Thunder bury icy-shooting Lakers NBA
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Chris Paul had 21 points, seven rebounds and six assists in the Oklahoma City Thunder’s 105-86 victory over the poor-shooting Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night.
Danilo Gallinari scored 19 points and Steven Adams 18 for the Thunder (42-25), who never trailed in their first win over the
Lakers in four meetings this season. Oklahoma City pulled even with Houston for the fifth seed in the West with five games left.
The 86 points were the fewest by the Lakers — and by a Thunder opponent — this season.
“We just tried to stick to the game plan,” Paul said. “We tried to keep those guys off the (freethrow) line as much as possible. We tried to build a wall up on Lebron when he’s pushing it. Just trying to make it hard for them.”
Lebron James had 19 points and 11 rebounds for the Lakers (51-16), who had another possibly concerning offensive performance while dropping to 2-2 in the bubble.
Los Angeles, which has clinched the top seed in the West and the Pacific Division title, never held a lead for the first time all season.
■ 76ers 107, Wizards 98: Joel Embiid had 30 points and 11 rebounds for Philadelphia, which lost two-time All-star guard Ben Simmons to a third-quarter knee injury.
The Sixers gave no immediate word on the severity of Simmons’ injury. The win pulled them within one game of Indiana for fifth place in the East.
■ Raptors 109, Magic 99: Fred Vanvleet had 21 points and 10 assists for Toronto, which won its third straight since the season restart and 10th in a row overall.
Orlando missed a chance to clinch a playoff spot and might be without forward Aaron
Gordon, who exited in the third quarter with a left hamstring injury.
■ Jazz 124, Grizzlies 115: Joe Ingles scored 12 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter for Utah, which dropped Memphis to 0-4 since the restart.
Mike Conley had 23 points and seven assists against his former team for the Jazz, which moved ahead of Houston for fourth in the West.
■ Celtics 149, Nets 115: Jaylen Brown hit five 3-pointers and totaled 21 points for Boston, which posted a season high in points
while improving to 2-2 since the season restart.
Jayson Tatum added 19 points and Gordan Hayward and Robert Williams 18 each for the Celtics, who hit 20 of 39 3-point tries.
■ Nuggets 132, Spurs 126: Michael Porter Jr. had 30 points and 15 rebounds for Denver, which went ahead with a 13-4 fourth-quarter run.
Nikola Jokic had 25 points and 11 assists and Jerami Grant 22 points for the Nuggets. Rudy Gay had 24 points and Derrick White 23 points and seven assists for San Antonio.