Dallas Mavericks, LA Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks pick up Saturday night victories, while Steph Curry has a monster night, Nikola Jokic enjoys a career night and Trae Young returns for Atlanta
Sunday 7 February 2021 09:32, UK
Steph Curry's 57-point night was not enough as Luca Doncic racked up a season-best 42-points to help the Dallas Mavericks overcome Golden State on Saturday.
Curry may have won his individual duel with Luka Doncic but it was the host Dallas Mavericks who captured the team honours in a wild 134-132 victory over the Golden State Warriors.
Curry landed 11 three-pointers en route to 57 points, but they weren't enough in Golden State's effort to complete a two-game sweep in Dallas - the Warriors had won 147-116 on Thursday night.
Doncic countered with a season-best 42-point performance, including a clutch three-pointer with 44.5 seconds remaining that opened a seven-point lead.
Curry responded with a three-pointer with 39.3 seconds left and a three-point play 10.7 seconds later to get Golden State within 131-130, but Maxi Kleber clinched Dallas' second win in its last nine games with a three-pointer for a four-point advantage with 6.3 seconds to go.
Damion Lee's tip-in with seven-tenths of a second completed the scoring.
Curry's 57 points came on 19-for-31 shooting overall and 11-for-19 from deep, it was his second-highest scoring game of the season, having gone for 62 against Portland in January.
Doncic made 12 of his 23 shots and seven of his 12 3-pointers. He also found time for 11 assists and seven rebounds.
Kristaps Porzingis was a second Maverick with a double-double (18 points and 10 rebounds) while Josh Richardson added 17 points, Kleber 16, Tim Hardaway Jr. 11 and Dorian Finney-Smith 10.
Andrew Wiggins had 22 points and Kent Bazemore 20 for the Warriors, who have alternated wins and losses in their last six games.
LeBron James had 33 points, 11 assists and four steals, and the Los Angeles Lakers held off the visiting Detroit Pistons 135-129 in double overtime on Saturday.
Anthony Davis scored 30 points, Dennis Schroder contributed 22 points and eight assists and Kyle Kuzma chipped in 14 points for the Lakers, who won their fourth straight.
Jerami Grant had 32 points and reserve guard Josh Jackson scored 25 of his 28 points in the second half but the Pistons lost their fourth in a row.
Jackson finished with five 3-pointers. Delon Wright had 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting, making all four of his 3-pointers, and 10 assists, while Mason Plumlee added 15 points, eight rebounds and six assists.
Svi Mykhailiuk had 11 points for the Pistons, who played without Blake Griffin (rest), Derrick Rose (personal reasons), Wayne Ellington (calf), Killian Hayes (hip) and Jahlil Okafor (knee) but despite the disadvantage almost pulled off a stunning win.
James' layup with 2:10 remaining in the second overtime gave the Lakers the lead for good at 123-122. His three-pointer with 33.6 seconds left sealed the deal as the Lakers avoided being beaten for the second time this season by the NBA's worst team.
Joel Embiid had 33 points and nine rebounds to carry the host Philadelphia 76ers past the Brooklyn Nets with a 124-108 win.
Tobias Harris added 21 points and 12 rebounds while Ben Simmons had 16 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists. Shake Milton contributed 15 points, Furkan Korkmaz added 13 while Danny Green and Seth Curry had 11 each.
The Sixers improved to 13-0 this season with their starting five of Embiid, Simmons, Harris, Green and Curry.
The Nets were without Kevin Durant due to health and safety protocols and Kyrie Irving because of a sprained right index finger but James Harden led the way with 26 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds.
Landry Shamet added 22 points and Joe Harris had 14. Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot also scored 13 and Jeff Green had 10.
Trailing 50-45, the Nets reeled off an 8-0 run to go ahead by three points with 2:51 remaining in the first half.
Curry dropped in a three-pointer from the corner and Milton added a tip-in in the final few seconds as the Sixers led 59-56 at halftime. After the game was tied at 79, the Sixers scored eight straight, including consecutive three-pointers by Green, to lead by eight with 4:10 left in the third.
The Nets continued to struggle offensively, going more than four minutes without a field goal as Philadelphia extended their spurt to 14 in a row.
Head coach Steve Nash rested Harden, Harris and Green at the start of the fourth and the Sixers pulled ahead 107-89 in the first minute. Brooklyn sliced the deficit to 10, 116-106, with 2:43 to go but the Sixers scored the next five points to put the game away.
RJ Barrett and Elfrid Payton combined to score 10 consecutive points spanning the halves as the host New York Knicks beat the Portland Trail Blazers 110-99.
Payton scored 22 points for the Knicks, who have won two straight. Julius Randle (22 points, 11 rebounds) had a double-double while Barrett finished with 18 points.
Reggie Bullock scored 10 points while Alec Burks (16 points) and Immanuel Quickley (12 points) each got into double digits off the bench.
Damian Lillard, who missed Thursday's 121-105 win over the Philadelphia 76ers with an abdominal injury, had 29 points and nine assists for the Trail Blazers, who went 3-3 on a six-game road trip.
Robert Covington (13 points, 10 rebounds) and former Knicks player Enes Kanter (13 points, 11 rebounds) each had double-doubles while Gary Trent Jr. scored 19 points and Anfernee Simons added 12 points.
Carmelo Anthony, who won the NBA scoring title while leading New York to their most recent playoff berth in 2012-13, was limited to two points in 17 minutes.
Giannis Antetokounmpo recorded 24 points and 11 rebounds to propel the visiting Milwaukee Bucks to a 124-99 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers, who have now lost seven of their last nine games.
Antetokounmpo added five assists, one day after collecting 33 points and 12 rebounds in the Bucks' 123-105 victory over Cleveland.
Milwaukee's Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton each had 20 points and Bryn Forbes made six three-pointers to highlight his 18-point performance.
The Bucks outscored the Cavaliers by a 65-45 margin in the second half to post their season high-tying fourth win in a row overall.
Andre Drummond recorded 28 points and 11 rebounds for Cleveland, who had Larry Nance Jr. back in the line-up and he scored four points on his return from a wrist injury.
Harrison Barnes scored 28 points as the host Sacramento Kings defeated the shorthanded Denver Nuggets 119-114 despite Nikola Jokic's career-high 50 points.
The Kings have won all three meetings this season against the Nuggets and continued their recent hot stretch, winning for the sixth time in their past seven games - Denver has lost three of their last four.
Jokic shot 20 of 33 from the field and carried the load for Denver, which was without Jamal Murray, who sat out with left-knee soreness. Murray has averaged 19 points and 5.4 assists per game.
Jokic's big scoring night also came with 12 assists and eight rebounds for a Nuggets team that were without Gary Harris (left adductor strain), who missed his second consecutive game, and P.J. Dozier (right hamstring strain) for the fifth game in a row.
Monte Morris started for Murray and finished with 11 points, nine assists and five rebounds. Paul Millsap finished with 14 points, Will Barton 11 and JaMychal Green 10.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 13 of his 31 points in the fourth quarter to help the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 120-118 win over the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Thunder led by as many as 23 points in the first half but the Timberwolves led by as many as six points in the fourth quarter before Oklahoma City hit seven consecutive field goals - four of those by Gilgeous-Alexander - to take a 120-118 lead with 1:16 to go, capped by Darius Bazley's reverse layup.
Minnesota had a chance to tie or take the lead twice more, including on Naz Reid's drive in the closing seconds, but the Timberwolves couldn't finish it off and Oklahoma City picked up a split in the back-to-back series.
Oklahoma City's strong close spoiled a career night from Reid, who finished with 29 points. Anthony Edwards added 20 for the Timberwolves.
The Thunder had seven players score in double figures, including 22 off the bench from Mike Muscala.
Zach LaVine scored 39 points and Denzel Valentine added a season-high 20 to boost the visiting Chicago Bulls to a 118-92 victory over the Orlando Magic.
Chicago avenged a narrow loss at Orlando on Friday to earn a split of the back-to-back at Amway Center.
The Bulls led by as many as 33 points in the third quarter, their largest advantage of the season, while holding an opponent under 100 points for the first time.
Bulls rookie Patrick Williams added 16 points and 10 rebounds for his first career double-double.
Fuelled by a career-high 43 points from Nikola Vucevic during Friday's 123-119 win against Chicago, the Magic struggled offensively Saturday, shooting 38.9 per cent.
Vucevic led the Magic with 17 points and eight rebounds. Starting in place of late scratch Evan Fournier (back spasms), Dwayne Bacon added 16 points, while Mo Bamba (14), Terrence Ross (13), Cole Anthony (11) and Frank Mason (10) followed in double figures.
Trae Young returned to the Atlanta lineup to score 28 points and help the Hawks defeat the Toronto Raptors 132-121 to end their three-game losing streak.
The victory also halted Toronto's three-game winning streak and stopped Atlanta's 10-game losing streak against the Raptors. The Hawks beat Toronto for the first time since March 2017.
Young was back in the lineup after missing Thursday's game with a right thigh bruise. He was 14-for-14 at the line and had 13 assists. The Hawks had scored only 91 points against Utah without Young.
Each Atlanta starter scored in double figures. Clint Capela had 23 points and 16 rebounds, his 19th straight game with double-digit rebounds, and four blocks. John Collins added 19 points and three blocks. Kevin Huerter scored 19, with five 3-pointers, and Cam Reddish scored 10. Danilo Gallinari scored 14 off the bench.
Toronto were led by Chris Boucher, who came off the bench to make 10 of 13 field-goal tries and score a career-high 29 points, eclipsing his previous high of 25. Fred VanVleet added 25 points and 10 assists and Norman Powell scored 20 points.
Atlanta was without second-leading scorer De'Andre Hunter (right-knee discomfort) for the fourth straight game but get an extended break until their return on Wednesday while the Raptors play the fourth game of their six-game road trip on Monday.
DeMar DeRozan scored a game-high 30 points and repeatedly delivered down the stretch of the San Antonio Spurs' 111-106 win over the hot Houston Rockets on Saturday.
DeRozan added eight rebounds and seven assists to his ledger. He sank four late free throws and completed a three-point play with 63 seconds left that provided the Spurs a 107-102 lead.
Houston, who trailed by as many as 13 points in the second half, had secured their first lead of the game at 102-100 on a John Wall pull-up jumper with 3:29 remaining.
However two Jakob Poeltl free throws evened the score and DeRozan took over from there to carry the Spurs to victory.
Five other Spurs scored in double figures. Derrick White tallied 14 points, including a trio of baskets in the fourth quarter, each coming after the Rockets cut the deficit to one point.
Wall led the Rockets with 27 points and seven assists while DeMarcus Cousins posted a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds. Eric Gordon (26 points) was one of three Houston reserves to score in double figures, with David Nwaba scoring 14 and Danuel House Jr. 12.
New Orleans recorded a third straight victory as Brandon Ingram, Zion Williamson and Eric Bledsoe each scored more than 20 points as the in the Pelicans 118-109 victory over Memphis Grizzlies.
Williamson scored 29, Ingram had 27 points and 12 rebounds and Bledsoe added 21 points to lead a fourth-quarter surge as the Pelicans won three in succession for the first time this season and claimed their fifth victory in the last seven games. Lonzo Ball added 16 points.
The Pelicans, playing on a back-to-back after a 114-113 victory at Indiana on Friday, won the first meeting against the Grizzlies, who they swept in three meetings last season.
Jonas Valanciunas returned from a five-game absence due to having COVID-19 to score 23, Kyle Anderson added 21 and Ja Morant had 16 to lead the Grizzlies, who lost their third straight.
