Monday 4 March 2019 12:26, UK
James Harden scored 42 points before fouling out as the visiting Houston Rockets extended their winning streak to five games with a 115-104 victory over the Boston Celtics on Sunday.
Before being whistled for his sixth foul with 1:44 left to play, Harden staved off a furious Boston rally with a driving layup and a three-pointer over two defenders that extended the lead to 112-100.
The Celtics, once down 71-43, scored the opening 10 points of the fourth quarter and had cut the margin to nine on a Marcus Smart second-chance basket at the 4:40 mark.
Boston rallied behind their reserves, with Jaylen Brown posting 15 points and six rebounds to lead the charge as the Celtics recorded a 31-9 advantage in bench points.
Eric Gordon matched his career high with eight three-pointers and scored 32 points to complement Harden, who was 6 of 18 on treys.
Chris Paul added 15 points and 12 assists as Houston, who finished 21 of 51 from beyond the arc, improved to 12-0 this season when Paul records double-digit assists.
Russell Westbrook scored 22 points, including two big shots in the closing stretch, to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 99-95 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies.
The win snapped a four-game losing streak for the Thunder, the team's first since an 0-4 start to begin the season, and kept them tied with Portland for third place in the Western Conference after the Trail Blazers won at Charlotte earlier in the day.
Avery Bradley scored 27 points to lead the Grizzlies, who have lost six of their last eight.
The Thunder, playing without Paul George once more, trailed for the entire second half until making a late run as Memphis went ice cold from the floor.
The Grizzlies missed 13 consecutive shots after Avery Bradley's basket with 7:35 remaining put them up 11. Jonas Valanciunas then sunk two free throws to extend the Grizzles' lead to 89-76 a minute later.
After Steven Adams grabbed his final rebound of the night - his 22nd, one shy of his season high - Westbrook hit a three-pointer to tie the game at 93 with 1:04 remaining.
Memphis again could not convert on the other end, missing two shots before Westbrook pulled up near the free-throw line and drained a jumper to put Oklahoma City ahead with 32.9 seconds remaining.
Blake Griffin had 27 points and seven rebounds as the Detroit Pistons scored the final 10 points of overtime to earn a 112-107 win over the Toronto Raptors.
Luke Kennard and Reggie Jackson had 19 points apiece for Detroit, who have won nine of its last 11 to reach the .500 mark at 31-31.
Andre Drummond contributed 15 points and 17 rebounds despite foul trouble, while Wayne Ellington added 11 points for Detroit, who beat coach Dwane Casey's former team for the second time this season.
In the absence of Kawhi Leonard, who was rested, Kyle Lowry led the Raptors with 35 points, as he went 6-14 from three-point range.
Lowry hit a pullup, two free throws and a long three to give the Raptors a 107-102 lead with 2:22 left in overtime, but from there, it was all Pistons.
Jackson tied it with a corner three and Drummond made two free throws with 46.1 seconds left to give his team a 109-107 edge. Lowry missed a layup with under 10 seconds to go and Kennard made two free throws to seal the win.
Damian Lillard scored 23 points, Jusuf Nurkic added 26 and Rodney Hood supplied 27 off the bench as the Portland Trail Blazers defeated the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday.
Hood poured in 21 points in the fourth quarter as the in-form Blazers stayed hot and rolled to a 118-108 victory.
The Blazers bolted to a 15-point lead in the first quarter but then had to pull away again in the fourth quarter, going on a 15-2 run in the final six minutes. Hood triggered it, scoring 20 of 22 Portland points in one stretch.
The Blazers won for the sixth time in their last seven games. They were playing the sixth game of a gruelling seven-game, 15-day road trip but they showed no signs of fatigue.
Nurkic came near a triple-double with 26 points, 15 rebounds and six assists, and he, too, played a key role in the fourth quarter with seven points in the decisive 15-2 run.
The Blazers also got 23 points from Lillard and 14 from Al-Farouq Aminu. CJ.McCollum, who scored 30 when the Blazers beat the Hornets in Portland in January, finished with only six.
The Hornets were led by Jeremy Lamb with 23 points, including 20 in the first half. Frank Kaminsky and Kemba Walker scored 18 each, but Walker was just 5-of-21 shooting from the field. The Hornets also got 14 points from Tony Parker and 10 from Miles Bridges.
Landry Shamet made four three-pointers in the first eight minutes to set up a Los Angeles Clippers 128-107 routing of the New York Knicks.
Shamet finished with 21 points, all on three-pointers, and Danilo Gallinari added 20 for the Clippers, who were beginning a stretch of eight consecutive games at the Staples Center.
The Clippers will be listed as the visiting team on Monday night when they return to their home floor to face the rival Lakers.
Noah Vonleh (17 points, 12 rebounds) and Mitchell Robinson (16 points, 13 rebounds) recorded double-doubles for the Knicks, who likewise were playing the opener of a back-to-back sequence.
Shamet had 12 points and Gallinari nine, including a three-pointer of his own, in the 26-10, game-opening run that propelled the Clippers' to their fourth-biggest margin of victory this season.
With Shamet connecting on six treys in the first quarter alone, the Clippers went on to lead by as many as 20 points later in the first period and 38 in the second before coasting to the fifth win in its last seven games.
Jordan Clarkson scored 18 points off the bench as the Cleveland Cavaliers enjoyed a big fourth quarter to record a 107-93 victory over the visiting Orlando Magic.
Collin Sexton had 17 points on 6-for-11 shooting. Kevin Love posted a double-double with 16 points and 14 rebounds, and Cedi Osman finished with 14 points and six boards.
Magic big man Nikola Vucevic led all scorers with 28 points on 13-for-16 shooting and pulled down 13 rebounds to go along with six assists.
Cleveland won for the fourth time in its past six games. The Cavaliers have surpassed 100 points in all but one of their previous eight contests.
The Cavaliers outscored the Magic 40-21 in the fourth quarter to sprint to the win, having started the final period trailing 72-67.
Cleveland opened the fourth quarter on a 13-0 run to seize command. Clarkson punctuated the run with a three-pointer off a feed from Matthew Dellavedova.
Orlando evened the score at 81 on a basket by Vucevic with 7:03 remaining, before the Cavaliers closed the game on a 26-12 run.
Bobby Portis led the Washington Wizards with 26 points and 12 rebounds as they recorded a 135-121 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Bradley Beal and reserve Jabari Parker each contributed 22 points for the Wizards, who had lost five of six coming into Sunday's encounter.
Karl-Anthony Towns led the Timberwolves with 28 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, as he recorded his first sub-30 point effort in four games. Derrick Rose scored 18 points off the bench.
Minnesota scored 84 points in the paint, but converted just 4 of 27 three-point attempts, shooting 52.5 percent overall. Washington, meanwhile, shot 50 per cent from the field and 11 of 33 from three-point range.
Washington had a 21-7 edge in fast-break points. Beal had 12 points in the first quarter and the Wizards led 40-36 after 12 minutes despite Minnesota shooting 63 percent (17-for-27).
Alex Len scored a season-high 28 points and made two key free throws in the final seconds as the visiting Atlanta Hawks hung on for a 123-118 victory over the Chicago Bulls.
Len picked up the scoring slack for the Hawks, who were without two starters and saw point guard Trae Young ejected in the third quarter, at which point he'd amassed 18 points and five assists.
Len was 9-of-18 from the floor and made five three-pointers to go along with nine rebounds and two blocked shots.
Lauri Markkanen led Chicago with 19 points and nine rebounds. Antonio Blakeney came off the bench to score 17 for the Bulls, Robin Lopez added 16 points and Kris Dunn scored 14.
The Hawks played most of the second half without Young, who was ejected after making a long three-pointer and staring down Dunn, with the pair having both been given technical fouls in the first quarter after Dunn slapped Young in the back of the head following a basket.
Atlanta also got 14 points from Jaylen Adams and 13 points and 12 rebounds from Dewayne Dedmon.
