San Antonio cruised past state rival Dallas 112-90 on Wednesday to take the outright lead in the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Western Conference, with the old guard of Tony Parker and Tim Duncan again to the fore for the Spurs.
Among the day’s other games, Atlanta started strongly to beat league leader Indiana, Brooklyn ended Golden State’s 10-game winning streak and Phoenix stunned Minnesota with a one-point victory.
Parker scored 25 points and Tim Duncan had 16 points and 13 rebounds for the Spurs, who moved out of a tie with Oklahoma City for the conference lead.
Monta Ellis had 21 points, with Dirk Nowitzki going three-for-14 and ending up with only eight points.
Atlanta held off a weary Indiana to win 97-87, with Kyle Korver scoring 17 points and Pero Antic 16.
The Hawks extended Indiana’s misery at Philips Arena, where the Pacers have not won since 2006.
They dropped their 12th in a row in Atlanta, the team’s longest active road losing streak against any team.
Indiana looked very much like a squad playing their fourth game in five nights and also had dealt with travel issues because of the arctic weather. The Pacers managed just 12 points in the first quarter and 32 in the opening half — both season lows.
Paul George led Indiana with 28 points.
Brooklyn’s Joe Johnson scored 27 points in the Nets’ season-high fourth straight victory, beating Golden State 102-98.
Kevin Garnett scored 11 of his 13 points in the final quarter and stole Stephen Curry’s pass with the Warriors down three in the final half-minute.
Curry scored 34 points for the Warriors, who were bidding for a franchise-record 11th consecutive victory. However, until Curry’s jumper with 5.8 seconds to go, they did not make a field goal after Klay Thompson’s three-pointer with 4:07 remaining.
Phoenix’s Gerald Green made a baseline jump shot with 3.9 seconds remaining to give the Suns a 104-103 win at Minnesota.
The Suns trailed by six points with just over 90 seconds to play, but closed the game on a 7-0 run.
Goran Dragic had 26 points, nine assists and six rebounds, while Channing Frye scored 22 points for Phoenix.
Kevin Martin scored 20 points for the Wolves, but his running shot at the buzzer hit the rim.
Houston’s James Harden tied a season high with 38 points to lead the Rockets to a 113-99 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.
Dwight Howard added 20 points and 13 rebounds to get his first win against his former team as the Rockets used a big third-quarter run to take the lead and send the injury-riddled Lakers to their third straight loss.
Harden notched his third-straight 30-point game, piling up 113 points in the process.
The Rockets trailed in the third quarter before going on a 17-2 run to take an 80-67 lead and roll to a win.
Nick Young scored 25 points to lead Los Angeles.
Portland’s Nicolas Batum had 14 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high 14 assists for his fourth career triple-double as the Trail Blazers won 110-94 to hand Orlando their fifth straight loss.
Washington made it six wins from seven home games with a 102-96 victory at New Orleans, with Trevor Ariza scoring 21 points.
Toronto handed slumping Detroit a sixth successive defeat, beating the Pistons 112-91 as Kyle Lowry had 21 points and nine assists.
Los Angeles’ Blake Griffin scored 29 points to lead the Clippers to a 111-105 victory over Boston.
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