SAN ANTONIO: Tim Duncan grabbed a career-high 27 rebounds and scored 21 points as the San Antonio Spurs snapped a three-game slide with an impressive 105-90 win over the Atlanta Hawks in Wednesday’s NBA action.
Antonio McDyess added 17 points for the Spurs, whose celebrations were muted by an injury to Tony Parker. The point guard went down in the third quarter with a sprained left ankle, the same one that caused him to miss four games earlier this season.
Nuggets 97, Rockets 92: In Houston, Denver made it eight straight wins by downing Houston.
J.R. Smith scored 22 points, while Kenyon Martin added 12 points and 15 rebounds as the Nuggets won successive games without NBA leading scorer Carmelo Anthony (sprained ankle).
Jazz 106, Trail Blazers 95: In Portland, Oregon, Utah scored 21 of the first 23 points and went on to comfortably beat Portland.
Deron Williams scored 24 points for the Jazz, which led by as many as 26 points during the first half en route to winning for the eighth time in nine games and taking over second place in the Northwest Division.
Portland’s LaMarcus Aldridge scored a game-high 25 points.
Lakers 118, Pacers 96: In Indianapolis, Kobe Bryant’s 29 points led Los Angeles over Indiana.
Byrant also had nine rebounds and seven assists, while Andrew Bynum added a season-high 27 points to 12 rebounds for the Western Conference-leading Lakers.
Raptors 111, Heat 103: In Toronto, Chris Bosh had 24 points and a season-high 18 rebounds as Toronto defeated Miami.
Andrea Bargnani scored 27 points for the Raptos.
Dwyane Wade had 35 points and 10 assists for the Heat, which lost Michael Beasley to injury. Beasley scored six of the Heat’s first 13 points but suffered a hyperextended right knee when he landed heavily after missing an alley-oop pass in the first quarter, and took no further part.
Bulls 96, Thunder 86: In Oklahoma City, Chicago won its fourth consecutive road game, overcoming Oklahoma City.
Derrick Rose scored 26 points and Joakim Noah added 13 points and 11 rebounds as the Bulls returned to a .500 win-loss record for the first time in two months.
Cavaliers 109, Wolves 95: In Cleveland, the hosts had a comfortable win over Minnesota, ending a string of nail-biters.
J.J. Hickson scored a career-high 23, going 8 from 10 from the field and a perfect seven free throws, while LeBron James added 11 assists for the Cavaliers.
Grizzlies 99, Pistons 93: In Auburn Hills, Michigan, Marc Gasol scored eight of his 25 points in the final two minutes as Memphis edged Detroit.
Gasol added 12 rebounds while Zach Randolph had 24 points and 13 rebounds for the Grizzlies, who got at least 14 points from all five starters and won a third straight game.
Detroit suffered a third consecutive loss despite Rodney Stuckey’s 17 points and 11 assists.
Hornets 123, Warriors 110: In Oakland, California, Chris Paul scored 38 points to lead New Orleans over Golden State.
Paul shot 14 for 19 from the field, made all nine of his free-throw tries, dished out nine assists and grabbed six rebounds. Marcus Thornton added 18 points for the Hornets.
Monta Ellis returned for Golden State after missing two games with a sprained ankle and had 19 points, nine assists and six rebounds.
Bucks 91, 76ers 88: In Milwaukee, rookie Brandon Jennings hit a 12-footer with 22 seconds left to help Milwaukee pip Philadelphia and end a run of six straight defeats to the 76ers.
Jennings finished with 18 points, as did Charlie Bell as the Bucks improved to 5-0 at home in the New Year.
Elton Brand had his best game of the season for the Sixers, scoring a season-high 26 points and adding 10 rebounds, but missed a short shot in the closing seconds, while Andre Iguodala missed a clear tying shot at the buzzer.
Nets 103, Clippers 87: In East Rutherford, New Jersey, victory over Los Angeles meant New Jersey avoided the worst record after 44 games in NBA history.
Kris Humphries scored a career-high 25 points to lift the Nets to a 4-40 record. They blew a 16-point first-half lead in the third quarter but hung on to win for the first time in 2010.
New Jersey snapped an 11-game losing streak, their third double-digit losing skid of the season.
Chris Kaman had 24 points and 11 rebounds for the Clippers.
