Victor Oladipo leads Rockets past Trail Blazers while Clippers down Heat without Kawhi Leonard or Paul George; Sky Sports coverage of the NBA continues on Friday night when the Bucks travel to the Pelicans, join us from 12.30am on Sky Sports Arena
Friday 29 January 2021 07:08, UK
Blake Griffin scored 23 points as the Detroit Pistons held the Los Angeles Lakers scoreless for nearly seven minutes in the fourth quarter and pulled away to a shock 107-92 victory in Detroit.
Both teams were playing a second game of a back-to-back, but the Pistons had much more energy as the game wore on.
Wayne Ellington had 20 points, including six 3-pointers, while Mason Plumlee contributed 17 points and 10 rebounds. Jerami Grant and Derrick Rose added 14 points apiece for Detroit.
LeBron James had 22 points but crucially only two after halftime for the Lakers, along with 10 assists and seven rebounds. Kyle Kuzma put up 22 points and 10 rebounds, and Talen Horton-Tucker had 13 points off the bench.
Los Angeles' Anthony Davis sat out the game due to a quad injury. The Lakers lost their second straight road game after going 10-0 to start the season, a franchise record.
The Lakers were clinging to a 58-56 lead at halftime. Ellington connected on four 3-point tries for Detroit while scoring 14 points in the half. The Pistons committed just one turnover but shot just 41.7 percent from the field. Neither side had a lead bigger than eight points during the half.
Detroit had a five-point possession midway through the third quarter to tie the score at 70. Plumlee converted in the lane while getting pulled down by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who was handed a flagrant foul 1. Plumlee drained the free throw, and Griffin then made a bank shot.
That began a 15-2 Pistons run to give them an 80-72 lead with Griffin knocking down two 3-pointers during that span. Detroit carried an 82-78 advantage into the final quarter and from there, it was all Pistons as Los Angeles went scoreless for the next 6:50.
Victor Oladipo scored 25 points, Christian Wood added a double-double and the Houston Rockets erased an early 20-point deficit in defeating the Portland Trail Blazers at home 104-101.
Oladipo scored a driving layup with 26.2 seconds left to secure a three-point lead for Houston, who sealed their fourth consecutive victory with free throws from Wood and Eric Gordon down the stretch.
Portland hit 17 of 41 3-pointers but failed to force overtime when Anfernee Simons missed a contested shot from beyond the arc at the buzzer.
Simons hit 4 of 9 from long range and scored 14 off the bench, complementing the sharpshooting of Damian Lillard (5 of 11 on 3-pointers, 30 points) and Gary Trent Jr., who had a stretch of three consecutive treys in the third quarter and two in a row in the fourth that cut what was a 13-point deficit to one at 86-85.
Trent Jr scored 23 points for the Trail Blazers, who were without injured starters CJ McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic.
Wood returned from a three-game injury hiatus and put up 22 points with 12 rebounds. John Wall added 20 points, five rebounds and six assists for Houston, who trailed 30-10 with 2:51 left in the first. Oladipo added seven rebounds and five assists.
The Rockets overcame what was a miserable start, missing their first seven shots and 13 of 16 while the Trail Blazers raced to a 25-8 lead.
Lillard had 13 points and three assists in the opening quarter to pace Portland, but Houston found a rhythm by turning defense into offense, fuelling their comeback with transition points.
Nicholas Batum scored 18 points, helping the visiting Los Angeles Clippers rally to a 109-105 win over the Miami Heat without Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. Meanwhile Miami lost their fifth straight game, the longest active skid in the NBA. The Clippers have now won eight of the past nine games.
Los Angeles also got 17 points from Lou Williams and 16 points each from Marcus Morris Sr. and Reggie Williams. Morris scored 10 of his points in the fourth quarter. Terance Mann had 12 points for the Clippers, and Serge Ibaka added 10 points and 13 rebounds.
Tyler Herro, in his first game off the injured list, led Miami with 19 points. Herro, who missed seven straight games due to a neck injury, also contributed 10 rebounds and five assists.
Gabe Vincent dropped 18 points for the Heat, who also had 16 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists from Bam Adebayo. Max Strus scored 12 points, Precious Achiuwa and Kendrick Nunn each had 10.
Miami, who led by 18 points early, got outscored 69-36 in the middle two quarters. This was despite the Clippers being without three starters, including their two stars who sat due to COVID-19 protocols: Leonard and George. Point guard Patrick Beverley (knee) also missed the game.
The Heat were also limited with only 10 available players. They were missing star wing Jimmy Butler (COVID protocols) for the 10th straight game and Goran Dragic (groin) for the second straight game.
Mikal Bridges led seven players in double figures with 20 points as the Phoenix Suns snapped a three-game losing streak with a 114-93 victory over the visiting Golden State Warriors.
On a night when both teams were playing for the second time in two days, the Suns demonstrated better depth, including a 12-point, 13-rebound double-double off the bench by Frank Kaminsky.
The Warriors' Stephen Curry led all scorers with 27 points, but Golden State got just two other players into double figures while seeing their two-game winning streak come to an end.
The Suns had lost their three previous games in overtime and double-overtime to Denver and 102-97 to Oklahoma City on Wednesday night. Ayton completed a second double-double for the Suns with 12 points and 13 rebounds while Kaminsky also found time for a game-high eight assists.
Curry hit 10-for-20 overall and 5-for-10 on 3 pointers for the Warriors, who were outshot 46.6 percent to 38.4 percent from the field. Andrew Wiggins had 16 points and Eric Paschall 12 for the Warriors, who were coming off a home win over Minnesota on Wednesday.
