NBA Wrap: Durant dominates anew as Thunder survive Blazers

PORTLAND, Oregon — Oklahoma City extended its lead over nearest divisional rival Portland to five games by winning 98-95 at the Trail Blazers on Tuesday (Wednesday Manila time), as Kevin Durant continued his stellar season with 36 points and 10 rebounds.

Also Tuesday, LeBron James bounced back to near his best to lead Miami over Phoenix, Charlotte earned a rare win over Dallas, and Memphis hung on for a narrow victory over Washington.

Oklahoma City widened its advantage over Portland in the Northwest Division, and made it 14 wins from 16 games, due in no small part to Jeremy Lamb's vital 3-pointer with 1:38 left which put the Thunder up by a point. Lamb finished with 19 points.

Nicolas Batum had 18 points for Portland, which led by 13 points in the first half and held a 55-45 advantage at the break, but the Thunder kept chipping away and the teams went into the fourth quarter tied.

Miami's LeBron James responded to one of his worst games of the season by scoring 37 points to lead the Heat to a 103-97 win over Phoenix.

James, who had matched his season low with 13 points in Saturday's loss at Utah, scored 25 in the second half.

Chris Bosh added 21 points for Miami which has beaten Phoenix eight straight times.

Gerald Green scored 21 of his 26 points in the second half for the Suns, who dropped half a game behind Golden State in the Pacific Division.

Charlotte reversed its horrible run of results against Dallas by beating the Mavericks 114-89.

Al Jefferson scored 30 points and Anthony Tolliver added 22 for the Bobcats, who had won only one of their previous 18 games against Dallas.

Charlotte scored 60 points in the key and tied a season-high with 12 3-pointers. Tolliver was 5 of 6 from 3-point range.

Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki sprained his left ankle in the second quarter but he returned in the second half and finished with 16 points, contributing to the end of the Mavericks' five-game winning streak.

Memphis edged Washington 92-89, spoiling a career-best game from Bradley Beal, who scored 37 points for the Wizards.

Beal was unable to convert late, though, including missing a 21-footer with 12.9 seconds left that would have tied the game.

Zach Randolph split two free throws with 11.5 seconds left to give the Grizzlies a 92-89 lead. John Wall's 3-pointer with about 1 second left rattled around before popping out.

Nick Calathes and Marc Gasol scored 18 points each for Memphis.

Chicago's Joakim Noah had a triple-double, with 19 points, to lead the Bulls over Atlanta 100-85.

Cleveland avenged the 44-point mauling it suffered at the hands of Sacramento last month by beating the Kings 109-99, with Luol Deng scoring 22 points.

The injury-stricken Los Angeles Lakers matched an unwanted franchise record by losing a sixth-consecutive home game, beaten 96-79 by Utah, which was guided to victory by reserve Alec Burks' 13 fourth-quarter points.