Coverage of the NBA continues on Friday as the Utah Jazz visit the Toronto Raptors, live on Sky Sports Main Event and Arena from midnight
Friday 19 March 2021 13:13, UK
Rookie Anthony Edwards scored a season-high 42 points and Karl-Anthony Towns added a season-best 41 to lead the Minnesota Timberwolves to a 123-119 victory over the host Phoenix Suns on Thursday night, the first of back-to-back games between the clubs.
Towns made five three-pointers and also contributed 10 rebounds and eight assists as the NBA-worst Timberwolves (10-31) won for the third time in their past five games. Edwards knocked down four three-pointers and collected seven rebounds as Minnesota improved to 5-17 on the road.
Devin Booker recorded 35 points and six assists for Phoenix, which lost for just the fifth time in the past 23 games. Mikal Bridges notched 17 points and eight assists, Chris Paul added 17 points, seven rebounds, five assists and four steals, while Deandre Ayton had 14 points and seven boards before fouling out.
The teams play again Friday night in Phoenix.
LeBron James welcomed LaMelo Ball back to Los Angeles with a 37-point performance, lifting the Lakers to a 116-105 victory over the visiting Charlotte Hornets.
Shooting for a third straight and 100th career triple-double, James contributed eight rebounds and six assists to the Lakers' fourth consecutive win.
Ball, the former standout at Chino Hills High in the Los Angeles suburbs, put on a show in his Staples Center NBA debut. He led the Hornets with 26 points while also finding time for five rebounds and seven assists.
The 37-point performance was James' ninth game with 30-plus points this season. His high was 46 at Cleveland on January 25.
Schroder backed James with 22 points and a team-high seven assists for the Lakers, who were facing the Hornets for the first time this season.
Ball's 26-point total was eight shy of his season-best, set against the Utah Jazz on February 5. It was his 14th game with 20 or more points in his rookie season and his eighth game with at least 20 points and seven assists.
Terry Rozier added 20 points for the Hornets, who had had a four-game winning streak snapped at Denver on Wednesday.
Bradley Beal scored 43 points on 16-of-24 shooting to lead the Washington Wizards to a 131-122 victory over the visiting Utah Jazz.
Russell Westbrook tallied 35 points, 15 rebounds and 13 assists for the Wizards, earning his 13th triple-double of the season. Rui Hachimura chipped in 12 points and seven rebounds and Robin Lopez scored 11 points as Washington snapped a five-game losing streak.
The Wizards forced 17 turnovers and turned them into 24 points.
Donovan Mitchell scored 42 points and Joe Ingles added a career-high 34 points for the Jazz. Ingles matched a franchise record with eight made 3-pointers.
Rudy Gobert chipped in 10 points and 13 rebounds.
Utah, which trailed by double digits for large chunks of the game, lost for the second time in three games and for the fifth time in eight games.
Damian Lillard scored 36 points as the Portland Trail Blazers beat the visiting New Orleans Pelicans for the second time in three days, prevailing 101-93.
Lillard, who had 50 points and 10 assists in a 125-124 home victory two nights earlier and 43 points and a career-high-tying 16 assists in a 126-124 victory on February 17 in New Orleans, helped the Blazers complete a three-game sweep of the season series.
Enes Kanter added 16 points and 13 rebounds, Carmelo Anthony scored 15, CJ McCollum had 11 points and Robert Covington contributed 10 points and 10 rebounds for Portland.
Zion Williamson had 26 points and 10 rebounds, Brandon Ingram scored 19 and Lonzo Ball put up 15 to lead the Pelicans.
Bogdan Bogdanovic came off the bench to score a season-high 23 points and help the Atlanta Hawks rout the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder 116-93 on Thursday, extending their NBA-leading winning streak to seven games.
Bogdanovic shot 9-for-14 from the floor and made five three-pointers in the victory. It was only his second double-digit game since returning on March 2 from an avulsion fracture in his right knee that cost him 25 games. He added six rebounds and three assists.
It marked the first time the Hawks have had a seven-game winning streak since 2016-17 and kept Nate McMillan's record perfect since he became head coach on March 1.
Atlanta also got 23 points and nine assists from Trae Young, who was rested during the fourth quarter, and 19 points and three blocks from John Collins.
Oklahoma City got 19 points from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Reserve Ty Jerome made a career-high six three-pointers to finish with a career-best 18 points.
Reggie Bullock scored 20 points and came up with a big steal with 5.9 seconds left as the host New York Knicks held on for a 94-93 victory over the Orlando Magic.
Bullock saved the Knicks from completely collapsing after they blew a 16-point, third-quarter lead and trailed by five points twice in the fourth.
The Knicks held a 94-90 lead after Alec Burks hit a floater in the lane with 31.5 seconds left but Orlando drew within 94-93 on Evan Fournier's 3-pointer with 27.6 seconds left.
The Knicks had a chance to clinch the win but Bullock got tied up by Fournier and lost a jump ball with 19.5 seconds left. After Orlando called a timeout, Aaron Gordon inbounded to Fournier, who moved around a screen by Nikola Vucevic but Bullock trailed Fournier and came up with the clutch steal beyond the three-point line.
Burks led the Knicks with 21 points and also added 10 assists. Julius Randle posted his third triple-double of the season with 18 points, a career-high 17 assists and 10 rebounds as the Knicks shot 43 per cent and bounced back from close losses to Brooklyn and Philadelphia.
Fournier scored 23 points for Orlando, which lost its ninth straight game.
