Durant leads Warriors against Mavs; Rockets pick up first win without Paul; 76ers dominate Raptors
Sunday 23 December 2018 07:55, UK
The Wizards and Suns combined to score the most points in an NBA game for a decade while Bradley Beal and Thomas Bryant put up some historic individual numbers in leading Washington to a 149-146 triple-overtime home win.
The Wizards and Suns 295 combined points were the most in a game since April 2008, when the Denver Nuggets and Seattle SuperSonics combined to score 298 in two OTs.
Phoenix also became the first team to score 145 points in a game and lose since that same game over 10 years ago, when the Sonics, in their second-to-last game in Seattle before moving to Oklahoma City, won 151-147.
With All-Star point guard John Wall sidelined by illness, the Wizards were led by Bradley Beal's first career triple-double - 40 points, 11 rebounds and 15 assists.
Beal scored 10 points in the third overtime and his layup made it 146-144 Wizards.
Devin Booker's layup with 11 seconds left pulled Phoenix within 147-146 but Washington's Jeff Green (20 points) hit two free throws and T.J. Warren's 3-point attempt for Phoenix was short and appeared to be released after the horn sounded.
Thomas Bryant scored a career-high 31 points on a perfect shooting performance. He became only the fifth player to shoot 14-for-14 or better from the field in a game in NBA history.
Jonas Jerebko scored 16 of his 23 points in a 34-12 run across the third and fourth quarters, rallying Golden State to a victory over Dallas in Oakland.
Kevin Durant poured in 29 for Golden State while Wesley Matthews scored 25 for the Mavericks in defeat.
Dallas came out firing early and kept the Warriors at bay for the entire first half, led by Luka Doncic in the first quarter. The Mavericks took a three-point lead into the half, 61-58.
Attempting to avoid a fifth straight loss, the Mavericks led 81-77 after a three-point play by J.J. Barea with 3:54 remaining in the third period.
But Jerebko and Durant had seven points apiece in a 17-6 burst as Warriors dismantled the Mavericks lead in the final minutes.
Dallas fought back and closed to within one point in the final minute before a Durant three-pointer sealed the game.
Joel Embiid had 27 points and 11 rebounds, and Ben Simmons added 26 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists as host Philadelphia defeated Kawhi Leonard-less Toronto.
JJ Redick scored 22, Furkan Korkmaz added 16 and Jimmy Butler had 12 for the 76ers, who won their second in a row, improved to 16-3 at home and pulled within 2 1/ 2 games of the Atlantic Division-leading Raptors.
Embiid shot 10-of-15 from the field and Simmons was 11-of-13 as the 76ers shot 54.1 percent (46 of 85) while holding Toronto to 38.9 percent (37 of 95).
Pascal Siakam had 26 points and six rebounds for the Raptors, who had a two-game winning streak snapped.
James Harden recorded his sixth consecutive 30-point effort, and host Houston won for the first time without Chris Paul in the lineup, defeating San Antonio.
Behind a stellar 28-point performance from DeMar DeRozan, the Spurs erased a 17-point, fourth-quarter deficit and led 97-96 on consecutive 3-pointers from Derrick White and Rudy Gay, the latter coming with 3:03 to play.
But Harden answered with a 3-pointer 24 seconds later and, after DeRozan countered with a driving layup, Eric Gordon sank a three following critical offensive rebounds from Clint Capela and P.J. Tucker.
Paul George's 43 points on 15-of-25 shooting gave Oklahoma City enough of a lift to edge Utah in Salt Lake City.
Jerami Grant added 15 points for the Thunder. Steven Adams chipped in 15 points and 10 rebounds, while Russell Westbrook tallied eight points, 12 rebounds, and nine assists. Oklahoma City won its fourth straight game.
Ricky Rubio had 12 points and 14 assists, and all five Jazz starters scored in double figures. Utah finished with 35 assists on 42 baskets.
Danilo Gallinari and Tobias Harris scored 21 points apiece, helping host Los Angeles gradually pull away from Denver en route to a victory.
Montrezl Harrell added 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Clippers, who avenged a 107-98 opening-night loss to the Nuggets on the same floor.
Nikola Jokic had 19 points before getting ejected, and Jamal Murray 18 for the Nuggets, who had a four-game winning streak snapped.
Dwyane Wade came off the bench to help Miami win its fourth straight game and defeat visiting Milwaukee.
Wade poured in six points in the final two minutes to help close out the win.
The Heat forced the Bucks into 16 turnovers and held them to 9-of-43 shooting from long range, limiting the league's highest-scoring offense to a season-low in points.
Wade totalled 13 points, eight rebounds, three assists and one steal in 26 minutes off the bench, while Josh Richardson finished with a team-high 16 points to go with five rebounds, three assists and two steals.
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