Pacers rally past Cavaliers as Warriors extend streak
Nets down Hawks 110-105
LOS ANGELES: Darren Collison scored 22 points and Victor Oladipo tallied 19 as the Indiana Pacers rallied from a 22-point deficit to edge the struggling Cleveland Cavaliers 97-95 on Friday. Lance Stephenson finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Pacers who improved to 22-20 on the season in front of a crowd of 17,900 at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse arena. The loss was the third straight for the three-time defending Eastern Conference champion Cavaliers. Cleveland would need a monumental effort from LeBron James in order to halt their losing streak. But it wasn’t enough as the four-time MVP finished with 27 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds while Kevin Love had 21 points and 10 rebounds in the loss.
Oladipo gave the Pacers the lead for good on a three pointer with just over two minutes to play. James then had two opportunities in the final two seconds to win it but failed on both. James stepped out of bounds with 1.7 seconds to go, a call that was confirmed by video replay. Then, after Collison made a free throw to give the Pacers a 97-95 lead, James’ desperation shot from beyond the arc rattled off the rim at the buzzer. Following the game, James said the out-ofbounds call was correct but he also made mention of a prior no-call that allowed Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo to score the winning basket over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
“Definitely stepped out by a tiny bit after seeing it over again! Great call. Needed to be in OKC on that drive. Lol. Live and you Learn,” James wrote on Twitter. James was also slapped with a technical foul after losing his cool and retaliating against Stephenson with 7:53 left in the game. James made the mistake of shoving Stephenson in the chest after the two made contact with each other. After the game, James described Stephenson as a “dirty” player. “I should have known, I’ve known since school, it’s not the guy who tells the joke that gets caught it’s the guy who laughs,” James said. Cleveland, which lost its previous two games by a combined 62 points, was outscored 84-61 over the final three quarters.
Third straight for Cavaliers
WARRIORS 108, BUCKS 94
Kevin Durant scored 26 points, and Draymond Green contributed 21 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists to lead visiting Golden State over Milwaukee. Klay Thompson added 12 points for Golden State, which recorded its 11th consecutive road victory. The Warriors, who played without point guard Stephen Curry (ankle) for the second straight game, have won six of their past seven games overall. Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 23 points and Eric Bledsoe added 21 points and four steals for the Bucks. Malcolm Brogdon tallied 17 points for Milwaukee, which scored just 12 points on 5-of-20 shooting in the final quarter and shot 42.9 percent overall.
TIMBERWOLVES 118, KNICKS 108
Nemanja Bjelica ignited a fourth-quarter burst with a 3-pointer as Minnesota broke open a tight game en route to a victory over New York in Minneapolis. KarlAnthony Towns recorded game highs with 23 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists, helping the Timberwolves win a fourth straight game to begin a five-game homestand. The Knicks took their 10th loss in 13 games. Seven New York players scored in double figures, led by Jarrett Jack with 18 points.
PELICANS 119, TRAIL BLAZERS 113
Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins had monster games in leading New Orleans past visiting Portland. Davis poured in 36 points to go with nine rebounds, and Cousins collected 24 points, 19 rebounds and eight assists. Jrue Holiday chipped in 25 points, six assists, five rebounds and four steals for the Pelicans, who shot 53.4 percent from the field. Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum each scored 23 points for Portland. AlFarouq Aminu contributed 19 points and 11 rebounds for the Blazers, who also got 19 points from Jusuf Nurkic and 17 from Shabazz Napier.
NETS 110, HAWKS 105
Spencer Dinwiddie hit the go-ahead layup with 11 seconds remaining and scored seven of his 20 points in the final 2 1/2 minutes of the fourth quarter as Brooklyn beat host Atlanta. Dinwiddie nearly recorded his first career triple-double, totaling 10 assists and matching a career best with nine rebounds. He posted his first career game with 20 points and 10 assists, helping the Nets break a three-game losing streak. Atlanta’s Dennis Schroder led all scorers with a career-high 34 points on 14-of-26 shooting. He scored 11 of his points in the fourth quarter and added seven assists.
NUGGETS 87, GRIZZLIES 78
Locked in a tight game early in the fourth quarter, Denver used a 12-2 run to break it open and went on to beat visiting Memphis. Will Barton led the way for the Nuggets with 17 points, while Trey Lyles came off the bench to net 16. Nikola Jokic added 14 points and Jamal Murry was good for 11 as Denver, which lost at home Wednesday night to the lowly Atlanta Hawks, avoided another defeat to one of the NBA’s worst teams. Marc Gasol scored a game-high 22 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for Memphis, but he didn’t get a lot of help. Only two other teammates managed to join him in double figures, as Tyreke Evans and James Ennis each tallied 12.