MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -Leon Powe made a layup at the buzzer to lift the Boston Celtics to an 88-86 victory over the Timberwolves on Friday night as an injured Kevin Garnett could only watch his return to Minnesota.
It was a wild ending to a memorable night.
The Timberwolves had the ball with the scored tied 86-86 with 28 seconds left. Marko Jaric missed a 3-pointer and teammate Craig Smith rebounded the ball and tried to kick it back out.
But Ray Allen stepped in front and stole the pass and raced the other way with the clock ticking down. A frantic scramble under the basket ended with Powe putting back a miss just before the buzzer sounded.
The play was reviewed and confirmed that Powe just beat the horn.
Paul Pierce had 18 points and six assists and Allen scored 17 for the Celtics, who were playing their sixth straight game without Garnett, out with an abdominal strain.
Al Jefferson scored 10 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter for the Wolves.
Nuggets 111, Wizards 100
h 49 points to lead Denver to its ninth win in its last 10 home games.
Melo, who will join teammate Allen Iverson as an All-Star starter in New Orleans later this month, made 19 of 25 shots from the floor and made all eight of his free throws in the third-highest individual scoring game in the NBA this season.
Cleveland’s LeBron James scored 51 against Memphis in January and Iverson went for 50 in December against the Lakers.
Anthony’s previous career-best was 45 points against Philadelphia on Dec. 27, 2005. He topped that with a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 1:25 remaining, then sank two free throws with 49 seconds left.
Antawn Jamison scored 21 for Washington.
Kings 117, Jazz 104
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – Kevin Martin scored 27 points and Sacramento ended Utah’s 10-game winning streak.
Ron Artest had 22 points and eight rebounds for Sacramento, which won four of five on its homestand. Brad Miller, who missed the previous game after cutting his right index finger on Sunday while washing the dishes, had 15 points and eight rebounds.
Carlos Boozer had 23 points and 12 rebounds for Utah, which has not won 11 straight games since April 1999. Deron Williams had 18 points and nine assists.
Lakers 117, Magic 113
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) – Kobe Bryant had 36 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, and Pau Gasol scored 30 points, leading Los Angeles to a wild victory.
ek Fisher added 14 points and seven assists for the Lakers, who gave up a season-high 44 points in the first quarter, but had enough defense at the end to win for the fourth time in the last five games.
Dwight Howard led the Magic with 19 points and 11 rebounds, but played only 29 minutes because of foul trouble. Jameer Nelson added 17 points and nine assists for the Magic, who had seven players score in double figures, but couldn’t contain Bryant and Gasol.
Spurs 99, Knicks 93, OT
NEW YORK (AP) – Michael Finley made the tying 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds left in regulation and San Antonio dominated overtime as New York matched a season high with their eighth straight loss.
Tim Duncan had 21 points and 14 rebounds for the Spurs, who trailed by 18 points in the third quarter, but scored the first seven points in OT. Finley finished with 17 points.
Manu Ginobili scored 20 points as San Antonio won its fourth straight and improved to 4-2 on its nine-game road trip, which now moves on to one of its marquee games: a visit to league-leading Boston on Sunday.
Jamal Crawford had 24 points for the Knicks, who also lost eight straight from Nov. 9-21. Fred Jones scored 19 points and Zach Randolph had 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Suns 103, SuperSonics 99
PHOENIX (AP) – Wally Szczerbiak called a timeout when Seattle had none remaining with 15.1 seconds to play, allowing Phoenix to pull out a victory.
The Suns went 32-of-32 at the foul line, one shy of the franchise record, including three in a row by Steve Nash at the end.
Seattle trailed 100-99 and had the ball out of bounds beneath its own basket with 15.1 seconds to play, but Szczerbiak could find no one open and signaled timeout. However, the Sonics didn’t have any left, resulting in a technical foul.
Nash made the free throw, then Phoenix retained possession by rule. Nash was fouled and made both from the line to provide the final margin.
Amare Stoudemire scored 33, including 15-of-15 at the line, to lead the Suns, who have yet to be joined by newly acquired Shaquille O’Neal.
Chris Wilcox led the Sonics with 22 points.
Pistons 91, Trail Blazers 82
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) – Chauncey Billups and Detroit took advantage of Brandon Roy’s absence and beat Portland for its seventh straight victory.
Roy missed the game due to a death in his family, and Portland didn’t have another answer for Billups in the opening 12 minutes when he scored all 17 of his points. The Pistons led by double figures for nearly all the remaining three quarters.
Rookie Rodney Stuckey, Billups’ backup, added a career-high 13 points, and Richard Hamilton and Amir Johnson had 10 each.
LaMarcus Aldridge led all scorers with 22 points, the same number he scored in a 102-94 home win over Detroit on Dec. 13.
Cavaliers 100, Hawks 95
TLANTA (AP) – LeBron James scored 26 points, Ira Newble added a season-best 18 and short-handed Cleveland, missing four of its top seven scorers because of injuries, beat Atlanta.
James came up huge at the end to help the Cavaliers bounce back after Atlanta rallied for the lead in the final quarter.
First, he slipped inside of Marvin Williams to grab an offensive rebound, then put it back in to give Cleveland a 96-91 lead with 1:19 remaining. Then, James grabbed a rebound off Joe Johnson’s miss, firing a pass ahead to Newble for a breakaway dunk that clinched it with 18 seconds to go.
James also has 11 rebounds and seven assists.
Johnson led the Hawks with 23 points, and Williams added 21.
Mavericks 92, Grizzlies 81
DALLAS (AP) – Dirk Nowitzki scored 21 points while also getting some rest and a lot of help in Dallas’ victory over Memphis.
The Grizzlies played on the road for the first time since trading away Pau Gasol, and lost their seventh straight away from home.
Nowitzki scored 10 straight points for the Mavericks in the third quarter when they put the game out of reach. Coming off his first career triple-double on Wednesday night, Nowitzki hit 7-of-10 field goals and made all seven free throws. He also had six rebounds.
Rudy Gay led Memphis with 18 points and matched a season best with 12 rebounds.
Clippers 102, Raptors 98
d his season-high with 35 points, Cuttino Mobley had 19 and Los Angeles beat Toronto.
Al Thornton had 19 points and Chris Kaman had 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Clippers, who had lost 10 of their last 11 road games.
Chris Bosh had 29 points and 12 rebounds but fouled out with 12 seconds left as Toronto lost back-to-back home games for the first time since Jan. 6.
Nets 104, Bobcats 90
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) – Jason Kidd has his first triple-double since demanding a trade and Richard Jefferson scored 23 points to lead New Jersey.
Kidd had 19 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists in his league-leading 12th triple-double, but his first since Jan. 25, three days before he went public with his desire to be elsewhere by this month’s trade deadline.
Gerald Wallace had 21 points for Charlotte in his return after missing the last two games with a strained right foot. Jason Richardson added 17 points and rookie Jared Dudley scored 15 in the Bobcats’ fifth straight loss.
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