Monday night wins for Golden State Warriors, Indiana Pacers and San Antonio Spurs
Tuesday 1 January 2019 10:22, UK
James Harden posted a triple-double to lead the Houston Rockets to victory over the Memphis Grizzlies, their 10th win in their last 11 games.
James Harden recorded a triple-double as the Houston Rockets completed an unbeaten month at home with a 113-101 win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night.
Harden posted 43 points, 10 rebounds and 13 assists to drag the Rockets to their 10th victory in 11 games overall and cap a 9-0 mark at Toyota Center in December.
Harden recorded his fourth consecutive 40-plus-point game and set an NBA record with his 10th successive 30-plus-point, five-plus-assist effort, though he did commit nine turnovers.
The Rockets, who led by as many as 24 points, improved to 5-5 without guard Chris Paul.
Clint Capela chipped in a double-double (19 points, 13 rebounds) while Gerald Green added 18 points and five rebounds off the bench. Danuel House Jr scored 16 points and hit 4-of-6 three-point attempts for Houston, which finished 18-of-41 from behind the arc.
Kyle Anderson paced the Grizzlies with 20 points despite going 0-of-6 at the free-throw line. Mike Conley tallied 19 points, and JaMychal Green added 17 off the bench. Marc Gasol recorded a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds.
Seven different players contributed points to a 24-7 run to end the first half as the Golden State Warriors broke from a second-quarter tie to pound the host Phoenix Suns 132-109.
Stephen Curry poured in 34 points and Kevin Durant added 25 as the Warriors beat the Suns for the 17th consecutive time.
Deandre Ayton recorded a 25-point, 10-rebound double-double for Phoenix, who lost their third straight game.
The Suns played the Warriors even for almost 19 minutes before Curry (six points), Andre Iguodala (five), Durant (four), Jonas Jerebko (three), Shaun Livingston (two), Quinn Cook (two) and Jordan Bell (two) all scored in the final 5:06 of the second period to help Golden State open a 69-52 half-time advantage.
Curry shot 5-for-9 on three-pointers and Durant went 3-for-4, helping the Warriors outscore the Suns 42-27 from beyond the arc.
Klay Thompson added 15 points, while Livingston and Bell had 10 apiece for the Warriors. TJ Warren had 24 points, Devin Booker 20 and Kelly Oubre Jr 15 for the Suns.
Paul George scored 14 of his 22 points in a game-opening 25-10 burst that propelled the host Oklahoma City Thunder to a 122-102 shellacking of the Dallas Mavericks.
Russell Westbrook recorded his league-leading 10th triple-double with a game-high 32 points, 11 rebounds and a game-high 11 assists as the Thunder avenged a 105-103 defeat 24 hours earlier in Dallas.
One night after being held to 103 points in the opener of the home-and-home series, the Thunder put up 32 points in the first and third quarters en route to an easy win.
It started with the 25-10 flurry, during which George hit a pair of three-pointers, a pair of two-pointers and four free throws. Oklahoma City went on to lead by as many as 17 in the first period and 60-43 at half-time. The closest the Mavericks got in the second half was 12.
Westbrook hit 13 of his 24 shots in his triple-double, while Steven Adams collected a game-high 13 rebounds to go with 12 points in a double-double.
Harrison Barnes went for a team-high 25 points for the Mavericks, who lost their ninth in a row on the road. Luka Doncic had 17 points, while Dennis Smith Jr and Dorian Finney-Smith scored 10 apiece for Dallas.
Julius Randle had 33 points and 11 rebounds as the host New Orleans Pelicans overcame the absence of Anthony Davis to defeat the Minnesota Timberwolves 123-114.
Davis was a last-minute scratch because of illness, but Randle and the Pelicans' three-point shooting made up for the loss of the All-Star forward.
The Pelicans made 14-of-25 three-pointers while the Timberwolves made 9-of-28.
Jrue Holiday scored 26, Darius Miller came off the bench to add 21 and E'Twaun Moore scored 17.
Pelicans point guard Elfrid Payton returned after a 22-game absence due to surgery to repair a fractured finger, and had nine points and six assists in 24 minutes.
Karl-Anthony Towns led the Timberwolves with 28 points, 17 rebounds, six assists and five blocks. Andrew Wiggins added 20 points, Taj Gibson scored 17 and Robert Covington had 16,
Victor Oladipo, Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis combined for 62 points to help the Indiana Pacers to their fifth straight win, a 116-108 victory over the visiting Atlanta Hawks.
The Pacers improved to a season-best 13 games over .500 and have won 12 of their last 14 games.
Oladipo led the way with 22 points on 9-for-19 shooting and had seven assists and five steals. Turner and Sabonis each scored 20 points and eight rebounds. Turner was 7-for-9 from the field before leaving with a broken nose.
Sabonis came off the bench to go 7-for-12 from the floor. Bojan Bogdanovic scored 16 points as the Pacers had six players score in double figures.
Atlanta forward John Collins had 22 points and 16 rebounds, the 11th time in 12 games that has posted a double-double. Rookie Kevin Huerter scored a career-high 22 points on 6-for-9 shooting on 3-pointers. Alex Len added 19 points and seven rebounds and rookie Trae Young had 16 points and seven assists.
Kemba Walker scored 24 points in less than three quarters of action as the Charlotte Hornets continued their mastery over the Orlando Magic with a 125-100 victory.
Walker followed up a 47-point performance in a loss at Washington on Saturday with another superb effort. He was 10 of 16 from the field with two 3-pointers. He scored 20 in the first half, then sat out the entire fourth quarter as the Hornets turned the game into a rout.
The Hornets have now won 13 straight over the Magic over the past four seasons and they got their first win over former coach Steve Clifford, who went to the Magic this season after coaching the Hornets the past five seasons.
It was a costly win for the Hornets, however. Jeremy Lamb left the game with a strained hamstring late in the first quarter while Cody Zeller suffered a fractured right hand early in the third quarter and did not return.
The Hornets also got 21 points from Malik Monk. Zeller scored 14 and Marvin Williams, Willy Hernangomez and Devonte Graham scored 10 each.
The Magic were led by Aaron Gordon with 14 points. Nikola Vucevic scored 12, Jonathan Isaac 11 and Terrence Ross 10.
Derrick White and LaMarcus Aldridge combined for 21 points in the third quarter as the host San Antonio Spurs, after being held to 46 points in the first half, exploded for 46 in the third period alone to rally past the Boston Celtics 120-111.
Aldridge totalled 32 points to go with nine rebounds as the Spurs, who trailed by as many as 12 points as they struggled offensively in the first half, recorded their seventh consecutive home victory over the Celtics.
Jaylen Brown scored 30 points on 10-for-15 shooting off the bench for the Celtics, who haven't won at San Antonio since March 2011.
The Spurs trailed 52-46 at halftime before Patty Mills sank a pair of three-pointers and team-mates White, Davis Bertans and Marco Belinelli hit one apiece during the 46-point explosion that produced a 92-82 lead.
Six of Aldridge's 10 points in the flurry came on a pair of three-point plays.
The Celtics got no closer than seven in the fourth quarter.
White finished with 22 points for San Antonio, Bertans had 17 points, Bryn Forbes 15, DeMar DeRozan 13 and Mills 11 for the Spurs.
Jayson Tatum recorded a 12-point, 11-rebound double-double for the Celtics while Marcus Morris had 18 points, Kyrie Irving 16 along with eight assists and Terry Rozier 15.
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