Kyrie Irving scored six of his team-high 31 points during a fourth-quarter spurt that allowed the Boston Celtics to build a lead they were able to retain en route to a 126-120 victory over the visiting Sacramento Kings on Thursday night. After trailing for much of the first three quarters, the Celtics led just 104-103 following a Willie Cauley-Stein dunk for Sacramento with 6:20 to go. Irving countered immediately with a floater and, after a three-point play by Marcus Morris, added two jumpers in a 9-0 flurry that opened a 113-103 advantage with 4:33 remaining. Irving wound up with his second career triple-double, complementing his 31 points with 10 rebounds and a game-high 12 assists. His only previous triple-double came for Cleveland against Utah in February 2014. Sacramento's Buddy Hield led all scorers with 34 points, connecting on 6 of 10 3-point attempts. His Kings teammates, however, made just 5 of 24 3-point shots. Raptors 111, Lakers 98 Kawhi Leonard scored 25 points, grabbed eight rebounds and added four assists as Toronto defeated visiting Los Angeles. Norman Powell added 20 points and eight rebounds for the Raptors, who have won their past nine games against the Lakers dating to 2015. Pascal Siakam scored 16 points, and Marc Gasol contributed 15 points for Toronto. LeBron James led the Lakers with 29 points. Alex Caruso added 16 points, Rajon Rondo had 13 points and eight assists and JaVale McGee contributed nine points and nine rebounds. Pacers 108, Thunder 106 Wesley Matthews' tip-in with 1.8 seconds left lifted Indiana over host Oklahoma City. Indiana ended the game on a 23-10 run to finish off a big comeback. Domantas Sabonis led the Pacers with 26 points, and Bojan Bogdanovic added 23. Russell Westbrook had a chance to win the game for the Thunder in the last second, but his 3-pointer from the top of the key hit the front of the rim and bounced away. Westbrook finished with 19 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists for his second consecutive triple-double, and Paul George finished with a game-high 36 points. Magic 120, Cavaliers 91 Aaron Gordon had 21 points as Orlando got a much-needed blowout against visiting Cleveland. Nikola Vucevic had 19 points and 11 rebounds, and D.J. Augustin had 20 points and seven assists for the Magic. The win came at an important time for Orlando, which had dropped four of its last five games. Collin Sexton led the Cavaliers with 23 points, and Jordan Clarkson added 15 points off the bench. Jazz 120, Timberwolves 100 Donovan Mitchell scored 24 points and dished out six assists to lead Utah past Minnesota at Salt Lake City. Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors each finished with double-doubles for the Jazz. Favors had 17 points and 11 rebounds. Gobert tallied 10 points and 13 boards. Jae Crowder added 18 points off the bench. Karl-Anthony Towns scored 26 points and collected 12 rebounds before fouling out with 4:13 left. Andrew Wiggins added 14 points. Tyus Jones chipped in 12 points and nine assists. Nuggets 100, Mavericks 99 Nikola Jokic drained a 9-foot leaner as time expired, and host Denver rallied to beat Dallas. Jokic one-upped Dallas rookie Luka Doncic, whose dunk with 5.8 seconds left gave Dallas a one-point lead. But Denver called timeout, then got the ball to Jokic, and he hit a floater around Dwight Powell. Jokic finished with 11 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists, and Paul Millsap had a season-high 33 points for Denver. Doncic had 24 points and Jalen Brunson scored 20 for the tired Mavericks, who didn't arrive in Denver until 9 a.m. Thursday because of the blizzard slamming much of the middle of the country. — Reuters
