By GREG BEACHAM
By GREG BEACHAM
AP Sports Writer
LOS ANGELES — Metta World Peace was subdued and contrite in the Los Angeles Lakers’ locker room, apologizing to Oklahoma City’s James Harden for throwing the elbow that sent them both to the locker room in the second quarter.
They both missed a beauty of a game that could echo into the postseason for two division leaders.
Kobe Bryant scored six of his 26 points in the second overtime alongside an unorthodox Lakers lineup, and Los Angeles rallied from an 18-point deficit in the second half for a 114-106 victory over the Thunder on Sunday.
Pau Gasol had 20 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists for the Lakers, who made an impressive comeback in their regular-season home finale against off-target Thunder stars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, who combined to miss 42 of their 56 shots. Los Angeles’ rally stunned the Thunder and set an early tone for their possible second-round playoff matchup.
“It’s not so much that we beat Oklahoma, but how we did it,” said Bryant, who shook off his own woeful shooting game with two key 3-pointers late in regulation. “In the playoffs, particularly if you don’t have home-court advantage, you’re going to have games like this. We have to have the poise and the confidence to just keep chipping away.”
Yet everything after halftime was colored by the drama and violence that occurred 1:37 before the break.
World Peace had just dunked over Durant and Serge Ibaka on a fast break and was headed back upcourt when he ran into Harden. While pounding his chest with his right arm, World Peace raised his left elbow over Harden’s shoulder and cleanly hit Harden in the back of the skull.
Harden dropped to the court and stayed down for about a minute before heading to the locker room. Ibaka and other Thunder players challenged World Peace, but were kept apart, and World Peace was ejected after officials reviewed the tape.
“I got real emotional and excited, and it was unfortunate that James had to get hit with the unintentional elbow,” said World Peace, who had scored 12 points and played solid defense on Durant. “I hope he’s OK. Oklahoma, they’re playing for a championship this year. I apologize to the Thunder and James Harden. It was just unfortunate.”
The Thunder didn’t immediately announce whether Harden, who scored 14 points, had a concussion. Bryant and other Lakers acknowledged World Peace is likely to face a multigame suspension with just one game left in their regular season.
“I’m just happy my teammate is all right,” said Durant, who scored 35 points on 11-for-34 shooting. “It was a bad play. Hopefully Ron didn’t do it intentionally or have any malicious intentions on that. We’ve got to move past that.”
Ibaka had 18 points and 14 rebounds for the Thunder, who led by 11 points with 4 minutes left in regulation. Westbrook had 14 points on 3-for-22 shooting and 10 assists as Oklahoma City fell 1 1/2 games behind San Antonio atop the Western Conference with just its third loss in nine games.
Despite the loss, Durant finally passed Bryant in the race for both superstars’ third NBA scoring title. Durant, the two-time defending scoring champion, is averaging 27.906 points with two to play, while Bryant — the NBA’s top scorer for nearly the entire regular season — slipped back into second at 27.862 points per game with just one game left.
The Lakers rallied with seldom-used Devin Ebanks and Jordan Hill alongside Bryant, Gasol and backup point guard Steve Blake, who hit three key 3-pointers. Ebanks had eight points and two key defensive plays in the final minute, while Hill had 14 points and a career high-tying 15 rebounds.
“Being down double digits against a very good team, we could have folded easily,” Lakers coach Mike Brown said. “This might have been our best team win of the year.”
Bryant struggled through the first three quarters of his first home game since April 6 before coming alive down the stretch during Los Angeles’ rally. Bryant then hit the tiebreaking fall-away jumper with 52 seconds left in the second overtime, followed by two free throws as the Lakers hung on.
Even with Harden unavailable to provide his usual offensive boost, the Thunder could only blame themselves for a 4-for-19 fourth quarter with four turnovers, followed by a 5-for-17 effort in the two overtime periods.
“I believe in Kevin, I believe in Russell, I believe in what our guys do,” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. “Some nights they’re not going to fall for you, but if the execution is good and the shots are good, you have to live with the results.”
World Peace was making major contributions to the Lakers on both ends of the court before his ejection for yet another unpredictable outburst in the erstwhile Ron Artest’s long history of misbehavior.
World Peace, who changed his name last year, has been mostly well-behaved during his three seasons with the Lakers, even winning an award as the NBA’s citizen of the year for his extensive charity work around mental-health issues. Yet he’ll always be most famous for his 86-game suspension for participating in the brawl in the Palace of Auburn Hills stands while playing for Indiana in November 2004.
The Lakers pulled within one point on World Peace’s dunk, but fell apart after the ejection, managing just 14 points in the next 14 minutes.
KNICKS 113, HAWKS 112
ATLANTA — Carmelo Anthony scored 39 points, and New York outlasted Atlanta in a game between two playoff-bound teams still battling for postseason seeding.
The Hawks took their final lead at 112-111 on Joe Johnson’s 3-pointer with 1:50 left. Anthony countered with a jumper 10 seconds later for the final margin.
Amare Stoudemire blocked a dunk attempt by Atlanta’s Marvin Williams moments before the buzzer. Stoudemire started at center in place of Tyson Chandler, who was resting a sore knee.
Williams, who led Atlanta with a season-high 29 points, wanted a foul call on Anthony or Stoudemire, both of whom appeared to make contact.
The teams combined for 27 3-pointers on 42 attempts.
KINGS 114, BOBCATS 88
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — DeMarcus Cousins had 29 points and 10 rebounds, and Sacramento handed Charlotte its 20th straight loss.
The Kings had lost nine of their previous 10 games, but this one was never in doubt as they scored 78 points in the paint and led by as many as 35 in the fourth quarter.
Tyreke Evans was dominant while slicing his way through a non-existent Bobcats defense, hitting 10 of 11 shots from the field and finishing with 22 points.
Kemba Walker had 13 points and 11 assists for the Bobcats, who are nearing the NBA record for futility. If the Bobcats (7-56) lose their final three games, they’ll finish with the worst winning percentage in league history.
HEAT 97, ROCKETS 88
MIAMI — LeBron James had 32 points and eight rebounds, Norris Cole added 16 points and Miami pulled away in the final minutes to eliminate Houston from postseason contention.
Mike Miller scored 11 for injury-depleted Miami, which still has a mathematical chance of catching Chicago for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Joel Anthony added 11 for the Heat on 5-for-5 shooting.
Chandler Parsons scored a career-high 23 for Houston, which led by as many as 13 in the first half. Parsons tied the game at 83 with a layup late in the fourth, before James’ 3-pointer sparked an 8-0 run.
Goran Dragic scored 16, while Courtney Lee and Patrick Patterson had 14 apiece for the Rockets.
PISTONS 76, RAPTORS 73
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Reserve Ben Gordon scored 19 points, including the go-ahead basket, to help Detroit beat Toronto.
Gordon’s 3-pointer with less than 3 minutes to play broke a 68-all tie and he added four subsequent free throws to keep Detroit ahead. Rookie Brandon Knight also had 19 points to help the Pistons end a two-game losing streak.
DeMar DeRozan had 16 for the Raptors, who lost their third straight.
WARRIORS 93, T-WOLVES 88
MINNEAPOLIS — Charles Jenkins had 24 points and nine assists while playing all 48 minutes to rally Golden State from a 21-point deficit.
Brandon Rush scored 10 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter and also grabbed nine rebounds. Klay Thompson scored 17 points for the Warriors, who snapped an eight-game losing streak.
Nikola Pekovic had 19 points and 16 rebounds, and JJ Barea had 14 points and 12 assists in all 48 minutes for the Timberwolves, who announced earlier that All-Star power forward Kevin Love would not play the final two games of the season because of a concussion.
SPURS 114, CAVS 98
SAN ANTONIO — Manu Ginobili scored 20 points to lead San Antonio to its seventh straight victory.
San Antonio (47-16) moved 1½ games ahead of Oklahoma City, which lost to the Lakers earlier Sunday, in the race for the best record in the Western Conference. A victory over Portland on Monday would secure the top spot in the West for the Spurs, who own the tiebreaker over the Thunder.
Cleveland lost for the fourth time in its last five games despite the Spurs giving Tim Duncan the night off. With the playoffs right around the corner, the 35-year-old Duncan was the only active Spur not to play.
NUGGETS 101, MAGIC 74
DENVER — JaVale McGee scored 17 points, throwing down a half-dozen dunks in the second half, and Denver pulled away to beat Orlando.
Danilo Gallinari also scored 17, Arron Afflalo had 15 and Ty Lawson 13 for the Nuggets, who swept the two-game season series with Orlando, avoiding the Magic’s injured Dwight Howard both times.
Ryan Anderson scored 24 points for the Magic, who lost their third straight. Glen Davis added 14 points for Orlando, which also lost guard Jameer Nelson to a calf injury. He left the game in the first quarter and did not return.