Durant leads Suns in return to Brooklyn
Kevin Durant scored 33 points in his return to Brooklyn, leading the Phoenix Suns to a 136-120 victory over the Nets on Wednesday night.
Durant added eight assists in his first game in Brooklyn since being traded to Phoenix nearly a year ago. He got a mixed reception early before helping take the crowd out of it with 11 points in the third quarter, when the Suns outscored the Nets 42-26 after leading by three at halftime.
Jusuf Nurkic added 28 points and 11 rebounds for the Suns, overwhelming an undersized Nets team as the Suns won for the ninth time in 11 games.
Booker finished with 22 points and Eric Gordon had 17.
Cam Thomas scored 25 points for the Nets. Mikal Bridges, who came to the Nets in the Durant trade, had 21.
THUNDER 105, NUGGETS 100 >>
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 34 points to help host Oklahoma City beat short-handed Denver in a matchup of teams near the top of the Western Conference standings. Nuggets star Nikola Jokic sat out because of pain in his lower back.
Chet Holmgren had 18 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks for the Thunder.
Aaron Gordon had 16 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists for the Nuggets.
TRAIL BLAZERS 119, BUCKS 116 >>
Anfernee Simons scored 24 points, including making a key floater with 17.1 seconds left, and host Portland spoiled former teammate Damian Lillard's return with a win over Milwaukee. Lillard had 25 points for the Bucks in their second straight loss under new coach Doc Rivers. Giannis Antetokounmpo added 27 points.
Deandre Ayton had 20 points and 11 rebounds for the Blazers.
CAVALIERS 128, PISTONS 121
Donovan Mitchell scored 20 of his 45 points in the fourth quarter, Darius Garland
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had 19 points in his return from a broken jaw and host Cleveland held off NBA-worst Detroit.
The Cavaliers won for the 11th time in 12 games.
Danilo Gallinari scored 20 points for the Pistons, who are 6-41.
Jimmy Butler scored 31 points and host Miami beat Sacramento to end a seven-game losing streak. Butler shot 10 of 14 from the field and had seven rebounds for the Heat. Josh Richardson was 6 of 10 from 3-point range and had a season-high 24 points for Miami.
Domantas Sabonis had 19 points, 17 rebounds and 13 assists for the Kings and Keegan Murray scored 33 points.
HEAT 115, KINGS 106 >> T'WOLVES' EDWARDS FINED 40K >>
Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards has received a $40,000 fine from the NBA for publicly criticizing the officiating repeatedly.
The fine was handed down Wednesday in response to comments Edwards made after the Timberwolves' 107-101 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder in a Monday matchup between two of the Western Conference's top teams.
“I'm going to take the fine, because the refs did not give us no calls tonight,” Edwards said in an interview with Bally Sports North after the game. “We had to play through every bump, every grab. I don't know, I don't know how we won tonight.”
Clippers guard James Harden gestures after making a 3-pointer at Washington.
their starters.
“I would like if we get more 3s up,” Lue said. “Just how good of a shooting team that we are. Attacking the paint, making the right pass, getting open 3s. We turned down some tonight.”
Los Angeles is 3-1 so far on a seven-game trip, and finished January 12-3 on a day they began in fourth place in the Western Conference.
“We've got the right approach and the great mindset of every single game is similar to where, no matter the opponent, it's about us,”
Harden said. “Because we can be really, really good. And the chemistry and the communication aspect is the most important thing.”
Kyle Kuzma scored 23 of his 27 points in the first half for Washington. The Wizards are 2-2 under interim coach Brian Keefe after Wes Unseld Jr. was fired last week.
“I loved our fight in the first half,” Keefe said. “Only down six at the half. They made a quick burst in that third quarter . ... That was the quarter that really got us.”
Rookie Bilal Coulibaly
Clippers 125, Wizards 109
Clippers
Coffey 20:51 5-7 5-5 0-1 1 1 17 Leonard 29:54 14-25 2-2 4-9 4 1 31 Plumlee 19:21 2-5 1-1 5-11 1 2 5 Harden 32:33 7-15 6-6 1-9 5 2 25 Mann 30:37 2-6 2-2 1-3 2 1 6 Boston Jr. 27:09 5-11 1-2 1-3 1 2 12 Powell 26:57 5-10 1-2 1-7 3 1 14 Westbrook 21:05 4-11 1-2 2-3 7 0 9 Theis 19:30 2-5 0-0 1-2 0 3 4 Brown 6:36 0-1 0-0 1-3 1 1 0 Hyland 5:27 1-4 0-0 1-1 0 2 2
Totals 240:00 47-100 19-22 18-52 25 16 125
Percentages: FG .470, FT .864;
Goals: 12-30, .400 (Harden 5-10, Powell 3-5, Coffey 2-2, Boston Jr. 1-2, Leonard 1-4, Theis 0-1, Westbrook 0-1, Hyland 0-2, Mann 0-3); 5;
Team Rebounds:
Team Turnovers: Blocked Shots:
None;
7 (Harden 4, Boston Jr., Leonard, Theis);
8 (Harden 2, Hyland 2, Powell 2, Coffey, Plumlee); 9 (Leonard 4, Harden 2, Boston Jr., Coffey, Theis);
None.
Turnovers:
Technical Fouls:
Clippers Washington
Washington Min
Avdija Kuzma Gafford Coulibaly Jones Kispert Bagley III Wright Baldwin Jr. Davis
Gill Bernard 26:20 5-11 29:20 11-22 22:27 2-5 37:00 8-16 28:59 2-9 26:59 6-11 17:57 5-7 13:34 2-5 12:20 1-6 12:00 1-3 7:35 1-1 5:27 1-1
Totals 240:00 45-97 10-15 12-45 19 19 109
Percentages: Goals: 37 29 40 19 — 125 35 25 19 30 — 109
FG .464, FT .667;
9-29, .310 (Kispert 3-8, Kuzma 2-4, Gill 1-1, Avdija 1-2, Baldwin Jr. 1-4, Coulibaly 1-4, Davis 0-1, Wright 0-2, Jones 0-3); 11;
None; 10 (Gafford 5, Coulibaly 2, Avdija, Davis, Kuzma); 13 (Jones 3, Avdija 2, Kuzma 2, Bagley III, Baldwin Jr., Coulibaly, Gafford, Gill, Kispert); 4 (Avdija, Coulibaly, Gafford, Gill);
None.
17,201 (20,356);
Team Rebounds: Team Turnovers: Blocked Shots:
Turnovers: Fouls: A:
Min
FG FT Reb A PF Pts
Steals:
FG
T:
FT Reb APFPts
2-3 0-5 3 2 13 3-3 0-2 0 2 27 2-2 4-8 2 3 6 2-3 2-4 2 2 19 0-0 0-4 7 1 4 1-2 0-2 1 1 16 0-0 3-8 2 1 10 0-0 0-0 0 1 4 0-0 2-6 0 3 3 0-2 0-1 1 2 2 0-0 0-2 0 0 3 0-0 1-3 1 1 2
2:06.
3-Point
3-Point Steals:
Technical
scored 19 points in his second career start and first since Oct. 30. He replaced shooting guard Jordan Poole (illness) in the lineup.