LeBron scores record Heat points

Miami’s LeBron James scored a career-high 61 points to lead the hosts to a 124-107 win over Charlotte, moving the Heat back within two games of NBA Eastern Conference leader Indiana.

James made 22 of 33 shots from the field, including his first eight three-point attempts. His career-best had been 56 points in 2004-05 for Cleveland against Toronto.

James scored a staggering 25 points in the third quarter alone, and broke the Heat’s franchise record with 5:46 left, passing Glenn Rice’s 56 points scored in 1994-95.

In the evening’s other games, Memphis withstood a late rally and ended Washington’s winning streak at six games with a 110-104 win, Brooklyn beat Chicago 96-80, and an alley-oop dunk with 6.9 seconds left lifted the struggling Los Angeles Lakers 107-106 over Portland.

Elsewhere, Minnesota’s Kevin Love scored 33 points and tied a season high with 19 rebounds for his NBA-best 50th double-double this season as the Timberwolves beat skidding Denver 132-128 for its third win in a row.

Detroit surged past New York in a match of slumping teams, beating the Knicks 96-85 with Andre Drummond having a career-high 26 rebounds.

Sacramento’s DeMarcus Cousins had 23 points and 12 rebounds as the Kings beat slumping New Orleans 96-89.

Milwaukee beat Utah 114-88, with Ersan Ilyasova scoring a season-high 31 points on 13-of-14 shooting.