By JOE RESNICK
By JOE RESNICK
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — Despite having the NBA’s best record, the Indiana Pacers realize there’s always room for improvement.
David West scored 14 of his 24 points in the third quarter and grabbed 12 rebounds, Paul George had 27 points, and the Pacers improved their best start in franchise history to 16-1 on Sunday with a 105-100 victory that snapped the Los Angeles Clippers’ four-game winning streak.
“We can become a lot better. We’re still nowhere close to where we want to be offensively, and that’s the next step for us,” George said. “The defense is clicking well, the transition defense is clicking well, and we’re playing like a team. This was a great win for us. We knew coming in that it was going to be a hard-fought game.”
Jamal Crawford led the Clippers with 20 points — the 10th time this season that a Pacers opponent didn’t have anyone with more than 20. Chris Paul had 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Blake Griffin scored 16 and pulled down 12 rebounds, equaling teammate DeAndre Jordan’s total.
“We’re always up for a challenge, and we had a good one today,” said center Roy Hibbert, who helped fuel the Pacers’ seventh straight win with 19 points. “The Clippers are going to be a contender for the Western Conference finals, so we just had to get in there and grind it out today and finish it off. But we have a lot more work to do. We don’t worry about swagger. We’re just five individuals out there on the court playing together.”
The defending Pacific Division champion Clippers played their first game since finding out that J.J. Redick will be sidelined six to eight weeks because of a broken bone in his shooting hand and a ligament tear in his right elbow.
Redick will be re-evaluated on Monday by hand specialist Dr. Steve Shin to determine what further course of treatment will be necessary. His injuries, which occurred in Friday night’s 104-98 overtime win at Sacramento, complicated things even more for the Clippers with reserve forward Matt Barnes missing his sixth straight game due to an eye injury.
“The ligament looks intact, so they shouldn’t have to operate on that,” Redick said. “It’s just the fragments of the bone. It’s still swollen and there’s some pain there. It’s frustrating, because I have enjoyed those 17 games immensely.”
MIAMI — Chris Bosh scored 13 straight points for Miami in the final minutes, including a trio of 3-pointers that capped a late rally, and the Heat found a way to beat Charlotte to extend its winning streak to 10 games.
Bosh’s three 3s came in a 79-second span, the last of them putting Miami up 93-91 with 1:20 left.
LeBron James led the Heat with 26 points, Bosh finished with 22, Dwyane Wade scored 17 and Mario Chalmers added 12 for Miami, which has beaten the Bobcats 14 straight times.
Kemba Walker scored 27 points for the Bobcats, who had led the entire second half until Bosh’s barrage. Gerald Henderson scored 17, and Al Jefferson finished with 16 points and 13 rebounds for Charlotte.
OKLAHOMA CITY — Kevin Durant recorded his first triple-double of the season with 32 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists, and Oklahoma City rallied for yet another fourth-quarter win, beating Minnesota.
Oklahoma City extended its winning streak to seven games, tops in the Western Conference, and moved to 9-0 on the season at home. It’s the franchise’s longest home winning streak to open a season since the 2004-05 campaign, when the team played in Seattle.
Kevin Martin, in his return to Oklahoma City after joining Minnesota during the offseason, led the Timberwolves with 24 points, while Nikola Pekovic had 22 points and 10 rebounds. The Thunder have beaten Minnesota eight straight times at home, dating to the 2008-09 season, the franchise’s first in Oklahoma City.
NEW YORK — Ryan Anderson made seven 3-pointers and scored 31 points, and New Orleans overcame the loss of Anthony Davis to a broken left hand to beat New York.
Tyreke Evans added 24 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter, as the Pelicans sent the Knicks to their ninth straight loss overall and seventh in a row at home.
Davis had seven points and four rebounds in the first quarter before leaving with what the Pelicans said was a non-displaced fracture in his left hand. The team said a timetable for his return has not been determined.
Carmelo Anthony finished with 23 points and rookie Tim Hardaway Jr. had 21 for the Knicks, who haven’t won at home since beating Milwaukee on Oct. 30 in their season opener.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Stephen Curry made two free throws with 8.6 seconds left and had 12 of his 36 points in the fourth quarter, helping Golden State beat Sacramento.
Curry made five 3-pointers and also added 10 assists for the Warriors, who had lost two straight and five of six.
Klay Thompson connected on a career-high eight 3-pointers and scored 28 points for Golden State. Harrison Barnes and David Lee had 11 points for the Warriors, who ended a four-game road trip with a 2-2 record.
In foul trouble throughout, DeMarcus Cousins had 24 points in just over 20 minutes. Marcus Thornton scored all of his 21 points in the second half for the Kings, who have dropped four straight and are now 3-7 at home.
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Andre Drummond had 31 points and 19 rebounds as Detroit beat Philadelphia.
Drummond was limited to 34 minutes, but he still became the first player to have at least 31 points, 19 rebounds and six steals in a game since Hakeem Olajuwon in 1990. He set career highs in all three categories, two days after Maurice Cheeks left him on the bench for the last 21 minutes of Detroit’s loss to the Lakers.
Brandon Jennings and Josh Smith added 20 points each for the Pistons, while Thaddeus Young had 24 for Philadelphia before fouling out late in the game.
TORONTO — Nate Robinson scored 23 points off the bench, and Denver beat Toronto for its sixth straight victory.
The diminutive guard hit five 3-pointers, including back-to-back baskets with just over two minutes to go, as the Nuggets pulled away.
Rudy Gay led the Raptors with 23 points, while Jonas Valanciunas added 18. DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry each had 17. It was Toronto’s third straight loss.
Denver’s bench scoring was the difference. The Nuggets’ reserves outscored their Raptors counterparts 72-16.