RECAP:

Boston Celtics @ Cleveland Cavaliers: 86-83
Ray Allen scored 22 points and Kevin Garnett added 18 as Boston, which couldn’t hold a 16-point lead in the first quarter, avoided its first six-game skid since dropping seven in a row from April 4-15, 2007. The Celtics’ big lead became a five-point deficit in the third quarter, making the last 12 minutes a possession-by-possession game until Boston finally made enough plays to pull out a 86-83win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.


Golden State Warriors @ Indiana Pacers: 78-102
The Indiana Pacers don’t intend to let Miami and Chicago pull away for a two-team race in the Eastern Conference.

Danny Granger scored 25 points to help Indiana beat the Golden State Warriors 102-78 for their fifth straight win.

Philadelphia Sixers @ Detroit Pistons: 97-68
Reserve Thaddeus Young scored 12 of his 20 points in a pivotal second quarter and All-Star Andre Iguodala had 12 points, six assists and four steals for the Sixers to beat the Detroit Pistons 97-68.


New Orleans Hornets @ Chicago Bulls: 95-99
Derrick Rose broke for the corner, got the pass from Joakim Noah on a play they’d worked on in practice and let fly with a high arching jumper. The ball caught the rim, came back and fell through.

Rose’s shot with 19.4 seconds to play put the Chicago Bulls ahead and was part of a closing 8-0 they needed beat the New Orleans Hornets 99-95.

Washington Wizards @ Milwaukee Bucks: 118-119
When the Milwaukee Bucks needed a big play, Ersan Ilyasova was there to bail out Brandon Jennings.

Ilyasova tipped in Jennings’ miss with 2.2 seconds left and the Bucks beat Washington 119-118, handing the Wizards their fifth consecutive loss.

Toronto Raptors @ Houston Rockets: 85-88
Kyle Lowry scored 26 points, Luis Scola had 15 points and 10 rebounds and the Rockets beat the Toronto Raptors 88-85.

Houston has won four in a row, and five of its last six to move seven games over .500 for the first time this season. The Rockets have had to sweat out the last three wins, coming through with clutch baskets and key defensive stops at the end to hang on.

New Jersey Nets @ Dallas Mavericks: 93-92
Brook Lopez scored 38 points in only his third game back from a broken right foot, and made the go-ahead free throws with 42 seconds left for the New Jersey Nets in a 93-92 victory over the Dallas Mavericks.

The two free throws by Lopez came right after the Mavericks had taken the lead with a 13-2 run after missing 14 consecutive field goals.

Utah Jazz @ Sacramento Kings: 96-103
The hustling Thomas sparked a second-half surge and DeMarcus Cousins had 22 points and 18 rebounds for the Kings, who celebrated a possible new arena deal with a 103-96 victory over the struggling Utah Jazz.

Minnesota Grizzlies @ Los Angeles Clippers: 109-97
The first three quarters belonged to the Los Angeles Clippers. In the NBA, though, it’s all about what you do in the final quarter and that time belonged to super subs Derrick Williams and Michael Beasley.

They each scored 27 points, teaming up to lead a shooting barrage as the Minnesota Timberwolves won 109-97 in the teams’ first game since the All-Star break.

Williams and Beasley contributed mightily to the Wolves’ reserves scoring 72 points—best in the NBA this season and two points off the franchise record.

NBA TOP TEN:



NBA GAME ACTION:

The Kevin and Kobe show won it for the West at the NBA All-Star game, holding off LeBron James at the end.



They got an MVP and a scoring record, too.

Bryant scored 27 points, moving past Michael Jordan as the career scoring leader in the game, Kevin Durant had 36 in an MVP performance, and the Western Conference held on for a 152-149 victory over the East on Sunday night.

James and the East cut a 21-point deficit to one in the closing seconds, but weren’t able to move in front. James had 36 points and fellow Heat star Dwyane Wade finished with a triple-double.

“With all these great players on the floor, you never know what will happen. Guys making big shots and they cut it down to one. We were up 18 (at halftime),” Durant said.

“It was fun. That’s the type of All-Star game you want to see.”

Blake Griffin scored 22 points for the West, which rang up 89 points in the first half, setting an All-Star record. But he won the game with his defense, picking off James’ pass when the East had a chance to tie in the final seconds.

“I can’t turn the ball over like that,” James said. “I let my team down, but overall it was a great weekend.”

Griffin then hit one free throw with 1.1 seconds left, and Wade was off on a 3-point attempt from the corner. He finished with 24 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, joining Jordan and James as the only players with All-Star game triple-doubles.

Durant was the MVP, leaving Bryant tied for the All-Star record with his four. But he got a bigger mark in his 13th All-Star game.

He broke Jordan’s record of 262 points on a dunk with 4:57 left in the third quarter and now has 271 for his career. He entered with 244 and passed Oscar Robertson (246 points) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (251) earlier in the game.

It nearly wasn’t enough, as the East’s comeback had the crowd filled with entertainers and athletes chanting for defense—never a part of the All-Star game vocabulary—in the final seconds.

With Bryant covering him, James hit two long 3-pointers in the final period, and the East had a chance when Bryant, with the crowd loudly booing, missed a free throw with 18 seconds left and the West up 151-149.

“Just being a competitor,” James said. “They pretty much beat us up all game so we just wanted to make a game of it.”

But New Jersey’s Deron Williams was short on a 3-pointer, and after the East came up with it, James fired a pass into a crowd that Griffin intercepted.

On a colorful night in Orlando, from pregame performer Nicki Minaj’s pink and green hair to the neon sneakers many of the stars wore, Dwight Howard had nine points and 10 rebounds as the game’s host.

The NBA’s first All-Star game in Orlando in 20 years wasn’t close after 2 1/2 quarters. But players always say it gets competitive in the final five minutes, and James was again up for the challenge.

He hiked his scoring average to 25.9 points over his eight All-Star games, and someday he’ll probably take the record Bryant set Sunday.

But he couldn’t quite catch Kobe in the game.

With the 2-year-old Amway Center considered by many the finest arena in the league, the NBA brought its midseason showcase back to Orlando for the first time since the memorable 1992 game, when Magic Johnson was MVP three months after retiring from the league because of the HIV virus.


This one was once in jeopardy of being lost when the lockout lasted into late November. Without a settlement then, All-Star weekend may have been wiped out, as it was in 1999 following a work stoppage.

The party was saved.



James and Howard, wearing bright orange shoes, danced onto the stage for pregame introductions, Howard breaking into an enormous grin when fans gave him a thunderous ovation as the last All-Star introduced. He insists that he and Magic fans still have a love affair despite his trade request, understanding he still loves the city even if not his team, and urged everyone to ignore the trade talk for a weekend and have fun.

“We did it big for our city,” he said in brief pregame remarks to the crowd before the game.

Then Andrew Bynum blocked his first shot attempt.

The speedy Russell Westbrook had the East looking like it was standing still late in the first half, and it was 88-69 at the break.

Howard and Derrick Rose ditched their orange sneakers in the second half— James kept his—and the East quickly got back into it, trimming 12 points off its deficit in less than 6 minutes. They even started to defend—Wade whacked Bryant so hard on a drive that the Lakers star needed a break between free throws to wipe blood from his nose before sinking it to tie Jordan.

Williams scored 20 points for the East. Carmelo Anthony had 19, and Rose finished with 14.

Kevin Love, who won the 3-point contest on Saturday, scored 17 points for the West, which has won two in a row. Chris Paul had eight points and 12 assists.