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Nets beat Thunder 110-93, Kevin Durant ejected

P.J. Carlesimo’s first big motivational message as the interim coach of the Brooklyn Nets earned him an elusive win in Oklahoma City, and perhaps the kind of jolt his team needs to get out of a monthlong funk.

Joe Johnson scored a season-high 33 points, Deron Williams added 19 points and 13 assists, and the Nets snapped Oklahoma City’s 12-game home winning streak by beating the Thunder 110-93 Wednesday night in a game featuring the first ejection of Kevin Durant’s career.

Johnson said Carlesimo ”jumped on us” after a 31-point thumping at San Antonio two nights earlier, stressing the importance of ball movement on offense and helping each other out on defense…

The Nets built a 23-point lead late in the second quarter, then allowed Oklahoma City to tie it at 85 before ripping off a 23-8 run to seize control right back. Durant was ejected near the end of the surge, arguing with Danny Crawford after the referee had already issued a technical foul against Kendrick Perkins.

”I just thought it was a bad call. You get frustrated throughout a game, you show emotion. That’s how you can tell you love it,” said Durant, who scored 27 points…

Brook Lopez added 25 points as Brooklyn ended a seven-game losing streak in the series and got Carlesimo a victory against the team that fired him back in 2008. He’d only had one win in Oklahoma City during his abbreviated tenure in charge of the Thunder, getting fired after a 1-12 start after the team’s summer relocation from Seattle…

Russell Westbrook had 26 points and 10 assists for Oklahoma City, which lost for only the third time at home this season.

— Reported by Jeff Latzke of the Associated Press

LeBron scores 32, Heat beat Mavs in OT

Once the Miami Heat found a way to rally in the final moments of regulation, they made overtime look easy.

LeBron James scored 32 points and finished one assist shy of a triple-double, Dwyane Wade scored 27 and the Heat pulled off both early and late before beating the Dallas Mavericks 119-109 in overtime Wednesday night.

Down 100-94 with 3:02 remaining in regulation, the Heat closed the game on a 25-9 run – and sent Dallas to its sixth loss in as many overtime games this season.

”We have ultimate confidence in our team, our talent level, our execution,” said Chris Bosh, who scored 17 points for Miami. ”And we believe in each other. To know we can be down by six with 3 minutes left and still have the confidence to overcome everything and get the job done, it works out great.”

Ray Allen added 15 for Miami, which extended its Eastern Conference-leading record to 22-8 despite trailing by 12 in the opening minutes. James had 12 rebounds and nine assists for the Heat, who scored the first seven points of overtime.

O.J. Mayo scored 30 and Dirk Nowitzki – still working his way back from knee surgery – added 19 in 29 minutes for the Mavericks…

Vince Carter had 15 points, Chris Kaman scored 14 and Darren Collison finished with 11 for Dallas.

— Reported by Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press

Pacers beat Wizards for 6th straight home win

Good enough to beat the Wizards, not good enough to satisfy Paul George.

George had 29 points and 14 rebounds, leading the Indiana Pacers to an 89-81 victory over Washington on Wednesday night.

”I’m glad we got this win but we’ve got to look past this,” George said. ”We didn’t do a good enough job executing.

”Luckily we made enough shots to win, but we didn’t do a good job at all of executing. We let them pressure us and get us out of stuff; we play tough teams and that’s not going to fly.”

The Wizards (4-26) came into the game with the NBA’s worst record, and had lost eight straight against the Central Division-leading Pacers (19-13)…

Roy Hibbert added 13 points for the Pacers, who won their sixth straight home game. Ian Mahinmi added nine points and 11 rebounds.

Jordan Crawford scored 20 points to lead Washington, which fell to 1-14 on the road this season. Kevin Seraphin scored 16, Nene added 15 points and Bradley Beal scored 14 for the Wizards, who never led in losing for the third straight game.

— Reported by Andy Proffet of the Associated Press

Suns beat 76ers to end six-game skid

Luis Scola and the Phoenix Suns have watched a lot of late leads vanish. On Wednesday, they found a way to hold on.

Scola scored 19 of his 21 points in the second half and the Suns beat the Philadelphia 76ers 95-89 to snap a six-game losing streak.

”It’s only one win but we needed one win,” Scola said…

Dragic added 20, Shannon Brown scored 12, and Marcin Gortat had 11 points and 14 rebounds for the Suns…

Holliday had 16 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for his second career triple-double for the 76ers, who are 2-7 in the second half of back-to-back games. Wright and Thaddeus Young had 14 points apiece for Philadelphia…

Scola has scored 20 or more in three straight games. … Phoenix has won five of its past seven at home. . The Sixers are six games into a season-high, eight-game holiday road trip.

— Reported by Jonathan Dalton of the Associated Press

Spurs beat Bucks for seventh straight victory

After a 69-point outburst in the first half, it would have been easy for the San Antonio Spurs to believe they were going to capture their seventh consecutive win with little resistance.

Instead, the Spurs had to withstand a pair of second half rallies from the Milwaukee Bucks to hang on for a 117-110 victory Wednesday night.

”We knew they were going to make a run at some point,” said San Antonio forward Tim Duncan, who had 28 points, 13 rebounds and six assists. ”They made a run there at the end. They are very good in this building and we knew that. They’ve come back on a lot of people here.” …

”We were in a good groove but in the second half (Milwaukee) played hard,” said Tony Parker, who added 23 points and 11 assists for the Spurs, who shot 52 percent from the field for the game. ”They played with a lot of energy and came back on us. They played very physical.”

Brandon Jennings paced Milwaukee with 31 points. Henson scored a career-high 20 points and added nine rebounds. Mike Dunleavy had 19 points…

Spurs guard Gary Neal returned to the lineup Wednesday after missing four consecutive games with a strained right calf. ”He’s a dangerous player. I’m really happy for him because he finally has an NBA career,” San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said of Neal, who played four seasons overseas before joining the Spurs in 2010.

— Reported by Rich Rovito of the Associated Press

Mike Conley, Grizzlies hold off Celtics

Tony Allen scored a season-high 15 points to help his current team beat his old one. Then he went down the sideline trading fist-bumps and hugs with his former teammates and coaches.

Mike Conley had 23 points and nine assists, and Allen had nine points and four of his five rebounds in the second half on Wednesday night to lead the Memphis Grizzlies to a 93-83 victory over the Boston Celtics. It was the fourth consecutive loss for Boston, which won its 17th NBA title with Allen in 2008…

Rudy Gay scored 19 points for Memphis, which shot 61 percent from the floor – and 62.5 percent from 3-point range – in the first half. The Grizzlies led by 18 early in the fourth quarter, then made 8 of 11 free throws down the stretch after the Celtics made it a five-point game…

Paul Pierce scored 17 for Boston, but he had just one basket in the third quarter and none in the fourth while missing seven of his last eight shots.

Rajon Rondo had 11 points and 10 assists for the Celtics, who trailed by 79-61 after the opening basket of the fourth quarter but closed the gap to 83-78 with under 5 minutes to play on back-to-back 3-pointers from Jason Terry. Boston began fouling and the Grizzlies made their shots.

— Reported by Jimmy Golen of the Associated Press

Carlos Boozer scores 31, Bulls beat Magic

The Chicago Bulls haven’t felt like themselves for much of the past few weeks.

They’re hoping a much-needed win is the first step in finding their way back.

Carlos Boozer had a season-high 31 points and 11 rebounds, Luol Deng scored 23 points and the Bulls hung on to beat the Orlando Magic 96-94 on Wednesday night.

Taj Gibson added 21 points and 10 rebounds for the Bulls, who played without center Joakim Noah. Chicago was outrebounded 37-34 in Noah’s absence but exploited an injury-plagued Magic front court, outscoring them 42-32 in the paint.

Jameer Nelson missed a leaning jumper in the closing seconds that would have tied it, sending Orlando to its seventh straight loss overall and fifth in a row at home…

Nelson returned to the lineup after missing two games with a sore hip and scored a season-high 32 points. Nik Vucevic finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds, and Arron Afflalo added 19 points for the Magic.

— Reported by Kyle Hightower of the Associated Press

Terrence Ross scores 26, hot Raptors beat Trail Blazers

The last time they played Portland, the Toronto Raptors were at their worst. On Wednesday night, they showed just how much they’ve turned things around.

Terrence Ross scored a career-high 26 points, DeMar DeRozan had 24 and the Raptors snapped an eight-game losing streak against Portland by beating the Trail Blazers 102-79.

”This team beat us by a lot last time,” Ross said. ”We had to get our revenge.”

Ross and the Raptors were bent on reversing what happened in their most recent meeting with the Blazers: an 18-point loss at Portland on Dec. 10, the final game in an 0-5 road trip in which starters Kyle Lowry and Andrea Bargnani left injured, Amir Johnson was ejected for throwing his mouthguard at a referee and the Blazers won despite setting an NBA record for shooting futility, missing all 20 of their 3-point attempts.

”They hit bottom when they came to Portland,” Blazers coach Terry Stotts said before the rematch.

Things sure have changed. This was Toronto’s eighth win in nine games, a surge that has wiped out talk of coaching changes and locker room discord…

Ed Davis had 19 points and Amir Johnson 17 in Toronto’s first victory over the Trail Blazers since a 116-109 double-overtime win on Jan. 13, 2008.

Ross had a career-best six 3-pointers as the Raptors opened their season-high six-game homestand in style, never trailing and leading by as many as 25.

— Reported by Ian Harrison of the Associated Press

Jrue Holiday leads Sixers over Lakers 103-99

Jrue Holiday had 26 points and 10 assists, Evan Turner added 22 points and 13 rebounds, and the Philadelphia 76ers rang in the new year with a 103-99 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night.

The Lakers (15-16) have matched their worst start after 31 games since the 2002-03 season, when they began defense of their third straight NBA title with a 12-19 record.

Kobe Bryant, who shifted from shooting guard to small forward five games ago in coach Mike D’Antoni’s redesigned rotation, led the Lakers with 36 points. Steve Nash added 12 points and 10 assists.

The Lakers, who tied a franchise record with 10 3-pointers in the first half of their 111-98 win at Philadelphia on Dec. 16, were 1 for 11 from 3-point range before intermission in the rematch and finished 3 for 22 from behind the arc.

Pau Gasol had 11 points and nine rebounds, but shot only 2 for 12 while playing on a sore right foot. Dwight Howard missed his first five shots and finished 1 for 7 with seven points and 14 boards. The six-time All-Star’s only field goal came with 6:15 left in the third quarter, a put-back dunk that reduced Philadelphia’s lead to 67-63…

Lakers reserve F Antawn Jamison was benched for the sixth straight game. The 15-year veteran, a two-time All-Star and former sixth man of the year (2003-04), hasn’t played since Dec. 16, when he went scoreless in 13 minutes against the 76ers.

— Reported by Joe Resnick of the Associated Press

Nuggets end Clippers 17-game win streak

During an undefeated five-week run by the Los Angeles Clippers, the Denver Nuggets were just another team they beat along the way. The second time around, the Nuggets were the team that ground the Clippers’ streak to a halt.

Danilo Gallinari led six Nuggets players in double figures with 17 points and Denver stopped the Clippers’ franchise- record winning streak at 17 games with a 92-78 victory Tuesday night.

The Clippers’ streak was the longest in the NBA since the Boston Celtics won 19 in a row from Nov. 15-Dec. 23, 2008.

”We were all a step slower today,” said Blake Griffin, who had 12 points for the Clippers. ”We’ve got to be better than that. We’re not going to sit and cry on the plane and get beat down. We’re not going to cause ourselves to lose our confidence, despite what people want us to do. That’s the best thing about the NBA – you’ve got another game.”

Griffin went 4 of 11 from the field – the first time he’s shot below 50 percent in 18 games…

Kenneth Faried added 14 points and 11 rebounds for the Nuggets, who won their eighth in a row at home..

Eric Bledsoe also had 12 points, DeAndre Jordan had 11 and Chris Paul 10 for the Clippers…

Andre Miller, starting in place of point guard Ty Lawson, had 12 points and 12 assists for the Nuggets. Lawson, the team said, has been bothered by tightness in his left Achilles’ tendon for the past week, forcing him to miss a game for the first time this season.

— Reported by Dennis Georgatos of the Associated Press