On the 11th anniversary of his NBA debut with Cleveland, Irving made 11 of 19 shots and hit seven 3-pointers as Brooklyn took a pair of 19-point leads before withstanding Cleveland’s late comeback try that featured several big shots by Darius Garland, who led all scorers with 46 points. While Garland made 14 of 20 shots and finished with his fourth 40-point game of his career, Donovan Mitchell was held to 15 points.
Kevin Durant scored 32 points but fouled out for the sixth time in his career when he bumped Garland with 1:54 remaining. Durant also moved past Tim Duncan for 15th place on the all-time scoring list and ended the night at 26,516 career points.
Clippers 142, Pistons 131 (OT)
Paul George scored 32 points and handed out 11 assists as visiting Los Angeles, which rallied from a 14-point deficit in the last three minutes of regulation, captured an overtime victory over Detroit. Luke Kennard had 18 points for Los Angeles, while Marcus Morris Sr, Norman Powell and John Wall supplied 16 points apiece.Heat 113, Timberwolves 110
Miami’s defence forced 22 turnovers, the last coming on Kyle Lowry’s steal in the closing seconds, to hold off visiting Minnesota. Max Strus led the way with 19 points, including 5-of-10 shooting from beyond the arc. Strus was one of five Miami players to score in double figures. Lowry finished with 18 points and a game-high nine assists.Pelicans 113, Pacers 93
Jonas Valanciunas had 20 points and 12 rebounds and short-handed New Orleans routed visiting Indiana for its third win in a row.Naji Marshall added a career-high 22 points for the Pelicans, who played without Zion Williamson (reconditioning), Brandon Ingram (toe), Herbert Jones Jr (health and safety protocols), Trey Murphy III (non-Covid illness) and Dyson Daniels (non-Covid illness). Bennedict Mathurin put up 15 points and Myles Turner scored 14 to lead the Pacers, who finished a 2-1 road trip.