DALLAS
Harrison Barnes scored 24 points and the last-place Dallas Mavericks knocked off a title contender for the second straight night, beating LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers 104-97 on Monday.
Wesley Matthews had 21, and rookie point guard Yogi Ferrell scored a career-high 19 in the second game of a 10-day contract, a night after hitting two key free throws in the final seconds of a win at Southwest Division-leading San Antonio.
James had 23 points and Kyrie Irving scored 18 — but just one between them in the fourth quaråter — for the defending champs, who were without fellow All-Star Kevin Love because of recurring back spasms.
The Cavs dropped to 7-8 in January. The loss also trimmed Cleveland’s lead for the top spot in the Eastern Conference to 2 1/2 games over Boston.
Heat 104, Nets 96
MIAMI (AP) — Goran Dragic scored 20 points, Dion Waiters added 19 and the Heat pushed the NBA’s longest current winning streak to eight games.
James Johnson had 17, Rodney McGruder scored 13 and Hassan Whiteside added 12 for Miami. Waiters and Dragic combined to hand out 17 assists for the Heat, who took the lead for good with a 17-0 run late in the first half.
76ers 122, Kings 119
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Robert Covington had 23 points and 10 rebounds to rally Philadelphia to the victory.
The Sixers overcame 46 points from DeMarcus Cousins and won again without injured center Joel Embiid, who sat out with a left knee contusion. He also will not travel with the Sixers for road games later this week against Dallas and San Antonio. The Sixers officially listed Embiid as doubtful for those two games.
This game was postponed Nov. 30 by the NBA because of condensation on the court at the Wells Fargo Center.
Timberwolves 111, Magic 105, OT
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Andrew Wiggins scored 27 points and Ricky Rubio made a career-high six 3- pointers to lead Minnesota to the home win.
Karl-Anthony Towns had 23 points and 12 rebounds, Rubio added 22 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, and Wiggins forced overtime with a jumper with 10 seconds to play. The Wolves win for the eighth time in 11 games.
Grizzlies 115, Suns 96
PHOENIX (AP) — Mike Conley scored a career-high 38 points, Memphis just missed a franchise record with 16 3-pointers and the Grizzlies rolled past Phoenix.
Conley matched his career best with seven 3s (in 10 attempts) and made 12 of 18 shots overall in his fourth 30-point game of the season. He had five the rest of his career.
Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph each added 18 points for the Grizzlies in their third stop of a season high, six-game road trip.
Comments are not available on this story. Read more about why we allow commenting on some stories and not on others.
We believe it's important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It's a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others.
We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion.
You can read more here about our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is also found on our FAQs.
Show less