Paul George scored 24 points as the Los Angeles Clippers moved to third in the Western Conference with a 118-94 win over their Los Angeles rivals the Lakers.

George led a solid offensive performance from the Clippers with all five starters finishing in double figures along with two from the bench.

The Lakers, who were without LeBron James, have now lost four of the last five and sit sixth in the conference, with Kyle Kuzma finishing with 25 points.

Kyrie Irving had 45 points but it was not enough as the Brooklyn Nets were downed by the Dallas Mavericks 113-109.

The loss means the Nets are winless in their last four and fall to 2.5 games behind Conference leaders the Philadelphia 76ers.

Elsewhere, Stephen Curry had 34 points as the Golden State Warriors overcame the Oklahoma City Thunder 118-97, overtime was needed to split the Washington Wizards and the Toronto Raptors with the Canadian outfit losing 131-129 and the Chicago Bulls swept aside the Charlotte Hornets 120-99.

Caris LeVert scored nine points in the last two and a half minutes to help the Indiana Pacers to a 133-126 win over the Atlanta Hawks and the Memphis Grizzlies lost to the Detroit Pistons 111-97.