Sky Sports coverage of the NBA continues on Friday night as Damian Lillard the Portland Trail Blazers visit LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers, live from 3am on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Arena
Friday 26 February 2021 08:18, UK
Donovan Mitchell and Mike Conley each flirted with triple-doubles and Jordan Clarkson scored 18 points in his customary role off the bench as the red-hot Utah Jazz smashed the Los Angeles Lakers 114-89 in Salt Lake City.
Conley finished with 14 points, eight rebounds and eight assists in the wake of being snubbed as an All-Star reserve, while Mitchell totalled 13 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists in his first game since earning a second spot in the All-Star Game.
Rudy Gobert, also named to his second All-Star team, added 18 points with nine rebounds as the Jazz eased to their 22nd win in 24 games. It is also the 20th time in the spurt that they have won by double digits.
Bojan Bogdanovic added 15 points - all on 3-pointers for Utah, which has the best record in franchise history to begin a season (26-6) and the NBA's best mark so far.
LeBron James scored 19 points but didn't have much help in the Lakers' most lopsided loss of the season. Los Angeles, playing without Anthony Davis and Dennis Schroder, lost their fourth straight and fell for the fifth time in six games.
Danilo Gallinari set a franchise record with 10 3-pointers and scored a season-high 38 points to lead the Atlanta Hawks to a 127-112 win over the visiting Boston Celtics.
Gallinari snapped out of a shooting slump to make his first seven 3-point shots, and he scored 24 points in the first half. He finished 13-for-16 from the floor and 10-for-12 from beyond the arc. Over the previous four games, Gallinari shot 22.5 per cent (9-for-40) from the floor and 30 per cent (6-for-20) from 3-point range.
Gallinari broke the club record of nine 3-pointers set by Steve Smith in March 1997 against the Seattle SuperSonics. Gallinari's previous best was eight 3-pointers in October 2009.
Atlanta's Trae Young added 33 points, 25 of them in the first half, and seven assists. It was the 12th time he has surpassed the 30-point mark this season.
The last time Atlanta had two players with 20 points at halftime was Joe Johnson and Al Harrington in December 2005.
Atlanta also got 14 points and 11 rebounds from John Collins, who was back in the lineup after coming out of the concussion protocol. He did not play in the second half of the Hawks' Tuesday loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers after taking an elbow to the head.
Boston got 17 points from Jaylen Brown, 14 points from Jeff Teague and 13 each from Tristan Thompson, Jayson Tatum and Aaron Nesmith. Thompson also grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds.
Jimmy Butler had 27 points, 10 assists, eight rebounds and three steals, leading the host Miami Heat to a 116-108 win over the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night.
It was the fourth straight win for the Heat, who also got a big game from Bam Adebayo, who had 19 points, 12 rebounds and four assists. Toronto's Kyle Lowry, who had missed four straight games due to a sprained left thumb, returned from the injured list and had 24 points and eight assists. Toronto's Fred VanVleet had 24 points and seven assists.
However, the Raptors lost their second straight game, a skid that had followed four consecutive victories.
Miami's Goran Dragic, who had missed nine straight games due to an ankle injury, returned and scored 15 points off the bench.
Stephen Curry scored 24 points as the Golden State Warriors beat the Indiana Pacers 111-107 in Indianapolis.
Curry saw his streak of 25-point games end at 13 on a night when he shot just 1-for-11 from 3-point range. However, he still led the way as Golden State salvaged a break-even four-game trip after beginning the trek with narrow losses at Orlando and Charlotte. The Warriors won at New York on Tuesday.
Domantas Sabonis had 22 points and a game-high 16 rebounds for Indiana, which had two games postponed since it last played on February 17 at Minnesota.
Oubre totalled 17 points, Andrew Wiggins 15, Eric Paschall 13 and James Wiseman 11 for the Warriors, who won despite shooting just 5-for-26 from long distance.
Brogdon put up 24 points for the Pacers, who lost their fourth straight at home. Doug McDermott added 15 points and Myles Turner 14 while T.J. McConnell chipped in with nine points, five rebounds, a team-high six assists and a game-high four steals.
Malik Monk scored 29 points off the bench as the visiting Charlotte Hornets rebounded from a slow start to pull out a 124-121 victory over the red-hot Phoenix Suns.
LaMelo Ball and Gordon Hayward each scored 20 as the Hornets won after absorbing a 22-point defeat at Utah on Monday to open a six-game road trip. Devin Booker scored 33 points for the Suns while Chris Paul added 20 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds.
Phoenix led by 17 points in the second quarter before the Hornets turned the game around. The Suns entered with nine victories in their previous 10 contests.
Miles Bridges had 14 points for the Hornets while P.J. Washington, Terry Rozier and Cody Zeller each scored 10 points. Bismack Biyombo grabbed 11 rebounds.
Deandre Ayton finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Suns while Cameron Johnson had 14 points. Jae Crowder and Mikal Bridges each scored 12 for Phoenix.
Booker, who learned he had been named to the All-Star Game earlier Wednesday, celebrated by scoring 16 points in the first quarter.
Zach LaVine scored 35 points on 14-for-21 shooting, and the Chicago Bulls held on for a 133-126 overtime win against the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves.
Coby White added 20 points for the Bulls, and Wendell Carter Jr. finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Tomas Satoransky scored 16 points for Chicago, which won its third game in a row.
Malik Beasley had 25 points to lead the Timberwolves, who lost their sixth straight game. Karl-Anthony Towns notched 24 points, eight rebounds and five assists before he fouled out late in the fourth quarter.
Ricky Rubio calmly made three free throws with 4.9 seconds left in regulation to even the score at 119. That capped a late rally by Minnesota, which trailed by 10 points with 4:04 to go in the fourth quarter.
Chicago opened the overtime session on a 7-0 run to regain control. Garrett Temple made a jump shot on the opening possession, Carter followed with a layup on the next possession, and LaVine capped the scoring binge with a 3-pointer off an assist from White.
Zion Williamson scored 32 points and the host New Orleans Pelicans rode a fourth-quarter surge to a 128-118 victory over the Detroit Pistons.
Williamson, named to his first All-Star Game a night earlier, made 13 of 18 field goals, Brandon Ingram added 27 points and the Pelicans outscored Pistons 32-22 in the fourth quarter.
Steven Adams, returning from a two-game absence due to an ankle injury, had 14 points and 15 rebounds, Lonzo Ball scored 12 and Josh Hart and Eric Bledsoe had 11 each.
The Pistons were completing a back-to-back after winning at Orlando on Tuesday, played without two starters and had seven double-figure scorers. Jerami Grant, the Pistons' leading scorer with an average of 23.3 points, missed his first game of the season to rest and Delon Wright was sidelined by a groin injury.
Josh Jackson scored 25, Mason Plumlee had 21, Saddiq Bey and Saben Lee scored 13 each, Svi Mykhailiuk had 12, Isaiah Stewart had 11 points and 10 rebounds and Dennis Smith Jr. scored 11.
Luguentz Dort hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to give the Oklahoma City Thunder a 102-99 win over the San Antonio Spurs in Oklahoma City.
The Spurs, looking for the last shot, turned the ball over with 3.9 seconds left, giving the Thunder a chance to end the game in regulation.
Instead of going to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored a career-high 42 points, Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault elected to go to Dort, who had two treys earlier in the period.
Gilgeous-Alexander inbounded to Al Horford, who drove toward the lane before kicking out to an open Dort, who nailed the shot as the buzzer sounded. Dort fell to the ground with his arms raised as the shot sailed through.
Gilgeous-Alexander finished 13 of 20 from the field and 6 of 11 from beyond the arc. He hadn't hit more than four 3-pointers in a game during his career before Wednesday. Dort and Horford added 16 points each for the Thunder.
Dejounte Murray led San Antonio with 27 points on 12-of-20 shooting. Mills was next with 15.
Jarrett Allen posted his sixth consecutive double-double as the Cleveland Cavaliers sent the visiting Houston Rockets to their ninth successive loss, 112-96.
The Cavaliers won both ends of a home back-to-back following a 10-game skid. They beat the Atlanta Hawks 112-111 on Tuesday.
Allen, who averaged 17.4 points and 13 rebounds over his previous five games, paired 26 points with 18 boards to lead the way, but six Cavaliers scored in double figures. Collin Sexton had 23 points and Dylan Windler chipped in 13 points on 4-4 three-point shooting off the bench.
John Wall led Houston with 20 points while Eric Gordon and Victor Oladipo chipped in 17 apiece. The Rockets shot 40 per cent from the floor and missed 23 of 33 3-point attempts.
