Playing without Elton Brand and facing one of the Eastern Conference’s topfive teams for the second straight night, Philadelphia had double figures fromeach of its four bench players to overwhelm the Atlanta Hawks 98-87 Saturdaynight.

Rookie Nikola Vucevic set a career high with 15 points to lead sixPhiladelphia scorers in double figures. The Sixers dodged back-to-back lossesonce again one night after Friday night’s disappointing 99-79 home loss toMiami.

Philadelphia 76ers point guard… AP – Feb 4, 10:17 pm EST Atlanta Hawks forward Ivan Joh… AP – Feb 4, 9:52 pm EST Philadelphia 76ers point guard… AP – Feb 4, 9:51 pm EST Atlanta Hawks head coach Larry… AP – Feb 4, 9:50 pm EST Philadelphia 76ers head coach … AP – Feb 4, 9:50 pm EST Atlanta Hawks small forward Ma… AP – Feb 4, 8:37 pm EST Atlanta Hawks guard Kirk Hinri… AP – Feb 4, 8:36 pm EST Atlanta Hawks point guard Jeff… AP – Feb 4, 8:35 pm EST Atlanta Hawks small forward Ma… AP – Feb 4, 8:22 pm EST Atlanta Hawks shooting guard J… AP – Feb 4, 8:21 pm EST 1 of 10 Phi-Atl Gallery

“Tonight was one of those games where somebody was going to lose two in arow, and it wasn’t going to be us,” Philadelphia’s Lou Williams said.

The Sixers and the Hawks began the night tied for the fourth-best record inthe Eastern Conference. Philadelphia played like an elite team while Atlanta had15 turnovers in its second straight home loss.

Brand sprained his right thumb when it was caught in a jersey in the loss toMiami. Rookie Lavoy Allen of Temple made his first career start and had fourpoints and four rebounds as the fill-in for Brand.

Vucevic, one of the high-scoring reserves, made 7 of 10 shots from thefield. Thaddeus Young and Williams each had 14 points and Evan Turner added 11off the bench.

“What a difference keeping our big guys fresh,” Sixers coach Doug Collinssaid. “This was our fourth game in six nights and with the emotional game withMiami last night, I can’t tell you how proud I am of the guys.”

More good news for Philadelphia was the return of center Spencer Hawes, whohad 14 points after missing 10 games with a left Achilles’ strain.

“This season is going to be weird like that,” Hawes said. “There’s goingto be different guys every night.”

Hawes applauded the play of Allen and Vucevic in Brand’s absence.

“That’s what you’ve got to have,” Hawes said. “That’s the measure ofteams that are able to thrive in this kind of setup.”

Jeff Teague had 21 points to lead Atlanta.

The Sixers led by 20 in the third period and kept the lead in double figuresuntil the Hawks staged a final comeback attempt. Joe Johnson’s basket with 1:45remaining cut Philadelphia’s lead to 94-85. Williams, returning to his Atlantahome, answered with back-to-back baskets.

Andre Iguodala had nine points, 10 assists and eight rebounds for theSixers.

The Sixers dominated the second period to lead by 16 points at halftime andstretched the lead to 20 points in the third period.

Undrafted rookie Ivan Johnson, who recorded his first career double-doublewith 14 points and 13 rebounds, tried to keep Atlanta close. Johnson started thesecond half ahead of Zaza Pachulia after he had eight rebounds and six points inless than 9 minutes in the first half.

“What I was trying to do in the second half was find some guys who couldbring the energy,” Hawks coach Larry Drew said. “I started Ivan because hebrings the energy. … If he keeps providing that, he’s going to play moreminutes.”

Johnson had three straight baskets for Atlanta late in the third period asthe Hawks pulled to within 12 points. The Hawks couldn’t take advantage ofopportunities to cut the lead to 10, and the Sixers closed the period with a 7-0run to stretch the lead back to 19 at 81-62.

A 3-pointer by Vladimir Radmanovic helped Atlanta open the final period witha 13-4 run to close to within 10 at 85-75, but they couldn’t trim the deficit tosingle figures.

Josh Smith missed his first eight shots before scoring on a drive midwaythrough the third period. Smith had nine points and 10 rebounds. Joe Johnson had16 points.

The Hawks have lost back-to-back home games to Memphis and Philadelphiaafter winning the final three games of a 4-1 road trip.

The Hawks said backup center Jason Collins, who sprained his left elbow inThursday’s loss to Memphis, will miss at least two weeks. Collins said thesprain was “moderate.”

Collins had assumed a more prominent role as the primary backup to Pachuliawith All-Star center Al Horford was lost for three months with a torn leftpectoral muscle.

“We haven’t been having a post player since Al left,” Smith said. “That’snot an excuse we’re going to make.”

NOTES: The Sixers, who took a 90-76 win over Atlanta in Philadelphia on Jan.20, have won four straight over the Hawks for the first time since Feb. 4, 2005through Dec. 14, 2005. … Smith blocked seven shots, three shy of his careerhigh. … The Sixers had 17 points off Atlanta’s 15 turnovers. … The Hawks hada 47-37 edge in rebounds.

Irving, who is showing a knack for last-second drama in his first season,finished with 20 points and Anderson Varejao added 17 points and 17 rebounds forthe Cavs.

After Irving’s second game-winning layup in a week, Jason Terry missed anoff-balance 3-pointer with 2.2 seconds left for Dallas. After a replay reviewgave the Mavericks a final chance, Brandan Wright missed a desperation shot atthe horn. The Mavericks didn’t score a field goal in the final 4:13.

Cleveland Cavaliers ' Kyri… AP – Feb 4, 10:32 pm EST Dallas Mavericks power forward… AP – Feb 4, 10:31 pm EST Cleveland Cavaliers ' Kyri… AP – Feb 4, 10:22 pm EST Cleveland Cavaliers ' Anta… AP – Feb 4, 9:18 pm EST Dallas Mavericks ' Brendan… AP – Feb 4, 9:16 pm EST Dallas Mavericks ' Brandan… AP – Feb 4, 9:15 pm EST Dallas Mavericks ' Delonte… AP – Feb 4, 9:08 pm EST 1 of 7 Dal-Cle Gallery

Dirk Nowitzki scored 24 points and passed Elgin Baylor for 22nd place on theNBA’s scoring list.

Before hitting his late layup, Irving made a similar one—after Varejao’sseventh offensive rebound—with 2:36 left to give the Cavs an 87-86 lead.

The Mavericks, who were so efficient on the way to their title last season,seemed lost on offense in the closing minutes. Terry missed with 2:14 to go andhe made a bad pass in the lane to a cutting Nowitzki, who then had his own misswith one minute left.

Varejao dropped a runner in the lane to put the Cavaliers ahead 89-86 with41.4 seconds left. Terry’s two free throws got the Mavericks within one, andthat’s when Irving, Cleveland’s young star, put the game in his hands.

He drove the left side, created some space near the basket and flipped inhis shot right-handed off the glass.

Down by eight at halftime and playing ragged offensive, the Cavaliers reeledoff 13 straight points in the third quarter, in which they outscored theMavericks 27-13 and somehow took a 70-64 lead into the fourth.

Last spring, the Mavericks were adopted by Cleveland as the city rooted hardfor them in the NBA finals when they denied LeBron James and the Miami Heat achampionship.

“I heard some things about it,” Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said. “Lastyear was great for us. We know people were pulling for us and that was one ofthe special things about it.”

The Mavericks, who played their fifth game without point guard Jason Kidd(calf) were cheered during pregame introductions by Cavaliers fans, who wereespeically noisy for Nowitzki, the finals MVP last season.

But the loudest ovations came later for Irving, who is not only proving tobe worthy of the No. 1 overall pick but showing superstar qualities at the ageof 19.

Nowitzki was perfect in the first half, making all five shots from the fieldand four straight free throws while scoring 15 points. But he was just 4 of 10after halftime and couldn’t come up with the big basket when the Mavericksdesperately needed it.

The Cavs scored only 15 points in the first quarter, when they shot 22percent (6 of 27) and forward Luke Harangody shot an ugly 3-pointer that slammedoff the backboard and threatened to harm anyone in its path.

It didn’t get much better for Cleveland in the second quarter, but the Cavsonly trailed 51-43 at halftime.

NOTES: Nowitzki needs 23 points to tie Adrian Dantley (23,177) for 21stplace. … Varejao has 51 rebounds in his last four games. … Mavericks ownerMark Cuban, fined $75,000 &earlier this week for criticizing officials, was notwith the team and spending more money. He was in Indianapolis hosting a SuperBowl party. … Cavs coach Byron Scott didn’t hesitate when asked to predict theSuper Bowl. “Giants 27 to 21,” said the former Lakers guard. “You guys shouldknow that I don’t like anything from Boston—Celtics, Red Sox or Patriots.”… The Cavs were still without G Daniel Gibson (neck), G Anthony Parker (back)and rookie F Tristan Thompson (ankle). Gibson was hospitalized earlier this weekin Boston and Scott said the team’s doctors want to re-evaluate him beforedeciding when he can return.

Danny Granger had 19 points and seven rebounds and Tyler Hansbrough had 17points and seven rebounds for the Pacers, who have lost two of three to theMagic in less than two weeks.

Orlando Magic forward Hedo Tur… AP – Feb 4, 10:28 pm EST Indiana Pacers forward Danny G… AP – Feb 4, 10:08 pm EST Orlando Magic center Dwight Ho… AP – Feb 4, 10:03 pm EST Indiana Pacers ' Lou Amund… AP – Feb 4, 8:29 pm EST Indiana Pacers forward Tyler H… AP – Feb 4, 8:28 pm EST Orlando Magic forward Ryan And… AP – Feb 4, 8:28 pm EST 1 of 6 Orl-Ind Gallery

Jason Richardson scored 17 points and Ryan Anderson scored 12 for the Magic,who have won three straight.

Granger made a 3-pointer to make it 83-81, but Granger was called for a foulon the Magic’s next trip down the floor and Anderson went to the line with 4.2seconds left.

The Pacers had the chance to tie the game earlier. Granger scored to make it80-77, then the Magic missed a shot and Granger missed a 3-pointer that wouldhave tied the game.

On the rebound, Granger fouled Hedo Turkoglu and Turkoglu was then calledfor a technical when he tossed the ball down the floor and into the stands.Granger made his shot, but Turkoglu made one of his two to make it 81-78.

The Magic climbed to a 12-point lead midway through the third quarter.

A slight scuffle broke out late in the third quarter. Granger was gettingready to inbound the ball in front of the Magic’s bench when Quentin Richardson,who was in the game at the time, appeared to confront Granger.

It escalated when Richardson shoved Granger and Hansbrough and Clarkexchanged shoves. Technicals were called on Granger and Richardson, then a twomore on Hansbrough and Clark.

Richardson was then ejected from the game after picking up a secondtechnical.

The Magic played without Jameer Nelson for the fifth straight game. Nelsondidn’t travel with the team to Indianapolis and is listed day-to-day withconcussion-like symptoms.

NOTES: Pacers C Jeff Foster didn’t play for the eleventh straight gamebecause of a sore lower back. Pacers G George Hill was out with a chip fractureon his left ankle. With the Super Bowl in Indianapolis this weekend, actor AdamSandler and rapper 50 Cent were in attendance Saturday night. . The OrlandoMagic couldn’t book any rooms in Indianapolis this weekend because of the SuperBowl. The team was forced to stay just outside of Cincinnati, in Covington Ky.and then flew to Indianapolis Saturday afternoon.

Lin came off the bench to control a struggling offense, adding seven assistswhile outplaying Nets All-Star point guard Deron Williams.

Amare Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler each added 17 points for the Knicks, whowon for just the third time in 14 games. They fell just short in losses toChicago and Boston over the last two nights before picking up a much-neededvictory Saturday.

New York Knicks coach Mike D&#… AP – Feb 4, 9:13 pm EST New York Knicks guard Jeremy L… AP – Feb 4, 9:08 pm EST New York Knicks forward Carmel… AP – Feb 4, 9:03 pm EST New York Knicks center Tyson C… AP – Feb 4, 9:01 pm EST New York Knicks guard Jeremy L… AP – Feb 4, 8:58 pm EST 1 of 5 NJ-NY Gallery

Williams had 21 points and 11 assists for the Nets, while Kris Humphriesadded 20 points and 12 rebounds.

Lin, who played at Harvard, was the catalyst for the Knicks, who have beendesperate for production at point guard while they wait for Baron Davis tofinally become available. Lin was a hit with the fans practically from themoment he checked in, and some of the loudest cheers of this disappointingseason roared through Madison Square Garden when his three-point play made it95-86 with 2:03 remaining.

He scored on the next possession to make it an 11-point game, and teammateshugged him at center court after the buzzer as Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy” blastedthrough the arena.

Carmelo Anthony had just 11 points on 3 of 15 shooting, perhaps tired on thethird straight night of games.

The losing has created speculation that Mike D’Antoni’s job could be injeopardy, especially if the Knicks had dropped this one and fallen behind theNets in the Atlantic Division standings. But he said before the game there wasno reason to panic and that he still believed in his players.

He had noted how much they struggled to score beyond Anthony and Stoudemire,needing someone else to step up. He found that someone in Lin, the firstAmerican-born NBA player of Chinese or Taiwanese descent.

The second-year pro has hardly been a factor and even was sent to the NBADevelopment League recently, where he had a triple-double. But D’Antoni gave hima chance last Saturday while searching for a spark at the end of a road trip,but it’s hard to imagine he saw this coming.

Lin drove along the baseline and fed Stoudemire for the tiebreaking basket,then scored on his own drive for an 86-82 lead with 4:59 left. Stoudemire scoredagain, and after a jumper by Williams, Chandler converted a three-point play fora 91-84 lead and Lin put it away from there as “Jeremy! Jeremy!” chants brokeout.

Anthony Morrow had only 11 points on 4 of 12 shooting for the Nets, onenight after scoring a career-best 42 points and making an NBA season-high eight3-pointers.

The Nets raced to a 17-7 lead and were ahead 30-20 after one quarter behind10 points from Williams. But with Lin playing the entire second quarter in rarefirst-half playing time, the Knicks seemed to get a spark on both ends of thefloor.

Lin had team highs of six points and three assists in the second quarter,including a lob to Chandler that allowed the Knicks to tie it at 46 with 1:32remaining. New Jersey took a two-point lead into the half after a basket byJordan Williams.

Notes: Humphries was booed loudly on a few occasions, as he was when theNets played here in the preseason and in a number of other arenas after hisbrief marriage to reality star Kim Kardashian. … Nets starters Shawne Williamsand Shelden Williams both finished last season with the Knicks. … The teamsplay only three times this season, once more at Madison Square Garden and oncein Newark.

Mo Williams added 17 for the Clippers, who won for the fifth time in sixgames.

Nick Young and John Wall each scored 14 for Washington, which lost itsfourth game in a row and dropped to 4-20 this season.

Griffin narrowly missed his second career triple-double, despite not playingin the fourth quarter as Los Angeles rested its starters.

Los Angeles Clippers ' Chr… AP – Feb 4, 10:03 pm EST Los Angeles Clippers ' Bla… AP – Feb 4, 9:54 pm EST Los Angeles Clippers ' Bla… AP – Feb 4, 9:50 pm EST Los Angeles Clippers ' DeA… AP – Feb 4, 9:23 pm EST Los Angeles Clippers ' DeA… AP – Feb 4, 8:48 pm EST Los Angeles Clippers ' Mo … AP – Feb 4, 8:47 pm EST Los Angeles Clippers Blake Gri… AP – Feb 4, 8:41 pm EST Los Angeles Clippers ' Bla… AP – Feb 4, 8:41 pm EST 1 of 8 LAC-Was Gallery

Griffin had a number of his usual crowd-pleasing dunks, saving his best forlast. With a minute to play in the third quarter, Griffin soared high for analley-oop dunk from Williams.

The monster slam gave Los Angeles a 81-50 lead and earned the biggest cheerof the night from the Verizon Center crowd of 19,419. It was Washington’slargest crowd of the season.

Jordan followed a few seconds later with an electrifying dunk of his own,flying in after Griffin missed a free throw to slam the ball home. Jordan was 9of 11 from the field in the game.

There were few highlights for the Wizards, who scored fewer than 20 pointsin each of the first three quarters for the first time this season.

Los Angeles never trailed and opened up a double-digit lead midway throughthe first quarter after a 13-2 run. Los Angeles led 28-17 after the firstquarter and removed any doubt about the outcome by scoring the final nine pointsof the first half, taking a 58-34 lead into halftime.

The Wizards weren’t able to regroup after the break, scoring just fourpoints in the first 6 1/2 minutes of the third quarter as Los Angeles opened up a36-point lead, the largest advantage the Clippers have had in any game thisseason.

NOTES: Wizards F Trevor Booker was in the starting lineup for the sixth timethis season, and the first since Jan. 16. He replaced Jan Vesely, who hadstarted the previous five games. … Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said FKenyon Martin, who signed with Los Angeles Friday, will join the team Sunday inOrlando. Del Negro said he didn’t know what role Martin would play until theymet and Del Negro assessed Martin’s conditioning. … Caron Butler was facingWashington for the first time since the Wizards traded him to Dallas in 2010.… Griffin was 1 for 7 from the free throw line, missing his first five.Including the Clippers’ previous game against Denver, Griffin missed seven freethrows in a row, which tied a career long drought according to STATS LLC.

“Can’t panic. We are who we are, we’ve got to get better and panicking’snot going to help,” D’Antoni said Saturday before the Knicks hosted the Nets.“I could run out of here with my hair on fire, that’s not going to help. We’vestill got to play the game and win. I might be panicking inside but I stillbelieve in our guys.”

The Knicks went into the game with an 8-15 record, a huge disappointment ina season that began with high expectations. That’s triggered speculation thatD’Antoni’s job could be in jeopardy, but he said the chatter “doesn’t doanything to me.”

“If I do my job well, good things will happen. If we don’t win, it’llhappen,” D’Antoni said, without saying what “it” was. “So I’m not worriedone way or the other.

“That’s one good thing about being 60 years old,” he added. “You don’thave to worry too much.”

D’Antoni is in the last year of a four-year contract and has had only onewinning season in New York, which was rebuilding during much of that time. Thiswas expected to be the season the Knicks would contend with a front line ofCarmelo Anthony, Amare Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler, but the rest of the teamhasn’t produced.

There is no proof D’Antoni is in trouble, because Knicks management hasn’tspoken publicly since the season started. Donnie Walsh, the team president thelast three seasons, regularly met with the media and always praised D’Antoni,but there’s nobody to do that now.

Not that D’Antoni would want it.

“The great thing is you really don’t have to read what people write. And Ido like what (Toronto’s Andrea) Bargnani said, when he said that criticism hastwo sides to it. One goes in one side and comes out the other,” D’Antoni said.

“I’m doing and the players are doing the best they can do that we know, andwe hope it works out. And our chemistry is pretty good, pretty solid on whatwe’re doing and I think we’re improving. We’re getting close. After that, it’skind of up to the basketball gods and we’ll see what happens.”

The Knicks were coming off two of their best performances, close losses toChicago and Boston over the previous two nights. But a loss Saturday would dropthe Knicks below the neighboring Nets in the standings, so D’Antoni was asked ifhe considered the game a personal must-win.

“Yeah, I don’t know what to say,” he said after first joking about bothteams’ predicament. “Yeah. We have to start winning here soon, tonight would bea great time to do it.”

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The rookie point guard, who had a career-high 26 points in Friday’s win overMilwaukee, sustained the injury midway through the first quarter. While goingfor an offensive rebound, he was hit by teammate Greg Monroe’s elbow.

The Pistons say that Knight’s return is doubtful.

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Collins, the primary backup to Zaza Pachulia with All-Star center Al Horfordsidelined the next three months, was injured in Thursday’s home loss to Memphis.

Collins, an 11-year NBA veteran, has started 31 of 81 career games in threeseasons with Atlanta. He is averaging 3.8 points and four rebounds this seasonin 22 minutes per game.

Atlanta hosts Philadelphia on Saturday night. The Hawks have won three offour and are in fifth place in the Eastern Conference at 16-7.

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Lakers coach Mike Brown was simply red-faced after a non-call in the waningseconds gave Denver one last shot at the victory.

Andrew Bynum scored 22 points and Kobe Bryant added 20 in their 93-89 winthat wasn’t secured until Al Harrington missed a 3-point attempt with 2 secondsleft that would have put Denver ahead.

DENVER, CO – FEBRUARY 03: Kob… Getty Images – Feb 4, 1:52 am EST DENVER, CO – FEBRUARY 03: Kob… Getty Images – Feb 4, 1:52 am EST DENVER, CO – FEBRUARY 03: Hea… Getty Images – Feb 4, 1:51 am EST DENVER, CO – FEBRUARY 03: Pau… Getty Images – Feb 4, 1:49 am EST DENVER, CO – FEBRUARY 03: And… Getty Images – Feb 4, 1:49 am EST DENVER, CO – FEBRUARY 03: Dan… Getty Images – Feb 4, 1:48 am EST DENVER, CO – FEBRUARY 03: Pau… Getty Images – Feb 4, 1:47 am EST DENVER, CO – FEBRUARY 03: Nen… Getty Images – Feb 4, 1:46 am EST DENVER, CO – FEBRUARY 03: Al … Getty Images – Feb 4, 1:45 am EST DENVER, CO – FEBRUARY 03: Tim… Getty Images – Feb 4, 1:44 am EST DENVER, CO – FEBRUARY 03: Kob… Getty Images – Feb 4, 1:44 am EST Denver Nuggets forward Al Harr… AP – Feb 4, 1:37 am EST Los Angeles Lakers forward Pau… AP – Feb 4, 1:37 am EST Los Angeles Lakers center Andr… AP – Feb 4, 1:37 am EST Los Angeles Lakers head coach … AP – Feb 4, 12:47 am EST Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe … AP – Feb 4, 12:46 am EST Denver Nuggets forward Danilo … AP – Feb 4, 12:46 am EST Denver Nuggets guard Andre Mil… AP – Feb 4, 12:46 am EST Denver Nuggets center Timofey … AP – Feb 4, 12:45 am EST Denver Nuggets center Timofey … AP – Feb 4, 12:45 am EST DENVER, CO – FEBRUARY 03: Hea… Getty Images – Feb 3, 11:56 pm EST Denver Nuggets head coach Geor… AP – Feb 3, 11:56 pm EST DENVER, CO – FEBRUARY 03: Ty … Getty Images – Feb 3, 11:55 pm EST DENVER, CO – FEBRUARY 03: And… Getty Images – Feb 3, 11:55 pm EST DENVER, CO – FEBRUARY 03: Nen… Getty Images – Feb 3, 11:55 pm EST Los Angeles Lakers center Andr… AP – Feb 3, 11:54 pm EST DENVER, CO – FEBRUARY 03: Met… Getty Images – Feb 3, 11:54 pm EST Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe … AP – Feb 3, 11:54 pm EST DENVER, CO – FEBRUARY 03: Kob… Getty Images – Feb 3, 11:53 pm EST Los Angeles Lakers forward Pau… AP – Feb 3, 11:19 pm EST Los Angeles Lakers center Andr… AP – Feb 3, 11:18 pm EST DENVER, CO – FEBRUARY 03: Dan… Getty Images – Feb 3, 11:18 pm EST DENVER, CO – FEBRUARY 03: Kob… Getty Images – Feb 3, 11:18 pm EST DENVER, CO – FEBRUARY 03: Hea… Getty Images – Feb 3, 11:17 pm EST DENVER, CO – FEBRUARY 03: And… Getty Images – Feb 3, 11:17 pm EST Los Angeles Lakers forward Met… AP – Feb 3, 11:16 pm EST DENVER, CO – FEBRUARY 03: Hea… Getty Images – Feb 3, 10:18 pm EST DENVER, CO – FEBRUARY 03: Hea… Getty Images – Feb 3, 9:52 pm EST DENVER, CO – FEBRUARY 03: Hea… Getty Images – Feb 3, 9:52 pm EST 1 of 39 LAL-Den Gallery

“A step-back, that’s my favorite shot,” said Harrington, who hit two big3-pointers earlier in the fourth quarter. “I thought it was going to go in.”

Matt Barnes was fouled on the rebound and sank two free throws withtwo-tenths of a second left.

Pau Gasol added 14 points and 17 rebounds for the Lakers, who won for thethird time in 10 road games this season and prevailed in Denver for only thesecond time in their last seven trips to the Pepsi Center.

The Lakers took control after Nuggets center Timofey Mozgov rolled his leftankle after scoring a bucket early in the second half. He was helped to thelocker room by Chris Andersen and Julyan Stone without putting any pressure onhis left foot and didn’t return. The Nuggets said X-rays were negative.

His coach, George Karl, came by his locker after the game and asked how hewas doing.

“Could be better,” said Mozgov, who still wasn’t putting any weight on thefoot.

Mozgov was injured when he tried to hustle back on defense after a layup.

Two minutes later, Denver’s leading scorer, Danilo Gallinari, wasaccidentally poked in his left eye by World Peace and retreated to the lockerroom for a few minutes to replace his contact while the Lakers put the finishingtouches on a 10-2 run.

Gallinari returned to the court, but sat out the final six minutes withblurry vision. He was held to six points on 1-of-9 shooting.

Harrington, who led Denver with 24 points, hit back-to-back 3-pointers thatkept them close in the final minutes.

And after Nene’s slam with 28 seconds left cut the Lakers’ lead to 91-89,Bynum missed a dunk with 11 seconds left, and after the officials reviewed thetape, they overturned their initial ruling that the ball went off a Nuggetsplayer and out of bounds.

“Some nights, that’s what happens,” Bynum shrugged, “but I’m supposed toput them in the rim.”

His coach was livid.

“Obviously, it was a missed call, and that missed call was tough toswallow,” Brown said. “Drew has a clean dunk and he gets fouled and it ends upbeing Denver’s ball in a two-point game. That’s tough to swallow when it’s insomebody else’s building.

“We didn’t execute right down the stretch but we got lucky and had a cleandunk at the rim and we got fouled. It’s tough to sit there and watch a no-callat that point in the game.”

On the inbound, Ty Lawson found his lane to the basket blocked and so hepassed to Harrington, who found World Peace in his face and had to step back totry to sink the 3-pointer.

“We made it really hard on ourselves, but it’s good to get a win,” Brownsaid. “Our defense got us a win in a tough environment. What an ugly game, wefound a way to win.

“I’m a little disappointed the way we executed down the stretch anddisappointed in how the game was called down the stretch,” Brown added. “In atight ballgame, you hope that you got something better from both parties, fromour guys and from the official.”

The Nuggets were hoping for a better look.

Karl wanted Lawson to go to the hoop with about 5 seconds left, but DerekFisher didn’t let him past.

“He played great defense, so I had to go to the second option and I saw Aland he had a good shot when he stepped back, and it almost went in,” Lawsonsaid. “He’d hit two big 3s. He had the hot hand, so we definitely wanted to gethim the ball.”

Usually, it’s the Lakers who are wearied after flying into Denver on thered-eye after playing the night before in L.A., and the Nuggets who arewell-rested.

Not this time.

The Lakers were hunkered down in snowy Denver on Thursday night while theNuggets were beating the Clippers by 21 points at the Staples Center and thenflying back to Denver, which was getting hit by a storm that dumped more than afoot on snow on the Mile High City.

It showed as the Lakers negated the Nuggets’ superior speed by getting backon defense often enough to keep the game from turning into a track meet.

Behind Bynum’s 15 first-half points, the Lakers took a 44-41 lead into thelocker room after stifling both Denver’s fast-break and Gallinari, who averages17.5 points.

It was noted before the game that Karl finally had a roster with enough bigmen to match up to the Lakers’ size, but he said he wanted nothing to do with amatchup like that.

“This team goes to the post as much as anybody in basketball. I don’t wantto try to beat them power vs. power, I want to go speed. I want pace vs.power,” Karl said before tipoff. “We’re always going to try to outrun them.”

The Lakers controlled the tempo instead.

The Nuggets took their first lead, at 47-46, on Gallinari’s 3-pointer with10:34 left in the third quarter, and a half-minute later Mozgov went up for abucket that made it 49-46 and tried to get back on defense quickly.

His left foot wasn’t flat on the floor and he tripped, immediately rollingaround in pain.

Notes: Brown said he didn’t think PG Steve Blake would play on the Lakers’trip. He is out with broken cartilage in his ribs. … Brewer returned to actionafter missing the Clippers game to deal with a personal issue.

Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder keep finding ways to stay onestep ahead.

Durant scored 36 points and hit the tiebreaking 3-pointer in the finalminute to lift the Thunder to a 101-94 victory against Memphis on Friday nightin a rematch of their epic Western Conference semifinals series.

One of those games went to triple overtime and another was settled after oneextra period.

Memphis Grizzlies guard Tony A… AP – Feb 3, 11:36 pm EST Oklahoma City Thunder head coa… AP – Feb 3, 11:28 pm EST Memphis Grizzlies head coach L… AP – Feb 3, 11:26 pm EST Oklahoma City Thunder forward … AP – Feb 3, 11:20 pm EST Oklahoma City Thunder forward … AP – Feb 3, 11:15 pm EST Memphis Grizzlies center Marc … AP – Feb 3, 11:05 pm EST Memphis Grizzlies center Marc … AP – Feb 3, 11:04 pm EST Memphis Grizzlies center Marc … AP – Feb 3, 11:03 pm EST Oklahoma City Thunder forward … AP – Feb 3, 11:01 pm EST Oklahoma City Thunder guard Ru… AP – Feb 3, 10:59 pm EST Memphis Grizzlies guard O.J. M… AP – Feb 3, 9:28 pm EST Memphis Grizzlies forward Rudy… AP – Feb 3, 9:27 pm EST 1 of 12 Mem-OKC Gallery

This one came right down to the wire, too, before Durant scored the finalseven points.

“Those guys are the guys that we need to be like, from start to finish,”Grizzlies forward Tony Allen said.

Durant answered Mike Conley’s tying 3-pointer by pulling up in front of RudyGay for his own 3 from the right wing with 53 seconds left. He added a jumperfrom the foul line to push the lead to five, then closed out the game bygrabbing the rebound on O.J. Mayo’s 3-point attempt and hitting two free throwsafter getting fouled.

“The 3s I was shooting looked good but I was missing,” said Durant, whohad missed all five of his previous 3-point attempts.

“It was just a matter of time before one was going to go down for me. Ishot the ball right and it was able to go in.”

James Harden scored 10 of his 24 points during Oklahoma City’sfourth-quarter rally.

Marc Gasol led Memphis with 24 points and Gay scored 23.

That duo and Durant played the entire second half in a thrilling renewal ofthe West semifinals won by Oklahoma City last year in seven games.

The Thunder won twice in Memphis this season by a total of eight points, butit was the Grizzlies who were in control most of the way in this one and up75-65 in the final minute of the third quarter.

Harden engineered a comeback, hitting two 3-pointers and driving for twolayups during a 15-4 burst to start the fourth quarter. His drive set up NickCollison for the go-ahead free throw, and Daequan Cook followed with a jumperfrom the right side for an 84-81 lead.

The Grizzlies had an answer and were able to claw back and tie it onConley’s 3-pointer from the right side with 1:12 remaining—only for Durant todeliver the knockout punch.

“It’s always fun. We always have grind-it-out games against each other, andtonight was another one,” Durant said. “We dug ourselves a hole early, wasn’tplaying well, but the second half, we picked it up.”

Russell Westbrook added 21 points and seven assists for the NBA-leadingThunder, the only team other than Chicago to score at least 100 points onMemphis this season. Oklahoma City has done it twice and the Bulls once.

“They’re playing like they’re more experienced than us right now but at theend of the day, we’re still a work in progress and I like the future for thisteam,” Allen said.

“They’ve got our number right now.”

It was the only stop at home for the Thunder during a 19-day span featuringeight out of nine on the road.

Allen had 17 points for the Grizzlies, who are also in the midst of playingnine of 12 away from home.

“We started taking too many jump shots as we were coming down the stretch,but my guys played really hard,” Memphis coach Lionel Hollins said. “They leftit out there and they didn’t have enough in the tank coming down the stretch.”

The Thunder outscored Memphis 32-17 in the final period.

“I think our energy picked up; the crowd got into it. That whole fourthquarter was the way we play basketball,” Harden said.

Memphis used a couple of bizarre steals to fuel a 9-0 run late in the firstquarter. Conley came up with a pass that went through Serge Ibaka’s legs, and itended up leading to Gay’s two-handed putback dunk on a fast break. On the nexttrip, Ibaka stepped in the way of Westbrook’s pass. Dante Cunningham grabbed theloose ball and fed Mayo for a right-handed transition dunk to make it 23-17.

NOTES: Kendrick Perkins picked up his NBA-leading ninth technical foul ofthe season with 5:02 left in the first half when he and Gasol got tangled upbattling for rebounding position on a 3-pointer that Harden made. Perkins facesa one-game suspension if he gets to 13. The scuffle resulted in Gasol’s thirdtechnical of the season, all against the Thunder and the second time as part ofa double-technical foul tangle with Perkins. … Westbrook also got his fifthtechnical for spiking the ball after Allen blocked his shot about two minutesearlier.