Warriors down Cavaliers, Thunder, Wizards win

NEW YORK – Agence France-Presse

Kevin Durant scored 25 points, Klay Thompson added 24 and both made crucial plays in the final seconds Monday, lifting the NBA champion Golden State Warriors over Cleveland 99-92.

In a Christmas rematch of the NBA Finals that marked their third consecutive meeting on the holiday, the host Warriors won for the 12th time in 13 games to reach 27-7 while the Cavaliers fell to 24-10. Green contributed 12 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists for his first triple double of the season.

Cleveland’s Kevin Love had game highs of 31 points and 18 rebounds while James added 20 points but made a game-high seven turnovers.

At Boston, the Celtics took a 95-90 lead with 6:18 remaining on an Irving 3-pointer in their first-ever Christmas Day home game.

But Washington scored the next 12 points, Bradley Beal and Kelly Oubre each making five points in the pivotal run, and the Wizards closed the game with a 21-8 run in a 111-103 victory.

Beal scored a game-high 25 points while John Wall added 21 points and 14 assists and Otto Porter added 20 points for the Wizards. Irving and Jayson Tatum each scored 20 to lead the Celtics.

Minnesota had 23 points each from Taj Gibson and Jimmy Butler while Karl-Anthony Towns added 21 points and 10 rebounds to power the Timberwolves over the host Los Angeles Lakers 121-104. Kyle Kuzma led the Lakers with a game-high 31 points.

At Oklahoma City, Russell Westbrook scored 31 points and passed off 11 assists to spark the host Thunder over Houston 112-107.