NBA Roundup

Associated Press

The NBA roundup ...

NEW YORK — Jeremy Lin keeps getting better. Better even than Kobe Bryant on Friday night.

Lin had the most astounding performance of his remarkable week, scoring a career-high 38 points and outdueling Bryant as the New York Knicks held off the Los Angeles Lakers 92-85.

Buried deep on the bench a little more than a week ago, Lin led the Knicks to their fourth straight win, tying their longest streak of the season. His two free throws with 52 seconds left and booming “MVP! MVP!” chants stopped the Lakers’ final rally and allowed the undrafted Harvard product to pass Carmelo Anthony for the Knicks’ highest point total this season.

Iman Shumpert added 12 points for the Knicks, who are still without Anthony and Amare Stoudemire. But they have Lin, the point guard that two other teams gave up on in December and didn’t get his chance in New York until three other players couldn’t do the job.

Bryant finished with 34 points, but he got off to a horrendous start and finished only 11 of 29 from the field. Pau Gasol had 16 points and 10 rebounds, but All-Star Andrew Bynum was only 1 of 8 for three points with 13 rebounds as the Lakers’ nine-game winning streak against the Knicks was snapped.

MAVERICKS 104, TIMBERWOLVES 97

MINNEAPOLIS — Dirk Nowitzki welcomed Kevin Love back from his two-game suspension with a season-high 33 points, winning the matchup of Western Conference All-Star power forwards and helping Dallas stave off a Minnesota rally.

Nowitzki topped 24 points for the fourth straight game by shooting 11 for 19 from the floor, including 4 of 7 from 3-point range.

Love finished with 32 points and 12 rebounds, going 14 for 14 from the free throw line, and sparked a late-third-quarter surge by the Wolves to slash a 17-point deficit to 78-75 on Nikola Pekovic’s putback to open the fourth.

HEAT 106, WIZARDS 89

WASHINGTON — Dwyane Wade scored 26 points and dominated during a second-quarter run to lead Miami over the Washington.

Wade either scored or got the assist on 20 consecutive Heat points in the second. He combined with LeBron James to score Miami’s last 18 points of the first half.

Chris Bosh had 24 points and 11 rebounds, and James added 18 points.

JaVale McGee had a season-high 24 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Wizards.

CLIPPERS 78, SIXERS 77

PHILADELPHIA — Chris Paul hit a 17-foot jumper with 3.2 seconds left and finished with 24 points to lift Los Angeles over Philadelphia.

Blake Griffin had 16 points and 11 rebounds, Mo Williams scored 14 points, Randy Foye had 10 and Reggie Evans chipped in with a season-high 10 rebounds for the Pacific Division-leading Clippers, who improved to 16-8.

Elton Brand had 12 points and 10 rebounds for the 76ers.

RAPTORS 86, CELTICS 74

TORONTO — DeMar DeRozan scored 21 points, Jose Calderon had 17 points and 14 rebounds and Toronto beat Boston for their third win in the past 20 meetings against the Celtics.

HAWKS 89, MAGIC 87

ORLANDO, Fla. — Josh Smith had 23 points and 19 rebounds, and Atlanta hit enough free throws late in overtime to slip past Orlando.

GRIZZLIES 98, PACERS 92

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Rudy Gay scored 21 points, and Marreese Speights added a season-high 19 points and nine rebounds to lead Memphis over Indiana.

BUCKS 113, CAVALIERS 112, OT

CLEVELAND — Brandon Jennings scored 24 points and made a big layup in overtime as Milwaukee rallied past Cleveland.

Antawn Jamison had a season-high 34 points and 11 rebounds for Cleveland.

TRAIL BLAZERS 94, HORNETS 86

NEW ORLEANS — Jamal Crawford scored a season-high 31 points, and Portland snapped a two-game skid while handing New Orleans its eighth straight loss.

Raymond Felton scored 18 points, including a pair of free throws that gave the Blazers an 88-84 lead in the final minute.

PISTONS 109, NETS 92

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Greg Monroe had 18 points and 11 rebounds to help Detroit rout New Jersey for its fourth straight victory.