Celtics edge Thunder for seventh straight win; Morant fires first triple-double in Grizzlies win; Young scores 48 as Hawks beat Knicks in OT
Monday 10 February 2020 07:30, UK
Bojan Bogdanovic hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to lift the Utah Jazz to a 114-113 victory over the host Houston Rockets on Sunday night.
Bojan Bogdanovic hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to lift the Utah Jazz to a 114-113 victory over the host Houston Rockets on Sunday night.
Bogdanovic had just two field goals and eight points for the night, 13 below his season average. But Utah executed the final inbound play to perfection, with Bogdanovic making a 28-footer over James Harden and PJ Tucker, the final clutch three in a sequence of them down the stretch.
The Jazz took a 103-100 lead on a Bogdanovic triple with 4:18 left and extended that lead to 107-100, their largest of the night, on a Donovan Mitchell jumper in the lane. But the Rockets responded, with Harden registering a triple-double (28 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists) with his pass to Robert Covington, whose three-pointer with 28 seconds left gave the Rockets a 110-109 advantage.
Mitchell responded with two free throws after a Tucker foul, only for Tucker to hit a corner three with 1.6 seconds left that pushed Houston back in front. Bogdanovic had the final word.
Jordan Clarkson paced the Jazz with 30 points off the bench while Mitchell added 24 and six assists. Rudy Gobert had 12 points and 15 rebounds. Russell Westbrook led the Rockets with 39 points.
Kemba Walker scored 27 points to help the Boston Celtics to a 112-111 road win over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Walker hit a pair of critical three-pointers late to seal it for Boston. With less than three minutes remaining and Boston up four, Walker drilled a three-pointer to extend the lead. After a Chris Paul jumper on the other end, Walker answered a few seconds later with another triple in almost the same spot as his first to help the Celtics grab control.
Paul hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to make it a one-point game but after Walker's threes, the Thunder never again had the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead. The win extended Boston's winning streak to seven. The Celtics have now won 10 of their last 11 games. It was just Oklahoma City's second loss in 11 games.
Jayson Tatum scored 19 of his 26 points after half-time to help Boston come back.
There was some confusion on the Celtics side to start the third quarter as the second half started with Oklahoma City's Danilo Gallinari at the free-throw line. Just after the second quarter ended, Boston's Marcus Smart, who had been on the bench since the opening moments of the second quarter after picking up his third foul, was called for a technical for arguing with officials as his team-mates made their way to the locker room.
Gallinari hit the free throw to put the Thunder up 10 but then Boston reeled off seven consecutive points to get back into the game.
The three Celtics who missed Friday's win over Atlanta with various injuries - Jaylen Brown, Gordon Hayward and Daniel Theis - all returned for Sunday's game. Hayward, Tatum and Theis each had double-doubles. Brown contributed 17 points.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Gallinari scored 24 points each to lead the Thunder while Paul and Dennis Schroder had 22 each. But the rest of the Oklahoma City roster combined for just 19 points.
Lou Williams scored 25 points and Paul George had 22 as the LA Clippers rebounded from a demoralising defeat one night earlier for an easy 133-92 road victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Marcus Morris Sr had 10 points in his Clippers debut as Los Angeles distanced themselves from a surprising 27-point defeat to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday. The Clippers won without Kawhi Leonard, who received a day of rest on the second night of a back-to-back scenario.
Andre Drummond scored 19 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in his Cavaliers debut, while Kevin Porter Jr added 17 points for Cleveland. The Cavaliers saw their losing streak extend to six games while also falling for the 13th time in their last 14 contests.
Drummond was acquired at Thursday's NBA trade deadline from the Detroit Pistons, while Morris was acquired by the Clippers from the New York Knicks on the same day.
A day after giving up 40 points in the first quarter against the sharp-shooting Timberwolves a day earlier, the Clippers did not allow their Sunday opponents to pass the 40-point threshold until just over three minutes remained in the first half.
The Clippers led 36-21 after the first quarter and held a comfortable 73-50 advantage at the break after they were up by as many as 27 points in the second quarter.
Montrezl Harrell had 19 points for the Clippers, while Landry Shamet had 11 and Amir Coffey had 10. Collin Sexton had 13 points for the Cavaliers, while Kevin Love had 10 points and nine rebounds.
Damian Lillard recorded 33 points and eight assists to lead the Portland Trail Blazers to a 115-109 victory over the visiting Miami Heat.
Gary Trent Jr contributed 22 points and four steals off the bench, and Trevor Ariza scored 19 of his 21 points in the first half as the Trail Blazers won for the seventh time in the past 10 games. Carmelo Anthony scored 15 points, CJ McCollum added 13 and Hassan Whiteside had 11 points, 17 rebounds and four blocked shots.
Goran Dragic had 27 points and seven assists off the bench for the Heat, who lost a season-worst third straight game. Duncan Robinson scored 19 points, Jae Crowder had 18 points and 11 rebounds in his team debut, Bam Adebayo added 13 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists, and Derrick Jones Jr scored 11 points.
Andre Iguodala had two points and six rebounds in 23 minutes off the bench in his debut with the Heat. Iguodala and Crowder were acquired from the Memphis Grizzlies before last Thursday's trade deadline. Miami All-Star Jimmy Butler (shoulder injury) missed his second straight game.
Miami got a three-pointer from Dragic and a lay-up from Abebayo to pull to 111-108 with 46.5 seconds left. Lillard hit a lay-up with 25.6 seconds remaining to make it a five-point margin. Robinson, Dragic and Robinson again missed three-pointers on the Heat's next possession. Whiteside was fouled and hit both free throws to make it 115-108 with 11.5 seconds as the Trail Blazers closed it out.
Ja Morant recorded his first career triple-double with 27 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds as the visiting Memphis Grizzles rallied late to defeat the Washington Wizards 106-99 in the nation's capital.
Memphis scored 11 of the game's final 15 points after the two teams were deadlocked at 95. The Grizzlies trailed most of the night but Washington went cold in the final minutes, scoring just six points in the final 7:43.
Morant scored six of the 11 points in the final minutes. The rookie also had 17 of his 27 points in the second half as the Grizzlies tried a few times to rally before getting it done in the final minutes. Both teams went cold in the second part of the fourth quarter but Memphis recovered enough to pull out the win.
Kyle Anderson added 16 for Memphis while Jonas Valanciunas pitched in with eight points and 18 rebounds. Jaren Jackson Jr posted a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds, with Tyus Jones adding 13 points off the bench for Memphis. The Grizzlies have won three of their last four and seven of 10 games.
Bradley Beal led Washington with 26 points. Mo Wagner scored 19 off the bench for the Wizards, with Davis Bertans adding 15 and Rui Hachimura scoring 12.
Trae Young scored 11 of his 48 points in the second overtime as the Atlanta Hawks hung on to defeat the visiting New York Knicks 140-135.
Young's three-pointer gave the Hawks a 136-129 lead with 2:14 left in the second overtime. The Knicks had a chance to tie but Elfrid Payton missed a three-pointer with 29.7 left. Young made four free throws in the final 12 seconds to ice the game.
Young was 16-of-16 from the line and made all eight attempts in overtime. He added 13 assists for his 20th double-double. It was his ninth game with 40-plus points.
John Collins added 32 points and 16 rebounds. DeAndre Hunter added 19 points, including a crucial trey in the second overtime.
New York saw their four-game winning streak end despite getting 35 points and 18 rebounds from Julius Randle. Reggie Bullock added 21 points and Mitchell Robinson had 15 points and 11 rebounds.
Furkan Korkmaz scored 31 points to carry the host Philadelphia 76ers past the Chicago Bulls 118-111.
Joel Embiid added 28 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and four blocked shots for his 30th double-double while Ben Simmons had 19 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds for his fifth triple-double this season. Tobias Harris contributed 14 points for the Sixers, who improved to 24-2 at home.
Zach LaVine led the Bulls with 32 points while Luke Kornet added a career-high 25. Cristiano Felicio had 13 for the Bulls, who dropped their fifth in a row. Thaddeus Young also had 10 points and 10 rebounds.
The Sixers built a 15-point lead but had to fend off the pesky Bulls with a 56-51 advantage with 1:01 remaining in the second quarter. Korkmaz continued his stellar play with 19 points as the Sixers held a 60-55 lead at half-time.
The Bulls came out aggressively and went ahead 65-62 with 9:23 remaining in the third. Both teams missed on their final possession of the third and the game was tied at 83.
Embiid opened the fourth with a jump hook followed by an offensive rebound and a vicious dunk to quickly put the Sixers up four, 87-83. The Sixers began to pull away as newly-acquired Glenn Robinson III (10 points) contributed consecutive baskets for a 95-87 advantage.
But Chicago crept within 99-95 when Tomas Satoransky drained a three-pointer from the baseline. Philadelphia scored the next five points to move back ahead 104-95. When LaVine drove to the basket and scored with 4:36 left, the Bulls' deficit was 106-101.
On the next two Sixers' next possessions, Korkmaz hit his sixth trey along with a dunk for a 111-101 advantage.
