Love leads Wolves over Nets; Pacers, Sixers, Hawks win

Kevin Love scored 17 points and grabbed 16 rebounds as the Timberwolves beat the Nets by 30 points. AP

MINNEAPOLIS — Kevin Love had 17 points, 16 rebounds and four assists in just 28 minutes, and the Timberwolves beat Kevin Garnett for the first time since he left Minnesota in a 111-81 victory over the woeful Brooklyn Nets on Friday night.

Nikola Pekovic had 15 points and seven boards and the Wolves blew the game open after Garnett received a technical and a flagrant foul for getting physical with Love in the paint. The testy exchange ignited Minnesota’s 16-0 run in the third quarter.

Garnett finished with eight points and eight rebounds in 21 minutes. He had been 7-0 against the Wolves since being traded to Boston in 2007. But these aging, banged-up Nets were no match for the Timberwolves. Mikhail Prokhorov’s $190 million team has lost four in a row and seven of its last eight to fall to 3-9.

PACERS 97, CELTICS 82

BOSTON — Paul George scored 27 points and led a comeback from an eight-point halftime deficit to help Indiana improve on the best record in the Eastern Conference with a win over Boston.

Trailing 50-42 at halftime, Indiana outscored Boston 25-8 in the third quarter to take a 67-58 lead. It was the Celtics’ lowest scoring quarter of the season. The Pacers kept rolling with a 30-24 fourth quarter and improved to 11-1.

George had 22 points in the second half.

Jordan Crawford had a season-high 24 points, but just five in the second half, and Jeff Green added 20 for the Celtics, who lost their sixth straight game to drop to 4-10 after winning four in a row.

76ERS 115, BUCKS 107, OT

PHILADELPHIA — Evan Turner scored 27 points and Spencer Hawes scored 11 of his 25 points in the final two minutes of regulation and overtime to lead Philadelphia to a win over Milwaukee that snapped a four-game skid.

The Sixers were trailing 98-88 with 2:10 to play and rallied to force overtime with a 14-4 run that featured three 3-pointers from Hawes, including a fall-away at the end of regulation. Hawes also had 12 rebounds.

Philadelphia took the lead on the first basket of overtime and never gave it up, extending Milwaukee’s losing streak to seven games.

Caron Butler scored 38 points for the Bucks, falling two points shy of his career high on 13-of-22 shooting from the floor. He was 4 of 8 from beyond the arc.

HAWKS 96, PISTONS 89

AUBURN HILLS, Michigan — Jeff Teague scored 14 of his 18 points in the third quarter, then helped Atlanta hold on with a spectacular block in the final minutes against Detroit.

The Pistons trailed 92-89 when Brandon Jennings appeared to have a clean breakaway for an easy layup. The 6-foot-2 Teague recovered and came leaping from behind to block the shot at the last instant. Then he threw an alley-oop to Al Horford at the other end.

Josh Smith, who signed a $54 million, four-year deal with Detroit in the offseason after nine seasons with the Hawks, was left out of the starting lineup for the first time this season. He went scoreless in 20 minutes for his first scoreless game since December 2004, when he was a rookie.

Horford scored 17 points for the Hawks, who also beat the Pistons in Atlanta on Wednesday.

SUNS 98, BOBCATS 91

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina — Channing Frye scored 20 points, P.J. Tucker was perfect from the field and Phoenix defeated Charlotte to snap a four-game losing streak.

Tucker scored 17 points on 6-of-6 shooting as the Suns beat the Bobcats for the fourth consecutive time. Tucker had three 3-pointers and his only miss of the night came on a late free throw.

Goran Dragic added 14 points and eight assists two nights after scoring 31 in a loss to Sacramento. Gerald Green chipped in with 14 points and Markieff Morris had 11 points and nine rebounds off the bench.

Gerald Henderson scored 17 points and Kemba Walker had 16 to lead the Bobcats, who have lost three of four. Al Jefferson returned to the starting lineup and had nine points and six rebounds after missing the previous four games with an ankle injury.

RAPTORS 96, WIZARDS 88

TORONTO — DeMar DeRozan and Rudy Gay each scored 17 points to help Toronto overcome John Wall’s season-high 37 points for Washington.

Jonas Valanciunas had 11 points and 13 rebounds for Toronto. Amir Johnson added 14 points and Kyle Lowry 12 for the Raptors, who have won two straight and lead the Atlantic Division with a 6-7 record.

Bradley Beal scored 17 points but Washington’s modest winning streak was snapped at two games. Nene had 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Wizards, who have lost seven of their last eight in Toronto.

Already without injured forwards Al Harrington and Trevor Ariza, Washington lost forward Jan Vesely in the third quarter with a sore lower back.