Conley leads Jazz past Celtics; Vucevic, Fultz help Magic tame Timberwolves as Clifford taken to hospital; Baynes' career night sees Suns down Blazers
Saturday 7 March 2020 09:39, UK
Kristaps Porzingis scored a game-high 26 points and a game-high-tying 11 rebounds, and Luka Doncic complemented a team-high six assists with 21 points as the Dallas Mavericks blew out the Memphis Grizzlies.
Kristaps Porzingis contributed six of his game-high 26 points to a 25-6 flurry that opened the second half, and the host Dallas Mavericks ran away from the Memphis Grizzlies en route to a 121-96 victory.
Porzingis added a game-high-tying 11 rebounds, and Luka Doncic complemented a team-high six assists with 21 points, helping the Mavericks post a second straight win.
Seth Curry finished with 15 points, Courtney Lee 13, Delon Wright 11 and Justin Jackson 10 for Dallas, which had alternated wins and losses in its last five games.
Josh Jackson came off the bench to score a team-high 16 points for the Grizzlies, who saw a three-game winning streak end.
Center Jonas Valanciunas recorded a 14-point, 11-rebound double-double, Dillon Brooks added 15 points, and Ja Morant had 11 to go with a game-high eight assists for Memphis, which had won at Atlanta and Brooklyn to begin a three-game trip.
LeBron James had 37 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the visiting Milwaukee Bucks 113-103 on Friday in a matchup of clubs with the NBA's best records.
Anthony Davis scored 25 of his 30 points in the second half for the Lakers, who won their third in a row and 10th in the past 11 contests. Davis also had nine rebounds. Kyle Kuzma added 11 points and eight rebounds.
James hit 12 of 21 shots from the floor but missed six of his seven three-point attempts. He also had three steals.
Giannis Antetokounmpo had 32 points, 11 rebounds and six assists for the Bucks, who lost for the second time in three games. Donte DiVincenzo scored 17 off the bench while Brook Lopez contributed 13 points before fouling out with 1:11 left.
Khris Middleton had an off night, scoring 12 points on 5-for-19 shooting. Eric Bledsoe finished with 11 points.
The win for the Lakers sees the teams split the season series, and sees the Bucks suffer just their tenth loss of the season.
Josh Hart had a double-double and Brandon Ingram made two clutch jumpers in an otherwise poor shooting night as host New Orleans defeated Miami 110-104 on Friday night.
Hart came off the bench to score 19 points and grab 12 rebounds as the Pelicans ended a three-game losing streak. Jrue Holiday led the way with 20 points and rookie Zion Williamson scored 17, his first game with fewer than 20 points in the last 14 games.
Lonzo Ball added 16 points, nine rebounds and eight assists while Ingram finished with 12 points of 4-of-20 shooting.
Jimmy Butler scored 28 for Miami, Duncan Robinson scored 24 on 8-of-14 three-point shooting, Goran Drajic scored 15 and Andre Iguodala had 10 for the Heat, who saw their four-game winning streak end.
Robinson broke the Heat's single-season record of 227 made three-pointers held by Wayne Ellington, but Miami made just 9-of-33 shots from three-point range after setting a franchise record for made three-pointers when it went 22-for-44 in a 116-113 victory against Orlando on Wednesday.
Mike Conley scored 25 points on a hot three-point shooting night as the visiting Utah Jazz overcame a poor performance from Donovan Mitchell to beat the banged-up Boston Celtics 99-94.
Jordan Clarkson added 17 points off the bench as the Jazz won their fourth straight despite Mitchell scoring just 11 on 3-of-15 shooting. Mitchell had torched the Celtics for 37 points in a 114-103 loss at Utah last week.
Marcus Smart had 29 points on his 26th birthday, and Jayson Tatum added 18 as the Celtics lost for the third time in four games and their third straight at home. Gordon Hayward (knee) and Jaylen Brown (hamstring) each sat out for Boston.
The Jazz, the top three-point shooting team in the league, let it fly in the second quarter, sinking 8 of 11 shots from deep to take a 62-49 lead into the half. Conley had four treys and led the way with 15 points. The scoring slowed immensely from there, each team enduring lengthy field-goal droughts.
Utah did enough over the course of the 48 minutes, though, to claim its second win over the Celtics within the last fortnight.
Nikola Vucevic recorded 28 points and 12 rebounds to help the Orlando Magic earn a 132-118 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night at Minneapolis.
Markelle Fultz added 24 points on 11-for-14 shooting as Orlando shot 60.7 percent from the field while snapping a three-game losing streak.
Magic coach Steve Clifford left the court in the third quarter due to illness and was taken to a local hospital, according to the team. Assistant Ty Corbin ran the team for the rest of the game.
Malik Beasley scored a season-best 29 points on 14-for-21 shooting for Minnesota, which had its two-game winning streak snapped. D'Angelo Russell had just five points on 2-for-14 shooting.
Orlando's DJ Augustin scored 18 points and Michael Carter-Williams added a season-high 17 points. Terrence Ross tallied 16 points and Aaron Gordon had 15 points and 10 rebounds.
The Magic, who played without shooting guard Evan Fournier (right elbow), were 7 of 21 from behind the arc.
Naz Reid added 16 points for the Timberwolves. Jordan McLaughlin contributed 14 points and nine assists, Jake Layman also scored 14 points and Jaylen Nowell added 11.
Danilo Gallinari scored a game-high 22 points to lead six Oklahoma City Thunder players in double figures, as the visiting Thunder cruised to a 126-103 win over the New York Knicks.
Chris Paul had a double-double for the Thunder (21 points, 12 assists), whose seventh win in nine games ensured they would remain in sixth place in the Western Conference.
Steven Adams (12 points, 11 rebounds) also had a double-double for the Thunder. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 18 points while Dennis Schroder (16 points) and Hamidou Diallo (12 points) each got into double digits off the bench.
Elfrid Payton (18 points, nine rebounds, eight assists) flirted with a triple-double for the Knicks, who have lost eight of 10. RJ Barrett had 17 points while Julius Randle finished with 12 points and eight rebounds. Bobby Portis had 14 points off the bench while fellow reserve Mitchell Robinson scored 11 points.
Caris LeVert pumped in 27 points, took 11 rebounds and distributed 10 assists to lead seven team-mates in double-figure scoring as the host Brooklyn Nets built a huge first-half lead and romped to a 139-120 win over the San Antonio Spurs in New York City.
The Nets led 41-22 after the first quarter - with that output the most by Brooklyn in an opening period this season - and never allowed San Antonio to get closer than 15 points the rest of the game. The Nets scored just 79 points in all four quarters in a home loss to Memphis on Wednesday.
The triple-double was the first in LeVert's four-year career, and he entered the game with just three career double-doubles. Joe Harris added 20 points, with Spencer Dinwiddie and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot hitting for 19 points each, Taurean Prince and Chris Chiozza scoring 13 apiece, and DeAndre Jordan and Jarrett Allen tallying 12 points each.
Jordan also took 10 rebounds for Brooklyn, which remains in seventh place in the Eastern Conference.
DeMar DeRozan led the Spurs with 24 points on 10-of-13 shooting, adding nine assists. Trey Lyles and Derrick White added 19 each, Rudy Gay had 15 points, and Keldon Johnson scored 13 for San Antonio, which fell to 4 1/2 games out of a playoff spot in the Western Conference behind Memphis, which was playing at Dallas on Friday night.
The Spurs were without center LaMarcus Aldridge, who missed his fifth game in a row with a sore shoulder, as well as backup center Jakob Poltl (right knee strain).
Domantas Sabonis scored 24 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, and the Indiana Pacers held on for a 108-102 win over the host Chicago Bulls.
Victor Oladipo finished with 16 points for the Pacers, while Myles Turner contributed 15. Indiana completed a four-game sweep of the Bulls during the regular season and won for the fifth time in its past six games.
Coby White led the Bulls with 26 points off the bench. Shaquille Harrison added 25 points on 9-for-14 shooting for Chicago, which lost for the 12th time in its past 14 games.
Pacers guard Malcolm Brogdon did not play because of a sore left hip that he sustained Wednesday night against Milwaukee.
Bradley Beal continued his red-hot offensive tear, scoring 35 points to lead the Washington Wizards to a 118-112 win over the visiting Atlanta Hawks.
Beal hit 13 of 21 shots from the field, including 7 of 10 from three-point range, for his 30th game of 30-plus points this season. He torched the Hawks for 40 points on January 26. Beal has now scored 25-plus points in 21 straight games, the longest such streak in team history.
Washington also got 17 points from Davis Bertans, 14 points from Jerome Robinson and 13 from Troy Brown Jr.
Atlanta was led by Cam Reddish with 28 points and John Collins with 26 points and 10 rebounds. Kevin Huerter contributed 14 points and 11 assists. The Hawks played without All-Star guard Trae Young, who averages 29.6 points. Young was sidelined due to flu-like symptoms.
The Wizards snapped a two-game losing streak while the Hawks dropped their second game in a row.
The short-handed Phoenix Suns rode the hot hand of backup center Aron Baynes, ending a four-game losing streak with a 127-117 win over the visiting Portland Trail Blazers.
Baynes, starting in place of center Deandre Ayton (ankle), made a career high nine three-pointers - five in first quarter - and scored a career-high 37 points with 16 rebounds. Baynes' previous career bests were 26 points and four three-pointers.
The Blazers rallied from two huge deficits with long runs and trailed 122-114 with 1:22 to go. Then Baynes drilled a three from the corner to put the game out of reach for Phoenix, which was also without Kelly Oubre Jr (knee).
Dario Saric added a season-high 24 points and eight rebounds, Devin Booker had 23 points and 12 assists for the Suns. Mikal Bridges scored 18 points, and Ricky Rubio contributed 13 points and 10 assists.
CJ McCollum's 25 points led the Blazers, who got 23 points and 20 rebounds from Hassan Whiteside. Damian Lillard added 24 points.
