OKC picks 4th straight win
Continuing their turnaround from a terrible season start, the Oklahoma City Thunder picked up their fourth consecutive victory by beating the struggling, booed-at-home Washington Wizards 134-111 behind Russell Westbrook’s 23 points and 12 assists Friday night.
From 0-4 to 4-4, the Thunder are clicking right now, led by Westbrook, who missed the first two games after a procedure on his right knee and sat out the final quarter of the rout at Washington.
And even though OKC was the team playing on the second night of a back-to-back, it looked a lot fresher and more active than Washington, which was coming off a two-day break and finally got to see new center Dwight Howard return from a sore backside to make his debut. Howard had 20 points on 7-of-8 shooting, three rebounds and four fouls in 23 minutes.
The Wizards have lost four games in a row to drop to 1-7, and spectators let the players hear their displeasure in the second quarter,
Bradley Beal scored 27 points, and John Wall had 19 points and nine assists, but Washington’s pair of All-Star guards also combined for 12 turnovers.
ROCKETS 119, NETS 111
In New York, Chris Paul had 32 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds, Carmelo Anthony added a season-high 28 points and Houston snapped a four-game losing streak.
Clint Capela finished with 22 points and 13 rebounds, and Eric Gordon had 21 points. The Rockets stumbled to a 1-5 start a season after winning 65 games and falling a game short of the NBA Finals.
They snapped out of their slump thanks to one of the best games as a Rocket for Paul, who had season bests in points and assists in the final game before his workload should ease Saturday with the expected return of James Harden. The league MVP missed his third straight game with a strained left hamstring and coach Mike D’Antoni said he would probably return for the second half of a back-to-back in Chicago.
Caris LeVert scored 29 points for the Nets.
PACERS 107, BULLS 105
In Chicago, Victor Oladipo had 25 points and 14 rebounds, and Darren Collison made a tiebreaking jumper with 17.8 seconds left to help Indiana beat Chicago.
Myles Turner added 18 points and Indiana ran its road winning streak to five games. Turner also blocked six shots, including Antonio Blakeney’s desperate jumper as the final seconds ticked off /