BOSTON — Jamal Crawford hit a pair of 3-pointers 23 seconds apart to help the Clippers pull away in the last 3 minutes and former Celtics coach Doc Rivers won his first game back in Boston when Los Angeles beat the Celtics 96-88 Wednesday night.
Crawford came off the bench to score 21 points and Chris Paul had 22 points, nine assists and seven rebounds. Blake Griffin scored 18 points for the Clippers, who won for the seventh time in 10 games.
Jeff Green scored 29 points against his former coach, who was traded to Los Angeles last summer for a first-round draft pick. Jordan Crawford had 20 points and nine assists, and Brandon Bass had 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Celtics, who lost their second in a row.
Boston lost to the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday night, kicking off a reunion week of sorts by facing former Celtics Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce.
KNICKS 83, BULLS 78
NEW YORK — Carmelo Anthony had 30 points and 10 rebounds, and New York pulled out the victory over Chicago after blowing a 23-point lead.
Amare Stoudemire made the tiebreaking jumper with 2:35 left and finished with 14 points and nine rebounds for the Knicks, who ended a two-game losing streak but made it harder on themselves than necessary with some sloppy second-half offense.
Mike Dunleavy Jr. scored 20 points for the Bulls, who have lost three straight and five of six.
TIMBERWOLVES 106, 76ERS 99
MINNEAPOLIS — Kevin Love had 26 points, 15 rebounds and five assists, and Minnesota rallied from a 19-point deficit to beat slumping Philadelphia.
Ricky Rubio had 21 points, seven assists and five rebounds, Nikola Pekovic added 20 points and 10 rebounds, and Robbie Hummel hit a couple of big shots for the Wolves in the fourth quarter to key the comeback.
Spencer Hawes had 20 points and six rebounds for the Sixers, who led 39-20 after a tremendous first quarter and still held a 13-point advantage at halftime. But they turned the ball over 26 times and shot 14 free throws to Minnesota’s 29.
THUNDER 116, GRIZZLIES 100
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Russell Westbrook scored 27 points and Kevin Durant added 18 to lead Oklahoma City over Memphis.
Reserve guard Jeremy Lamb added a career-high 18 points to help the Thunder to their fourth straight win and 12th in 13 games. Neither Westbrook nor Durant played in the fourth quarter, when the Thunder maintained a double-digit lead.
Mike Conley had 20 points for the Grizzlies and Zach Randolph and reserve Jon Leuer scored 17 apiece.
PELICANS 111, PISTONS 106, OT
NEW ORLEANS — Ryan Anderson shook off an unusually poor shooting night from long range, hitting two clutch 3-pointers in overtime that carried New Orleans past Detroit.
Jason Smith scored 22 points and grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds for the Pelicans, who snapped a two-game skid while handing Detroit its third straight loss. Anderson finished with 22 points on 6-of-18 shooting, including 4 of 12 from 3-point range. Jrue Holiday added 19 points and Al-Farouq Aminu had 11 points and 14 rebounds.
SPURS 109, BUCKS 77
MILWAUKEE — Tim Duncan had 21 points and 16 rebounds while playing just 24 minutes and Tony Parker added 15 points in San Antonio’s rout of Milwaukee.
San Antonio had lost three of its last six games after starting the season 13-1, but dominated from the opening tip, scoring the first nine points. An 8-0 run extended the Spurs lead to 27-10.
The Bucks pulled within 41-30 in the second quarter, but the Spurs responded with a 10-0 run.
WARRIORS 95, MAVERICKS 93
OAKLAND, Calif. — Stephen Curry made a pull-up jumper with 3 seconds remaining to cap a sensational fourth quarter, rallying Golden State from 18 points down to beat Dallas.
Curry scored 16 of his 33 points in the final period. He finished with nine assists, four rebounds and another big shot in a young career already full of them.
MAGIC 92, BOBCATS 83
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Jameer Nelson had 12 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter and Orlando snapped a six-game losing streak by beating Charlotte.
Glen Davis added 17 points and 12 rebounds and Nikola Vucevic chipped in with 12 points and 14 rebounds. Arron Afflalo had 16 points.
JAZZ 122, KINGS 101
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Richard Jefferson scored 20 points and Utah halted a four-game skid by cruising past Sacramento.
The Jazz led by 24 points heading into the fourth quarter, five points more than their previous largest lead after a quarter this season.
Derrick Favors and Gordon Hayward scored 17 points apiece for the Jazz, who established season highs for assists (35) and points scored.
By wire sources