LA Lakers drop 8th in last 9.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – Russell Westbrook scored 45 points to help the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the short-handed Dallas Mavericks 109-98 on Thursday night.
The NBA scoring leader made 16 of 29 shots after being named an All-Star reserve earlier in the night. He had eight rebounds and three assists, ending his triple-doubles streak at three games.
Oklahoma City forward Enes Kanter fractured his right forearm punching a chair during the game and will be sidelined indefinitely.
Victor Oladipo added 17 points, and Steven Adams had 15 for the Thunder. They have won three straight.
Harrison Barnes scored 31 points, and Justin Anderson had 17 for the Mavericks.
PACERS 109, TIMBERWOLVES 103
MINNEAPOLIS – Paul George scored 32 points after being picked for his fourth All-Star game to lead Indiana past Minnesota.
Myles Turner added 23 points, and Jeff Teague had 20 points, 13 assists and eight rebounds to help the Pacers snap a three-game losing streak. Indiana outrebounded Minnesota 44-34 and shot 52 percent.
Karl-Anthony Towns had 33 points and 10 rebounds for the Timberwolves after getting passed over for the Western Conference reserves. Minnesota missed a chance for its first four-game winning streak since 2012.
NUGGETS 127, SUNS 120
DENVER – Nikola Jokic had 27 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists before leaving with an injury late in the game and Denver beat Phoenix.
Jokic went down hard under the Phoenix basket with 1:47 left. He was on the floor for a while with the entire Nuggets team surrounding him. He finally stood and limped to the locker room as the Nuggets closed out their fifth straight home victory.
Danilo Gallinari added 23 points for Denver. The Nuggets have won six of eight. Eric Bledsoe led Phoenix with 28 points, and Devin Booker had 24.
JAZZ 96, LAKERS 88
SALT LAKE CITY – Gordon Hayward scored 24 points to help the Jazz beat the Lakers.
The Jazz ended a two-game losing streak and the Lakers have now dropped eight of their last nine.
Utah used a 16-0 run in the third quarter, punctuated by a Joe Ingles-to-Hayward alley-oop to give the Jazz a 68-56 lead that they never relinquished. The stretch was jump-started by Rudy Gobert’s rim protection on the defensive end as the Lakers went more than six minutes without scoring. He finished with six blocks, matching his season-high.
The Lakers answered with a 14-4 fourth-quarter run, but never got closer than 80-76.