KD and Curry combine to dispatch Grizzlies; Wizards spoil Booker's 50-point night; Blazers hammer Bulls
Thursday 28 March 2019 09:09, UK
Paul George scored 31 points and Russell Westbrook supplied a triple-double to help lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 107-99 win over the visiting Indiana Pacers.
Paul George scored 31 points and Russell Westbrook supplied a triple-double to help lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 107-99 win over the visiting Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night.
George drove down the baseline on Wesley Matthews in the final four minutes and let go a high, arcing floater over Matthews' outstretched arm for an and-one chance. It was that kind of night for both George and Matthews.
Early in the second half, the Thunder looked headed for yet another lackluster defeat as the Pacers built an 11-point lead. But then came a massive third-quarter push. The Thunder scored 24 consecutive points over a stretch of nearly seven minutes to seize control.
Oklahoma City's offense took off, hitting eight consecutive shots, capped by George backing down Matthews and drawing the foul as he created separation.
Steven Adams scored 25 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for the Thunder, his highest-scoring game since December 14. Westbrook finished with 17 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists.
The loss kept Indiana's road woes going. The Pacers have dropped nine consecutive games away from home and five of six overall.
Oklahoma City's lead was dwindling in the fourth quarter, cut to five on back-to-back three-pointers by Bojan Bogdanovic. But then Westbrook led a break following a missed Bogdanovic shot, driving before floating an alley-oop pass to Terrance Ferguson to extend the lead back to nine.
The assist clinched Westbrook's league-leading 29th triple-double on the season.
Bogdanovic led the Pacers with 28 points. Domantas Sabonis added 18 points and 10 rebounds, and Myles Turner had 12 points and 14 boards.
The Golden State Warriors needed a late surge and 28 points apiece from Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant to hold off the host Memphis Grizzlies 118-103.
Curry hit six three-pointers and Durant missed just one shot for the Warriors (51-23), who moved a half-game ahead of Denver (50-23) in the race for the top seed in the Western Conference.
The Warriors, who own a 2-1 lead over the Nuggets in their season series, host Denver one final time on April 2.
Jonas Valanciunas (27 points, 13 rebounds) and Bruno Caboclo (17 points, 13 rebounds) recorded double-doubles for Memphis, who lost for just the second time in its last seven home games.
The Warriors found themselves trailing 92-91 after two free throws by Chandler Parsons with 9:25 remaining, before taking the lead for good on a Shaun Livingston hoop nine seconds later.
Durant then scored the next seven points (two free throws, a three-pointer and a two-point jumper) to increase the Golden State lead to 100-92 with seven minutes to play.
After a three-pointer by Caboclo and a free throw by Valanciunas cut the Memphis deficit in half, the Warriors got two consecutive hoops from Livingston and one apiece from Draymond Green and DeMarcus Cousins to finally pull away and seal the win.
Curry complemented his 28 points with 10 rebounds and seven assists for the Warriors, who won for the fifth time in their last six road games and 25th time in 37 road games this season.
Mike Conley, returning from a one-game absence, helped keep the Grizzlies in the game with 22 points and eight assists, while Parsons added 13 points.
Rudy Gobert recorded 22 points and 11 rebounds to help the Utah Jazz register a 115-100 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in Salt Lake City.
Derrick Favors added 20 points, and Jae Crowder scored 16 for the Jazz, who have won three straight games and eight of their past nine.
Joe Ingles posted a career-best 14 assists while adding 11 points and nine rebounds as Utah defeated Los Angeles for the 13th time in the past 15 meetings. Lakers forward LeBron James was rested in the second of back-to-back games.
Kyle Kuzma scored 21 points, and JaVale McGee added 16 points and 13 rebounds for Los Angeles, who lost for the 21st time in the past 29 contests. Alex Caruso and Moritz Wagner scored 13 points apiece, and Lance Stephenson added 10 for the Lakers (33-42).
The Jazz moved into a tie for fifth place with the Los Angeles Clippers (45-30) in the Western Conference. Both teams are just two games behind the fourth-place Houston Rockets in the battle for home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
Donovan Mitchell and Thabo Sefolosha added 11 points apiece, and Ricky Rubio had 10 points and eight assists for Utah.
Utah held a seven-point half-time lead before scoring the first seven points of the third quarter to take a 67-53 advantage. Mitchell's dunk increased the lead to 77-62 with 6:15 left in the third quarter. The margin reached 20 for the first time when Gobert drained two free throw to make it 83-63 with 4:03 remaining.
Seth Curry scored a team-high 20 points to lead six Trail Blazers in double figures and boost visiting Portland to a fifth straight victory, a 118-98 rout of the Chicago Bulls.
Continuing a strong run while stepping in for injured guard CJ McCollum, who didn't travel as he recovers from a left knee strain, Curry shot 8-for-11 from the floor as part of the Blazers' 51.8 per cent (43-for-83) effort.
Al-Farouq Aminu notched 12 points and 11 rebounds for Portland. Rodney Hood scored 15 points, Enes Kanter and Zach Collins both chipped in 13, and Damian Lillard added 11 points and seven assists.
Portland (47-27) played its first game without injured center Jusuf Nurkic, who sustained a season-ending left leg injury late in a double-overtime victory against the Brooklyn Nets on Monday. Kanter started in Nurkic's place.
The Blazers took a 59-41 lead into half-time, a comfortable cushion allowed Blazers coach Terry Stotts to spread minutes down the stretch.
Short-handed Chicago (21-55) lost for the third straight game and have dropped eight of their past 10.
The Bulls also were missing starter Lauri Markkanen, who experienced what the team called "extreme fatigue" during Chicago's Tuesday loss at Toronto, which he left after logging 16 minutes.
Markkanen will miss the rest of the season and remained in Toronto overnight for testing before returning to Chicago on Wednesday.
Shaquille Harrison scored a game-high 21 points and added 10 rebounds while Wayne Selden had the team's other double-double, posting 11 points and 12 rebounds.
Thomas Bryant's three-point play with 2.8 seconds remaining lifted the visiting Washington Wizards to a 124-121 win over at Phoenix, spoiling a 50-point night from the Suns' Devin Booker.
With time expiring in a tied game, Bradley Beal drove baseline and lofted an alley-oop pass to Bryant, who laid it in and added a free throw.
After a timeout, Phoenix inbounded, and Troy Daniels' corner three-point attempt went off the rim at the buzzer as the Suns dropped their fifth consecutive game.
Booker, who scored 59 points at Utah on Monday, became the first player in Suns history to score 50 or more points in consecutive games and the 10th different player in NBA history to do it.
Jabari Parker had 28 points and a career-high 15 rebounds for Washington, who had lost five straight, and Beal scored 28 points. Reserve Jordan McRae contributed 21 points, and Bryant finished with 18 points and a career-high 19 rebounds.
Booker finished 19-of-29 from the field, and he grabbed 10 rebounds. Troy Daniels scored 15 points, and Deandre Ayton had 14 points and 10 rebounds for Phoenix.
