Westbrook breaks Robertson's triple-double record; Grizzlies beat Pelicans to secure play-in spot; Curry leads Warriors past Jazz; Spurs blow away Bucks to move step closer to postseason.
Tuesday 11 May 2021 08:24, UK
The Memphis Grizzlies beat the New Orleans Pelicans to secure their spot in the play-in tournament, while Russell Westbrook recorded his 182nd career triple-double to surpass Oscar Robertson's record, which has stood since 1974.
Jonas Valanciunas and Ja Morant both had double-doubles as the Memphis Grizzlies clinched a berth in the Western Conference play-in tournament by beating the New Orleans Pelicans 115-110.
Valanciunas had 20 points and 11 rebounds and Morant added 12 points and 12 assists as the ninth-place Grizzlies (35-33) ended a five-game losing streak against the Pelicans and guaranteed that they will finish no lower than 10th in the West. Dillon Brooks scored a game-high 23 points, Kyle Anderson had 14 and Jaren Jackson Jr. 12 for Memphis.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker scored 18 points, Willy Hernangomez scored 15, Jaxson Hayes and James Johnson scored 13 each, Naji Marshall added 12 points and 11 rebounds, Lonzo Ball scored 12 and Eric Bledsoe 11 to lead the short-handed and 11th-place Pelicans (31-38), who fell to the brink of elimination from play-in contention.
New Orleans played their third consecutive game without its injured starting frontcourt -- Zion Williamson (fractured finger), Brandon Ingram (ankle) and Steven Adams (foot).
Valanciunas went to the bench after committing his fourth foul with 10:18 left in the third quarter and the Pelicans began the period with a 15-2 run to take a 74-73 lead.
Memphis trailed 88-86 heading into the fourth quarter, before back-to-back baskets by Valanciunas capped an 8-0 run that earned them a 94-91 advantage. The Pelicans got within one point twice, only for the Grizzlies to find an answer each time, Brooks closing the door on the visitors with a jumper to make it 114-110 with 52.3 seconds left.
DeMar DeRozan poured in 23 points and three of his San Antonio teammates scored at least 20 as the Spurs moved a step closer to a spot in the play-in tournament with a 146-125 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks in a game with major playoff implications for both teams.
San Antonio (33-35) have won two of their past three games but just twice in their past eight outings. Despite the uneven results of the past three weeks, the Spurs are a near-lock for the NBA's play-in tournament for the teams finishing 7-10 in the conference standings at the end of the regular season.
Dejounte Murray added 21 points, and Patty Mills and Keldon Johnson hit for 20 points apiece for the Spurs. Rudy Gay and Lonnie Walker IV scored 19 each and Devin Vassell hit for 10 for San Antonio, which shot 59.6 percent from the floor for the game.
Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Bucks (43-25) with 28 points, with Khris Middleton adding 23, Jrue Holiday scoring 20, Bobby Portis Jr. hitting for 13 and Brook Lopez and Donte DiVincenzo tallying 12 points each.
San Antonio rolled to a 45-36 lead at the end of the first quarter, scoring 11 of the final 14 points while amassing its most points in the opening quarter of a game this season. The Spurs continued to shoot the lights out in the second period, building their advantage to as many as 24 points before going to halftime up 87-64.
The Bucks made a run in the third quarter that brought them to within 14 points before San Antonio found its stride again, moving its lead to 113-93 with a quarter to play.
Washington's Russell Westbrook clinched his record-setting 182nd career triple-double on Monday, but the Atlanta Hawks came away with the victory 125-124 over the Wizards.
Westbrook had 28 points, 13 rebounds and 21 assists to post his 36th triple-double of the season and pass Oscar Robertson's career mark. The night also brought up his 36th double-double of the season, his fifth in a row and 18th in his past 21 games.
Westbrook sank a basket to get the Wizards within a point with 30.1 seconds left, but he missed a 25-footer with 2.3 seconds that could have won the game.
Atlanta (38-31) used the trio of Trae Young, John Collins and Bogdan Bogdanovic with great effectiveness. Young scored 36 points and added nine assists, Collins had 28 points, eight rebounds and two blocks, and Bogdanovic had seven 3-pointers and scored 25. Clint Capela added 10 points, 22 rebounds and four blocks. Washington (32-37) got 20 points from Rui Hachimura and 18 points from reserve Robin Lopez.
The Hawks began to pull away in the third quarter, outscoring the Wizards 27-11 to open the frame. A basket by Collins with 3:53 left gave Atlanta a 15-point lead at 88-73, which extended to 96-79 heading into the fourth.
A 19-1 run from Washington cut the deficit to 101-100 on a bucket by Ish Smith with 7:26 left. The Hawks pushed the lead back to nine, but the Wizards kept battling and got to within one point four times in the final three minutes.
Stephen Curry scored 36 points, including a go-ahead 3-pointer with 14.5 seconds remaining, as the Golden State Warriors upended the Western Conference-leading Utah Jazz 119-116 not long after their spot in the play-in tournament had been secured courtesy of New Orleans' defeat to Memphis.
Jordan Poole added 20 points and Kent Bazemore had 19 for the Warriors, who pushed their lead to as many as 18 points in the fourth quarter before the Jazz rallied late. Curry has now scored at least 30 points in 37 games this season, reaching that benchmark in 20 of his past 22 contests.
Jordan Clarkson had 41 points for the Jazz, including 24 in the fourth quarter, while Bojan Bogdanovic added 27 as Utah (50-19) saw its five-game winning streak come to an end.
Utah pushed ahead on two occasions late, including a 116-114 advantage with 1:11 remaining on a Clarkson step-back 3-pointer. However, Clarkson missed all three of his shots the rest of the way, including a potential game-tying 3-pointer with 4.9 seconds remaining.
Andrew Wiggins scored 14 points for the Warriors, while Draymond Green added 12 points, 10 assists and six rebounds. Kevon Looney added 13 rebounds for Golden State.
Rudy Gobert had 10 points and 16 rebounds for the Jazz, who still have a 1 1/2-game lead on the second-place Phoenix Suns. Utah, which hasn't won a Western Conference regular-season title since 1997-98, has three regular-season games remaining.
Damian Lillard scored 28 of his 34 points in the second half and finished with nine rebounds and six assists to help the Portland Trail Blazers notch a 140-129 victory over the Houston Rockets on Monday night.
CJ McCollum and Norman Powell added 28 points apiece as Portland (40-29) won their fourth straight game and prevailed for the eighth time in its past nine. Jusuf Nurkic added 22 points and Derrick Jones Jr. had 11.
Kelly Olynyk registered 21 points, eight rebounds and six assists and D.J. Augustin scored a season-high 21 points as NBA-worst Houston (16-53) dropped their sixth straight contest and 43rd in its past 48. Armoni Brooks and Khyri Thomas added 18 points apiece for the Rockets, and Kenyon Martin Jr. had 15 points and nine rebounds.
The Trail Blazers trail the fifth-place Dallas Mavericks (40-28) by a half-game in the Western Conference race. Portland moved 1 1/2 games ahead of the seventh-place Los Angeles Lakers (38-30) in the battle to finish sixth and avoid the play-in round.
Portland set a franchise record for points in a quarter with 50 in the opening period, McCollum hitting all five of his 3-point attempts while scoring 21 as the period ended with the Blazers leading by 17.
McCollum had 26 as Portland entered the break up 79-63. The Rockets pulled within seven in the middle of the third quarter, however Lillard completed his 20-point third period with a trey with 8.6 seconds remaining to give Portland a 111-101 advantage entering the final stanza.
Kelan Martin scored a career-high 25 points off the bench to lead the short-handed Indiana Pacers to a 111-102 victory over the host Cleveland Cavaliers.
Indiana (32-36) moved back into ninth place in the Eastern Conference and a half-game ahead of the Washington Wizards as the teams vie for home court advantage in a potential play-in tournament matchup between them. The Pacers also moved three games ahead of the idle Chicago Bulls with four games to play as they moved closer to clinching a berth in the play-in round.
The Cavaliers (21-48) lost their 11th straight game, the NBA's worst active streak, despite Collin Sexton's 25 points, eight assists and five rebounds. Doug McDermott added 13 points and Justin Holiday had 11 points, while Isaac Okoro (22 points and 10 rebounds) and Dean Wade (19 points and 12 rebounds) each recorded double-doubles for Cleveland.
Martin shot 11-for-16 from the field including three for four from 3-point range, and collected seven rebounds as the Pacers, who were again without Malcolm Brogdon (sore hamstring), Jeremy Lamb (sore knee) and JaKarr Sampson (concussion) picked up 47 points from their bench.
Domantas Sabonis came up just short of his ninth triple-double of the season by finishing with 21 points, 20 rebounds and nine assists as well as four blocks. Caris LeVert totaled 20 points and 10 assists.
