Prince shines as Nets topple Rockets; Celtics narrowly beat Knicks; Kings beat Jazz to score first win
Saturday 2 November 2019 13:22, UK
LeBron James had 39 points, 16 assists and 12 rebounds as the Los Angeles Lakers rallied to defeat the host Dallas Mavericks 119-110 in overtime on Friday night.
LeBron James had 39 points, 16 assists and 12 rebounds as the Los Angeles Lakers rallied to defeat the host Dallas Mavericks 119-110 in overtime on Friday night.
James, who also had four steals, connected on 13-of-23 shots from the floor, including 4-of-9 from three-point range. Anthony Davis scored 31 points and grabbed eight rebounds for the Lakers, who overcame a 15-point deficit and won their fourth in a row. Danny Green had 14 points, including a three-pointer at the buzzer to force overtime.
Luka Doncic also recorded a triple-double, finishing with 31 points, 15 assists and 13 rebounds. Kristaps Porzingis chipped in 16 points and nine rebounds, while Dwight Powell had 14 points for the Mavericks.
Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma made his season debut, scoring nine points in 19 minutes. He had been out due to a left ankle injury.
The Lakers scored the first seven points in the extra session and never trailed in OT. The Mavericks cut the deficit to 110-108 after a three-pointer by Doncic with 2:59 remaining, but a bucket by Davis and a triple by James increased the lead to seven to clinch the win for the Lakers.
Davis' jumper gave the Lakers a 100-99 lead with 1:20 remaining in regulation. However, a three-pointer by Dorian Finney-Smith put the Mavericks up 102-100 with 31 seconds left. A free throw by Dwight Powell gave the Mavericks a three-point edge before Green's trey forced overtime.
Taurean Prince collected season highs of 27 points and 12 rebounds as the Brooklyn Nets overcame a 15-point deficit and beat the visiting Houston Rockets 123-116.
Caris LeVert added 25 points for the Nets, who shot 49.4 per cent while not being led in scoring by Kyrie Irving for the first time this season. Irving finished with 22 points and 10 assists to post his first double-double as a Net.
Prince posted his third career game with at least 20 points and 10 rebounds and shot 9-of-17 from the floor. The forward also made 6-of-10 three-pointers as the Nets shot 59.4 per cent (19-of-32) from behind the arc.
James Harden scored 36 points for the Rockets but struggled to get a shooting rhythm most of the night. After getting 59 in Wednesday's wild 159-158 win at Washington, Harden shot 10-of-31 from the floor and missed 14-of-16 three-point attempts.
Brooklyn held a 15-point lead late in the third but the Rockets trimmed it to 104-98 on two free throws by Harden with 5:32 remaining. Irving's three-pointer with 4:53 remaining pushed the lead to 109-98 but Houston was within 109-103 on Harden's uncontested dunk with 4:10 to go.
The Nets sealed it when Irving connected with Prince, who hit an open three-pointer from the left wing for a 114-106 lead with two minutes to go. Irving made it 117-108 with a step-back three-pointer from the right corner with 55.9 seconds remaining.
Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo notched a double-double as the visiting Bucks used a big first half to breeze past the Magic 123-91 in Orlando.
The Bucks took full control of their first meeting with the Magic this season by outscoring the hosts 31-14 in the second quarter en route to a 62-41 half-time lead.
Antetokounmpo tallied 29 points, 14 rebounds and six assists for Milwaukee, who bounced back after Wednesday's 116-105 loss in Boston. Eric Bledsoe scored 18 points and Khris Middleton had 16.
Evan Fournier recorded 19 points and Nikola Vucevic had 14 for the Magic, who have lost three of four and are 1-1 on their three-game homestand.
The loss was the Magic's first in their last 12 games in the Amway Center.
Patty Mills scored five of his game-high 31 points in a 10-0 burst late in the third quarter as the visiting San Antonio Spurs finally broke free from the Stephen Curry-less Golden State Warriors for a 127-110 victory.
After earlier in the day announcing that Curry is likely to miss three months after undergoing surgery on his broken left hand, the Warriors led San Antonio in the second minute of the third quarter and hung within 83-79 with 3:20 remaining in the period before the Spurs took charge.
DeMar ReRozan got the decisive run started with a three-point play, Rudy Gay added a hoop and Mills followed with three- and two-pointers, opening a 14-point cushion that paved the way for the Spurs' fourth win in five games.
Golden State, who remained winless in three home games, got no closer than nine in the fourth quarter.
Mills, a former star at nearby Saint Mary's College, shot 6-for-9 on three-point attempts en route to his season-best point total for the Spurs. The 31 points were the third most of Mills' career.
LaMarcus Aldridge went for 22 points, Gay 16, Bryn Forbes 14, DeRozan 13 and Derrick White 10 for the Spurs, who used a 16-7 advantage in offensive rebounds to aid their offensive cause.
Shifting over to point guard in Curry's place, D'Angelo Russell had 30 points and a team-high eight assists for the Warriors.
Jayson Tatum countered a game-tying three-pointer by Marcus Morris by sinking a game-winning 21-footer with 1.3 seconds remaining, allowing the host Boston Celtics to outlast the New York Knicks 104-102 in a tightly-contested game.
Neither team led by more than seven points and each of the first three periods ended with a one-point difference, with the Knicks leading after the first two and the Celtics up 75-74 after the third.
The Celtics grabbed a 90-88 lead on a Gordon Hayward three-pointer with 4:53 remaining. Boston led 100-95 inside the final minute, but Morris, making his first return to Boston since leaving as a free agent over the summer, nearly singlehandedly forced overtime.
His two free throws with 57.4 seconds left cut the New York deficit to three, and when he buried two more foul shots with 17.7 seconds remaining, it was a one-point game.
Kemba Walker countered with a pair of free throws with 13.5 seconds to go to push Boston's lead back to 102-99. Morris then drained his third three-pointer of the final four minutes to create the fourth tie of the fourth quarter at 102-all with 4.7 seconds to go.
After a timeout, Marcus Smart found Tatum for his game-winner.
Walker led all scorers with 33 points for the Celtics, who won their fourth straight game after a season-opening loss at Philadelphia. Tatum added 24 points, Hayward 13 and Grant Williams 10.
Morris finished with 29 points for the Knicks. RJ Barrett had 15 points, Bobby Portis 13, Kevin Knox 12 and Frank Ntilikina 10.
Zach LaVine scored 26 points and Otto Porter Jr added 22 as the Chicago Bulls held on for a 112-106 win over the visiting Detroit Pistons.
Wendell Carter Jr contributed 16 points and 11 rebounds, and Lauri Markkanen added 14 points for Chicago, who snapped a three-game losing streak.
Pistons guard Derrick Rose came off the bench to score 23 points on 8-for-13 shooting in his return to Chicago, where he won a Most Valuable Player award during the 2010-11 season. Bulls fans gave Rose a standing ovation when he entered the game. They showered him with "M-V-P" chants.
Pistons center Andre Drummond had another monster performance in the paint with 25 points and 23 rebounds in 35 minutes.
Tony Snell put the Pistons on top 100-99 when he drove for a lay-up with 3:46 to play. It marked Detroit's first lead of the second half. Fourteen seconds later, LaVine drained a three-pointer to put the Bulls back on top 102-100.
After a defensive stop by Chicago, LaVine made another three-pointer with three minutes remaining to increase the advantage to 105-100. The Bulls pulled away in the final minute, capped by a pair of free throws from LaVine.
Harrison Barnes scored on a put-back with 2.9 seconds left to lift the Sacramento Kings to a 102-101 home win over the Utah Jazz for their first victory of the season.
Nemanja Bjelica launched a corner three-pointer with less than five seconds left that missed, but Barnes was positioned well to get the rebound and make the basket to put a halt to the Kings' season-opening five-game losing streak.
De'Aaron Fox scored 25 points and Buddy Hield added 18 for Sacramento. Bogdan Bogdanovic tallied 14 points, Barnes had 13, Bjelica added 11 and Dewayne Dedmon scored 10.
Donovan Mitchell scored 24 points for Utah, who had a three-game winning streak snapped. Mike Conley added 19 points, Bojan Bogdanovic had 17, and Rudy Gobert had 15 points and 16 rebounds.
Mitchell missed a three-pointer as time expired though it appeared he didn't get the shot off on time.
Dedmon connected on a three-pointer to give the Kings a 100-97 lead with 58 seconds left. Utah pulled within one when Gobert converted Mitchell's lob for a bucket with 43.2 seconds to play. Mitchell drove for a lay-up with 11.2 seconds left to put the Jazz ahead prior to the decisive sequence.
Malcolm Brogdon posted 25 points, nine rebounds and six assists while Domantas Sabonis had 18 points, 17 rebounds and four assists as Indiana overcame a poor three-point performance to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 102-95 in Indianapolis.
The Pacers earned their second consecutive win after an 0-3 start, which included a loss to Cleveland six days earlier.
The Pacers' defense overwhelmed the Cavaliers in the second quarter, holding them to 11 points while scoring 23 themselves. The strong second-quarter erased a rough start for Indiana, who scored just 19 points in the opening period.
The Pacers bench provided 35 points, and five of the six reserves recorded positive plus-minus scores. Rookie center Goga Bitadze played 25 minutes in Turner's absence and was a game-high plus-15 after scoring 10 points, grabbing nine rebounds and blocking four shots in the best performance of his young career.
Cleveland remained in striking distance throughout the second half, led by forward Kevin Love, who posted 22 points and 17 rebounds. Guard Collin Sexton scored 21 points, while Jordan Clarkson added 20 points and five assists off the bench.
