James Harden seals 125-124 thriller for Rockets
OKLAHOMA CITY: Klay Thompson scored 34 points to help the Golden State Warriors beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 111-95 on Monday night in a heated matchup filled with trash talking, physical play and technical fouls.
It was Golden State’s second visit to Oklahoma City since former Thunder star Kevin Durant signed a free agent contract with the rival Warriors last summer. Durant has been out since February with a left knee injury and sat on the bench with his team.
Even with Durant out, the negative energy from the first meeting was still there. Stephen Curry exchanged shoves with Oklahoma City’s Semaj Christon just before halftime, and both were issued technical fouls. Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook and Golden State’s Draymond Green also got technical for their roles in the skirmish.
The Warriors were overpowering in this one, leading by as many as 27 points while completing a sweep of the four-game season series.
Curry scored 23 points for the Warriors, who won their fourth straight and halted Oklahoma City’s win streak at five games.
Westbrook scored 47 points the last time the teams met in Oklahoma City. This time, he had 15 points on 4-of-16 shooting.
ROCKETS 125, NUGGETS 124: James Harden drove the length of the floor for a layup with 2.4 seconds left to lift Houston over Denver.
Harden had 39 points, 11 assists and was three rebounds shy of his 20th triple-double of the season. Houston outlasted Denver in a duel between the second- and thirdhighest scoring teams in the NBA.
Harden likely saved the game for Houston, too, when he batted down an inbounds pass to Mason Plumlee near the basket following his layup.
Will Barton gave Denver a one-point lead on a three-point play with less than a minute left. On the following possession, Harden missed a layup, but he got it back on the other end of the floor when he rebounded Jameer Nelson’s air-ball.
Harden took the ball down the court and scored on a finger-roll layup.
CELTICS 110, WIZARDS 102: Isaiah Thomas scored 25 points after missing the previous two games with a bruised right knee, leading Boston to a victory over Washington in another testy matchup between two of the top teams in the Eastern Conference.
Avery Bradley added 20 points and nine rebounds for Boston, which moved 2½ games ahead of the Wizards for second place in the East. The Celtics trail firstplace Cleveland by two games.
Jae Crowder and Al Horford each scored 16 with nine boards.
Bradley Beal led Washington with 19 points, and John Wall had 16 points with eight assists.
CLIPPERS 114, KNICKS 105: Blake Griffin scored 30 points, Chris Paul had 13 points and 13 assists and Los Angeles beat New York.
DeAndre Jordan added 14 points and 10 rebounds, and the Clippers blew the game open by outscoring the Knicks 34-19 in the third quarter for a 25-point lead.
The Clippers (42-29) pulled to within one game of the Utah Jazz for fourth in the Western Conference and homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs. They have 11 regular season games remaining.
The fading Knicks were led by Kristaps Porzingis’ 18 points and 11 rebounds, while Derek Rose had 18 points and Carmelo Anthony had 16. Largely using their bench, they cut the 25-point deficit to seven points in final minutes.
PACERS 107, JAZZ 100: Jeff Teague scored 21 points, Paul George added 19 and Indiana beat Utah.
Indiana continued its trend of following a loss with a win — failing to do either in consecutive games since Feb. 16. The win helped the Pacers maintain the No. 6 spot in the Eastern Conference playoff chase.
Former Butler star Gordon Hayward led the Jazz with a career-high 38 points. Rudy Gobert had 16 points and 14 rebounds on the final stop of a four-game trip.
While they struggled to put away the win, the Pacers seized control with an early 8-0 run and never trailed after the 6:42 mark of the first quarter.
HORNETS 105, HAWKS 90: Nicolas Batum and Kemba Walker each had 16 points and Charlotte handed slumping Atlanta its fourth straight loss.
The Hornets scored 17 points off 18 turnovers and led by as many as 23 in the fourth quarter.
Frank Kaminsky provided more strong play off the bench for Charlotte with 14 points and five assists. The 7-footer came into the game averaging 16.9 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.3 assists in his previous 15 games.
The Hawks played without All-Star forward Paul Millsap and top reserve guard Kent Bazemore and never got in sync on offense.
MAGIC 112, 76ERS 109, OT: Nikola Vucevic had 26 points and 13 rebounds, Evan Fournier scored 19 points and Orlando beat Philadelphia in overtime.
Orlando overcame a 17-point secondhalf deficit. Fournier led the way in OT with eight points, and Terrence Ross had four points in the extra session and 15 overall. The Magic also beat Phoenix on Friday and have consecutive wins for the first time since December.