LOS ANGELES — James Harden led a balanced scoring attack with 24 points as the Houston Rockets set a league record for three pointers with a 142-130 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves Saturday.
Harden also had 10 assists and finished five of 11 from beyond the arc for the Rockets, who improved to 42-18.
Houston made 22 of 58 three pointers and it marked their eighth game this season with at least 20 treys, breaking the NBA mark set by the Golden State Warriors in the 2015-16 season.
Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon hit four three pointers each while posting 18 and 14 points, respectively.
Trevor Ariza added three three-pointers and Nene and Lou Williams came off the bench to tally 11 and 17 points. Eight Rockets scored in double figures.
That collective effort offset a dominating performance from center Karl-Anthony Towns (37 points, 22 rebounds) and Canadian Wiggins (30 points).
Warriors 112, Nets 95: Golden State became the first team in the league to clinch a playoff spot, riding 51 combined points from guards Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson to a victory over Brooklyn.
Curry capped a 10-0 run at the end of the second quarter with his fourth four-point play of the season, helping Golden State, playing without Kevin Durant for the first time this season, build a 62-51 halftime lead that set the stage for the club’s 10th straight home win.
The Warriors (49-9) earned their fifth consecutive postseason berth, the longest streak in franchise history since the Philadelphia Warriors had a six-year run in the 1940s and ‘50s.
Heat 113, Pacers 95: Miami, taking advantage of a key ejection, continued its hot streak with a victory over Indiana at AmericanAirlines Arena.
Pacers All-Star forward Paul George was ejected after getting hit with his second technical foul with 8:49 left in the third period. He scored 10 points and grabbing one rebound in 19 minutes.
Miami won 16 of its past 18 games, getting a double-double from center Hassan Whiteside, who had 22 points and a game-high 17 rebounds.
Knicks 110, 76ers 109: Carmelo Anthony scored 37 points and hit the go-ahead jumper with three-tenths of a second remaining and New York survived a fourth-quarter collapse and escaped Madison Square Garden with a victory over Philadelphia.
The Knicks needed Anthony’s dramatic shot because they scored eight points in the final 5 1/2 minutes and lost the lead on a short jumper by Jahlil Okafor with nine seconds remaining.
Okafor’s shot gave the 76ers a 109-108 lead and occurred after T.J. McConnell grabbed the offensive rebound of a blocked layup by Dario Saric.
Hornets 99, Kings 85: Frank Kaminsky scored 23 points and grabbed 13 rebounds as Charlotte snapped a five-game losing streak.
Kaminsky made 9 of 18 shots and canned five 3-pointers as the Hornets won for the second time in 14 games. Former King Marco Belinelli added 13 points and six assists off the bench, and Nicolas Batum also added 13 points for Charlotte.
Ben McLemore scored 18 points to pace the Kings, but nobody else scored more than 12.
Magic 105, Hawks 86: Newly acquired forward Terrence Ross scored 24 points and Nikola Vucevic had 16 points and 14 rebounds to lead Orlando to a victory over Atlanta at the Amway Center.
Bulls 117, Cavaliers 99: Jimmy Butler had a triple-double and Dwyane Wade just missed one in Chicago’s win over LeBron James-less Cleveland.
Mavericks 96, Pelicans 83: Dirk Nowitzki scored 18 and upstaged his newest teammate in leading Dallas past New Orleans at American Airlines Center.
The Mavericks snapped a three-game losing streak in the Dallas debut of Nerlens Noel, the trade-deadline acquisition who’s expected to be a building block for a franchise in transition.
That transition is coming whenever Nowitzki decides to hang in up. There’s no rush, especially after nights like this.
Nowitzki knocked down 8 of 12 shots, including both tries from beyond the arc, and grabbed nine rebounds. — Agencies
