The National staff Stephen Jackson scored 29 points to surpass 10,000 NBA career points as the Charlotte Bobcats continued one of their best periods in team history with a 125-99 rout of the Phoenix Suns on Saturday. Gerald Wallace added 29 points and 13 rebounds in the Bobcats' fourth win in a row and seventh consecutive victory at home. They toyed with the Suns, who at one stage trailed by 39 points a night after they lost on a buzzer- beater at Atlanta.
Amare Stoudemire also reached 10,000 points, finishing with 19 for Phoenix, who have dropped 10 of their past 11 road games. Kevin Durant scored 36 points on the most efficient shooting night of his career and also pulled down 10 rebounds as the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Miami Heat 98-80. Durant went 14 for 18. LeBron James scored 13 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter as the Cleveland Cavaliers survived a three-point attempt at the final buzzer by Baron Davis and edged the Los Angeles Clippers 102-101. Mo Williams added 18 points for the Eastern Conference-leading Cavaliers.
David West scored 24 points and Chris Paul just missed a triple-double, leading the New Orleans Hornets to a 101-96 win over the Indiana Pacers. Paul finished with 22 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds. Zach Randolph had 23 points and 15 rebounds as the Memphis Grizzlies beat the San Antonio Spurs 92-86 for a franchise-record eighth consecutive home victory. OJ Mayo scored 19 points and Marc Gasol had 14 for Memphis, who survived a late Spurs rally.
CJ Miles scored 19 points and Deron Williams had 18 as the Utah Jazz beat the Milwaukee Bucks 112-95 for their fourth win in a row. Williams, who aggravated a wrist injury and missed the dramatic end of Utah's 97-96 victory over Cleveland on Thursday, showed he had recovered as he sparked the Jazz to a quick start after which they never trailed. The Washington Wizards managed to end one of the most dismal weeks in their history with a 96-86 victory over the Sacramento Kings, giving their coach, Flip Saunders, his 600th career win. Caron Butler scored 19 points to lead five players in double figures for the Wizards, who on the previous day had their co-captain Gilbert Arenas plead guilty to a felony gun charge and on the previous evening had lost a double-overtime game at Chicago. Washington had lost four in a row.
Rodney Stuckey scored 20 points and Charlie Villanueva added 19 as the Detroit Pistons beat the New York Knicks 94-90 for their third successive victory. The Pistons nearly blew a 21-point second-half lead before holding on. * With agencies
