By The Associated Press

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Danny Granger scored 22 points, Roy Hibbert tied a career high with 19 and the Indiana Pacers dropped the New Jersey Nets to 0-11 with a 91-83 victory Tuesday night.

Dahntay Jones added 17 points for the Pacers, who extended their winning streak to five and can continue their turnaround from an 0-3 start Wednesday when they host another struggling team, the New York Knicks.

Chris Douglas-Roberts scored a career-high 27 points and Brook Lopez added 26 points and 16 rebounds for the Nets, who head to Milwaukee on Wednesday, still a long way from the record 17-game opening skids owned by the Miami Heat and Los Angeles Clippers.

The Nets have been hit with a rash of injuries that again left them with the league minimum eight players in uniform. They contained an Indiana club that rang up 113 points against Boston on Saturday, but the NBA’s second-lowest scoring team again didn’t have nearly enough firepower.

The Pacers have their own injury problems, playing without Mike Dunleavy Jr. and Troy Murphy, but got some good news when T.J. Ford returned to the starting lineup after back spasms made him a reserve on Saturday.

Ford hit a jumper with 1:28 to go after the Nets had trimmed the lead to seven.

Indiana opened both halves with 9-0 runs but wasted numerous chances to turn it into a blowout, making only 12 field goals across the middle two quarters and leading by only six with under 3 minutes remaining.

Cavaliers 114, Warriors 108

CLEVELAND — LeBron James had 31 points and 12 assists, J.J. Hickson added a career-high 21 points and the Cleveland Cavaliers held off a gutsy effort by the short-handed Golden State Warriors, winning 114-108.

Injuries and illness left Golden State with seven healthy bodies, although the Cavaliers had their own injury concerns.

Jamario Moon left in the third quarter with a sprained left ankle, and Shaquille O’Neal and Anderson Varejao were both inactive for Cleveland. Varejao was scratched with a hip contusion and O’Neal missed his second straight game with a strained shoulder. Coach Mike Brown doesn’t expect either player back for Wednesday’s game at Washington.

The injuries to O’Neal and Varejao forced the Cavaliers to activate Delonte West, who has been in and out of the lineup this year while dealing with personal issues. West scored two points in 14 minutes after being inactive for the previous three games.

With two of their best post players missing, the Cavaliers found a new option in Hickson.

Hickson has flourished since entering the starting lineup, setting career highs in three consecutive games. Hickson is averaging 19.6 points over the stretch.

Golden State was within four with less than two minutes to play when Anthony Parker came up with a steal and dished ahead to James, who lofted an alley-oop to Hickson that sent a charge through the sellout crowd at the Q.

James scored 20 in the second half and finished with five rebounds.

Monta Ellis led the Warriors with 23 points and reserve Corey Maggette had 19.

Golden State dressed the league minimum eight players, including Raja Bell, who didn’t play because of a wrist injury that will require surgery next week. Bell and Vladimir Radmanovic were acquired from Charlotte on Monday for Stephen Jackson and Acie Law.

Warriors forward Kelenna Azubuike will have surgery Wednesday for a torn patellar tendon in his left knee and is lost for the season. Guard C.J. Watson is out indefinitely after testing positive for the H1N1 virus.

That left Golden State with two reserves Tuesday – Maggette and Anthony Randolph, who managed to outscore the Cleveland bench, 32-23.

It doesn’t get any easier for the Warriors, who play at Boston on Wednesday.

Playing without three starters, the Nets usually have managed to stay competitive before ultimately falling short. Their 81-80 loss in Miami on Saturday was probably the toughest, with Dwyane Wade hitting a 3-pointer with 0.1 seconds left to win it not long after Quentin Richardson had banked in a tying 3.

“That one hurt more because I felt so (darn) bad for those guys,” coach Lawrence Frank said before the game.

Hoping to end the skid, the Nets asked their fans to show support with a “10 is enough!” plan, giving each season-ticket holder two tickets to bring additional fans. But there didn’t seem to be any extra fans, and now there are still no wins.

Leading by eight at halftime, the Pacers quickly ran off nine straight points to open a 63-46 on Hibbert’s follow dunk with 9:18 remaining in the third quarter. But their offense stalled from there, with the Nets using a 14-2 spurt to cut it to 65-60 before Indiana scored the final two points of the period on free throws.

Showing no letdown after the Boston victory, Indiana scored the first nine points and opened a 16-point lead after Solomon Jones’ three-point play with 3:11 left in the first quarter. The Pacers led 31-21 after Earl Watson’s jumper as time expired.

Indiana pushed the lead back to 14 in the second quarter, but shot only 32 percent in the period as New Jersey cut it to 54-46 at halftime.

Thunder 100, Heat 87

MIAMI — Kevin Durant scored 32 points, Russell Westbrook had 24 and the Oklahoma City Thunder added to their surprising start by beating the Miami Heat 100-87.

An early 20-1 run put the Thunder in control, and a 14-2 burst in the third quarter helped seal it for Oklahoma City. Jeff Green added 13 for the Thunder, who’ve won three straight on the road.

Dwyane Wade finished with 22 points on 6 of 19 shooting and Daequan Cook scored 14 of his 17 in the fourth quarter for Miami. Jermaine O’Neal had 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Heat, who visit Atlanta Wednesday for the first time since the Hawks beat Miami in Game 7 of last season’s Eastern Conference opening-round series.

The Thunder got off to a 6-32 start last year. This season, they’re 6-5.

Westbrook’s 3-pointer with 6:40 left might have been the biggest blow, considering it came after he lost the dribble, while being closely guarded by Mario Chalmers and with the shot clock running down. He swished it anyway, putting Oklahoma City up 87-72.

Miami made a run, with Cook scoring five quick points and Wade hitting a 3-pointer to get the Heat within nine, but Durant answered with a turnaround jumper and the Thunder weren’t seriously threatened again.

Nick Collison and Nenad Krstic each finished with 10 points for Oklahoma City.

Oklahoma City trailed 16-11 midway through the opening quarter. Without warning, everything quickly turned its way.

A 20-1 run over an 8-minute stretch set the tone. Durant scored 10 points (plus had two assists), Miami missed 10 straight shots and a sequence at the end of the first quarter further soured the Heat mood.

Durant tried a beat-the-clock 3-pointer from near the Thunder bench. Wade contested the shot, was called for a foul and argued vehemently enough to earn a technical as well. Durant made all four free throws to give the Thunder a 25-17 lead, and Oklahoma City scored the first six points of the second period to stretch the lead to 14.

Miami made its run, largely coinciding with Durant not scoring for the final 4:46 of the half. The Heat scored 13 of the final 19 points of the second quarter, closing to 45-42 at the break.

But the third quarter, all Oklahoma City again.

Westbrook had nine in the period, Durant had eight more and the Heat opened by shooting 4 of 12 from the floor. It all added up to the Thunder taking a 74-59 lead into the final 12 minutes. Another big run – this time, a 14-2 spurt – did most of the damage, as Oklahoma City stretched a tenuous 51-48 edge into a 65-50 lead.

Suns 111, Rockets 105
HOUSTON – Amare Stoudemire scored 23 points, Steve Nash had 16 assists and the Phoenix Suns recovered from a slow start to beat the Houston Rockets 111-105.

Jason Richardson scored 20 points for the Suns, who have won eight of their last 11 games against the Rockets in Houston.
Carl Landry scored a career-high 27 points off the bench and Aaron Brooks had a career-best 13 assists for the Rockets.
The Suns (10-2) rallied from a double-digit deficit to win for the fifth time this season. They’re the only team to reach 100 points in all of their games so far.

Richardson’s 3-pointer with 8:11 left in the third quarter gave the Suns their first lead since the opening minutes. Brooks hit a shot from the baseline before Nash made a pull-up jumper for his first field goal of the game, giving Phoenix a 63-62 lead.
The pace of the game picked up and the lead changed hands eight more times over the next 6 minutes. Landry dunked and Luis Scola sank a baseline jumper in the last minute of the quarter to give Houston an 82-78 advantage.

Nash returned from a short rest with 9 minutes left in the game and the Rockets leading 85-84. He immediately found Leandro Barbosa cutting inside for a layup, and the Suns moved back in front.

Nuggets 130, Raptors 112.
DENVER – Carmelo Anthony scored 32 points and reserve J.R. Smith had 29, leading the Denver Nuggets past the Toronto Raptors 130-112 .

Anthony is the only player in the NBA to score at least 20 points in all of his team’s games so far. He’s topped 30 points seven times and 40 points twice. He sat out the final quarter of this one after putting in 30 efficient minutes.

After withstanding Smith’s seven-game suspension and a six-game trip consisting of three back-to-backs, the Nuggets weathered a very determined Raptors team that was without forward Hedo Turkoglu but didn’t trail until midway through the third quarter.
Chris Bosh led Toronto with 13 points and 14 rebounds and DeMar DeRozan scored 17.