Cleveland’s Isaac Okoro shoots against Brooklyn’s Yuta Watanabe in the first half Monday night in Cleveland. Ron Schwane/Associated Press
CLEVELAND — Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant each scored 32 points and the Nets extended their longest winning streak since moving to Brooklyn to nine games with a 125-117 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday night.
The Nets withstood a sensational 46-point performance by Darius Garland, who single-handedly kept the Cavs close in the fourth.
Brooklyn has won 13 of 14 and is beginning to look like an NBA title contender after so much needless drama.
T.J. Warren added a season-high 23 points for the Nets, who handled one of the teams they’re chasing in the Eastern Conference standings after beating Milwaukee by 18 on Dec. 23.
Durant moved past Tim Duncan (26,496) into 15th place on the career scoring list when he dropped a 20-foot jumper in the second quarter. Next up for Durant is Dominique Wilkins (26,668).
Irving made a season-high seven 3-pointers — and two key free throws with 41.1 seconds left — while being booed nearly every time he touched the ball by fans who cheered him during six seasons with Cleveland.
Garland finished 14 of 20 from the field and added eight assists with just one turnover in 40 minutes to lead the Cavs, who dropped their second straight at home and dropped to 16-4 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
CLIPPERS 142, PISTONS 131: Paul George scored 32 points and Los Angeles overcame a 14-point deficit in the final 3:34 of regulation to win at Detroit in overtime.
Terance Mann hit a tying jumper with 5 seconds left in regulation to cap a closing 16-2 run for the Clippers, who trailed 126-112 with 3:34 remaining. Los Angeles then outscored Detroit 14-3 in the extra period.
Ivica Zubac added 12 points and 15 rebounds for Los Angeles, which has beaten Detroit eight straight times. The Clippers had seven players score in double figures.
Bojan Bogdanovic led Detroit with 23 points, including the Pistons’ only field goal of the last eight minutes.
HEAT 113, TIMBERWOLVES 110: Max Strus scored 19 points, Kyle Lowry added 18 points and nine assists, and Miami got back to .500 by holding off visiting Minnesota.
Orlando Robinson scored 15 points and Tyler Herro had 14 for the Heat (17-17), who were without Jimmy Butler (ankle) and Bam Adebayo (illness).
Anthony Edwards led all scorers with 29 points for Minnesota. Naz Reid had 21 points and 10 rebounds for the Timberwolves, who got 16 points from Jaden McDaniels, 13 from DeAngelo Russell, and 10 apiece from Austin Rivers and Rudy Gobert.
NOTES
SUNS: Devin Booker left Phoenix’s 128-125 loss to Denver on Sunday with a groin injury.
The All-NBA guard had two points in 4:20 after missing the previous three games because of groin soreness.
Booker entered the game averaging 28 points, scoring a season-best 58 points against New Orleans in his last appearance Dec. 17.
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