Johnson, Nets match season high with 3rd straight

NEW YORK: Joe Johnson snapped out of a slump with 23 points against his former team, and the Brooklyn Nets matched a season high with their third straight victory by beating the Atlanta Hawks 91-86 on Monday night.
Mirza Teletovic scored 16 points and Alan Anderson added 14 starting in place of the injured Deron Williams as the Nets moved to 2-0 on four-game homestand that finishes with visits from Golden State on Wednesday and Miami on Friday.
Despite yet another injury to a key player, the Nets look ready to test themselves against those powerful teams after matching their three consecutive victories from Dec. 7-12.
Paul Millsap scored 16 points for the Hawks, who lost their third in a row to equal their worst stretch of the season.
Timberwolves 126, 76ers 95: Kevin Love scored 26 points while Nikola Pekovic had 16 points and 14 rebounds as the power forward duo helped Minnesota roll to a lop-sided victory that ended Philadelphia’s season-high four-game winning streak.
Love went 4-for-7 from three-point range, part of a 16-for-26 barrage by Minnesota from distance. Kevin Martin, who finished with 18 points, sank three three-pointers, as did Corey Brewer and J.J. Barea.
Minnesota (17-17), who led by as many as 33 points in the second half, beat Philadelphia for the fifth straight time.
Thaddeus Young, just named Eastern Conference Player of the Week, paced Philadelphia with 20 points but the Sixers (12-22) turned the ball over 23 times.
Clippers 101, Magic 81: The Los Angeles Clippers tightened up on defense, allowing the Orlando Magic to hit just one of their first 12 shots and routing the visitors.
The Magic shot just 35.7 percent in the game and had eight of their shots blocked by DeAndre Jordan. The Clippers center added 14 points and 17 rebounds.
Making his second start at point guard in place of injured All Star Chris Paul, Darren Collison was flawless in orchestrating the first-half runaway.
Collison hit his first eight shots and had 19 of his team-high 21 points by halftime.
The Magic got center Nikola Vucevic back in their starting lineup after the 7-footer missed two games with an ankle injury. However, Vucevic hit just one of his seven shots and left the game after taking a hard fall in the third quarter.