CLIPPERS 117, ROCKETS 109
HOUSTON — Jamal Crawford scored a season-high 30 points, including 12 straight to start the fourth quarter, and the Los Angeles Clippers looked just fine without Chris Paul in a 117-109 win over the struggling Houston Rockets on Tuesday night.
The Clippers won their second game in a row despite missing their star point guard, who is day to day with a bruised right kneecap.
Los Angeles used a big third quarter to take the lead, and Crawford extended the advantage to 20 by outscoring Houston 12-7 in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter.
James Harden had 23 points for the Rockets, whose four-game losing streak is a season worst.
The Clippers improved to 11-1 this season when Crawford leads the team in scoring.
Los Angeles opened the second half with a 10-0 run to take a 68-59 lead with about nine minutes left in the third quarter.
PACERS 103, BOBCATS 76
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Roy Hibbert had 18 points and seven rebounds, and Indiana handed Charlotte its 13th straight home loss.
The Pacers bounced back from Sunday’s 11-point defeat to Brooklyn and won for the fifth time in six games.
With team owner Michael Jordan looking on from the bench, the Bobcats lost their fifth in a row. They’ve dropped 24 of 26 since Thanksgiving.
Indiana won this one going away behind some dominant inside play, outrebounding the Bobcats 60-31 and outscoring them 52-22 in the paint.
Paul George had 16 points and 10 rebounds, while David West added 15 points and eight rebounds for the Pacers. George Hill chipped in with 16 points and seven rebounds.
The Central Division leaders (24-15) have not lost consecutive games since Dec. 9.
Gerald Henderson led the Bobcats with 15 points.
NETS 113, RAPTORS 106
NEW YORK — Brook Lopez had 22 points and nine rebounds, Joe Johnson and Deron Williams each scored 21 points, and Brooklyn beat Toronto to extend its season-high winning streak to seven games.
Andray Blatche added 14 points for the Nets, in the midst of their longest winning streak since running off 14 in a row late in the 2005-06 season. A .500 team when they fired Avery Johnson late last month, Brooklyn is 9-1 under interim coach P.J. Carlesimo and has pulled within 1½ games of the New York Knicks for the Atlantic Division lead.
The Nets dominated the fourth quarter again, pulling away for their sixth straight home victory.
Kyle Lowry scored 21 points for the Raptors, who have dropped two in a row but still have 10 wins in their last 15 games.
HORNETS 111, 76ERS 99
PHILADELPHIA — Greivis Vasquez scored 23 points and Eric Gordon added 19 to help New Orleans beat Philadelphia.
Ryan Anderson had 14 points, Xavier Henry scored 11 and Anthony Davis 10 for the Hornets, who are last in the Western Conference at 12-26 — with matching 6-13 records at home and on the road.
Jrue Holiday led the Sixers with 29 points and 11 assists. Nick Young and Evan Turner added 14 points each while Thaddeus Young scored 12.
Philadelphia hasn’t won consecutive games since a three-game streak from Nov. 25-30.
NUGGETS 115, TRAIL BLAZERS 111, OT
DENVER — Wilson Chandler hit a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 14.9 seconds remaining in overtime and the Denver Nuggets beat the Portland Trail Blazers 115-111 Tuesday night for their season-best sixth consecutive victory.
Danilo Gallinari added 25 points, including a key 3-pointer in the extra period. Ty Lawson had 24 points and 12 assists for the Nuggets, who are 2-0 in overtime this season.
Portland, which lost for the first time in six OT games this season, was led by LaMarcus Aldridge’s 28 points. Nicolas Batum had 22 points, J.J. Hickson 19 and Damian Lillard 16.
Gallinari hit his third 3 of the game for an overtime lead but Aldridge responded with a turnaround jumper that tied it 109-all with 51.8 seconds left. Lawson then lobbed a pass to JaVale McGee for an alley-oop dunk.
The game was tied again when Aldridge hit both free throws after being fouled by McGee, setting the stage for the decisive shot by Chandler.
Playing his second game since returning from a hip injury that sidelined him for two months, Chandler got open in the corner and Andre Iguodala got the ball to him. Chandler caught it, immediately put up the shot and it swished through. Lillard missed a 3-point try with 3.2 seconds left and Lawson made one of two free throws for the final score.
After Wesley Matthews hit a 5-foot runner to pull the Trail Blazers to 89-86 with 5:13 left, the Nuggets scored six straight points, starting with a pair of free throws by Kenneth Faried, who had 21 points and 11 rebounds, to stretch their lead to 95-86.
Portland came right back, scoring 10 of 12 points and pulling to 97-96 on a layup by Aldridge.
Lawson shook free on a drive to the basket for a layup with 45.4 seconds remaining to push the Nuggets’ advantage to three points.
But Matthews hit a tying 3-pointer with 32 seconds remaining in regulation. Shots by Iguodala and Lillard both were off the mark in the final moments of the fourth quarter, sending the game into overtime tied at 99.
Down by three points at halftime, the Nuggets used an 8-0 burst capped by Iguodala’s fast-break layup to go in front 70-63 with 5:03 remaining in the third quarter. The Trail Blazers cut it to 74-73 when Batum hit a 20-foot jumper, but Corey Brewer connected on a 3-pointer and Lawson finished a fast break with a layup following a Portland turnover.
Andre Miller’s putback just before the third-quarter buzzer gave the Nuggets an 81-76 lead going into the final period.
Portland opened with its highest-scoring first quarter of the season, though Denver stayed right with the Trail Blazers at 35-33.
After a driving layup by Lawson put the Nuggets in front 51-50, Hickson converted a three-point play and Aldridge hit a jumper to help the Trail Blazers lead 57-54 at halftime.
NOTES: Portland’s previous first-quarter high was 31 points against the Sacramento Kings on Dec. 26. ... Faried had his 18th double-double of the season.
