Sixers snap Warriors' 11-game win streak; Bucks best Raptors in top-of-the-East clash; Spurs outlast Nets
Friday 1 February 2019 08:44, UK
LeBron James returned after a 17-game absence to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to a thrilling 123-120 overtime victory against city rivals the Los Angeles Clippers.
LeBron James returned for the Los Angeles Lakers and scored 24 points to help them to a 123-120 overtime win against the host Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday night.
James, who missed the past 17 games with a groin injury sustained in a Christmas night win against the Golden State Warriors, also matched his season-high with 14 rebounds and distributed nine assists while playing 40 minutes.
Lance Stephenson matched his career high with five three-pointers on eight attempts and scored 20 points off the bench. Brandon Ingram added 19 points and Rajon Rondo had 14 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists for the Lakers.
Lou Williams scored 24 points off the bench to lead the Clippers, who had won 22 of their previous 25 matchups against the Lakers. Patrick Beverley had 17 points and eight rebounds, and Tobias Harris and Montrezl Harrell scored 15 apiece.
The Clippers were without second-leading scorer Danilo Gallinari, who sat out his eighth straight game with a back injury.
The Lakers led by 14 early in the fourth quarter, but the Clippers pulled within two on a three-point play by backup center Boban Marjanovic with 7:25 remaining. The Clippers tied the score 112-112 on a three-pointer by Harris with 35 seconds and neither team would score again in regulation.
James made a fall-away jumper to break a 118-118 tie with 1:15 left in overtime, and Stephenson followed with a three-point play for a 123-118 Lakers lead with 45 seconds remaining.
Joel Embiid scored 11 of his 26 points in the third quarter as the Philadelphia 76ers built a lead and held off the Golden State Warriors 113-104 in a nationally televised matchup of two of the NBA's top teams in Oakland.
The win snapped the 76ers' 10-game losing streak against the Warriors that dated back to the 2013-14 season. It also ended Golden State's 11-game winning streak this season.
The Warriors led by seven at half-time and 69-59 two minutes into the third quarter before the 76ers scored the next 10 points to draw even. Wilson Chandler and Mike Muscala each had three-pointers in the run.
The game was tied two more times before Embiid helped the 76ers run to as much as an 11-point lead with 24 seconds left in the third, from which the Warriors never dug themselves out.
A three-pointer by Stephen Curry got the Warriors within 106-101 with 2:49 to play but Embiid countered with four consecutive free throws before JJ Redick answered a Curry three-pointer with a clinching 3 of his own with 23.1 seconds left.
Embiid completed a double-double with a game-high 20 rebounds as the 76ers were able to win on a night when Curry poured in a game-high 41 points, making 10 three-pointers.
Ben Simmons complemented Embiid with 26 points, eight rebounds and six assists, while Redick finished with 15 points and Landry Shamet had 10.
Kevin Durant backed Curry with 25 points for the Warriors, who were coming off a 5-0 road trip. Kevon Looney had 14 points and Alfonzo McKinnie 11, while Draymond Green collected a team-high 10 assists to go with eight rebounds and four points.
DeMarcus Cousins, making his home debut for the Warriors, managed just seven points on 3-for-10 shooting.
Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 19 points and grabbed nine rebounds despite picking up his fifth foul early in the fourth quarter as the visiting Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Toronto Raptors 105-92.
The Bucks won the season series 3-1 in meetings between the top two teams in the Eastern Conference standings. First-place Milwaukee earned their eighth win in nine games overall while second-place Toronto fell to 1-3 in their past four games.
Khris Middleton, selected a first-time All-Star earlier Thursday, added 18 points, and DJ Wilson had 16 points for Milwaukee. Eric Bledsoe scored 14, Brook Lopez and Malcolm Brogdon 11 each and George Hill 10 for the Bucks, who have won both of their visits to Toronto.
Pascal Siakam scored 28 points for the Raptors. Kawhi Leonard added 16 points and eight rebounds, and Serge Ibaka had 12 points and 10 rebounds. Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet and Norman Powell scored 10 points each.
The Bucks, who led by 24 points in the third quarter, took an 11-point lead into the fourth. The Raptors quickly trimmed the deficit to six as Antetokounmpo picked up his fifth personal foul.
Lopez put Milwaukee ahead by 13 on a lay-up with 7:18 left, but Ibaka's jumper cut the margin to six points with 3:50 remaining. However, the Bucks pulled away again.
Derrick White scored a career-high 26 points and LaMarcus Aldridge racked up five of his 20 points in the final 51 seconds as the San Antonio Spurs won their fourth straight game, outlasting the visiting Brooklyn Nets 117-114.
White's two free throws with 2:07 to play gave the Spurs a 110-109 lead in the back-and-forth game. DeMar DeRozan's jumper in the lane push San Antonio's lead to three with 1:29 left.
D'Angelo Russell's driving lay-up with 1:20 to play cut the lead to 112-111 before Aldridge's lay-up and free throw made it 115-111. Shabazz Napier canned a three-pointer with 4.6 seconds remaining to bring Brooklyn to within 115-114.
Aldridge hit two free throws with 3.6 seconds left to push the lead back to three points. While being guarded by Aldridge and DeRozan just outside the arc, Napier missed a three-point attempt at the buzzer that would have tied the game.
Patty Mills scored 17 points off the bench for the Spurs, while Rudy Gay and DeRozan added 15 points each and Bryn Forbes tallied 11, all in the second half, for San Antonio. Aldridge also took 13 rebounds in the win, six of them on the offensive glass.
Russell led the Nets with 25 points. DeMarre Carroll and Joe Harris added 18 apiece for Brooklyn, with Napier scoring 15 and Jarrett Allen contributing 14 points.
Andre Drummond recorded his eighth 20-20 game of the season with 24 points and 20 rebounds as the host Detroit Pistons escaped with a 93-89 win over the depleted Dallas Mavericks.
The Mavericks were missing four of their usual starters. DeAndre Jordan, Dennis Smith Jr and Wesley Matthews were traded to the New York Knicks prior to the game in a blockbuster deal. Rookie sensation Luka Doncic sat out due to left ankle soreness.
Blake Griffin, who was named as an All-Star reserve earlier in the day, supplied 24 points, 10 rebounds and six assists for Detroit. Reggie Jackson had 17 points, nine assists and seven rebounds, and Langston Galloway added 11 points off the bench.
Harrison Barnes, the lone remaining regular in the Dallas lineup, led his team with 27 points. Devin Harris and Dwight Powell tossed in 15 and 10, respectively, off the bench.
Drummond's put-back with 1:56 left gave the Pistons an 85-84 lead. Jackson made a reverse scoop shot to push the advantage to three. Barnes drained two free throws with 57 seconds left. Griffin answered with a hook shot.
Barnes drove in for a lay-up, but Jackson made two free throws. Jalen Brunson made one of two foul shots with 5.4 seconds left to cut Detroit's lead to two. Drummond closed out the game with two free throws.
Terrence Ross scored a season-high 30 points to help the host Orlando Magic snap a four-game losing streak with a 107-100 victory over the Indiana Pacers.
It was the most the most points Ross has scored since he dropped 51 with the Toronto Raptors back in 2014. Nikola Vucevic added 17 points and 10 rebounds after finding out he was named to the Eastern Conference All-Star team before the game.
The Magic had lost seven of their last eight coming into Thursday, but are still only four games out of the eighth seed in the East.
Myles Turner led the Pacers with 27 points and seven rebounds, and Bojan Bogdanovic added 21 points.
Indiana have lost four straight since losing leading scorer Victor Oladipo to a season-ending quadriceps tendon injury. To make matters worse, Oladipo's backup, Tyreke Evans, missed the last three games with lower back soreness.
Vucevic broke the tie with 5:08 left to play, and DJ Augustin rattled off five straight points to put the Magic ahead 96-89 with 3:18 left.
A basket by Darren Collison brought the Pacers to within 96-94 with 2:21 left, but Ross hit an 18-foot jumper and Collison fouled Augustin as he attempted a three-pointer. Augustin hit all three free throws to extend the lead to 101-94 with 1:26 left and make the game safe.
