UNDATED (AP) — Kyrie Irving scored a season-high 39 points, including eight straight in the fourth-quarter run that sent Brooklyn into the lead for good, and the Nets beat the Los Angeles Clippers 124-120. Kevin Durant added 28 points, James Harden had 23 points, 14 assists and 11 rebounds, and the three stars scored all the points in the decisive 13-0 spurt. The Nets held on from there to snap the Clippers’ three-game winning streak. Kawhi Leonard scored 33 points and Paul George had 26 for the Clippers, who entered with the NBA’s best record and lost for just the second time in 12 games.
In other Tuesday action:
— Jayson Tatum had 27 points in picking up the offensive slack for Boston without injured Marcus Smart, and the Celtics withstood another scoring spree by Stephen Curry to beat the Golden State Warriors 111-107. Curry scored 38 points with seven 3-pointers and joined the late Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain as the only Warriors to score 17,000 points for the franchise. Andrew Wiggins’ layup with a minute to go for Golden State made it a three-point game, but Tatum converted a pair of free throws with 49.6 seconds left and Curry missed a contested 3 moments later.
— Donovan Mitchell scored 32 points to lead the Utah Jazz to a 117-105 victory over the Detroit Pistons. Mike Conley added 20 points and Bojan Bogdanovic chipped in 18 for Utah, which reclaimed the NBA’s best record with the Los Angeles Clippers loss to the Brooklyn Nets earlier on Tuesday. Royce O’Neale tallied 12 points and 13 rebounds. The Jazz (16-5) won their ninth straight home game. Jerami Grant scored 27 points to lead Detroit and Josh Jackson added 22. Mason Plumlee totaled 17 points and 14 rebounds for the Pistons. Detroit (5-16) lost its second straight game.
— Fred VanVleet set a franchise record with 54 points and hit a career-best 11 3-pointers as the Toronto Raptors beat the short-handed Orlando Magic 123-108. VanVleet made 11 of his first 12 attempts from 3-point range. He finished 17 of 23 from the field and 9 for 9 at the free throw line to surpass the previous Raptors record of 52 points scored by DeMar DeRozan on Jan. 1, 2018. The fifth-year guard out of Wichita State easily topped his previous high of 36 points set last season. Norman Powell added 23 points for Toronto, and Kyle Lowry had 14 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. Nikola Vucevic had 21 points and 18 rebounds for Orlando.
— Damian Lillard scored 32 points, Gary Trent Jr. added 26 while hitting seven 3-pointers and the short-handed Portland Trail Blazers held on for a 132-121 victory over the Washington Wizards. Enes Kanter had 14 points and 15 rebounds for Portland, which improved to 2-2 four games into a six-game road trip. Carmelo Anthony had 21 points off the bench and Robert Covington added 19 for the Blazers. Russell Westbrook recorded a triple-double with 17 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists for Washington, the only NBA team without five victories this season. Bradley Beal added 37 points.
— Domantas Sabonis scored a season-high 32 points as the Indiana Pacers beat Memphis 134-116, snapping the Grizzlies’ seven-game winning streak. The Pacers scored a season high in points, building a double-digit lead early. Sabonis made 11 of his first 12 shots and had a double-double by halftime. The Grizzlies entered with the NBA’s longest active win streak and ended up a victory shy of tying the franchise record of eight straight wins, set four times, most recently in 2015.
