LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles Lakers built a 20-point fourth-quarter lead then weathered a furious Phoenix fightback to beat the Suns 116-114 in a bruising National Basketball Association (NBA) clash on Dec 14.
Luka Doncic scored 29 points and LeBron James added 26 for the Lakers, who unleashed a 24-0 scoring run in the second half and led 99-79 with 8:40 remaining.
The Suns responded with a surge of their own and seized a 114-113 lead with 12.2 seconds left on a three-pointer from Dillon Brooks.
A fired-up Brooks then bumped James, drawing his second technical foul of the night and an ejection.
James missed the technical free throw but was then fouled by Devin Booker on a three-point attempt and made two of three free throws with three seconds remaining to put the Lakers back in front.
"We got behind the eight ball a lot in the fourth quarter, but I thought for the majority of the game our physicality was good," James said.
He and Brooks had tangled earlier in the game, each drawing technical fouls in separate incidents.
"(It's) just competing," James said. "It's the NBA, no boys allowed. We're out there competing and we was able to get the last laugh."
"S**t, I don't know, he brought his antics," Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt said of Brooks on ESPN. "Tonight it cost him."
Booker, however, defended his temmate.
He said: "Yeah, I mean there's history there. I love to see it. People always say everything's too friendly in the NBA and then Dillon comes around and now it's too much. So like I said, I'd rather it the other way - that it'd be too much."
In Portland, Golden State star Stephen Curry drilled a remarkable 12 three-pointers on the way to 48 points but came up empty in the final minute as the Warriors fell 136-131 to the Trail Blazers.
Curry was two shy of tying former teammate Klay Thompson's record of 14 three-pointers in an NBA game and one off his own best of 13.
The 37-year-old passed NBA legend Michael Jordan for most 40-point games after the age of 30 with his 45th.
But it was not enough, as Jerami Grant and Shaedon Sharpe scored 35 points apiece for Portland.
The Atlanta Hawks edged the Philadelphia 76ers 120-117 in another tight game.
Atlanta's Jalen Johnson scored 12 points with 10 rebounds and 12 assists to become the 12th NBA player to post four straight triple-doubles and the second this season, along with the Denver Nuggets' Nikola Jokic.
Rookie forward Kon Knueppel scored 29 points and Brandon Miller added 25 points and 13 rebounds as the Charlotte Hornets upset the Cleveland Cavaliers 119-111 in overtime.
Darius Garland scored 26 points to lead the Cavs, who trailed by as many as 17 in the third quarter.
But star guard Donovan Mitchell was held to 17, missing a potential game-winner as time expired in regulation. Cleveland failed to score in the extra session, missing all 10 of their attempts from the floor. Some of the Cleveland fans jeered their team towards the end of the game at Rocket Arena.
"We deserve it," Mitchell was quoted by ESPN as saying. "I was a fan once. I would boo us, too."
In Brooklyn, nine Nets players scored in double figures to power the hosts to a 127-82 rout of the Milwaukee Bucks, who were again without injured two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Rookie Egor Demin scored 17 points and Noah Clowney added 16 for the Nets, who never trailed on the way to matching the franchise record for margin of victory.
"I thought that was awful - awful all around," Bucks coach Doc Rivers said. "Give Brooklyn credit. They played hard as heck... they played right. We didn't." AFP