Coverage of the NBA continues on Monday night as the Indiana Pacers visit the Milwaukee Bucks, live from 1am on Sky Sports Main Event & Sky Sports Mix
Monday 22 March 2021 07:38, UK
Luka Doncic matched his career best of eight 3-pointers and scored 37 points in just three quarters as the Dallas Mavericks steamrolled the host Portland Trail Blazers 132-92.
Doncic missed just once from long range and collected seven rebounds as the Mavericks led by as many as 45 points while winning for the 13th time in the past 18 games. The winning margin was the club's second-largest of the season behind a 124-73 rout of the Los Angeles Clippers on Dec. 27.
Josh Richardson scored 21 points and Dorian-Finney Smith added 13 for Dallas, which made 19 of 37 from 3-point range and shot 55.8 percent overall. Kristaps Porzingis had 12 points, while Tim Hardaway Jr. and Dwight Powell tallied 11 apiece.
Damian Lillard scored 19 points and Gary Trent Jr. added 16 for Portland, which had a three-game winning streak halted. Nassir Little scored 14 points and CJ McCollum added 13 for the Trail Blazers.
Lillard (seven attempts) and McCollum (five) missed all 12 of their 3-point attempts. Portland was just 9 of 41 from behind the arc while shooting 38.2 percent overall.
Tobias Harris hit two free throws with 5.3 seconds left to cap a wild fourth quarter and extra session and lift the visiting Philadelphia 76ers to a 101-100 win over the New York Knicks.
The 76ers led by as many as 14 in the first half and squandered a late six-point lead in regulation before Harris single-handedly overcame a four-point deficit in the final minute. Harris drained a 3-pointer with 56.2 seconds left and the teams combined to miss their next four shots before Julius Randle committed a loose ball foul following Shake Milton's errant layup.
Harris, who missed two free throws with a chance to extend the 76ers' lead to four or five points with under 20 seconds left in regulation, drained both attempts. Randle's 3-pointer over Harris forced overtime with 6.4 seconds left.
Milton finished with a team-high 21 points off the bench while Harris had 20 points for the Eastern Conference-leading 76ers, who won for the eighth time in nine games and extended their winning streak over the Knicks to 15 games dating back to the start of the 2017-18 season.
Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson scored 30 points apiece, and the visiting New Orleans Pelicans beat the Denver Nuggets 113-108.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker scored 20 points, Josh Hart had 12 and Steven Adams grabbed 13 rebounds for New Orleans, which has won three in a row in Denver.
The Pelicans played without Lonzo Ball due to a right hip flexor strain.
Nikola Jokic had 29 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for his 11th triple-double of the season for Denver. Jamal Murray scored 23 points, Michael Porter Jr. had 17 points and nine rebounds and Will Barton added 16 points for the Nuggets.
Ingram put New Orleans in front 107-104 with a pair of three-point plays with 57.9 seconds left. Paul Millsap made one free throw for Denver and Ingram drained two on the other end to put the Pelicans ahead by four with 29.1 seconds left.
Chris Paul had a triple-double with 11 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds as the Phoenix Suns beat the Lakers 111-94.
Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton both had 26 points, whilst Paul became the sixth player in NBA history with 10,000 assists when he threw an alley-oop pass to Ayton for a dunk in the third quarter.
''It's a blessing, first and foremost, just to play this long,'' Paul said. ''That's something I don't take for granted. There's a lot of guys I came in with who are coaching and can't play.
Los Angeles played without 17-time All-Star LeBron James for just the second time this season and fell to 0-2 in his absence. James suffered a high ankle sprain in a 99-94 loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday and is expected to miss significant time.
Los Angeles struggled on offense without James, shooting 41 percent from the field. Montrezl Harrell led the Lakers with 23 points off the bench on 10-of-13 shooting. Dennis Schroder added 22 points.
Kyrie Irving scored 28 points and James Harden added 26 as the Brooklyn Nets held on for a 113-106 victory over the visiting Washington Wizards in New York.
After losing two games in the final seconds to Washington in January, the Nets withstood a late charge and won for the 15th time in 17 games.
Brooklyn allowed the Wizards to get within 108-106 on a layup by Russell Westbrook with 44.6 seconds remaining but on the next possession, Nicolas Claxton converted a 3-point play. After Westbrook missed a 3-pointer with 24.8 seconds left, Irving iced the game at the line with 3.2 seconds remaining.
Irving shot 10 of 25 from the floor, added seven rebounds and six assists, while Harden made 10 of 23 shots and collected eight assists and five rebounds.
Blake Griffin made his debut for Brooklyn and converted a dunk in 15 minutes.
Russell Westbrook posted his 14th triple-double of the season with 29 points, 13 assists and 13 rebounds, but he also committed eight turnovers as Washington lost for the sixth time in seven games despite shooting 53.2 percent. Alex Len (nine rebounds) and Rui Hachimura (10 rebounds) added 20 points apiece, but Bradley Beal was held to 17 on 6-of-15 shooting and committed six turnovers.
Jaylen Brown hit a career-high 10 3-pointers en route to a game-high 34 points and the Boston Celtics snapped a three-game losing skid with a 112-96 defeat of the Orlando Magic in Boston.
All five Celtics starters made at least one 3-pointer in a 23-of-54 collective effort from deep, and each scored in double-digits.
Jayson Tatum went 5-of-8 from beyond the arc and finished with 23 points, Kemba Walker notched 14 points, Daniel Theis recorded a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds, and Marcus Smart added 11 points with a game-high eight assists.
Orlando finished 32 of 84 (38.1 percent) from the floor, with Aaron Gordon going 3 of 13 and Evan Fournier finishing 6 of 19. Gordon finished with 12 points, 26 fewer than his season-best output in the Magic's win over Brooklyn on Friday. Fournier finished with 16 points, 15 fewer than against the Nets.
Nikola Vucevic, who had a double-double for Orlando with team-highs of 22 points and 13 rebounds, shot 9 of 20 from the floor.
Justin Holiday made the go-ahead three-pointer with 2:32 left in overtime, leading the Indiana Pacers past the host Miami Heat 109-106.
Indiana made three 3-pointers in overtime: two by Holiday and one by Malcolm Brogdon. Caris LeVert added a mid-range jumper with 48 seconds left to give Indiana a 109-106 lead.
For Miami, Tyler Herro missed a 3-pointer that could've tied the score with 30 seconds left, and Jimmy Butler was off on a 3-pointer at the buzzer as the Heat lost their third straight game, including two in three days to the Pacers.
Domantas Sabonis, who ranks second in the NBA with 31 double-doubles, fouled out with just 16 seconds elapsed in overtime. But he still led the Pacers in points (17) and rebounds (11).
Indiana's Myles Turner, who entered the game leading the NBA with 3.4 blocks per game, swatted five shots for the second straight contest. He also had 16 points. Brogdon had 12 points and a game-high 10 assists.
Miami's Bam Adebayo had a game-high 29 points to go with 10 rebounds. Butler had 21 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists.
Luguentz Dort scored 23 points and blocked a layup in the waning moments as the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder held on for a 114-112 victory over the Houston Rockets.
Rockets guard John Wall initially beat Dort off the dribble only for the latter to recover defensively and record the block to preserve a one-point lead. Aleksej Pokusevski (nine points, nine rebounds) snagged the rebound and split a pair of free throws before Wall missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the Rockets to their 20th consecutive loss, extending their franchise mark.
Moses Brown posted a double-double of 13 points and 14 rebounds while Isaiah Roby had 18 points and eight boards. Justin Jackson and Svi Mykhailiuk scored 15 points apiece off the Thunder bench.
Christian Wood paired a game-high 27 points with eight boards while Wall chipped in 24 points and seven assists. Victor Oladipo posted 23 points and six assists and Danuel House Jr. added 18 points on 3-of-4 3-point shooting for the Rockets, who snapped a string of 12 consecutive double-digit losses.
The Rockets did trail by double digits for a 20th consecutive game.
Collin Sexton scored 36 points, Jarrett Allen added 17 points and 15 rebounds, and the Cleveland Cavaliers held on to defeat the visiting Toronto Raptors 116-105.
It was the eighth loss in a row for the Raptors. They had not lost eight straight since Jan. 10-22, 2012.
Dean Wade had 16 points for the Cavaliers, Darius Garland added 15 points and Larry Nance Jr. had 10 points.
Fred VanVleet scored 23 points for the Raptors, Kyle Lowry and Norman Powell each scored 18 points and OG Anunoby had 17.
Zach LaVine had 18 points and the visiting Chicago Bulls topped the Detroit Pistons 100-86 on Sunday.
LaVine racked up 37 points in a three-point Chicago victory over Detroit last month in the first meeting between the teams. The Bulls had a much more balanced approach on Sunday.
Lauri Markkanen contributed 16 points and eight rebounds and Patrick Williams tossed in 10 points with seven rebounds.
Jerami Grant led Detroit with 26 points but 14 of them came in the opening quarter. Mason Plumlee had 12 points and 10 rebounds, Frank Jackson also scored 12 points and Isaiah Stewart added 11.
