Joseph’s 24 points leads Pistons to win over Kings
Cory Joseph had a season-high 24 points and seven assists in his first game against his former team, Jhalil Okafor made a timely return after missing nearly two months following knee surgery, and the shorthanded Detroit Pistons beat the Sacramento Kings 113101 on Thursday night.
Isaiah Stewart added 16 points and 13 rebounds in place of injured Mason Plumlee for the Pistons. Okafor, who had missed 27 games following left knee surgery, scored 11 points. Killian Hayes also had 11.
Detroit entered an Eastworst 15-16 but led comfortably against slumping Sacramento after going up by 22 early in the third quarter.
De’Aaron Fox had 23 points, seven assists and nine rebounds for the Kings. Sacramento has lost five straight.
Joseph spent two seasons with the Kings before getting traded to Detroit along with two second-round picks at the deadline in exchange for Delon Wright. The veteran guard hadn’t scored more than 17 since then but broke out in his return to Golden 1 Center.
Joseph shot 10 of 14 and scored six of Detroit’s final eight points after the Kings had pulled to 105-94.
HEAT 110, LAKERS 104 >> Jimmy Butler scored 28 points to lead the Miami Heat past the depleted Los Angeles Lakers.
Victor Oladipo had 18 points, and Tyler Herro finished with 15 points for the Heat. They bounced back from a 12-point home loss to Memphis on Tuesday night.
Miami went on a 9-2 run late in the fourth period and took a 104-94 lead with 2:14 remaining on Butler’s two technical free throws following Markieff Morris’ ejection for arguing with the officials.
The Lakers cut it to 106-100 on Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s 3-pointer with 29 seconds remaining. Butler’s four throws on Miami’s next two possessions secured the win.
BULLS 122, RAPTORS 113 >> Nikola Vucevic and Zach Levine each scored 22 points and Chicago beat Toronto for its third straight victory.
LaVine also had 15 assists, and Lauri Markkanen came off the bench to score 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting. CAVALIERS 129, THUNDER 102 >> Collin Sexton scored 27 points and Cleveland ended a five-game series losing streak to Oklahoma City.
Taurean Prince scored 22 points, Darius Garland added 21 and Kevin Love had 18 points and 11 rebounds for Cleveland. The
Cavaliers broke open a tight game with an 11-0 run to begin the second half. MAVERICKS 116, BUCKS 101 >> Luka Doncic scored 27 points, Kristaps Porzingis had 26 points and 17 rebounds playing on consecutive days for the first time in two months in Dallas’ victory over Milwaukee. JAZZ 122, BLAZERS 103 >> Donovan Mitchell scored 37 points to lead the Utah Jazz to their 23rd straight home victory, a win over Portland.
Rudy Gobert had 18 points and 21 rebounds, Joe Ingles added 13 points and six assists and Utah dominated the glass by outrebounding Portland 5841 while snapping a twogame skid.
Damian Lillard scored 23 points and C.J. McCollum added 19 to lead the Trail Blazers, who lost for the third time in four games.