Pelicans end Jazz's win streak in OT thriller; Kawhi drops 32 in Clippers' rout of Magic; Ayton posts 20/20 game as Suns hammer Knicks
Friday 17 January 2020 08:34, UK
Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 32 points as the Milwaukee Bucks earned a 128-123 victory over Eastern Conference rivals the Boston Celtics on Thursday night.
Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 32 points and Khris Middleton added 23 as the Milwaukee Bucks started fast and had just enough in the end, opening a double-digit lead five minutes into the game and earning a 128-123 victory over the visiting Boston Celtics on Thursday night.
Donte DiVincenzo scored a career-high 19 points and Brook Lopez added 16 as the Bucks extended their winning streak to five games, while winning for the 10th time in their last 11 contests.
Kemba Walker scored 40 points with 11 rebounds and Marcus Smart added 24 as the Celtics fell for the second time in two nights and lost for the fifth time in their last seven games. The Celtics lost to Detroit on Wednesday night.
The Bucks opened a 27-point lead in the second quarter and held 76-58 at half-time while looking fresh after two days off between games. Milwaukee shot 61.9 per cent from the field in the first half and went 12-of-15 (80 per cent) from three-point range. They shot 49.4 per cent in the game and 51.6 per cent from distance.
The Celtics managed to find their legs in the third quarter, cutting the deficit to six at 87-81 before the Bucks closed the period on a run, much of it while Antetokounmpo was resting on the bench, and grabbed a 106-87 lead heading to the final quarter.
The Celtics used a late 12-2 run to get within four points in the final minute but could not get any closer.
Boston's Gordon Hayward missed his first eight shots from the field before finally making a three-pointer at the third-quarter buzzer. Hayward finished with seven points. Jayson Tatum had 17 points after missing Wednesday's game with a sore right knee. Jaylen Brown did not play Thursday after he sprained his right thumb against the Pistons.
Antetokounmpo sealed his double-double in the third quarter and finished with 17 rebounds. George Hill added 13 points for the Bucks, who avenged one of their six defeats on the season.
Brandon Ingram scored a career-high 49 points and won a shootout with Donovan Mitchell as the host New Orleans Pelicans ended the Utah Jazz's 10-game winning streak with a 138-132 overtime victory.
Ingram made five free throws as the Pelicans outscored the Jazz, who lost for the second time in 17 games, 16-10 in overtime despite falling behind by five points midway through the period.
Former Jazz center Derrick Favors added 21 points and 11 rebounds as New Orleans won for the 10th time in 14 games. E'Twaun Moore scored 16 points, including a go-ahead lay-up in overtime, Nickeil Alexander-Walker scored 12 and Frank Jackson had 10.
Mitchell tied his career-high with 46 points, Bojan Bogdanovic scored 26, Rudy Gobert had 17 points and 14 rebounds before fouling out in overtime, Jordan Clarkson scored 15 and Joe Ingles had 12.
Favors started the overtime scoring by making one of two free throws before Gobert made two. Mitchell added a three-pointer that gave the Jazz a 127-123 lead.
After Favors made a lay-up, Mitchell answered with a floater but he wouldn't score again. Favors made another lay-up before Bogdanovic made a three-pointer for a 132-127 lead.
Ingram made one of three free throws, fed Favors for a dunk and made one of two free throws to cut the lead to one with 1:19 left as Favors went to the bench after committing his sixth foul.
Moore stole the ball from Mitchell and made a lay-up to give a New Orleans a 133-132 lead and the Jazz didn't score in the final 2:27.
In regulation, Ingram hit a jumper with 0.2 seconds left in the fourth quarter to give the Pelicans a 122-121 lead. The Jazz tried a lob near the basket and Pelicans rookie Jaxson Hayes was called for a foul on Gobert, who missed the first free throw but made the second to send the game into overtime.
Kawhi Leonard scored a game-high 32 points as the host LA Clippers rolled past the Orlando Magic 122-95.
Leonard, who scored at least 30 points for the fourth consecutive game, connected on 12-of-20 shots from the floor and 4 of 7 three-pointers.
Montrezl Harrell had 21 points for the Clippers, who won for the fourth time in five games. Landry Shamet added 13 points and Lou Williams and JaMychal Green contributed 11 points apiece. Green also had 13 rebounds.
Nikola Vucevic had 22 points and nine rebounds for the Magic, while Aaron Gordon finished with 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting. Evan Fournier, who sat out the Lakers' win with a right quad contusion, scored 15 points.
Terrence Ross chipped in 16 points and Markelle Fultz, who recorded his second career triple-double Wednesday in a one-point victory over the Lakers, finished with 11 points.
Forward Paul George missed his fourth straight contest with a strained left hamstring, but the Clippers had no trouble dominating the Magic without him. A 16-0 run boosted the Clippers to a 50-29 advantage after five straight points by Harrell less than four minutes into the second quarter.
The Magic went scoreless for almost five minutes before Gordon hit a corner three-pointer to end the drought with 6:53 remaining in the quarter. Los Angeles outscored Orlando 33-22 in the second for a 67-48 lead at the break.
Orlando, who trailed by as much as 23 points, were unable to mount a rally in the second half, failing to get any closer than 14.
Clippers forward Maurice Harkless, who started but went scoreless in 14 minutes, left the contest in the first half with a sore back. He did not return.
Mason Plumlee slammed down a pair of dunks and Will Barton nailed a back-breaking three-pointer in an eight-point run in overtime as the short-handed Denver Nuggets outlasted the host Golden State Warriors for a come-from-behind 134-131 victory.
Playing the second night of a back-to-back without injured starters Paul Millsap, Gary Harris and Jamal Murray, the Nuggets completed a two-day sweep despite trailing by as many as 19 points in the first half, by 12 points with 8:44 to play in regulation and on two separate occasions in the five-minute extra session.
In an attempt to avoid his team's 10th straight loss, Alec Burks gave Golden State their final lead at 121-120 with a three-pointer with 3:14 remaining in overtime.
But the Nuggets, who had beaten Charlotte 100-86 at home on Wednesday night, then scored the next eight points, first with Plumlee sandwiching a free throw with his two dunks, and then with Barton burying his three-pointer for a 128-121 lead with just 1:14 to go.
With the help of a three-pointer by Burks and two free throws by Draymond Green with 9.9 seconds left, the Warriors clawed back within 132-131, but Malik Beasley made it a three-point game with two foul shots with 8.9 seconds remaining and Damion Lee couldn't connect on a potential game-tying three-pointer with 1.8 seconds to go.
Barton finished with a season-best 31 points and Beasley a season-best 27 for the Nuggets. Burks led Golden State with 25.
The Nuggets forced the extra session with a 40-point fourth quarter that allowed them to rally from the 12-point deficit with 8:44 to play and take a 111-108 lead on two free throws by Nikola Jokic with 1:08 to go. Burks got the Warriors within one with two free throws of his own, before Golden State rookie Eric Paschall bombed in a 3-pointer with 15.0 seconds left, giving the hosts a 113-111 lead.
A lay-up by Jokic with 10.8 seconds left produced the regulation-ending tie after Burks misfired on a potential game-winning three-pointer in the final second.
Jokic finished with 23 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists for Denver, while Michael Porter Jr collected 18 points and a season-high 10 rebounds, Plumlee 15 points and a season-high 15 rebounds and Monte Morris 11 points.
Devin Booker scored 29 points as the Phoenix Suns seized control in the third quarter and pulled away for a 121-98 rout of the host New York Knicks.
Ricky Rubio returned from a one-game absence and collected 25 points, 13 assists and eight rebounds as Phoenix won for the sixth time in 10 games. He rejoined the team after missing a Tuesday loss in Atlanta for personal reasons.
Deandre Ayton also turned in a dynamic game for Phoenix, finishing with a season-high 26 points and career-high 21 rebounds. Ayton had a few dunks, including one after Rubio made a long pass from well beyond half-court in the waning minutes.
The trio of Booker, Rubio and Ayton shot a combined 30-of-50 from the field and amassed 21 points in the fourth quarter, when the Suns officially sealed their fourth straight win over the Knicks. The Suns outscored the Knicks 31-19 in final period.
Phoenix took an 11-point lead into the fourth and started the period with a 16-6 run that extended the lead to 106-85 on Rubio's bank shot with 6:16 remaining.
Julius Randle scored 26 points to lead the Knicks. Marcus Morris Sr returned from a neck injury that kept him out for five games, and he added 17 points, but the Knicks lost for the seventh time in eight games.
