Rockets skid hits 20 games
HOUSTON — Mired in a long losing streak, the Houston Rockets twice put the ball in John Wall’s hands in the waning moments. No luck, once again. The Rockets lost their team-record 20th straight game, falling to the Oklahoma City Thunder 114-112 Sunday when Wall missed two shots in the final 10 seconds.
“We have no choice but to pick up and try hard and learn and grow, and it starts with me,” Houston coach Stephen Silas said.
The Rockets’ skid is tied for the ninth-worst in NBA history and the longest since Philadelphia’s recordsetting 28-game losing streak across the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons.
Houston took a 110-109 lead with less than three minutes remaining. After the Rockets went ahead, Lu Dort blocked Wall’s layup from behind to protect a 113112 edge.
“That was a heck of a play, obviously, and a great second effort,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said.
“He was out of the play a little bit and made a great comeback. I thought he was great, offensively, as well. I thought he really attacked.”
Wall then missed a deep 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Dort scored 23 points and Isaiah Roby had 18 for the Thunder, who led by as many as 13 points. Svi Mykhailiuk and Justin Jackson each had 15 points off the bench.
Christian Wood had 27 points, eight rebounds and two blocks for Houston, Wall had 24 points and seven assists, and Victor Oladipo had 23 points.
Nets 113, Wizards 106 — Kyrie Irving scored 28 points and James Harden had 26 to lead Brooklyn past Washington.
Blake Griffin dunked for the first time since December 2019 in his Nets debut and Nicolas Claxton added 16 points, including two three-point plays down the stretch.
Russell Westbrook had 29 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists for Washington.
Cavaliers 116, Raptors 105 — Collin Sexton scored 23 of his 36 points in the second half, Jarrett Allen had 17 points and 15 rebounds and Cleveland handed Toronto its eighth straight loss.
Dean Wade scored 16 points, and Darius Garland had 15 points and six assists for Cleveland.
The Cavaliers had dropped five of six.
Fred VanVleet had 23 points and seven assists for Toronto.
Pacers 109, Heat 106 — Justin Holiday scored 15 points and hit consecutive 3-pointers in overtime to lead Indiana.
Myles Turner finished with 16 points and five blocks, Doug McDermott scored 15 points and Domantas Sabonis had 17 points and 11 rebounds for the Pacers, who swept their two-game series in Miami.
The Pacers erased a 10398 Heat lead on Holiday’s conversions from beyond the arc. Malcolm Brogdon added another 3-pointer, increasing Indiana’s lead to 107-103.
Miami rallied from a 9487 deficit in the final 4:26 of regulation and tied it at 98 on Jimmy Butler’s first of two free with throws with 15 seconds remaining.
Butler missed the second attempt.
Caris LeVert missed on his go-ahead jumper with 2 seconds remaining in regulation for the Pacers.
Bam Adebayo scored 29 points and Butler finished with 21 for Miami, which has lost three straight.
Pelicans 113, Nuggets 108 — Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson each scored 30 points and the Pelicans overcame another tripledouble by Nikola Jokic.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker added 20 points for the Pelicans.
Jokic had 29 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for his 52nd career triple-double, including 11 this season.
Trailing 83-80 going into the fourth quarter, the Nuggets put together a 9-0 run to move in front 95-92 on Jokic’s 3-pointer from the top of the key with 5:18 remaining.
The game stayed tight in the closing minutes. Ingram completed two three-point plays around a jumper by Jokic to give the Pelicans a 107-104 lead with 57 seconds to play.
Bulls 100, Pistons 86 — Laurie Markkanen had 16 points and eight rebounds and Chicago used a strong defensive performance to beat Detroit.
Zach LaVine scored 18 points for the Bulls
Jerami Grant had 26 points for Detroit.