Williams hits 21 from bench as Clips overcome Raptors; Harden scores 39 as Rockets defeat Pels; Wolves beat Pistons on Griffin's return
Tuesday 12 November 2019 11:06, UK
Kemba Walker produced a dominant second-half performance as the Boston Celtics defeated the Dallas Mavericks to pick up an eight successive NBA victory on Monday night.
Kemba Walker sank eight three-pointers and scored 24 of his 29 points in the second half to lead the host Boston Celtics past the Dallas Mavericks 116-106 on Monday night.
Jaylen Brown had 25 points and 11 rebounds, and Marcus Smart scored 17 as the Celtics extended their winning streak to eight. Boston played their first game without forward Gordon Hayward, who will miss six weeks after surgery to repair a fracture in his left hand.
Luka Doncic scored 34 points for the Mavericks, who lost for the first time in five road games this season.
Dallas began the fourth quarter on a 9-2 run, grabbing its first lead of the game at 88-86 on a Tim Hardaway Jr. floater with 7:23 to go. Boston responded with an 8-4 stretch, forging ahead for good on a Walker 3-pointer with 5:22 remaining.
After Doncic missed the second of two free throws with a chance to tie, he was assessed for a flagrant-1 foul. Boston's Daniel Theis hit 1 of 2 at the line, and a pair of Walker treys helped the Celtics to a 101-94 edge with 4:12 remaining.
Walker went to the bench with back spasms with 2:42 left after a hit from Doncic. Walker left for the locker room early as Boston went up by as much as 14 the rest of the way, in sealing the victory.
The Celtics move to 8-1 for the season, the best record in the league, whilst Dallas are now 6-4.
Lou Williams scored 21 points off the bench to help the Los Angeles Clippers post a 98-88 victory over the visiting Toronto Raptors on Monday night.
Kawhi Leonard, who led the Raptors to their first NBA title last June, scored just 12 points on 2-of-11 shooting in his first game against his former club since leaving as a free agent. Leonard also had 11 rebounds, nine assists and three steals but committed nine of Los Angeles' 22 turnovers.
Montrezl Harrell contributed 14 points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots for the Clippers. Patrick Patterson scored 12 points, and JaMychal Green had 10 points and 12 rebounds.
Pascal Siakam recorded 16 points, 10 rebounds and six assists for the Raptors. Norman Powell scored 15 points, Fred VanVleet had 14 points and eight assists, and Chris Boucher added 13 points.
Leonard was constantly doubled-teamed as Toronto's defense was intent on corralling him. The strong effort came after Raptors coach Nick Nurse said following his team's Sunday win over the Los Angeles Lakers that he was hoping to "make like very difficult" on Leonard.
The Raptors again played without Kyle Lowry (fractured left thumb) and Serge Ibaka (sprained right ankle). Toronto's OG Anunoby left 1:47 into the game when he was inadvertently poked in the eye by Leonard. He didn't return.
Toronto was within 92-88 after Boucher's put-back with 1:42 left. But then Leonard fed Harrell for a dunk with 58.1 seconds left, and Leonard made two free throws with 43.5 seconds remaining to give the Clippers an eight-point lead.
Green's layup with 18 seconds left sealed it for Los Angeles.
James Harden scored 39 points and Russell Westbrook added 26 as the visiting Houston Rockets beat the injury-depleted New Orleans Pelicans 122-116 on Monday night.
Eric Gordon came off the bench to add 17 points, Clint Capela had 11 points and 20 rebounds, and P.J. Tucker scored 10 to support the Rockets' two stars.
JJ Redick scored 24 to lead New Orleans, which played without three injured starters. Josh Hart scored 19 points, Jrue Holiday added 18 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds, Jahlil Okafor and E'Twaun Moore came off the bench to score 14 each, and Derrick Favors had 13 points and 12 rebounds.
Forward Brandon Ingram, the Pelicans' leading scorer, was a last-minute scratch because of knee soreness. Hart took his place in the starting lineup. New Orleans already was playing without starting point guard Lonzo Ball (groin) and forward Zion Williamson, who has yet to make his NBA debut because of arthroscopic knee surgery.
The key contribution though, for the Rockets, as is often the case, came from Harden. The Beard scored 13 straight points as the Rockets took command midway through the fourth quarter.
The lead increased to a 17-point margin and that proved enough of a cushion in the end to see the Rockets claim their fourth consecutive win to move to 7-3 on the season so far.
Jaren Jackson Jr. scored a season-high 24 points and Dillon Brooks added 21 as the visiting Memphis Grizzlies outlasted the San Antonio Spurs 113-109 in the Alamo City on the night the Spurs retired the jersey number of longtime standout Tony Parker.
Jae Crowder's second-chance 3-pointer with 1:48 to play gave the Grizzlies a 111-108 lead and the Spurs would never recover. LaMarcus Aldridge hit one of two free throws with 55 seconds left for San Antonio before Brooks canned a pair from the charity stripe with 14.6 seconds remaining to push the Memphis lead to four points.
Jonas Valanciunas added 18 points and took 12 rebounds, and Brandon Clarke scored 14 points off the bench as the Grizzlies (3-7) snapped a two-game losing streak and won for the first time in four tries on the road this season.
Aldridge led the Spurs with 19 points, with Rudy Gay hitting for a season-high 18, Derrick White adding 15, Bryn Forbes scoring 14 and DeMar DeRozan contributing 12 points for the Spurs.
Memphis won a coach's challenge that overturned a foul that would have put DeRozan on the line with San Antonio trailing 113-109 - and that's how it finished as the Spurs failed to bounce back from the 20-point loss to the Boston Celtics on Saturday, also on their home floor.
It was a strange performance given the circumstances. The crowd at the AT&T Center was buzzing as Parker's uniform was lifted to the rafters alongside fellow Big Three members Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili following the game. That group led San Antonio to four of its five championships and have the most wins (541) of any trio in league history.
But that success seems like a distant memory as the Spurs (5-5) suffered their second straight loss and fourth defeat in five games.
Forward Andrew Wiggins poured in 33 points, and the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves spoiled the return of All-Star forward Blake Griffin with a 120-114 win over the Detroit Pistons.
Wiggins, who surpassed the 8,000-career-point mark in the first half, also added six rebounds and five assists.
Karl-Anthony Towns supplied 25 points, eight rebounds and six assists while Jake Layman contributed 16 points off the Minnesota bench. Treveon Graham also added 13 points and six rebounds for the Wolves (6-4).
Griffin missed the first 10 games of the season due to hamstring and knee injuries. He had 19 points, seven rebounds and six assists in 24 minutes.
Luke Kennard led the Pistons with 25 points and seven rebounds. Langston Galloway tossed in 18 points off the bench while Tony Snell chipped in 16 points and Andre Drummond notched a double-double 11 points and 12 rebounds.
Mike Conley and Donovan Mitchell combined for six three-pointers in a key five-minute flurry late in the second quarter to help the Utah Jazz build a commanding lead en route to a 122-108 victory over the Golden State Warriors in San Francisco.
Rudy Gobert recorded 25 points to top-score for the Jazz and a game-high 14 rebounds, and Mitchell added 23 points and Conley 22 for Utah, which won its third straight.
Coming off a 52-point and then a 30-point game on the road, the Warriors' D'Angelo Russell led all scorers with 33 points.
Losing at home for the fifth time in six games this season, the Warriors led by as many as five in the first quarter and were within 45-40 just past the midpoint of the second quarter before the Jazz got hot from behind the arc.
Conley and Mitchell bombed in three treys each to account for 18 of the points in a 24-12 run that gave Utah a 17-point advantage in the final minute of the half. The Warriors got no closer than 10 in the second half in their fourth straight loss.
Mitchell, who finished 5-for-9 from three-point range, also found time for eight rebounds and six assists for the Jazz, who won on the road for just the second time in five attempts.
Utah shot 16-for-35 (45.7 percent) on three-point tries, with Conley hitting five of his eight attempts.
Russell went 13-for-25 overall and also dropped in five 3-pointers for the Warriors, who allowed 114 or more points for the 10th time in 11 games.
Playing for the first time after a five-game absence caused by a ligament injury in his left hand, the Warriors' Draymond Green had four points, seven rebounds and four assists in 22 minutes.
