Thompson powers Warriors to victory over Mavericks

OAKLAND, California — Golden State’s Klay Thompson scored a season-high 45 points as the Warriors avenged one of their rare losses this season by beating Dallas 127-107 on Wednesday.

The Mavericks comfortably defeated the Warriors on December 30, 2015, for one of only four defeats Golden State have suffered, but were a long way off the NBA pacesetters in this latest encounter.

The Warriors stayed three games clear atop the league and Western Conference standings ahead of San Antonio, who beat Houston to extend their home winning streak to 34 games.

Elsewhere, the Los Angeles Clippers took a close contest at Atlanta, and Oklahoma City needed two key late baskets from Kevin Durant to edge Minnesota in a high-scoring shootout.

Golden State’s Thompson had his second 40-point game of the season and sixth of his career, shooting 14 of 20, 7 for 12 on three-pointers and making all 10 of his free throws.

Warriors star Stephen Curry had a very quiet first half but hit three quick three-pointers early in the third quarter. He finished with a modest 14 points.

Chandler Parsons scored 23 points for Dallas.

San Antonio suffered a 30-point defeat to Golden State in their previous game, but rediscovered their best form at home to beat Houston 130-99.

LaMarcus Aldridge, who was poor against the Warriors, had 25 points and 10 rebounds for the Spurs, who are 25-0 at home this season after winning their last nine there in 2014-15.

James Harden had 20 points for the Rockets, who suffered their heaviest defeat of the season.

The Clippers just held off a mistake-prone Atlanta to win 85-83.

The Hawks turned it over a season-worst 23 times but still had a chance to force overtime when they got the ball back with 6.7 seconds left. The inbound pass went to Paul Millsap, who drove and got a good look at the basket but came up short on a running one-hander.

Jamal Crawford had 21 points and DeAndre Jordan scored 13 points and grabbed 19 rebounds for the Clippers, who again won in the absence of Blake Griffin, who will miss up to six weeks after breaking a hand when punching a staff member.

Jeff Teague led Atlanta with 16 points.

Oklahoma City’s Durant had 27 points, and hit two huge shots in the final two minutes to give the Thunder a 126-123 win against Minnesota.

Russell Westbrook had 24 points, 15 assists and eight rebounds for the Thunder, who completed a four-game road trip 3-1.

Zach LaVine scored 35 points on 14-for-17 shooting for the Timberwolves, who rued ten missed free throws.

Cleveland stormed away in the second half to beat Phoenix 115-93 to hand the Suns a 17th loss in 19 games.

Boston made it four wins in succession by defeating Denver 111-103, with Avery Bradley matching his season high with 27 points.

Utah avenged a double-overtime loss to Charlotte last week by cruising past the Hornets 102-73.

Detroit’s Andre Drummond had 25 points and 18 rebounds to help the Pistons rally and beat Philadelphia 110-97.