Kobe, Lakers rally; Peace ejected

Metta World Peace was subdued and contrite in the Lakers' locker room, apologizing to the Thunder's James Harden for throwing the elbow that sent them both to the locker room in the second quarter. Both missed a beauty of a game that could echo into the postseason.

Kobe Bryant scored six of his 26 points in the second overtime and host Los Angeles rallied from an 18-point deficit in the second half for a 114-106 victory over Oklahoma City yesterday.

Pau Gasol had 20 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists for the Lakers, who made an impressive comeback against off-target Thunder stars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, who missed 42 of their 56 shots.

Yet everything after halftime was colored by the drama and violence that occurred 1:37 before the break. World Peace had just dunked over Durant and Serge Ibaka on a fast break and was headed back upcourt when he ran into Harden. While pounding his chest with his right arm, World Peace raised his left elbow over Harden's shoulder and cleanly hit Harden in the back of the skull. Harden dropped to the court and stayed down for about a minute before heading to the locker room. World Peace was ejected after officials reviewed the tape.

"I got real emotional and excited, and it was unfortunate that James had to get hit with the unintentional elbow," World Peace said. "I hope he's OK . . . I apologize to the Thunder and James Harden. It was just unfortunate."

Warriors 93, Timberwolves 88: Playing all 48 minutes of Golden State's third game in three nights, former Hofstra star Charles Jenkins had 24 points and nine assists for visiting Golden State, which rallied from a 21-point deficit and ended its losing streak at eight games.

"He's a tough New York City kid," Warriors coach Mark Jackson said. "A tough, hard-nosed kid who has no quit. Totally competes, gets after it. He was banged up, bruised up, battered up, but found a way to gut out a big-time performance."

Jenkins averaged 16.7 points in the three straight games and has averaged 9.5 assists in the past four. The rookie's season highs are 27 points against Portland and 12 assists against the Nets.

Nuggets 101, Magic 74:JaVale McGee and Danilo Gallinari scored 17 points each for host Denver, leaving Orlando two games ahead of the Knicks with two games to play for each.

Heat 97, Rockets 88:LeBron James had 32 points and eight rebounds for host Miami.-- AP