NBA round-up: Kawhi Leonard scores 45 as Toronto Raptors overcome Utah Jazz
New Year's Day wins for Milwaukee Bucks, Denver Nuggets and Portland Trail Blazers
Wednesday 2 January 2019 10:21, UK
Kawhi Leonard scored a career-best 45 points to lead the Toronto Raptors to a 122-116 victory over the Utah Jazz on Tuesday night.
Utah Jazz 116-122 Toronto Raptors
Kawhi Leonard scored a career-best 45 points - including 19 in the third quarter - and gathered six rebounds to help the Toronto Raptors defeat the visiting Utah Jazz 122-116 on Tuesday night.
It was a career-best 14th straight game in which Leonard has scored at least 20 points.
Pascal Siakam scored a career-best 28 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Raptors, who won their second game in a row. Norman Powell added 14 points off the bench for Toronto.
Reserve Jae Crowder scored a season-best 30 points as the Jazz fell to their third loss in five games. Derrick Favors added 21 points and nine rebounds for Utah.
Donovan Mitchell notched 19 points, Rudy Gobert had 16 points and nine rebounds and Ricky Rubio contributed 14 points and eight assists.
The Raptors led by as many as 12 points in the third quarter and took a 10-point margin into the fourth but Crowder nailed consecutive three-pointers to pull Utah within four with 4:06 left.
Leonard sank two free throws and then a lay-up to push the lead to 113-105.
Rubio's free throw got Utah within four with 56 seconds to play. Siakam made two free throws to increase the margin to six with 23.5 seconds remaining. Mitchell missed a three-point attempt and Fred VanVleet sealed the outcome with a free throw.
Detroit Pistons 98-121 Milwaukee Bucks
Brook Lopez poured in 25 points, hitting seven three-pointers, as the streaking Milwaukee Bucks romped to a 121-98 victory over the visiting Detroit Pistons on Tuesday night.
Khris Middleton supplied 22 points and Eric Bledsoe contributed 18 with six assists for Milwaukee. Giannis Antetokounmpo had 15 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and three blocks, and Malcolm Brogdon tossed in 13 points with four rebounds and five assists.
The Bucks, who own the league's best record at 26-10, have won four straight and eight of their past nine. The Pistons have lost three straight and 12 of their past 15.
Blake Griffin topped the Pistons with 29 points, nine rebounds and four assists. Reggie Jackson had 19 points, and Andre Drummond contributed 15 with seven rebounds.
The Bucks, who are 17-3 at home this season, led most of the way but really seized control during the second quarter. Following a Luke Kennard three-pointer for Detroit, the Bucks went on a 24-10 run to take a 68-47 lead.
Bledsoe made two of the first three Milwaukee baskets during the outburst. Middleton contributed three baskets in a three-and-a-half minute span to increase the advantage to 17, then finished the run with 1:07 left in the half on a 17-foot jumper.
The Pistons committed three turnovers in the first two minutes of the second half as Milwaukee boosted the lead to 20. The Bucks were up 92-73 at the end of three quarters and cruised home through the final period.
New York Knicks 108-115 Denver Nuggets
Nikola Jokic had 19 points, 15 assists and 14 rebounds while Malik Beasley scored a career-high 23 points off the bench as the host Denver Nuggets beat the New York Knicks 115-108.
Jokic notched his third triple-double this season and the 19th in his career. Paul Millsap scored 16 points in his second game back from a broken toe to help the Nuggets win their third straight game.
Luke Kornet had 19 points, Kevin Knox scored 18 and Enes Kanter had 17 for the Knicks, who have lost eight in a row. Emmanuel Mudiay finished with 15 points in his first game in Denver since the Nuggets traded him to New York last season.
Denver guard Gary Harris returned to the lineup to score six points. Harris, who missed 11 games with a hip injury, came off the bench and played 20 minutes.
Millsap and Beasley helped turn a two-point deficit into a win with an early surge in the fourth quarter. Mason Plumlee tied it at 84 with a dunk. Millsap hit a short jumper, Beasley hit two of his five three-pointers and Millsap hit another step-back shot to give the Nuggets a 94-87 lead.
Mudiay hit a shot from behind the arc to pull the Knicks within four but Beasley answered with another three-pointer to push the lead to 103-96 midway through the fourth.
New York made one last surge to get within four but Jokic's three-pointer with 2:55 left made the game safe.
Portland Trail Blazers 113-108 Sacramento Kings (OT)
Jusuf Nurkic had a monster game as the visiting Portland Trail Blazers rallied from a nine-point deficit with three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter to pull out a 113-108 overtime victory over the Sacramento Kings.
Nurkic scored 24 points, grabbed a career-high 23 rebounds and also had seven assists, five steals and five blocked shots for the Blazers, who closed the fourth quarter on an 11-2 run.
Damian Lillard collected 25 points, six rebounds and six assists, and Seth Curry came off the bench to produce a season-high 18 points for Portland.
Buddy Hield scored 27 points and Nemanja Bjelica contributed 14 points and 16 rebounds for the Kings, who trailed by 14 points at half-time but stormed back to lead 101-92 with 3:10 remaining in regulation.
Lillard hit three free throws and a jumper to give Portland a 108-105 lead in the extra session. CJ McCollum's jumper made it 110-105, and he followed with a lay-up to up the lead to 112-105 with 1:04 left.
The Kings missed 15 consecutive field-goal attempts before Bogdan Bogdanovic (19 points) made a three-pointer with 23.4 seconds remaining to cut the gap to 112-108.
Nurkic split a pair of free throw for a 113-108 lead with 13.6 seconds on the clock and there was no way back for the Kings.
Philadelphia 76ers 119-113 Los Angeles Clippers
Joel Embiid returned after missing a game with a sore left knee and had 28 points and 19 rebounds to lift the visiting Philadelphia 76ers to a 119-113 win over the Los Angeles Clippers.
Embiid, the team's leading scorer (26.5 per game) and rebounder (13.3 per game), missed the 129-95 loss at the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday.
JJ Redick, who spent four seasons with the Clippers, scored 16 of his 18 points in the first half, Jimmy Butler scored 16 points and Ben Simmons had 14 points, nine rebounds and eight assists for the 76ers, who moved a season-high 10 games over .500 for the fourth time this season.
Lou Williams, who was drafted 45th overall by Philadelphia in 2005 and played his first seven seasons with the 76ers, scored 22 points off the bench for the Clippers, who have lost four in a row against Philadelphia.
Danilo Gallinari and Tobias Harris scored 21 points each and Montrezl Harrell had 20 points and 10 rebounds for Los Angeles.
The Clippers trailed by 15 points with 7:01 left when Butler and Los Angeles guard Avery Bradley were ejected after pushing each other. The Clippers followed with a 10-0 run and then got within four points on a three-point play by Harrell with 2:33 left.
Harrell had a chance to cut the deficit to three, but missed two free throws with 58.1 seconds left.
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