WIZARDS TOP PACERS, PISTONS BEAT BLAZERS
All-star guard Bradley Beal scored 21 points and Kelly Oubre had 15 for the Wizards, who earned their season-best fifth consecutive victory on Monday.
“I thought everybody chipped in and played well,” Washington coach Scott Brooks said.
The Wizards are on a roll and they are beating good teams without all- star guard John Wall.
Since Wall went down with an injured left knee, Washington has won all their games. The latest victory also gave the Wizards their fourth in a row over the Pacers.
“John is such a key and valuable piece to our team,” Beal said. “He draws so much attention at what he brings to both ends of the floor, that’s kind of irreplaceable.
“It’s definitely a huge hit to us having him out, but we’ve been having some success. We’ve figured it out a little bit.”
Besides having eight players in double figures, three Wizards grabbed at least seven rebounds.
Tomas Satoransky and Tim Frazier each finished with six assists for Washington, who outscored Indiana 30-11 in transition and had a 43-35 rebounding edge.
While the Wizards were flying high, the Pacers weren’t themselves as they had their six-game home winning streak halted.
With all- star guard Victor Oladipo out with an illness and point guard Darren Collison out ROD EBONDO delivered a monstrous performance as Centro Escolar University (CEU) battered Che’Lu Bar & Grill-San Sebastian College, 105-88, to stay on top of the standings in the Philippine Basketball Association Developmental League (PBA D-League) Aspirants’ Cup 2018 on Tuesday at the Pasig City Sports Center.
Ebondo flirted with a rare-triple double, racking up 28 points, 23 rebounds and eight blocks to keep the Scorpions leading with a pristine 2-0 win-loss record.
The 22-year old Congolese big man also led a balanced attack as three other cagers scored in double digits while the rest chipped in at least two points.
“Ebondo played his A-game and he got support from our locals. We hope that this kind of performance will continue,” said Centro Escolar U head coach Yong Garcia.
Orlan Wamar fired 18 points anchored on five triples while Rich Griffin finished with 21 points and nine rebounds. He shot well from beyond the arc too, making a trio of three-pointers. Anthony Tolliver added 15 points for Detroit and Reggie Bullock and Langston Galloway added 13 points each.
“I didn’t really think we moved the Guinitaran and Judel Fuentes added 14 markers each for the Scorpions, who remained as the only unbeaten squad in the 13-team field.
Garcia admitted that having familiarity of their opponents worked to their advantage.
The young mentor, however, said it was their relentless defense that towed them to the lopsided win.
“Yes, we know their (Che’Lu) individual tendencies but our focus is our team defense, our game plan. We executed it well that’s why we got this result,” said Garcia.
Following a close contest in the opening quarter, the Scorpions erected a 49-35 lead as Fuentes and Guinitaran knocked down two triples apiece to ignite a 13-4 run at the tail end of the first half.
The Revellers dropped nine unanswered points capped by Jeepy Faundo’s back- to- back baskets to trim the deficit down to 53-57.
It would be the closest Che’Lu could get from there on as ball that much at the start of the game, but then we really got it going,” said coach Stan Van Gundy. “The best part is that you look at how many guys got involved. Once you start moving the ball, it gets contagious.”
Damian Lillard scored 20 points and C.J. McCollum added 14 for the Blazers, who were defeated again after losing a heartbreaker at the buzzer to the Boston Celtics on Sunday.
“They had one action—dribble handoff out of the corner—and they kept getting down to the center of our defense,” Portland’s Lillard said. “Once guys get confident and get to making shots, it’s hard to stop.”
In Miami, Mario Hezonja finished with 20 points and Jonathan Simmons made a key dunk with 91 seconds left in the fourth as the Orlando Magic defeated the Miami Heat 111-109. Germany’s Dirk Nowitzki joined another elite NBA club when he reached the 50,000-minute milestone.
Nowitzki finished with 12 points but the Dallas Mavericks failed to hold onto the lead and lost to the Los Angeles Clippers 104-101.
Danilo Gallinari made the go-ahead free throws with 24 seconds left for the Clippers, who scored the last 13 points of the game. The Mavericks didn’t score in the final four minutes.
Nowitzki has played his full 20-year NBA career with the Mavericks. He came into the game needing seven minutes to reach the milestone and becomes just the sixth player to play at least 50,000 minutes in his career.
He joins Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Kevin Garnett, Jason Kidd and Elvin Hayes in the exclusive group. Ebondo spearheaded a 20- 8 surge to restore a 77- 61 spread for CEU late in the third frame en route to the dominant victory.
RK Ilagan paced the Revellers with 19 points while Allyn Bulanadi, Faundo and Michael Calisaan contributed 13, 12 and 11 points, respectively.
The Stevenson Tiu- mentored team fell to a share of No. 4 with Marinerong Pilipino as both squads now hold an even 2-2 card.
Ebondo 28, Wamar 18, Fuentes 14, Guinitaran 14, Aquino 8, Arim 6, Manlangit 6, Cruz 5, Caballero 2, Intic 2, Saber 2.
Ilagan 19, Bulanadi 13, Faundo 12, Calisaan 11, De Leon 8, Batino 5, Capobres 5, Valdez 5, Jeruta 4, Baetiong 2, Costelo 2, David 2, Santos 0.
25-20; 51-42; 79- 67; 105-88