by an 18-3 flurry that closed the third quarter — to snap the Suns’ three-game winning streak. James also had nine assists and eight boards.
All five Phoenix starters scored in double figures, led by Steve Nash’s 17.
THUNDER 116, ROCKETS 99
In Oklahoma City, the hosts recorded their biggest win over the season, defeating Houston.
Kevin Durant scored 24 points in three quarters and Russell Westbrook had 21 points and 12 assists for Oklahoma City.
Durant came in second in the league at 41-and-a-half minutes per game, but played just under 30 with Oklahoma City comfortably ahead.
Luis Scola had 26 points for Houston.
KNICKS 113, KINGS 106
In Sacramento, New York overcame a slow shooting start to beat Sacramento and snap a six-game losing skid.
Amar’e Stoudemire and Danilo Gallinari each scored 27 points for the Knicks, who were the stronger team in the final quarter despite playing for the second straight night.
Tyreke Evans scored 23 points for the Kings.
TIMBERWOLVES 113, CLIPPERS 111
In Minneapolis, Michael Beasley scored 33 points and hit the winning jumper with 2.3 seconds to play to lift Minnesota over Los Angeles.
Kevin Love added 24 points and 14 rebounds for the Timberwolves, who nearly blew another big lead in the fourth quarter but held on.
Eric Gordon scored 30 points for the Clippers, who lost their seventh straight.
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Top seeded Jessica Pegula on Friday once again fought back from a set down to reach the WTA Charleston Open semi-finals with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win against Russia’s Diana Shnaider. Defending champion Pegula has lost the first set in all three of her matches at the tournament so far, but again dug deep to maintain her hopes of retaining the title. The world No. 5 from the US took 2 hours, 10 minutes to defeat 19th-ranked Shnaider, relying on a formidable service game that included eight aces. Shnaider battled well in the first two sets and broke early for a 2-0 lead
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