Miami Heat fend off Lin in lopsided win vs Knicks

Oklahoma City — Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant scored 33 points to lead the Thunder to a 100-85 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday and a share of the NBA lead heading into the All-Star break.
Russell Westbrook added 19 for the Thunder, who won their 12th straight home game and denied Los Angeles the chance to head into the midseason break with back-to-back statement wins on the road. The Lakers had won at defending NBA champion Dallas a night earlier and were trying to follow it by knocking off the other half of last year’s West finals.
Kobe Bryant scored 24 points but went 7 for 24 from the field for Los Angeles.
Oklahoma City and Miami both have NBA-leading 27-7 records at the break.

Heat 102, Knicks 88

In Miami, Jeremy Lin had by far the worst game of his remarkable emergence as New York was beaten by Miami.
Chris Bosh scored 25 points and Dwyane Wade added 22 for Miami, which notched its eighth straight win and goes to the All-Star break with the NBA’s best record (27-7).
The Heat countered Lin with a tactic of running streams of defenders at him. The point guard went 1 for 11 from the field, with eight points and three assists — a far cry from the 23.9 points and 9.2 assists he had been averaging over his first 11 games in the Knicks’ rotation, when he breathed life into a team that was floundering.
On Thursday, he simply wasn’t the same player, turning the ball over eight times.

Hawks 83, Magic 78

In Atlanta, Josh Smith scored 22 points and pulled down 12 rebounds to help Atlanta snap a three-game skid with an win over Orlando.
Jannero Pargo added 15 points for the Hawks, who led by only a point with 4:42 left but finished the stronger. J.J. Redick finished with 13 points for the Magic, who had won six of seven going in.

Spurs 114, Nuggets  99

In Denver, DeJuan Blair tied a career high with 28 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, helping San Antonio beat Denver to wrap up a nine-game road swing.
Buoyed by a 19-1 run midway through the first quarter, the Spurs jumped out to a big lead and then held on at the end. They’ve won 12 of their past 13 heading into the All-Star break and lead the Southwest Division by three games over defending champion Dallas. /ap