Los Angeles - Al Horford was unstoppable and the high-flying Atlanta Hawks remained unbeaten in the NBA.

Horford had a career-high 27 points, 17 rebounds and six blocks as the Hawks rolled to their sixth straight victory, 113-108 over the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday night.

"Everybody knows we're shorthanded with Josh Smith (ankle injury) being out," teammate Mo Evans said. "And for us to be undefeated after six, Al was huge."

The Hawks are off to best start since opening the 1997-98 season with 11 straight wins, but it's no surprise to Hawks guard Mike Bibby.

"We're playing together and good things are happening," he said. "No one expected us to do this but us. And we're the only ones who can stop us."

Bibby finished with 22 points, including two timely three-pointers in the fourth quarter, while Joe Johnson and Evans added 17 apiece for the Hawks (6-0) to stop a seven-game slide in Chicago.

Rookie Derrick Rose had 26 points and 10 rebounds, Argentine Andres Nocioni added 20 points for the Bulls (3-5), who also learned that guard Kirk Hinrich will miss the next three months after undergoing right thumb surgery.

Atlanta took a 10-point lead into the final quarter, but had it shaved to two with 9:55 left to play. However, Marvin Williams made two free throws and Bibby drilled a pair from behind the arc as the gap quickly widened to 93-83.

Evans buried two triples of his own down the stretch, and the Hawks stayed in front the rest of the way.

Elsewhere: LA Lakers 106, Dallas Mavericks 99 Kobe Bryant scored 27 points, Spain's Pau Gasol had 22, plus 11 rebounds and a key three-point play with 23 seconds left as the unbeaten Lakers won their sixth straight game while keeping the Mavericks winless at home.

Jason Terry scored 21 points, Jason Kidd collected his 101st career triple double with 16 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists for Dallas
(2-5) which dropped to 0-3 at home for the first time since the 1993-94 campaign.

Cleveland Cavaliers 99, Milwaukee Bucks 93. Red-hot scoring machine LeBron James scored 41 points for the third time in the last four games, leading the Cavaliers past the Bucks for their fifth straight victory.

"I've just been kind of feeling it," said James, who made 16-of-24 shots en route to his 27th career game with 40 or more points. "It's just one of those nights again, when I feel like wherever I get the ball, whenever I get the ball, it's going to go in."

Richard Jefferson scored 19 points for the Bucks (3-5), who have lost three in a row.

Denver Nuggets 88, Charlotte Bobcats 80 Carmelo Anthony scored 14 of his 25 points in the decisive 29-16 third quarter, sparking the visiting Nuggets past the Bobcats.

Chauncey Billups had 16 points for Denver (4-3), which improved to 3-0 since acquiring the All-Star guard from the Detroit Pistons for Allen Iverson on November 3.

Jason Richardson led the Bobcats (2-5) with 23 points.

Utah Jazz 93, Philadelphia 76ers 80 Ronnie Brewer scored all 16 of his points in the decisive final quarter, and Deron Williams made his season-debut as the visiting Jazz won for the sixth time in seven games.

Carlos Boozer topped Utah with 19 points and 16 rebounds, while fellow-Olympic gold medalist Williams finished with seven points and nine assists in 31 minutes.

Andre Miller led the Sixers (2-5) with 25 points.

San Antonio Spurs 92, New York Knicks 80 Tim Duncan had 23 points, with nine rebounds and seven assists as the Spurs (2-4) won their first game since losing All-Star guard Tony Parker last Friday for four weeks with an ankle injury.

Jamal Crawford scored 28 points with six 3-pointers for New York (4-3) which had its three-game winning streak stopped.

Detroit Pistons 100, Sacramento Kings 92 Allen Iverson had 30 points with nine assists and the Pistons beat the short-handed Kings for their first win in three games since acquiring the nine-time All-Star guard from Denver last week.

Detroit (5-2) also received 26 point and 11 rebounds from Tayshaun Prince. Spencer Hawes scored 19 points to pace Sacramento (3-5) which was without its leading scorer Kevin Martin, who is nursing a left ankle sprain.

Golden State Warriors 113, Minnesota Timberwolves 110 (OT) Stephen Jackson's layup in the closing seconds sent the game into overtime, and he then scored six of his 30 points in the extra session as the Warriors handed the visiting Timberwolves their sixth straight loss.

Al Jefferson had 25 points with 12 boards for Minnesota (1-6) which hasn't won since an opening night victory over Sacramento on October 29. (dpa)