CURRY TO THE RESCUE
Clinches victory for Warriors against battling Mavericks
STEPHEN Curry buried a tie-breaking 3-pointer with three seconds remaining on Wednesday, to allow the visiting Golden State Warriors survive a frantic Dallas Mavericks rally for a 125-122 victory.
Curry (32), Kevin Durant (25) and Klay Thompson (25) all topped 20 points as the Warriors beat the Mavericks for the ninth straight time while winning their eighth in a row on the road, matching the second-longest road streak in the NBA this season.
After trailing 120-110 with 2:46 to play, the Mavericks rallied into a tie by scoring 10 straight, including 3-pointers by Yogi Ferrell and Wesley Matthews. Harrison Barnes’ 15-footer with 39 seconds remaining forged a 120-all deadlock.
Playing without James Harden for the first time since the star guard injured his hamstring, visiting Houston trounced Orlando.
Veteran Gerald Green helped pick up the slack. He produced a season-high 27 points and six rebounds and made 7 of 10 3-point tries for the Rockets.
Former Celtics star Isaiah Thomas rested on the second night of a back-to-back after making his season and Cavaliers debut Tuesday, so Cleveland had to fend without him and came up short in a loss at Boston.
Terry Rozier paced the Celtics with 20 points off the bench. Jayson Tatum and Marcus Smart each scored 15 and Jaylen Brown 14 as Boston won its fourth straight.
Paul George put on a show in his home state to help visiting Oklahoma City rout Los Angeles. George tied for the team high with 24 points.
Ben Simmons scored 26 points, Joel Embiid added 21 points and 11 rebounds, and JJ Redick had 20 points as Philadelphia defeated San Antonio.
Dario Saric contributed 15 points for the Sixers, who won for the third straight game and snapped a 12-game losing streak to the Spurs that dated to 2011. The Sixers also broke a five-game home losing skid.
John Wall and Bradley Beal spearheaded a defensive surge with steals that they turned into dunks during a third-quarter burst, helping Washington turn back New York.
The Wizards completed a 3-0 homestand by limiting the Knicks to seven points in the first 10 1/2 minutes of the third quarter while turning a one-point halftime advantage into an 87-70 lead.
Miami had three 20-point scorers in a game for the second time this season and held off visiting Detroit on Wednesday night to go three games over the .500 mark for the first time since April 2016.
Spencer Dinwiddie capped off a strong performance by scoring the decisive basket with 10.1 seconds remaining as Brooklyn registered a victory over Minnesota.
DeMar DeRozan scored 26 of 35 points after halftime as Toronto overcame an early deficit to blow past Chicago.
The victory was the third straight and 15th in 18 contests for the Raptors.
Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 31 points, Khris Middleton added 27 and Milwaukee extended Indiana’s losing streak to five games.
Indiana fell to 0-6 on the season without leading scorer Victor Oladipo, who missed a fourth straight game because of soreness in his left knee.
Gary Harris tied his career with 36 points, and Wilson Chandler scored 17 points for hot-shooting Denver in a victory over Phoenix.
Denver shot 62.2 per cent from the field, including 12 of 27 (44.4 percent) on 3-point attempts.
Anthony Davis scored 29 points and collected 15 rebounds, and Jrue Holliday added 24 points to lead New Orleans past Utah in Salt Lake City.
New Orleans snapped a twogame losing streak and also ended a five-game skid to the Jazz. Reuters