Utah Jazz keep their sweet music playing for 16th win in 17 games, Joel Embiid steamrolls Kings in 76ers victory, Damian Lillard drops 36 to cast off Magic and Carmelo Anthony climbs further up the all-time leaderboard.
Wednesday 10 February 2021 08:45, UK
Jerami Grant tied his career-high with 32 points and the host Detroit Pistons snapped a four-game losing streak with a 122-111 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday night.
Delon Wright had 22 points and nine assists and Saddiq Bey made all six of his field-goal attempts while scoring 15 points for Detroit. Mason Plumlee supplied 14 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists and three blocks and Josh Jackson added 13 points in the victory.
Kyrie Irving, who missed Brooklyn's previous game with a sprained finger, led his club with 27 points and seven assists. James Harden contributed 24 points, 12 assists and five blocks. Jeff Green and Landry Shamet chipped in 10 points apiece for Brooklyn, which dropped its third straight.
Nets forward Kevin Durant missed his second consecutive game due to the league's health and safety protocols. Detroit, which led most of the way, shot 56 percent from the field while the Nets shot 50 percent.
The Pistons led 38-26 at the end of the first quarter. They opened the second quarter with an 11-3 spurt to stretch their lead to 20 points. Jackson scored six of those points.
The Nets then chipped away and got their deficit down to nine, 63-54, by halftime. Irving and Harden combined for 26 first-half points, while Grant led Detroit with 17 points.
The Pistons' lead was still nine, 79-70, midway through the third quarter after Grant knocked down a 3-pointer.
A 7-0 spurt pulled Brooklyn, capped by an Irving 3-pointer, cut its deficit to two points. Detroit refused to give up the lead and another Grant 3-pointer with 16 seconds remaining in the quarter made it 94-86.
The Pistons nudged the advantage into double digits once again at 101-89 on a Bey 3-pointer.
When Green drained a 3-pointer with under five minutes remaining, the Nets pulled within nine again at 108-99.
The Pistons scored the next five points and Bey knocked down a couple more long balls in the final 1:11 to seal their victory.
Donovan Mitchell outduelled Jaylen Brown, and Rudy Gobert had another strong showing as the red-hot Utah Jazz held on to defeat the Boston Celtics 122-108 in Salt Lake City.
Mitchell hit three of his six 3-pointers in the final minutes and finished with 36 points and nine assists to lead the Jazz to their fifth straight win and 16th victory in 17 games.
Utah tied its best-ever start to a season by improving to an NBA-leading 20-5, which was also the record the franchise's first NBA Finals squad jumped out to at the beginning of the 1996-97 season.
Brown returned from a two-game injury absence to score 33 points and grabbed eight rebounds for the Celtics. Jayson Tatum added 23 points for Boston, which went 2-3 on a five-game Western Conference road trip.
Along with playing stellar defense, Gobert scored 18 points to go with his 12 rebounds and three blocked shots. Utah's Joe Ingles scored 24 points, Bojan Bogdanovic added 16 points and Jordan Clarkson shook off an 0-for-6 start from beyond the arc to finish with 13 points and two 3-pointers.
The Jazz blew the game open in the final three minutes, using a Mitchell-sparked 7-0 run to put some distance between them and the Celtics after Boston pulled within four.
During one stretch in the waning moments, Mitchell scored 10 of the Jazz's 13points and assisted on the other 3-pointer, one of five Ingles treys. Both teams were missing key players. Utah's Mike Conley sat out his second straight game with a strained hamstring while Boston's Marcus Smart was side-lined for the fifth time in a row with a torn calf.
Joel Embiid scored 25 points and posted season bests of 17 rebounds and six assists to lead the Philadelphia 76ers to a 119-111 victory over the host Sacramento Kings.
Tobias Harris scored 12 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter and also collected 10 rebounds as Philadelphia won for the sixth time in the past seven games. Seth Curry also scored 22 points and made four 3-pointers as the 76ers prevailed in the opener of a four-game road swing.
De'Aaron Fox recorded 34 points and 10 assists for the Kings, who had a four-game winning streak halted while losing for just the second time in nine games. Buddy Hield made six 3-pointers while contributing 21 points and eight rebounds for the Kings. Marvin Bagley III added 17 points and Tyrese Haliburton had 15 in the opener of Sacramento's five-game homestand.
The Kings made 43.4 percent of their shots, including 14 of 42 from behind the arc. Richaun Holmes added 10 points. Ben Simmons registered 14 points, nine assists and seven rebounds, Furkan Korkmaz scored 13 points and Shake Milton had 11 for Philadelphia. The 76ers shot 48.2 percent from the field and made 9 of 20 3-point attempts.
Damian Lillard scored 18 of his 36 points in the third quarter and the Portland Trail Blazers took charge after halftime to earn a 106-97 victory over the visiting Orlando Magic.
Carmelo Anthony had 23 points for Portland, moving past Oscar Robertson (26,710 points) and into 12th place on the NBA's all-time scoring list. Anthony ended the night with 26,722 career points.
Gary Trent Jr. scored 15 points and Anfernee Simons added 11 as the Trail Blazers returned home following a 3-3 road trip on which they were extremely short-handed. Robert Covington, Derrick Jones Jr. and Enes Kanter combined for 31 rebounds.
The Trail Blazers still are awaiting the return of CJ McCollum (foot) while Zach Collins (ankle) and Jusuf Nurkic (wrist) also remain out. The Magic have been without Evan Fournier (back) for the past two games and Aaron Gordon (ankle) for the past four.
Nikola Vucevic amassed 27 points and 15 rebounds and Terrence Ross added 22 for the Magic, who dropped the opener of a four-game road trip and are 1-6 in their last seven contests. James Ennis III had 16 points for the Magic.
Stephen Curry scored 32 points, 16 of them in a pivotal third-quarter Golden State run, as the visiting Warriors rolled past the San Antonio Spurs 114-91 in the second game of a two-day back-to-back between the teams.
The Warriors burst away from a game tied at 53 with a dominating third-quarter spurt that produced a 21-point lead. San Antonio cut that margin to 88-76 two minutes into the fourth quarter but could get no closer.
Seven players scored in double figures for Golden State, which snapped a two-game losing streak. Eric Paschall added 15 points for the Warriors, with Andrew Wiggins scoring 14, Kelly Oubre Jr. 12, Juan Toscano-Anderson and Damion Lee 11 each and Kent Bazemore tallying 10 points. Draymond Green dished out 11 assists, and Oubre had 10 rebounds in the win.
Rudy Gay led the Spurs with 17 points off the bench while Trey Lyles added 15, Patty Mills and Keldon Johnson scored 13 points each and DeMar DeRozan finished with 12 points.
The Spurs were without LaMarcus Aldridge for the fourth straight game as the veteran center tries to work his way back from a hip injury. Aldridge received a pain reducing injection in his hip Tuesday and will be re-evaluated in four or five days.
Rookie Devin Vassell started the game for San Antonio and became the first lottery pick selected by the Spurs to do so since Tim Duncan in 1997.
Jimmy Butler finished with 26 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds to lead the host Miami Heat to a 98-96 comeback victory over the New York Knicks.
For the second consecutive game against the Knicks, Butler delivered a clutch performance, as he contested RJ Barrett's unsuccessful layup attempt as time expired to seal the outcome.
The Heat won their third consecutive game despite being outplayed near the rim for most of the contest by the Knicks' frontcourt.
Miami's Bam Adebayo overcame a slow start and finished with 19 points and six rebounds. He shot 13-for-16 from the free throw line, which made up for his 3-for-9 performance from the field.
Heat forward Kelly Olynyk scored 17 of his 20 points in the first half, and Tyler Herro finished with 15 points and seven rebounds. Herro tied the game at 88 with a jumper with 5:02 left in the fourth quarter and gave the Heat a 97-94 lead on a 3-pointer with 1:04 to go. Butler and Adebayo had accounted for the Heat's first 27 points of the second half.
Elfrid Payton led the Knicks with 18 points while Barrett finished with 13 points, Randle had 12 and Alec Burks scored 11.
Derrick Rose began his second stint with the Knicks on Tuesday and had 14 points and three assists. Rose first entered the game with 3:27 left in the first quarter, and he keyed a 15-0 run that gave the Knicks a 42-30 lead in the second.
Josh Hart and Willy Hernangomez had double-doubles off the bench as the New Orleans Pelicans routed the visiting Houston Rockets 130-101 on Tuesday night.
Hart had 20 points and a career-high 17 rebounds, and Hernangomez had 14 points and 10 rebounds. Brandon Ingram scored 22, Zion Williamson overcame foul trouble to score 20 in 21 minutes, Lonzo Ball had 15 and Eric Bledsoe 10 as the Pelicans won their fourth consecutive game.
John Wall scored 25, Eric Gordon 23, Jae'Sean Tate and Danuel House Jr. 13 each and Sterling Brown 11 to lead the Rockets, who lost for the fourth time in five games.
