SAN ANTONIO: The San Antonio Spurs prevailed in a clash of the NBA leaders against the defending champions, beating the reeling Los Angeles Lakers 97-82 Tuesday. Tony Parker scored 23 points and DeJuan Blair had 17 points and 15 rebounds, leading an unlikely Spurs cast that handed the Lakers their third straight loss. Los Angeles' Kobe Bryant finished with 21 points on 8-of-27 shooting. He missed 13 in a row at one point, and might be fuming again after criticizing his teammates following a Christmas Day loss to Miami. The Spurs improved to 27-4, among the best starts in NBA history. The Lakers dropped to 21-10 – the first time since 2007 they've reached 10 losses this early. Heat 106, Knicks 98: In Miami, the hosts held off a big fourth-quarter rally to beat New York. Dwyane Wade scored a season-high 40 points, while LeBron James and Chris Bosh each finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds for Miami, which is 15-1 in its past 16 games and has beaten the Knicks seven straight times. Miami led by as many as 22, then saw the lead cut to three before Wade's 3-pointer with just less than 2 minutes remaining helped save the Heat. Amare Stoudemire scored 30 points for the Knicks, who were outrebounded 50-32. Celtics 95, Pacers 83: In Indianapolis, Paul Pierce scored 21 points to lead Boston over Indiana. Ray Allen added 17 for the Celtics, who were without point guard Rajon Rondo, missing his fifth straight game with a sprained ankle. The Celtics improved to 4-1 without him and maintained the best record in the Eastern Conference. Brandon Rush led the Pacers with 17 points. Raptors 84, Mavericks 76: In Dallas, rookie Ed Davis scored a career-high 17 points and pulled down 12 rebounds as undermanned Toronto upset Dallas. Linas Kleiza and DeMar DeRozan added 16 points apiece for the Raptors. Jason Terry scored 18 points for the Mavericks, who had won 17 of their previous 18. Nuggets 95, Trail Blazers 77: In Denver, an undermanned Denver won its first game in four by downing Portland. Bulls 90, Bucks 77: In Chicago, Carlos Boozer had 24 points and nine rebounds to lead Chicago past Milwaukee. Magic 110, Cavaliers 95: In Cleveland, Orlando made a season-high 19 3-pointers in a victory over Cleveland.
