Leonard and George connect to beat Wizards; Heat stay undefeated at home against Chicago; 76ers fend off Raptors as rookie Thybulle impresses
Monday 9 December 2019 08:48, UK
Anthony Davis scored a season-high 50 points, sparking the Los Angeles Lakers to a 142-125 victory over the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday night.
Anthony Davis scored a season-high 50 points, sparking the Los Angeles Lakers to a 142-125 victory over the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday night.
Davis connected on 20 of 29 shots from the floor and converted all 10 of his free throws in 39 minutes. It was his fourth career 50-plus scoring game.
Davis also had seven rebounds, six assists and four steals.
LeBron James had 32 points and 13 assists for the Lakers, who won their fourth in a row and 14th in 15 games. Alex Caruso added 16 points, while Danny Green finished with 12.
Andrew Wiggins, who missed Friday's loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder with a left thumb sprain, and Karl-Anthony Towns led Minnesota with 19 points each.
Josh Okogie added 18 points, while Robert Covington had 16 for the Timberwolves, who lost their fourth consecutive contest. Eight players scored in double figures for the Timberwolves.
Kawhi Leonard scored 34 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, Paul George added 27 points, and Los Angeles pushed past host Washington thanks to a dominant fourth quarter.
Leonard played an outstanding all-around game, shooting 12-of-18 from the floor and, in addition to his own scoring contributions, dishing five assists.
George also distributed the ball well with six assists, matching Lou Williams and Washington's Chris Chiozza for the game-high total.
Davis Bertans led the Wizards with 25 points, while Troy Brown Jr. added 22, both off the bench. Wizards leading scorer Bradley Beal, who came in averaging just below 29 points per game, finished with 20 points on 5-of-18 shooting.
Trae Young scored 30 points, and Atlanta won for just the second time in its last 13 games by knocking off host Charlotte.
The Hawks had a huge second half, scoring 37 points in the third quarter to move to an 88-83 lead. Then Atlanta outscored Charlotte 19-8 to begin the fourth quarter. Young posted seven of those points.
Jabari Parker poured in 19 points and Vince Carter, coming off the bench, racked up 17 points as Atlanta received 57 points from its reserves.
PJ Washington and Miles Bridges scored 20 points apiece for the Hornets. Washington was 12 of 13 on free throws.
Tyler Herro scored 27 points, including a go-ahead three-pointer with 38.2 seconds remaining in overtime, and Bam Adebayo finished with 21 points and 13 rebounds as Miami continued the best home start in franchise history at the expense of Chicago.
Miami improved to 10-0 at AmericanAirlines Arena this season. The Heat trailed 92-89 with 2:32 to go but pulled ahead behind a strong showing from the free-throw line. Miami went 35-for-44 from the line, with Jimmy Butler contributing 17 of those makes en route to 23 points.
Herro swished five treys. Kendrick Nunn added 18 points for Miami, while Butler (seven) and Adebayo (six) paced the team in assists.
Lauri Markkanen scored 22 points to lead six Bulls players in double figures. Zach LaVine had 18 points and Kris Dunn followed with a season-high 16.
Tobias Harris scored 26 points, and host Philadelphia improved to 12-0 at home this season in a narrow win over Toronto.
Rookie Matisse Thybulle added five three-pointers for a career-high 20 points, and Ben Simmons contributed 16 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists for the Sixers.
James Ennis III and Al Horford had 11 points each, and Joel Embiid had 10 points, eight rebounds and six assists along with seven turnovers.
Kyle Lowry led the Raptors with 26 points, while OG Anunoby added 19 points and 10 rebounds. Pascal Siakam chipped in with 16 points for the Raptors, who dropped their third in a row for the first time this season. Marc Gasol went scoreless on 0-for-6 shooting.
Nemanja Bjelica matched a career high with 30 points, and Buddy Hield added 26 as Sacramento snapped a three-game losing skid with a victory at Dallas.
Bjelica made 13 of 18 attempts from the field to finish with 30 points. Hield went 10 of 15 from the floor for the Kings, who swept the three-game season series against the Mavericks in 2018-19 and have won five in a row in Dallas.
Dallas' Luka Doncic collected 27 points, eight assists and seven rebounds to mark the 19th consecutive contest in which he recorded at least 20, five and five in those categories. That snapped a tie with Michael Jordan (1988-89) for the longest such streak since the NBA-ABA merger, but Oscar Robertson holds the all-time record (29).
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander recorded 21 points and nine rebounds, and Dennis Schroder also scored 21 points as Oklahoma City fended off host Portland.
Chris Paul added 20 points, and Nerlens Noel had 13 points and 12 rebounds as the Thunder won for the fifth time in the past seven games. Danilo Gallinari had 12 points for Oklahoma City.
Damian Lillard scored 26 points for the Blazers but was a woeful 8 of 24 from the field, including 2 of 12 from three-point range. CJ McCollum added 20 points, and Hassan Whiteside recorded 14 points, 10 rebounds and five blocked shots for Portland, which has lost three of its last four games.
