Bledsoe stars as Bucks blitz Rockets; Hornets & Clippers extend win streaks; LeBron and Pope lead Lakers to second straight victory
Wednesday 27 March 2019 08:23, UK
In a game with major playoff implications, Nikola Vucevic scored 18 of his team-high 24 points in the second half as the visiting Orlando Magic defeated the Miami Heat 104-99 on Tuesday night.
In a game with major playoff implications, Nikola Vucevic scored 18 of his team-high 24 points in the second half as the visiting Orlando Magic defeated the Miami Heat 104-99 on Tuesday night.
Vucevic also added a game-high 16 rebounds and five assists, leading Orlando to their sixth straight win, the longest active streak in the NBA.
Both teams are battling for the eighth and final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference. With the win, the Magic vaulted over the Heat by a half-game in the standings.
Miami, 10-5 in their past 15 games, were led by Dion Waiters, who scored a game-high 26 points. Reserve guard Dwyane Wade scored 22 points, including 18 in the second half.
Orlando, trying to end their six-year playoff drought, also got 19 points from Jonathan Isaac and 14 points and 10 rebounds from Aaron Gordon.
At halftime, Chris Bosh became the fourth former Heat player to have his jersey number retired, joining Tim Hardaway, Shaq O'Neal and Alonzo Mourning. Bosh, who was forced to retire due to blood clots, was part of Miami's big three - with LeBron James and Wade - during the franchise's run toward four straight Eastern Conference titles and two NBA championships from 2011 to 2014.
Miami closed the first quarter on a 12-0 run, taking a 32-18 lead before Orlando cut the deficit to 51-42 at halftime.
Orlando rallied to take their first lead of the game, going up 63-62 on Isaac's 3-pointer with 5:11 left in the third quarter.
The Magic entered the fourth with a 76-70 lead, but Wade helped the Heat rally by scoring Miami's first 10 points of the quarter. However, the Heat couldn't complete the rally to pull off the victory.
Kemba Walker had 38 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds and was brilliant in overtime as the Charlotte Hornets remained red hot with a 125-116 overtime victory over the San Antonio Spurs.
Walker scored 11 of his points in overtime, including the Hornets' first seven of the extra session, as Charlotte outscored the Spurs 19-10.
The Hornets claimed their fourth straight win as they followed up a magical weekend in which they rallied from 18 points in the fourth quarter to beat Boston, then stunned Toronto on a half-court buzzer beater by Jeremy Lamb.
Walker was 14-of-31 from the field after scoring just six points in the first half. The Hornets also got a career-high 24 points from Dwayne Bacon, 15 from Frank Kaminsky, and 10 each from Willy Hernangomez and Miles Bridges.
DeMar DeRozan led the Spurs with 30 points and eight rebounds. LaMarcus Aldridge had 20 points and 15 rebounds. Marco Belinelli scored 17, and Bryn Forbes and Rudy Gay scored 16 each.
DeRozan had a chance to win it in regulation, but his fall-away 18-footer at the buzzer was off and the teams went into overtime tied at 106.
Eric Bledsoe stole the spotlight from the MVP front-runners as the Milwaukee Bucks coasted to a 108-94 victory over the visiting Houston Rockets on Tuesday night.
Bledsoe paired 23 points with seven assists and was the catalyst during a third-quarter run that enabled the Bucks to seize control. He scored 16 consecutive points for Milwaukee during one stretch, helping the Bucks stretch a five-point lead into a 79-65 advantage with 4:24 left in the third.
Bledsoe hit four three-pointers during that spurt, individually delivering the knockout blow.
Rockets guard James Harden and Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo were relatively quiet. Harden posted 23 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists but shot 1-of-9 from behind the arc after going 24-of-42 from deep over his three previous games while averaging 48.7 points. Antetokounmpo tallied 19 points and 14 rebounds with five turnovers. Like Harden, he was the focal point of the defense. While the Bucks stubbornly forced Harden to his off (right) hand, the Rockets rotated several defenders on Antetokounmpo, enticing him to hoist perimeter shots.
Milwaukee placed five players in double figures. Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez scored 13 points apiece, with Lopez going 3-of-5 on three-point attempts. Pat Connaughton added 14 off the bench. Sterling Brown pulled down 11 rebounds for the Bucks.
Chris Paul added 19 points and nine assists for Houston while Clint Capela posted 17 points and 11 rebounds.
Norman Powell had 20 points off the bench and Serge Ibaka added 16 points and eight rebounds to help the Toronto Raptors defeat the visiting Chicago Bulls 112-103.
The victory salvaged the final game of a three-game homestand after the Raptors had lost the first two. Kawhi Leonard and Kyle Lowry each added 14 points for the Raptors while Pascal Siakam had 13.
OG Anunoby had 10 points for Toronto before he groggily left the court with assistance with 4:10 to play in the game after a collision under the defensive basket.
Wayne Selden scored 20 points for the Bulls. Shaquille Harrison added 15 points and Ryan Arcidiacono scored 13, Antonio Blakeney had 11 and Lauri Markkanen, Robin Lopez and Brandon Sampson had 10 each.
The Raptors led by as many as 20 points during the third quarter before taking a 13-point lead into the fourth quarter.
Blakeney's three-pointer cut the Toronto lead to 10 with 10:14 remaining. Two free throws by Anunoby increased the lead to 17 and Ibaka's 11-footer increased it to 19 points with 4:58 to play.
Al Horford broke a fourth-quarter tie with a lay-up and capped a 14-4 run with an alley-oop slam, helping the visiting Boston Celtics brush aside a challenge from the Cleveland Cavaliers for a 116-106 victory.
The win allowed the Celtics (44-31) to move within one-and-a-half games of the Indiana Pacers (45-29) in a duel for the No 4 seeding in the Eastern Conference.
The Celtics and Pacers, likely first-round opponents in the upcoming playoffs, have two head-to-heads remaining, including one Friday night at Boston, with home-court advantage in the best-of-seven series on the line.
With Friday's showdown in mind, the Celtics elected to give star point guard Kyrie Irving a night off against the Cavaliers, leaving Horford as the go-to man with the game in the balance.
Boston led most of the way, including by as many as 12 points in the third quarter, before the Cavaliers rallied into a tie at 92 on a three-pointer by Marquese Chriss with 9:10 remaining.
That's when Horford ignited the Celtics' game-winning run, hitting a lay-up with 8:57 left that put the visitors ahead for good. He had another hoop and two free throws before capping the burst with his dunk off a Jayson Tatum assist, giving the Celtics a 106-96 lead with just 3:31 to go.
Horford finished with 19 points and a team-high eight rebounds for the Celtics. Tatum and Marcus Smart shared team-high scoring honors for Boston with 21 points apiece.
Rookie Collin Sexton had a game-high 24 points for the Cavaliers, who lost their third straight after a two-game winning streak. Kevin Love compiled a 10-point, 11-rebound double-double for Cleveland, while Jordan Clarkson chipped in with 18 points.
Jamal Murray scored 33 points as the host Denver Nuggets built a 27-point halftime lead, then withstood a furious Detroit Pistons rally to claim a 95-92 victory.
Nikola Jokic had 23 points and 15 rebounds for the Nuggets, who were outscored 53-29 in the second half.
Blake Griffin had 29 points, 15 rebounds and five assists but missed a potential tying three-pointer in the closing seconds. Reggie Jackson added 17 points and Andre Drummond contributed 13 points and 18 rebounds.
Mason Plumlee's lob dunk to open the second quarter gave Denver a 20-point advantage. Detroit only scored five points in the final five minutes of the half as Denver established a 66-39 half-time advantage.
The Pistons came within 15 late in the third quarter on a three-pointer by Luke Kennard, which completed a 10-2 spurt. Denver pushed the lead up to 19, 81-62, before the quarter ended.
Detroit cut the deficit to 15 again early in the fourth. A Jackson three-pointer pulled Detroit within 12 midway through the quarter. When Drummond scored with 5:05 left, Denver's lead was in single digits, 87-78.
Jackson scored with two minutes left to make it a five-point game. A Wayne Ellington three cut the Nuggets' lead to two. After the teams traded baskets, Murray hit a baseline shot to give Denver a 93-89 advantage with 16 seconds left.
Jackson made a corner three-pointer to cut Denver's lead to one. Murray hit two free throws with 9.1 seconds left. Griffin then missed a corner three on Detroit's last possession.
Danilo Gallinari scored 25 points and Lou Williams added 20 as the visiting Los Angeles Clippers officially clinched a playoff spot and increased their winning streak to an NBA-best six games with a 122-111 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Montrezl Harrell scored 18 points as the Clippers broke a tie in the Western Conference standings with the Utah Jazz and moved back into sole possession of fifth place with seven games remaining. Five of those last seven Clippers games are in Los Angeles.
Karl-Anthony Towns scored 24 points with 13 rebounds as the Timberwolves lost for the sixth time in their past seven games.
The Clippers led 42-23 after one quarter and built their advantage to as many as 25 points in the second quarter before taking a 75-55 lead into half-time. Minnesota cut the deficit to six points at 104-98 with seven minutes to play before the Clippers pulled away again down the stretch.
Towns' team-best point total for Minnesota came despite going without a field goal in the first half and not making his first basket from the field until 4:53 remained in the third quarter. Andrew Wiggins scored 22 points while Dario Saric added 18 and Tyus Jones had 13.
Gallinari added 10 rebounds and Garrett Temple scored 15 points as Los Angeles returned to the playoffs after missing out on a spot in the postseason last year with a 42-40 record. It will be the Clippers' seventh playoff appearance in the last eight years.
Despite the victory, there was some level of concern for the Clippers after guard Patrick Beverley left in the third quarter and did not return following an apparent right hip injury.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope shot 6-for-12 from three-point distance and scored 29 points to help the Los Angeles Lakers defeat the visiting Washington Wizards 124-106. The Lakers won two in a row for the first time since mid-January.
LeBron James had 23 points and 14 assists, JaVale McGee had 20 points, 15 rebounds and four blocks, and Kyle Kuzma scored 15 for the Lakers.
Bradley Beal scored 32 points for the Wizards, who lost their fifth straight game to match their longest streak of the season. The only other players in double figures were reserves Jabari Parker with 18 points and Bobby Portis with 10. Tomas Satoransky contributed 11 assists for Washington.
The Lakers extended their lead to as many as 19 points on three occasions in the third quarter before Beal sank back-to-back three-pointers to get the Wizards back within 83-70 with 7:14 left in the quarter.
Beal scored 17 straight points for the Wizards in the third quarter, but they were unable to get any closer than nine and trailed 97-83 entering the fourth.
Washington never got any closer than eight points in the final quarter.
In a hard-fought and tightly contested matchup, the visiting Sacramento Kings rode De'Aaron Fox's fantastic finish to a 125-121 victory over the Dallas Mavericks.
Fox scored eight of his team's final 11 points in the final and decisive 2:27 of the game, including a dazzling, driving lay-up with 26.2 seconds to go that gave the Kings a 121-117 lead. Fox finished with 23 points, eight assists and five rebounds, and buried all four free-throw attempts in clutch situations.
Buddy Hield finished with 17 points, going just 4-of-13 from the floor, but he was clutch late with a three-pointer from the wing with 1:07 to go to retake the lead for the Kings, 119-116. He later hit both free-throw attempts for the Kings' final points to extend to a four-point margin.
The Mavs got another stellar game from rookie sensation Luka Doncic, who led Dallas with 28 points and his seventh triple-double of the season that included 12 assists and 12 boards. His night could have been devastating if not for missing all nine of his three-point attempts.
Dwight Powell scored 21 points on 6-of-7 shooting, many coming at the rim off Doncic dishes.
Kings forward Harrison Barnes made his return to Dallas since being traded to Sacramento at the trade deadline. He had 18 points on 7 of 16 shooting. Willie Cauley-Stein had 16 points and seven rebounds, and Marvin Bagley III and Bogdan Bogdanovic each contributed 14 points.
Rookie Trae Young had 33 points and 12 assists as the visiting Atlanta Hawks defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 130-120.
Young and the Hawks continued their hot streak as Atlanta won their third consecutive game and tied their longest winning streak of the season. Young has had a double-double in each win during the current streak.
DeAndre' Bembry and Dewayne Dedmon added 18 points each, Alex Len scored 13 and John Collins and Vince Carter tallied 12 points each.
Julius Randle scored 24 to lead the Pelicans, who lost for the ninth time in 10 games. Christian Wood, playing in his second game since being claimed off waivers, had a career-high 23 points, making 7-of-9 field goals, and had nine rebounds, six blocks and three steals.
Pelicans All-Star forward Anthony Davis did not play because of lower back spasms.
The Hawks led by 13 points at halftime, and the margin reached 21 on Len's tip-in with 2:42 to go in the third quarter. The Pelicans trimmed the lead to 102-87 by the end of the third.
Atlanta rebuilt the lead to 14 midway through the quarter, but New Orleans twice got within eight before Carter's 3-pointer pushed the lead to 126-115 with three minutes remaining. New Orleans got within six points in the final minute but could not get any closer.
