LeBron James scored 33 points - four more than Dwyane Wade, the NBA's leading scorer - as Cleveland remained the league's only unbeaten team on its own floor with a 93-86 win over the Miami Heat on Sunday.
For the second straight game, the Cavaliers had to come back late at Quicken Loans Arena to extend their home winning streak, which is now at 16 straight. Cleveland were down by nine points going into the fourth and trailed by eight before going on an 18-2 run and outscoring Miami 26-11 over the final eight minutes.
Celtics 108, Kings 63
At Sacramento, California, Kevin Garnett had 21 points and 11 rebounds and Boston rebounded from back-to-back losses in emphatic fashion, beating Sacramento in one of the most one-sided wins in franchise history.
The 45-point margin of victory matched the sixth biggest ever by the Celtics, who also beat the New York Knicks by that amount last season.
The Celtics started this four-game road trip with a franchise-record 19-game winning streak, but the defending NBA champions lost a Christmas Day showdown against Los Angeles Lakers and then again the following night at Golden State.
Lakers 130, Warriors 113
At Los Angeles, Kobe Bryant scored 31 points, Derek Fisher added 19 and the Los Angeles Lakers rolled to a victory over Golden State.
The Lakers, who hadn't played since a win over Boston on Thursday, breezed to a relatively easy victory over the Warriors, who have won just twice in 19 games against them at Staples Center.
Nuggets 117, Knicks 110
At New York, Carmelo Anthony scored 32 points after missing three games with a bruised right elbow to lead Denver over the defenseless New York.
The Nuggets blew the double-digit lead they seized by making 15 of 20 shots in the second quarter, but recovered behind Anthony's flawless fourth and sent the Knicks to their sixth straight loss.
J.R. Smith added 16 points and Chauncey Billups 14 for the Nuggets, who shot 57 percent from the field in the opener of a four-game road trip.
Mavericks 98, Clippers 76
At Los Angeles, Josh Howard had 29 points, nine rebounds and a career-best seven assists to lead Dallas over Los Angeles while Mavericks leading scorer Dirk Nowitzki served a one-game suspension.
The ban was announced by the NBA about three hours before the game. Nowitzki received a flagrant-2 foul and an automatic ejection in the fourth quarter of Friday night's 97-88 loss at Utah. He took a backward swing at Matt Harpring with a closed fist and hit him in the face, after he and the Jazz forward got tangled up under the basket.
Hornets 105, Pacers 103
At Indianapolis, Chris Paul scored 11 points in the final 3:36 and David West made a 17-foot fadeaway jump shot with 2.5 seconds remaining to help New Orleans rally for a victory.
Paul and James Posey scored 19 points each for the Hornets (18-9). West added 18 points, Rasual Butler scored 15 and Peja Stojakovic had 12.
(Agencies via China Daily December 30, 2008)
