Portland Trail Blazers' point guard Damian Lillard (No. 0) passes the ball as Oklahoma City Thunder shooting guard Kevin Martin (No. 23) and center Hasheem Thabeet (No. 34) defend in Portland, Oregon, Sunday. — Reuters LOS ANGELES — Dwight Howard had 22 points and 14 rebounds in his return from a three-game injury absence, and the Los Angeles Lakers snapped their six-game losing streak with a 113-93 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers Sunday night. Kobe Bryant scored 23 points for the Lakers, who finally earned their first victory of 2013 while ending their longest skid since February 2007. Howard went 9 for 11 despite his injured shoulder while leading Los Angeles to a comfortable victory over the lowly Cavaliers, who beat the Lakers last month. Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters scored 15 points apiece for Cleveland, which has lost seven of nine. Alonzo Gee added 14 points for the Cavaliers, who fell behind by 19 points in the first quarter of their second stop on a five-game West Coast road trip. Thunder 87, Trail Blazers 83: Kevin Durant had 33 points and Oklahoma City snapped Portland's nine-game winning streak at the Rose Garden. Russell Westbrook added 18 points and nine assists for the Thunder, who played without starters Serge Ibaka and Thabo Sefolosha because of injuries. LaMarcus Aldridge had 33 points and 11 rebounds for the Blazers, who trailed by 11 points but pulled within one point on Nicolas Batum's 3-pointer with 21.9 seconds to go. Kendrick Perkins missed the first of two free throws and after a timeout Aldridge missed a tough fade-away jumper from about 20 feet out with 1.7 seconds left. Westbrook made a pair of foul shots for the final margin. Spurs 106, Timberwolves 88: Tony Parker scored 20 points to help the Spurs extend their home winning streak to 12 games. Gary Neal was 3 for 3 on 3-pointers in scoring 15 points for San Antonio, which beat Minnesota at home for the 16th straight time. Tim Duncan added 14 points and nine rebounds and Tiago Splitter had 10 points. Manu Ginobili scored 12 points in the first half before leaving with a strained left hamstring. J.J. Barea scored 15 points, Nikola Pekovic had 14 and Luke Ridnour 13 for the Timberwolves. San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich was ejected with 7:22 remaining in the game following a double technical for arguing a foul called against Splitter on Barea. The ejection sparked an 11-0 run for the Spurs, including a dunk and two reverse layups by Splitter. In other games it was: Nets 97, Pacers 86; Knicks 100, Hornets 87; Bucks 107, Raptors 96; Nuggets 116, Warriors 105. — Agencies
