Lin had the most astounding performance of his remarkable week, scoring a career-high 38 points and outduelling Bryant as the New York Knicks held off the Los Angeles Lakers 92-85.

Buried deep on the bench a little more than a week ago, Lin led the Knicks to their fourth straight win, tying their longest streak of the season. His two free throws with 52 seconds left and some booming "MVP! MVP!" chants stopped the Lakers' final rally and allowed the undrafted Harvard product to pass Carmelo Anthony for the Knicks' highest point total this season.

Iman Shumpert added 12 points for the Knicks, who are still without Anthony and Amare Stoudemire. But they have Lin, the point guard that two other teams gave up on in December and didn't get his chance in New York until three other players couldn't do the job.

Bryant finished with 34 points, but he got off to a horrendous start and finished only 11 of 29 from the field. Pau Gasol had 16 points and 10 rebounds, but All-Star Andrew Bynum was only 1 of 8 for three points with 13 rebounds as the Lakers' nine-game winning streak against the Knicks was snapped.

HEAT 106, WIZARDS 89

WASHINGTON (AP) - Dwyane Wade scored 26 points and dominated during a second-quarter run to lead Miami over the Washington.

Wade either scored or got the assist on 20 consecutive Heat points in the second. He combined with LeBron James to score Miami's last 18 points of the first half.

Chris Bosh had 24 points and 11 rebounds, and James added 18 points and nine assists.

JaVale McGee had a season-high 24 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Wizards, who are 3-7 since Randy Wittman replaced fired coach Flip Saunders. Nick Young scored 22 points and John Wall added 15 points and 10 assists.

THUNDER 101, JAZZ 87

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Russell Westbrook scored 28 points and Kevin Durant added 19 to lead Oklahoma City over Utah.

The Jazz seemed determined to limit Durant's offence - he took only 10 shots - but Westbrook found extra room to drive to the basket and created some fast breaks with five steals.

Serge Ibaka had 16 points and 11 rebounds, and Kendrick Perkins added 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Thunder.

Al Jefferson led Utah with 20 points, and Raja Bell and Gordon Hayward had 13 apiece for the Jazz, who lost for the fifth time in six games.

CLIPPERS 78, SIXERS 77

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Chris Paul hit a 17-foot jumper with 3.2 seconds left and finished with 24 points to lift Los Angeles over Philadelphia.

Blake Griffin had 16 points and 11 rebounds, Mo Williams scored 14 points, Randy Foye had 10 and Reggie Evans chipped in with a season-high 10 rebounds for the Pacific Division-leading Clippers, who improved to 16-8.

Elton Brand had 12 points and 10 rebounds for the 76ers, while Andre Iguodala contributed 12 points, eight rebounds and seven assists one day after being selected to the All-Star team as a reserve for the first time in his eight-year career.

BULLS 95, BOBCATS 64

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - Joakim Noah had 17 points and 14 rebounds, Carlos Boozer scored 16 points and Chicago beat Charlotte despite the absence of reigning league MVP Derrick Rose.

The Bulls won their fifth straight overall and improved to 5-1 this season without Rose, who sat out because of a lower back strain.

Derrick Brown scored 10 points to lead the NBA-worst Bobcats, who shot 33 per cent and lost their 13th straight game to fall to 3-23.

Noah was dominant inside, hitting 7 of 9 shots as the Bulls' lead hovered around 30 for most of the second half.

MAVERICKS 104, TIMBERWOLVES 97