Kyrie Irving made his first seven shots, sparked a huge celebration on the bench with a one-handed follow slam after he finally missed and scored 27 points as Brooklyn beat the San Antonio Spurs to clinch the 12th next win.
Kevin Durant added 25 points and 11 assists for the Nets (25-12), who rode the NBA’s longest winning streak this season to within a game of Boston for the league’s best record. Brooklyn has won 16 of its last 17 games.
Irving shot 11-for-14, Durant was 10-for-14 and did not play in the fourth quarter for the Nets, who are 23-7 under Jacque Vaughn. TJ Warren finished with 18 points and Brooklyn shot 62 percent from the field.
The Brooklyn Nets won their 12th straight with the help of Kyrie Irving, as the guard had 27 points.
STUNNER: Yuta Watanabe, of the Nets, marveled at Irving’s dunk in the first half against the Spurs.
Keldon Johnson scored 22 points for the Spurs, as they moved above the last-place Houston Rockets in the Western Conference.
WARRIORS 143, HAWKS 141, 2 OT
Klay Thompson scored a season-best 54 points and Kevon Looney tipped in his own miss at the buzzer in the second overtime as Golden State rolled past Atlanta.
Trae Young tied the score for the Hawks with a layup with 8.2 seconds left before the Warriors won. Young made four crucial free throws late in the first OT and finished with 30 points and 14 assists.
Looney had a career-high 21 rebounds with 14 points and five assists. Draymond Green hit his only 3-point attempt of the game with 43.8 seconds left in the second OT and finished with 13 rebounds and 11 assists.
Thompson shot 21-for-39 and his 10 3-pointers matched a season high. He drained a go-ahead three with 18 seconds left in the first overtime after his tying three with just 1:55 left in the first extra period.
Donte DiVincenzo knocked down the tying three for the Warriors with 0.6 seconds left in regulation.
Klay Thompson scored 54 points against the Hawks, just six points shy of his personal best of 60
76ERS 120, PELICANS 111
Joel Embiid had 42 points and 11 rebounds, James Harden scored 27 and the Philadelphia 76ers beat a New Orleans team that lost Zion Williamson to a strained right hamstring.
Williamson scored 26 points on 10-of-12 shooting through three quarters before leaving the locker room in the fourth.
The 22-year-old stopped a fastbreak and passed the ball late in the third.
Williamson, who averaged 26 points, cautiously ran to the corner and lingered on the court for a moment before being taken out of the game.
CJ McCollum scored 26 points for the Pelicans.
BIG MEN BATTLE: Joel Embiid scores 42 points against an injured Zion Williamson and the Pels
LAKERS 121, HORNETS 115
LeBron James scored 43 points to surpass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s NBA career scoring record of 500, and Los Angeles avenged last month’s home loss to Charlotte.
James had two dunks in alley-oops, including a high-flying reverse slam off a feed from Dennis Schroder, to push his career total to 37,903 points, leaving him 484 behind the long Abdul-Jabbar’s record of 38,387.
Thomas Bryant had 18 points and 15 rebounds, and Austin Reaves and Schroder each had 15 points as the Lakers finished the road trip 3-2.
Terry Rozier had 27 points to lead the Hornets, who have lost 13 of their last 16 games.
LaMelo Ball added 24 points and Mason Plumlee had 18 points and 14 rebounds for Charlotte.
LeBron James had over 40 points for the second straight game as LA beat the Hornets
HEAT 110, CLIPPERS 100
Bam Adebayo had 31 points and 13 rebounds, and Miami recovered from blowing a 21-point lead to beat Los Angeles.
Tyler Herro added 23 points and Victor Oladipo scored 15 off the bench for the Heat, who won four-of-five.
They swept the two-game season series for the first time since 2017-18.
Paul George had 25 points and seven assists to lead the Clippers, who are without Kawhi Leonard as they lose their third straight. He sat out with an illness that was not COVID-19.
Miami’s Bam Adebayo scored 31 points and had 13 rebounds against a Clippers team without Kawhi.
KNICKS 102, SUNS 83
Julius Randle had 28 points and 16 rebounds to lead New York against Phoenix.
Jalen Brunson scored 24 points after missing three games with a sore right hip. Immanuel Quickley added 15, Quentin Grimes had 12 and Mitchell Robinson finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Knicks.
Deandre Ayton led Phoenix with 12 points, and Chris Paul had 11.
The Suns, who lost for the sixth time in seven games, scored the first four points.
The Knicks trailed by the next 14 and led the rest to snap a three-game losing streak at home.
KING JULIUS: The Knicks dominated the Suns, because the 28-year-old Julius Randle had 28 points
PACERS 122, RAPTORS 114
Bennedict Mathurin scored 21 points and Buddy Hield added 19 to lead Indiana to its fourth straight win.
Myles Turner had 18 points and 11 rebounds, and Tyrese Haliburton added 16 points and eight assists for the Pacers. TJ McConnell scored 15 off the bench.
Gary Trent Jr. scored. of 32 points and Pascal Siakam had 26 for Toronto.
Scottie Barnes added 23.
Indiana rookie guard Bennedict Mathurin, 20, scored 21 points against the Toronto Raptors
MAVERICKS 111, ROCKETS 106
Luka Doncic had 39 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists as Dallas rallied from an 18-point second half deficit to beat Houston for the Mavericks’ seventh straight win.
Doncic scored 29 of his points in the second half to lead the comeback.
The 23-year-old Slovenian has scored at least 32 points in each of the last six games, including three 50-point games during that span.
Christian Wood added 21 points, and Tim Hardaway Jr. scored. by 21 points for Dallas, which has its longest winning streak since the 2010-11 season.
Kevin Porter Jr. had 25 points, Jalen Green added 20 points and Eric Gordon scored 19 points for the Rockets, who lost their fourth straight and seventh straight at home.
Luka Doncic of the Mavericks led Dallas back from an 18-point second half deficit to defeat the Rockets
TIMBERWOLVES 124, NUGGETS 111
Anthony Edwards scored 29 points, including 15 in the third quarter, to help Minnesota withstand a Denver push.
Jaden McDaniels had 21 points and Kyle Anderson added 19 for Minnesota, which snapped a six-game losing streak and won its fourth straight against Denver.
Nikola Jokic finished with 24 points, seven rebounds and nine assists for the Nuggets, and Jamal Murray added 14 points after a scoreless first half.
Bones Hyland added 18 points off the bench, but Denver got off to a sluggish start in the second game of a back-to-back following Sunday’s home win over Boston.
The Nuggets have won 10 of their past 12 games.
Anthony Edwards scores 29 points to lead struggling Timberwolves past Nuggets
TRAIL BLAZERS 135, PISTONS 106
Jerami Grant scored 36 points against his former team, Anfernee Simons added 30 and Portland outlasted Detroit.
Gary Payton II played 14 minutes in his Portland debut, finishing with seven points, four assists and two steals. The son of Hall of Fame guard Gary Payton missed the first 35 games this season following surgery for a core muscle injury.
He signed with the Trail Blazers as a free agent after winning the NBA championship with Golden State in June.
Grant was 12-for-17 from the field, including five-of-eight from three-point range, and Payton’s debut energized a Blazers team that had lost four-of-five.
Damian Lillard had 19 points, 10 assists and four steals.
Bojan Bogdanovic scored 21 points to lead the Pistons.
Portland head coach Chauncey Billups spoke with 30-year-old season debutant Gary Payton II
