NBA Wrap: Warriors go 21-0; Heat beat Cavs

TORONTO — Stephen Curry made nine 3-pointers and scored 44 points, leading the undefeated Golden State Warriors to a 112-109 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Saturday (Sunday Manila time).

Curry was 14 for 24 from the field and 9 for 15 from beyond the arc as Golden State pushed its NBA-record start to 21-0. Klay Thompson scored 26 points, and Draymond Green had 16 points, nine rebounds and six assists.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the win moved Golden State past the St. Louis Maroons of the Union Association, a predecessor to Major League Baseball, for the best start to a season by a professional sports team.

Kyle Lowry made six 3-pointers and scored a career-high 41 points for Toronto, which has dropped three of four. DeMar DeRozan recovered from an ugly 1-for-10 shooting performance in the first half, finishing with 16 points.

HEAT 99, CAVALIERS 84

MIAMI  — Dwyane Wade and Tyler Johnson scored 19 points apiece, and Miami took advantage of Cleveland's decision to hold out LeBron James.

Goran Dragic scored 17 points, Chris Bosh added 14 and Gerald Green had 12 for the Heat, who held Cleveland to 36 percent shooting and sent the Cavaliers to their third straight loss.

Richard Jefferson started in place of James and led Cleveland with 16 points. James was given the night off to rest, the first game he has missed for the Cavaliers this season.

Heat fans serenaded him with a "LeBron is tired" chant in the fourth quarter.

SPURS 108, CELTICS 105

SAN ANTONIO — LaMarcus Aldridge scored 17 points, and San Antonio improved to 11-0 at home.

Boris Diaw scored 16 points for the Spurs, and Kawhi Leonard and Manu Ginobili each had 15.

Isaiah Thomas had 23 points for the Celtics. Amir Johnson finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Boston missed its last chance when it threw the ball out of bounds on an attempted full-court inbounds pass to Jared Sullinger.

CLIPPERS 103, MAGIC 101

LOS ANGELES — Jamal Crawford scored 16 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter, helping the Clippers stop the Magic's five-game winning streak.

Blake Griffin had 28 points and 13 rebounds for Los Angeles, and reserve Wesley Johnson scored 21 points. The Clippers played without injured guards Chris Paul and J.J. Redick.

Reserve Victor Oladipo scored a season-high 24 points and Elfrid Payton added 21 points for the Magic, who blew all of a 12-point lead early in the fourth.

That's when the Clippers got three straight 3-pointers, one by Johnson and two by Crawford, as part of a 22-7 run that gave them a 99-96 lead.

JAZZ 122, PACERS 119, OT

SALT LAKE CITY — Derrick Favors scored a career-high 35 points, and Utah rallied for the win.

Favors converted a three-point play to help send the game to overtime, and then added six more points in the extra period. Favors had a layup off a pick-and-roll with Trey Burke with 17.1 seconds left, and George Hill missed a potential tying 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Indiana wasted career-high 48 points from Paul George, who carried the offensive load for much of the night. But two missed jumpers down the stretch of regulation helped Utah come back.

Favors also grabbed 13 rebounds, and Gordon Hayward had 22 points, five rebounds and five assists.

HORNETS 102, BULLS 96

CHICAGO — Nicolas Batum scored 12 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter, leading Charlotte to the win.

Cody Zeller and Kemba Walker had 17 points apiece for the Hornets, who played their first road game since Nov. 17 in New York. Spencer Hawes added 14 points and Batum also grabbed 11 rebounds.

Jimmy Butler scored 25 points and Derrick Rose had 19 for the Bulls, who fell to 7-2 at the United Center. Pau Gasol scored 13 points in his 1,000th career regular-season game.

Chicago and Charlotte were tied at 94 before Zeller made two free throws and Walker hit a jumper with 28.9 seconds remaining.

ROCKETS 120, KINGS 113

HOUSTON — James Harden scored 31 points, Dwight Howard had 22 and Houston beat Sacramento for its third straight win.

Harden made a 3-pointer with about 90 seconds left to make it 115-109 and seal the win.

DeMarcus Cousins, who missed the first meeting with the Rockets because of an injury, was hampered by foul trouble and finished with 14 points and nine rebounds. He fouled out with a little over two minutes left.

Ben McLemore scored 19 for the Kings.

Houston has won seven in a row against Sacramento.

NUGGETS 108, 76ERS 105

PHILADELPHIA — Danilo Gallinari scored 24 points for Denver, including the go-ahead slam dunk with under a minute remaining.

Will Barton added 16 points for the Nuggets, who ended a five-game road trip by winning their second straight after snapping an eight-game skid on Thursday.

Robert Covington scored 18 points and Isaiah Canaan had 15 for Philadelphia, which dropped to 1-20.

Philadelphia rookie Jahlil Okafor sat out the second of a two-game suspension imposed by the team on Wednesday after the release of a second video from a nightclub fight in Boston on Nov. 25.

BUCKS 106, KNICKS 91

MILWAUKEE — Michael Carter-Williams had 20 points, and the Bucks used a 21-4 run in the third quarter to pull away for the win.

Jabari Parker added 17 points, including a dunk and a jumper during the decisive spurt that pushed Milwaukee to a double-digit lead.

The Knicks trailed by 21 with 7:04 left in the third quarter when coach Derek Fisher replaced his entire starting five following a technical foul on Jose Calderon at the end of the run. The fresh lineup settled the team, though New York could get no closer than nine the rest of the night.

Carmelo Anthony scored 18 points for the Knicks.

TRAIL BLAZERS 109, TIMBERWOLVES 103

MINNEAPOLIS — Damian Lillard overcame a slow start to finish with 19 points and seven assists, and the Trail Blazers rallied from 17 points down in the third quarter to beat the Timberwolves.

C.J. McCollum added 17 points for Portland.

Lillard missed nine of his first 12 shots. But his driving layup with 18.8 seconds left helped hold off a charge from the Timberwolves, who also gave up a 17-point lead to the Blazers in their home opener on Nov. 2.

Karl-Anthony Towns had 27 points and 12 rebounds for the Timberwolves, who fell to 2-8 at home this season.