BOSTON (AP) — Jayson Tatum had 32 points and 14 rebounds and the Boston Celtics beat the San Antonio Spurs 116-103 on Wednesday night for their third straight victory and seventh in eight games.
Kristaps Porzingis added 29 points for Boston and Derrick White had 19 points, nine assists and seven rebounds in the final game for both teams before the All-Star break.
The Spurs cut a 19-point halftime deficit to 93-85 early in the fourth quarter. Boston outscored San Antonio 23-18 the rest of the way.
De’Aaron Fox had 23 points in his fifth game with the Spurs since being traded by Sacramento. Victor Wembanyama added 17 points, 13 rebounds, four assists and two blocks.
MAGIC 102, HORNETS 86
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Paolo Banchero had 24 points and eight rebounds and Orlando shook off a cold-shooting first half to beat Charlotte.
Franz Wagner added 16 points and seven rebounds and Anthony Black came off the bench to score 18 points.
Miles Bridges led the injury-plagued Hornets with 19 points and eight rebounds. Josh Green and Damion Baugh added 16 points each for Charlotte, which shot 39.5% for the game and lost its third game in a row.
The Magic’s Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and the Hornets’ Nick Smith Jr. were ejected in the final seconds of the first half after an on-court verbal confrontation.
PACERS 134, WIZARDS 130, OT
WASHINGTON (AP) — Obi Toppin had season highs of 31 points and 10 rebounds, and Indiana rallied from a 19-point deficit to beat NBA-worst Washington in overtime.
Bennedict Mathurin scored 28 points and Tyrese Haliburton added 20 for the Pacers, who enter the All-Star break at 30-23 and in fourth place in the Eastern Conference.
Jordan Poole scored 42 points for the Wizards and missed a step-back 3-point attempt at the regulation buzzer. Corey Kispert added 21 points for Washington, which has lost 11 straight at home and four in a row overall.
NETS 100, 76ERS 96
NEW YORK (AP) — D’Angelo Russell had 22 points, five rebounds and four assists, and Brooklyn beat Philadelphia in the teams’ last game before the All-Star break.
Nic Claxton had 13 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks, and Cam Johnson added 16 points and six rebounds. Trendon Watford scored 18 points off the bench for Brooklyn, which won its third straight.
Quentin Grimes had 30 points and eight rebounds, and Kelly Oubre Jr. also scored 30 for Philadelphia, which lost its fifth straight and seventh in its last eight. The 76ers were playing without stars Joel Embiid (left knee) and Tyrese Maxey (right ankle sprain).
KNICKS 149, HAWKS 148, OT
NEW YORK (AP) — Jalen Brunson made the go-ahead jumper with 11.1 seconds left in overtime, Karl-Anthony Towns scored 44 points and New York outlasted Atlanta in a thrilling final game before the All-Star break for both teams.
Towns reached 40 points in consecutive games for the first time in his career and became the fifth Knicks player to do so. Brunson — who was the last Knicks player to do it — added 36 points and eight assists.
Trae Young had 38 points and 19 assists for the Hawks. They had a three-game winning streak snapped, but not until erasing a six-point deficit in the final 10 seconds of regulation.
They had a chance to win it after Brunson’s jumper, but Young missed a jumper and Georges Niang a 3-pointer.
CAVALIERS 131, RAPTORS 108
TORONTO (AP) — Donovan Mitchell scored 21 points and East-leading Cleveland beat Toronto for their fourth straight victory and eighth in the last nine games.
Tempers flared at the final buzzer after Cleveland’s Tristan Thompson dunked with four seconds left. Toronto’s Scottie Barnes confronted Thompson near center court for an exchange of words.
De’Andre Hunter scored 18 points, Sam Merrill had 16 and Darius Garland 15 for the Cavaliers in the final game for both teams before the All-Star break. Jarrett Allen added 13 points and 10 rebounds and Evan Mobley had 12 points and 15 rebounds
PISTONS 128, BULLS 110
CHICAGO (AP) — Cade Cunningham scored 29 points and Detroit beat Chicago after dominating them the previous night.
Tobias Harris and Ausar Thompson scored 19, and Jalen Duren added 16 points and 14 rebounds.
The Pistons rolled into the All-Star break with their fourth straight win after blowing out the Bulls 132-92 in the same arena on Tuesday. Detroit built a franchise-record, 42-point halftime lead Tuesday on the way to its most lopsided win of the season. Chicago, meanwhile, set a club mark by missing its first 20 3-point attempts.
Ayo Dosunmu scored 23 for Chicago, and Nikola Vucevic added 22 points and 13 rebounds. But the Bulls again had a rough time shooting 3-pointers, making nine of 41 after going 10 for 47 on Tuesday.
BUCKS 103, TIMBERWOLVES 101
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Kyle Kuzma had 19 points and 13 rebounds and Milwaukee won without All-Stars Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, beating Minnesota.
Anthony Edwards’ jumper in the final seconds was off for Minnesota and Kuzma — playing his fourth game for Milwaukee after being acquired from Washington — came down with the rebound.
Gary Trent Jr., who went to high school in a Twin Cities suburb, had 21 points off the bench for the Bucks in their final game before the All-Star break. They had lost six of eight.
Edwards scored 28 points for Minnesota, but shot 10 of 33 from the field and 4 of 16 from 3-point territory. At one point, Edwards missed 15 straight shots. Rudy Gobert added 20 points and 14 rebounds, Naz Reid had 22 points and 13 rebounds.
KINGS 119, PELICANS 111
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Keon Ellis hit seven 3-pointers during a 27-point performance, Zach LaVine scored 20 of his 23 points in the second half, and Sacramento beat New Orleans.
DeMar DeRozan scored 24 points and Malik Monk added 17 for the Kings, who broke open a close game in the last five minutes with an 11-2 run that began with LaVine’s 3 and ended with DeRozan’s 16-foot turnaround.
Domantas Sabonis had 16 points and 15 rebounds — his 48th double-double in 51 games this season — for Sacramento, which has won three straight.
Zion Williamson scored a game-high 33 points and grabbed nine rebounds for the Pelicans, who’ve lost 10 straight for the second time this season.
Trey Murphy III scored 19 points, Jose Alvarado added 18 and CJ McCollum 14 for the Pelicans, who were competitive for much of a game that had 13 lead changes and 12 ties before fading late.
THUNDER 115, HEAT 101
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 32 points and nine assists, and Oklahoma City rallied from a 21-point deficit to defeat Miami.
Jalen Williams scored 18 points and Lu Dort added 17 for the Thunder, who won their seventh straight and improved to a league-best 44-9.
Oklahoma City never led until a 24-0 run to start the fourth quarter that put the team ahead for good. The Thunder outscored the Heat 32-8 in the final period led by Gilgeous-Alexander who scored 14 points in the fourth.
Bam Adebayo had 27 points and 15 rebounds and Tyler Herro added 14 points for the Heat. Andrew Wiggins added 13 points in his second game with the Heat since being traded from the Golden State Warriors.
ROCKETS 119, SUNS 111
HOUSTON (AP) — Amen Thompson had 18 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds for his fourth career triple-double and Houston used a big run late to get a win over Phoenix.
It was the second triple-double this month after the second-year player also had one on Feb. 3.
The game was tied after a 3-pointer by Bol Bol before the Rockets used an 11-2 run to take a 115-106 lead with just more than a minute to go.
Kevin Durant had 37 points for the short-handed Suns, who were missing Devin Booker, who sat out with a bruised lower back. The Suns lost their third in a row and for the sixth time in seven games.
Alperen Sengun had 17 points and 13 rebounds after sitting out most of Sunday’s game dealing with back spasms to help the Rockets win a second straight. Tari Eason added 25 points for Houston and Green had 22.
NUGGETS 132, TRAIL BLAZERS 121
DENVER (AP) — Jamal Murray scored a career-high 55 points, Nikola Jokic had his 25th triple-double of the season and Denver beat Portland for their eighth straight victory.
Murray was 20 of 36 from the floor, including seven 3-pointers. It’s the third-most points in the franchise’s NBA history, trailing only David Thompson’s 73-point game on April 9, 1978, and Jokic’s 56-point effort Dec. 7. In the ABA, Spencer Haywood had a 59-point game for the then-Rockets on April 15, 1970.
Jokic had with 26 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists on a night when the team celebrated Serbian Heritage Night and handed out his bobblehead.
Anfernee Simons led Portland with 26 points, and Donovan Clingan had 17 points and 20 rebounds. The Trail Blazers were without Deandre Ayton (strained calf), Scoot Henderson (sprained ankle) and Jerami Grant (sore knee).
JAZZ 131, LAKERS 119
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Lauri Markkanen scored 32 points and had a season-high three steals to lead Utah to a victory over Los Angeles.
Jordan Clarkson had 21 points, nine rebounds and seven assists to help Utah end a three-game slide. Keyonte George added 20 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds off the bench.
LeBron James finished with 18 points, seven assists and six rebounds for Los Angeles. Rui Hachimura scored a team-high 19 points and Luka Doncic added 16. Austin Reaves added 15 points and 11 assists.
Utah used a 19-6 run punctuated by back-to-back alley-oop dunks from Walker Kessler to take a 56-45 lead late in the second quarter. Kessler also dominated defensively before halftime with a season-high five blocks.
MAVERICKS 111, WARRIORS 107
DALLAS (AP) — Kyrie Irving scored 42 points and took a charge in the closing seconds, Klay Thompson added 17 against his former team, and undersized Dallas beat Golden State.
Naji Marshall hit a 6-foot floater in the lane to give Dallas a 109-107 lead with 25.6 seconds left after Steph Curry, the NBA’s leading free-throw shooter at 93.1%, missed the second of two to leave the score tied.
Then, Jimmy Butler’s driving basket was disallowed for a charge into Irving, a call that was upheld on video review.
Curry scored 25, 11 in the fourth quarter, but on 9-of-23 shooting including 4 of 13 behind the arc. Butler added 21 in his third game since being acquired from the Miami Heat.
CLIPPERS 128, GRIZZLIES 114
INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Kawhi Leonard scored 25 points, James Harden and Norman Powell each had 18 and Los Angeles beat Memphis.
Leonard played a season-high 34 minutes, with all of his 30-minute games coming in the last three contests.
Amir Coffey added 15 points, Kris Dunn had 14 and Ivica Zubac finished with 12 points with 13 rebounds. Harden also had 10 assists.
With Memphis playing without Ja Morant (knee) on the second night of a back-to-back, Desmond Bane scored 16 of his 23 points in the first quarter for the Grizzlies. Jaylen Wells added 18 points. GG Jackson had 15 points and Santi Aldama 14.
Memphis committed 22 turnovers that led to 41 Clippers points. The Grizzlies have lost of of their last three.
The Associated Press
