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Jennings, Ellis lead Bucks over Nets

Brandon Jennings had heard all the talk about how Brooklyn’s backcourt of Deron Williams and Joe Johnson was considered one of the best in the league.

Jennings and his backcourt mate Monta Ellis were aware of the height advantage Williams and Johnson had on them, but the Milwaukee Bucks’ duo showed they belong in the conversation, too.

Jennings scored 26 points and Ellis added 24 as Milwaukee withstood Brooklyn’s fourth-quarter rally and beat the Nets 97-88 Sunday night.

”It wasnt a competition or anything like that,” said Jennings, who also had seven assists and six rebounds. ”We knew they had height advantage … so we wanted to run tonight and use more of your speed.” …

Marquis Daniels had 13 points for the Bucks and Ersan Ilyasova added 10 as Milwaukee won its second straight. The Bucks have beaten the Nets 12 straight times dating back to March 30, 2009…

Williams had 18 points and eight assists and Wallace added 16 points and 16 rebounds for the struggling Nets, losers of four straight.

— Reported by Adriano Torres of the Associated Press

Clippers beat Raptors for 6th straight win

The Los Angeles Clippers were lacking energy through three quarters. Their backups came in and changed the game again.

Jamal Crawford led a fourth-quarter rally by the reserves with 16 points and the Clippers defeated Toronto 102-83 on Sunday to win their sixth in a row while handing the Raptors their 10th consecutive road loss.

The backups gave Los Angeles its first double-digit lead of the game after Toronto kept it close through the first three periods before dropping its fourth straight and 10th in its last 11. The Raptors have just four wins this season.

Eric Bledsoe added 14 points on his 23rd birthday to help the Clippers’ reserves outscore their counterparts 47-24.

Blake Griffin led the Clippers with 19 points. Chris Paul added 16 points and DeAndre Jordan had 10 rebounds. Caron Butler was the only starter to play in the fourth, coming in only after Matt Barnes was ejected with 1:36 to play…

Toronto’s DeMar DeRozan scored 24 points in his hometown. Linas Kleiza, who started in place of injured Mickael Pietrus, added 17 points, including five 3-pointers. Amir Johnson had 11 points and 12 rebounds…

Pietrus didn’t play because of left knee tendinitis that flared up after Friday’s loss in Utah. … Clippers G Chauncey Billups missed his third straight game with tendinitis in his left ankle.

— Reported by Beth Harris of the Associated Press

OJ Mayo scores 40, Mavs beat Rockets in Kevin McHale`s return

Chris Kaman scored half as many points as O.J. Mayo for the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday night.

Considering the way Kaman’s left ankle looked, those 20 points were just as impressive to coach Rick Carlisle.

Mayo tied a career high with 40 points, including 10 in the last three minutes, to lift the Mavericks to a 116-109 victory over the Rockets in coach Kevin McHale’s return to the Houston bench.

Kaman left the Mavericks’ last game on Thursday night with a sprained left ankle. He started Saturday night and played more than 18 minutes despite the left side of his ankle being almost completely covered by a deep purple bruise…

Kaman also had seven rebounds for Dallas, and Vince Carter and Darren Collison had 12 points apiece…

Harden had 30 points at halftime, but the Mavericks slowed him down in the second half. He scored just nine points in the second half.

McHale rejoined the team on Saturday after almost a month away from the team, and two weeks after the death of his daughter…

The Rockets battled back from a 19-point deficit with a strong second quarter to lead at halftime and were up by nine points with 7 1/2 to go. But Mayo got hot and the Rockets came up short as Dallas extended its winning streak in the series to eight games…

Chandler Parsons made the second of two free throws for the Rockets before Mayo scored five quick points to extend the Mavericks’ lead to 107-101 with less than three minutes left.

Parsons finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds, and Harden had nine assists and six rebounds.

— Reported by Kristie Rieken of the Associated Press

Hawks use 3rd-quarter rally to beat Grizzlies

At halftime, the Atlanta Hawks figured they had played cautiously long enough.

With a burst of energy, tough defense and 3-point shooting from Lou Williams in the third quarter, the Hawks were able to pull away for a 93-83 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday night…

Josh Smith had 24 points, while Williams scored 18 of his 21 in the second half. Al Horford had 19 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for Atlanta, which won for the ninth time in its last 10 games. Teague finished with 13 points and six assists.

Horford said Teague’s leadership was a key to the third quarter, when Atlanta outscored Memphis 32-13. The game was close until the middle of the period, when Atlanta erased a five-point deficit with 20 straight points to build a lead that Memphis could not overcome…

Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol scored 18 points apiece, Randolph grabbing 13 rebounds as Memphis lost at home for only the second time this season. Rudy Gay scored 17 points, but was 7 of 25 from the field. Mike Conley finished with 12 points.

Atlanta shot 44 percent for the game, and held Memphis to 43 percent. Atlanta has not allowed an opponent to shoot 50 percent this season…

Hawks G DeShawn Stevenson was available, but did not play for Atlanta because it was the second night of a back-to-back. Meanwhile, G Kyle Korver missed fourth straight game with back spasms.

— Reported by Clay Bailey of the Associated Press

Bulls end Knicks 5-game winning streak

Leave it to Tom Thibodeau’s vaunted defense to crash the Knicks’ 3-point party.

Marco Belinelli and Luol Deng scored 22 points apiece as the Chicago Bulls beat the Knicks 93-85 on Saturday night, snapping New York’s five-game winning streak.

Belinelli matched a career high by playing 45 minutes and sparked the Bulls at the outset with 15 points in the first quarter. Deng led the way at the end, getting 10 points in the fourth…

Raymond Felton led the Knicks with 27 points, matching his season high set on Thursday in a victory at Miami. However, Felton was just 9 for 30 from the field, exceeding his career high for field-goal attempts by six shots…

Tyson Chandler had 14 points and 18 rebounds for the Knicks, who shot a season-low 32.1 percent from the floor and matched a season high with 15 turnovers. It was also a season-low point total for New York (14-5)…

Carlos Boozer had 12 points and 10 rebounds for Chicago. One night after putting up career highs of 30 points and 23 rebounds in a win at Detroit, Noah just missed an odd triple-double, getting 10 points and 11 rebounds and committing a career-worst nine turnovers.

The Knicks again played without leading scorer Carmelo Anthony, who missed his second straight game because of stitches in the middle finger of his left hand. Anthony, who is third in the NBA with 26.4 points per game, was hurt in a win over Charlotte on Wednesday.

Former Knicks guard Nate Robinson had 14 points, six rebounds and eight assists off the bench for Chicago, which has won five of its last six and 18 of its last 21 at home against New York.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Heat stop 2-game losing streak, beat Hornets

For the Miami Heat, one nearly perfect quarter was more than enough to help stop a two-game slide.

Dwyane Wade scored 26 points, LeBron James finished with 24 points and seven assists, and the Heat shot a season-best 58 percent on the way to topping the New Orleans Hornets 106-90 on Saturday night.

Chris Bosh scored 13, and Ray Allen and Shane Battier each added 11 for Miami, which took control by outscoring the Hornets 33-10 over the final 11 minutes of the second quarter. New Orleans started the game 10 for 12 from the floor, then shot 9 for 31 over the rest of the half.

”We’ve got to defend. It’s that simple,” James said. ”When we defend, the game’s that much easier for us.”

Ryan Anderson scored 24 for New Orleans, which got 20 from Robin Lopez and 12 from Jason Smith. The Hornets turned the ball over 19 times, and Miami converted the miscues into 22 points…

James has scored at least 20 points in all 18 Miami games this season. He tied a Heat record by scoring 20 in 23 straight regular-season games (going back to last season) and 39 consecutive games overall, including playoffs. He made 10 of his first 11 shots on Saturday…

Bosh missed three dunk attempts in the game, including two on one possession in the third quarter, and predictably was teased in the locker room about it postgame.

— Reported by Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press

Brandon Knight shines in Pistons win over Cavs

Brandon Knight steps up in Pistons win over Cavs

Brandon Knight made sure the Detroit Pistons got a needed road win.

Knight scored a career-high 30 points and the Pistons defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers for the second time in six days with a 104-97 win on Saturday night.

The Pistons, who won for just the second time in 12 road games this season, took control with a run that began late in the third quarter and carried into the fourth period…

Tayshaun Prince scored 14 points while Jason Maxiell added 11 for the Pistons, who defeated the Cavaliers 89-79 on Monday in Auburn Hills, Mich.

Jeremy Pargo scored 24 points for Cleveland, which has lost five straight, nine of 10 and 15 of 17…

Cavaliers center Anderson Varejao, who scored 16 points and had 13 rebounds, went to the locker room late in the second quarter with a bruised left elbow. X-rays were negative and he returned to begin the third quarter with the elbow wrapped.

Cleveland again played without leading scorers Kyrie Irving (broken left index finger) and Dion Waiters (sprained left ankle).

— Reported by the Associated Press

Spurs set 3-point mark in 132-102 win over Bobcats

Charlotte Bobcats coach Mike Dunlap decided to pack the paint Saturday night and make the San Antonio Spurs beat them from the outside.

Danny Green and company did just that.

Green scored a season-high 23 points and the Spurs set a franchise record with 19 3-pointers to hand the Bobcats their seventh straight defeat, 132-102. Green was 7 of 9 from 3-point range and the Spurs shot 56 percent from behind the arc.

Tony Parker had 22 points and nine assists as the Spurs won for the ninth time in 10 games to push their record to 17-4.

Green and Parker were a combined 18 of 22 from the field.

”Tony was driving and the defense was collapsing on Timmy (Duncan), so there were a lot of open shots from the perimeter,” Green said. ”We were driving and kicking and moving the ball. It makes the game a lot easier when you’re making shots. We haven’t been shooting the ball as well lately from the outside so I don’t blame them for trying to do that.” …

Kemba Walker led the Bobcats with 23 points and Gerald Henderson chipped in with 13.

It was San Antonio’s first game with Joey Crawford officiating since a Halloween photo emerged earlier this week on the internet showing Duncan and Parker holding fake guns to the head of a bald man dressed up as Crawford.

— Reported by Steve Reed of the Associated Press

Clippers beat Suns 117-99 for 5th straight win

The bench bailed out the Clippers again.

Jamal Crawford led a fourth-quarter rally with 13 of his 21 points, and Los Angeles beat Phoenix 117-99 on Saturday, winning its fifth in a row while sending the Suns to their season-worst sixth straight loss.

”Thank the bench because the starters were struggling,” Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said. ”They got us off to a bad start again. Our starters get into this energy on the offense and not on the defense. This game easily could have gone the other way.”

Blake Griffin added 24 points and a career-best four steals, and Chris Paul had 16 points and 11 assists, but the Clippers’ reserves carried them. Crawford made all four of his free throws to extend his streak to 55 in a row since Nov. 3…

Michael Beasley scored 21 points off the bench, and Shannon Brown added 19 for Phoenix, which hadn’t lost six in a row since March 3-12, 2009…

Luis Scola scored 10 in a row for the Suns and finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds.

— Reported by Beth Harris of the Associated Press

Joakim Noah unleashes monster game in Bulls win over Pistons

Joakim Noah was standing near the scorer’s table during the first half, visibly upset with his team’s performance while he was waiting to check back in.

The Detroit Pistons were outworking his Chicago Bulls – but Noah’s big night was only beginning.

”I just felt like our energy was just low, from the start of the game,” Noah said. ”It’s just human reaction, when there’s not a lot of people in the stands, to kind of put your guard down. I think we regrouped pretty well.”

Noah had 30 points and 23 rebounds [plus six assists, two steals and two blocks], setting career highs in both categories and helping the Bulls beat Detroit for the 16th straight time, 108-104 on Friday night.

”It’s crazy to have numbers like that,” Noah said. ”I knew I was missing a lot of tips in the beginning of the game. In some arenas, they count as rebounds, and some other arenas, they don’t. I’m happy they counted.”

Chicago trailed by as many as 17 points in the second quarter, but the Bulls rallied toward the end of the half and took control in the fourth.

All five Chicago starters finished in double figures, including Carlos Boozer with 24 points. Luol Deng and Marco Belinelli scored 16 apiece.

— Reported by Noah Trister of the Associated Press