NBA Wrap: Foul Ending for LeBron

LeBron James scored 47 points Tuesday night, but his foul with 0.2 seconds left allowed Danny Granger to make the winning free throw, giving the Pacers a 96-95 victory over Cleveland.

It's the first time this season the Cavaliers have lost two straight games and this one was a surprise because the short-handed Pacers were missing three key players: Mike Dunleavy, Jeff Foster and Marquis Daniels.

The foul ended a bizarre sequence in which T.J. Ford appeared to hit a winning 17-foot fadeaway with 0.8 seconds left. But James drew a foul on an alley-oop and made both free throws with 0.4 seconds to go.

Then the Pacers tried the same play to Granger, and James was called for a foul he strongly disagreed with. Granger hit the first and deliberately missed the second to seal it.

Spurs 108, Nets 93
Tim Duncan had 27 points, nine rebounds and eight assists and the Spurs beat the Nets for the 13th straight time.

Matt Bonner scored 13 of his 22 points in the opening 5 minutes of the third quarter in helping the Spurs win for the 15th time in 19 games since the start of 2009. Tony Parker added 20 points and Bruce Bowen came off the bench in the third quarter to help cool off a hot Vince Carter, who led the Nets with 25 points.

Devin Harris added 21 points for New Jersey, which lost its second straight game after winning a season-high four straight. Brook Lopez added 18 points.

Nuggets 99, Heat 82
Chauncey Billups scored 13 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter, Carmelo Anthony finished with 19 points and nine rebounds, and the Nuggets swept the series with Miami for the fourth consecutive year. Kenyon Martin had 18 points and 10 rebounds, while J.R. Smith scored 10 for Denver, which wasted much of a 20-point first-half lead before pulling away late and defeating Miami for the eighth straight time.

Dwyane Wade scored 33 points on 12-for-22 shooting for Miami, which has lost five of its last seven games. Shawn Marion scored 14 and Mario Chalmers added 10 for Miami.

Hawks 111, Wizards 90
The Hawks bounced back emphatically from their worst loss of the season. Joe Johnson scored 22 points and the Hawks shook off an embarrassing home defeat to the Clippers.

Atlanta raced to a 9-1 lead before most of the sparse crowd had even settled into its seats. The Hawks pushed the margin as high as 22 points in the second quarter against an injury-plagued team that has managed the modest feat of back-to-back wins only once this season.

The Wizards were coming off a 119-117 victory over the Indiana Pacers. But they missed their first seven shots and never seriously challenged the Hawks, who clearly had something to prove after a 121-97 loss to Clippers over the weekend.

Raptors 110, Timberwolves 102
Jason Kapono, the two-time defending 3-point contest champion, scored 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting as a reserve.

Both teams were missing their big stars.

Jermaine O'Neal had 22 points and eight rebounds and Joey Graham scored 24 for the Raptors, who rallied from 13 down in the third quarter in their third straight game without All-Star forward Chris Bosh.

Randy Foye had a career-high 33 points and eight rebounds for the Wolves, who played the first game of the rest of the season without center Al Jefferson.

Mavericks 118, Kings 100
The Mavericks were just fine in their first game without injured Jason Terry against one of the NBA's worst teams. Josh Howard and Antoine Wright both had 23 points, Dirk Nowitzki had 21 and J.J. Barea had 10 as the primary fill-in for sixth-man standout Terry.

The Kings (11-42) became the first NBA team guaranteed to have a losing season — and they still have 29 games remaining. Sacramento is 2-13 since beating Dallas 102-95 at home on Jan. 11.

Terry, the team's second-leading scorer (19.9 points a game), broke his left hand against Chicago over the weekend and had surgery Monday. Terry is expected to be out three to six weeks.

Bulls 107, Pistons 102
Ben Gordon converted the go-ahead four-point play, Derrick Rose and Tyrus Thomas made strong contributions late, and the Bulls rallied.

Playing their first home game since Jan. 23, the Bulls trailed 100-90 with about 3½ minutes. But with Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen watching, they showed some of their old mettle and finished on a 17-2 run.

The Pistons were without the Allen Iverson, who had the flu. Even so, they appeared to be in good shape before Chicago's rousing finish.

Warriors 144, Knicks 127
Stephen Jackson had a season-high 35 points, 10 assists and six rebounds, and Jamal Crawford added 21 points against his former team. Kelenna Azubuike had 22 points and 10 rebounds as the Warriors obliterated their previous season-high for points with almost no defensive opposition from the Knicks, who lost their fifth straight.

Al Harrington had 24 points and nine rebounds amid constant boos from the Oakland fans who embraced him just two years ago. Harrington, who invited the boos with repeated waves of his hand, was traded to the Knicks on Nov. 21 for Crawford.

The teams met in New York eight days after the trade, with the Knicks winning 138-125 in the Warriors' worst defensive outing of the year. Golden State set its own season-high for points in the rematch, easily surpassing a 133-point effort in a triple-overtime game last month.

Lakers 105, Thunder 98
Kobe Bryant showed no lingering effects from the flu, scoring 34 points and becoming the youngest player in NBA history to reach 23,000. Bryant had chills and fever and needed intravenous fluids at halftime of Sunday's game against the Cavaliers.

With fans chanting "MVP," Bryant made a free throw with 5:13 left in the second quarter to become the youngest player in NBA history with 23,000 points at 30 years, 171 days old. He joined 20 others in league history who've reached the mark.

Pau Gasol had 22 points and 14 rebounds, and Lamar Odom had 12 points and a season-high 18 boards for the Lakers, just back from a 6-0 trip they concluded with wins against Boston and Cleveland.

Kevin Durant finished with 31 points, his fifth 30-point game in a row, and 10 rebounds in the loss. Russell Westbrook had 17 points and nine rebounds.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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