NBA Wrap: Warriors welcome back Kerr with big win

OAKLAND, California — Stephen Curry banked in a shot from midcourt with a hand in his face at the halftime buzzer and finished with 39 points to help coach Steve Kerr win his season debut in the Golden State Warriors' 122-110 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Friday (Saturday Manila time). 

Kerr returned from a leave of absence dating to Oct. 1 for complications following two back surgeries, and defending champion Golden State delivered for him by winning its 38th straight home game at Oracle Arena to match the 1985-86 Celtics for third-longest home winning streak all-time. The Warriors are 20-0 at home this season.

Curry added 12 assists and 10 rebounds for his second triple-double of the season and seventh of his career. He also became the first player in NBA history to make 200 3-pointers in four straight seasons.

Myles Turner scored a career-high 31 points and grabbed eight rebounds for the Pacers.

SPURS 108, LAKERS 95

LOS ANGELES — Manu Ginobili scored a season-high 20 points, Kawhi Leonard added 18 and the San Antonio Spurs beat the Los Angeles Lakers for their 13th consecutive victory.

Kobe Bryant scored five points on the 10th anniversary of his 81-point game against Toronto, still the second-highest scoring performance in NBA history.

While the Lakers honored Bryant during the game with highlights of his 2006 effort, Ginobili was the one putting on a throwback performance. The Argentine veteran, who is nearly 13 months older than the 37-year-old Bryant, went 9 for 10 with four rebounds and four assists while the Spurs rolled to their 20th win in 21 games overall.

D'Angelo Russell scored 18 points for the Lakers, who have lost five straight and nine of 10.

RAPTORS 101, HEAT 81

TORONTO  — Newly elected All-Star Kyle Lowry kissed a fan on the forehead after accidentally falling on her, then gave the Toronto Raptors a boost in a victory over the Miami Heat.

Lowry was trying to save a loose ball early in the first quarter and toppled out of bounds. He landed on top of the woman, who was sitting in the first row and didn't appear to be hurt.

Lowry then gave her a kiss, and she smiled as he returned to the court. He finished with 15 points and six assists as Toronto won its season-high seventh in a row.

DeMar DeRozan scored 33 for the Raptors.

Chris Bosh had 26 and Dwyane Wade 22 points for Miami.

HORNETS 120, MAGIC 116, OT

ORLANDO, Florida  — Kemba Walker had 40 points and nine assists, and Spencer Hawes made a go-ahead 3-pointer with 17 seconds left in overtime to rally the Charlotte Hornets past the Orlando Magic.

Victor Oladipo scored 29 points for the Magic, who have lost five straight and nine of 10. Tobias Harris added 22 points, and Nik Vucevic had 15 points and 12 rebounds.

In breaking a 10-game road losing streak, the injury-riddled Hornets overcame an 18-point deficit in the fourth quarter by outscoring the Magic 22-3 over a seven-minute stretch. Oladipo then hit a tying 3-pointer with 5.3 seconds left.

JAZZ 108, NETS 86

NEW YORK  — Gordon Hayward had 21 points, nine assists and four rebounds, Rodney Hood scored 16 points, and the Utah Jazz cruised past the Brooklyn Nets.

Trevor Booker added 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Jazz, who pulled away in the third quarter by shooting 16 for 22 from the field and outscoring Brooklyn 37-17.

Bojan Bogdanovic had 14 points and Willie Reed had 12 for the Nets, who have lost five consecutive games, and 10 of their last 11. Brooklyn also remained winless (0-4) against Northwest Division opponents this season.

CELTICS 110, BULLS 101

BOSTON  — Isaiah Thomas scored 22 points and the Boston Celtics held off a furious rally in the fourth quarter to beat the Chicago Bulls.

Avery Bradley added 21 points, and Jared Sullinger finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds as the Celtics ended a two-game losing skid. The victory also gives Boston a 2-1 win in the season series with the Bulls.

The Celtics were up by 15 points at the half before seeing their lead drop all the way to a point in the fourth quarter.

Jimmy Butler led Chicago with 28 points and 14 rebounds. Derrick Rose added 27 points, and Pau Gasol finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds. The Bulls have lost six of their last eight.

CLIPPERS 116, KNICKS 88

NEW YORK  — DeAndre Jordan scored 20 points on 7-for-7 shooting, Chris Paul had 16 points, 13 assists and six rebounds, and the Los Angeles Clippers routed the New York Knicks.

The duo hooked up on a few alley-oops during the game as Jordan didn't have to work hard to improve his NBA-leading field-goal percentage to 72.1 percent.

Paul Pierce finished with 13 points as the Clippers rebounded from Thursday's 115-102 loss in Cleveland to win for the 12th time in 14 games. Los Angeles shot 56.6 percent from the field.

Carmelo Anthony scored 16 points, but shot just 4 for 12 for the Knicks (22-23), who were trying for a third straight win that would have moved them over .500. Kristaps Porzingis shot even worse, going 4 for 17 while finishing with 13 points and eight rebounds.

ROCKETS 102, BUCKS 98

HOUSTON  — James Harden scored 30 points and the Houston Rockets ended a two-game skid with a win over the Milwaukee Bucks.

The Rockets closed the third quarter with a 14-2 run to turn a one-point game into a double-digit lead entering the fourth. They were up by 12 when the Bucks went on a 14-4 run, that started with consecutive dunks by Giannis Antetokounmpo and Michael Carter-Williams and ended with a 3-pointer by Khris Middleton, to cut the lead to 100-98 with 6.9 seconds left.

But Trevor Ariza made a pair of free throws after that to secure the victory.

Middleton and Greg Monroe scored 21 points each for the Bucks, whose three-game winning streak ended.

Ariza added 19 points for the Rockets, who were playing without Dwight Howard, who sat out after spraining his left ankle Wednesday night.

THUNDER 109, MAVERICKS 106

DALLAS  — Kevin Durant scored 24 points in the former Texas star's first game in Dallas in almost two years, and the Oklahoma City Thunder extended their winning streak to a season-best seven games by holding on against the Mavericks.

Russell Westbrook had 16 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for the Thunder, who almost blew a 17-point lead in the fourth quarter before improving to 13-2 since a Christmas Day loss to Chicago.

Chandler Parsons led Dallas with 26 points and nearly extended an NBA-record streak of four straight overtime home games. His desperation 3-pointer bounced off the rim just before the buzzer. It was the last of three potential tying 3s in the final 35 seconds for Dallas.