Paul nails it for Clippers with 17' jumper

Paul finished with 24 points and Blake Griffin had 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Clippers, who improved to 16-8 and remained on top of the Pacific Division despite having lost star guard Chauncey Billups for the season.

Elton Brand had 12 points and 10 rebounds for the 76ers.

Hawks 89, Magic 87, OT In Orlando, Josh Smith had 23 points and 19 rebounds, and Atlanta hit enough free throws late in overtime to slip past Orlando.

Joe Johnson scored four of his 14 points in the extra period and added five assists for the Hawks, who won their fourth straight regular-season meeting with the Magic dating to last season.

Ryan Anderson scored 21 points in Orlando's first meeting with the Hawks since being eliminated by them in last season's playoffs.

Thunder 101, Jazz 87 In Salt Lake City, Russell Westbrook scored 28 points to lead Oklahoma City over Utah.

The Jazz seemed determined to limit Kevin Durant's offense — he took only 10 shots — but Westbrook found extra room to drive to the basket and created some fast breaks with five steals, and finished with 19 points.

Al Jefferson's 20 points led Utah, who lost for the fifth time in six games.

Grizzlies 98, Pacers 92 In Memphis, Rudy Gay scored 21 points as Memphis finished stronger against Indiana.

Marreese Speights added a season-high 19 points and nine rebounds for the Grizzlies.

David West led the Pacers with 22 points, shooting 8-of-13, and grabbed 13 rebounds.

The game was tied 86-86 with 4:30 left, but Memphis outscored Indiana 12-6 the rest of the way, including converting 10 of 12 free throws.

Mavericks 104, Timberwolves 97 In Minneapolis, Dirk Nowitzki scored a season-high 33 points, bettering Kevin Love on his return from suspension in a clash of Western Conference All-Star power forwards.

Nowitzki topped 24 points for the fourth straight game by shooting 11 for 19 from the floor, including 4 of 7 from 3-point range.

Love finished with 32 points and 12 rebounds, going 14 for 14 from the free throw line, and sparked a late-third-quarter surge by the Wolves to slash a 17-point deficit to 78-75.

Bulls 95, Bobcats 64 In Charlotte, Joakim Noah had 17 points and 14 rebounds to lead Chicago to a crushing road win over hapless Charlotte.

Carlos Boozer scored 16 points as the Bulls cruised despite the absence of reigning league MVP Derrick Rose, who had a back strain.

The Bulls won their fifth straight overall and improved to 5-1 this season without Rose.

Derrick Brown scored 10 points to lead the NBA-worst Bobcats, who shot 33 percent and lost their 13th straight game to fall to 3-23.

Noah was dominant inside, hitting 7 of 9 shots as the Bulls' lead hovered around 30 for most of the second half.

Heat 106, Wizards 89 In Washington, Dwyane Wade scored 26 points and dominated during a second-quarter run to lead Miami over Washington.

Wade either scored or got the assist on 20 consecutive Heat points in that surge, combining with LeBron James to score Miami's last 18 points of the first half, including a pair of one-handed throw-down alley-oop Wade-to-James dunks during a 10-0 spurt.

JaVale McGee had a season-high 24 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Wizards.

Other games on Friday:

Raptors 86, Celtics 74

Bucks 113, Cavaliers 112, OT

Trail Blazers 94, Hornets 86

Knicks 92, Lakers 85

Pistons 109, Nets 92

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