Morant, Grizzlies are too much for Nuggets
Ja Morant had 23 points and seven rebounds as the host Memphis Grizzlies raced to an early lead and coasted to a 112-94 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Saturday night in a matchup of the Western Conference's top teams.
Tyus Jones finished with 17 points, and Luke Kennard, Xavier Tillman and Dillon Brooks scored 12 apiece for Memphis, which trails Denver by six games in the conference race.
Nikola Jokic led the Nuggets with 15 points and 13 rebounds, and Jeff Green added 12 points. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Christian Braun each scored 11 points as Denver's four-game winning streak came to an end. Denver was hampered by a 40% shooting game. The Nuggets' starters were 17 of 47 from the field.
Denver's 94 total points was a season low.
CELTICS 110, 76ERS 107 » Jayson Tatum buried a goahead 3-pointer for visiting Boston with 1.3 seconds left, Joel Embiid didn't get his desperation heave off in time to tie and the Celtics emerged victorious. Tatum finished with 18 points, 13 rebounds and six assists. Jaylen Brown scored 26 points for Boston. Embiid finished with 41 points and 12 rebounds. James Harden scored 21 points. The lategame thriller proved worthy of a showdown between two of the top teams in the East.
PACERS 121, MAGIC 108 » Myles Turner scored 24 points and Tyrese Haliburton had 15 points and 14 assists for visiting Indiana. Indiana shot 59% in the second half. Bennedict Mathurin scored 19 points and Jordan Nwora had 18, both off the bench for the Pacers, while Jalen Smith added seven rebounds and five blocks. Franz Wagner led Orlando with 21 points and Paolo Banchero scored 19 point.
HORNETS 108, HEAT 103 » Gordon Hayward scored 21 points and rookie center Mark Williams posted career highs with 18 points and 20 rebounds for host Charlotte. LaMelo Ball had 16 of his 19 points in the second half and finished with 13 assists for his sixth straight double-double. Tyler Herro had 33 points and Jimmy Butler added 28 points for Miami. Kevin Love added 13 points and 13 rebounds.
RAPTORS 95, PISTONS 91 » Pascal Siakam had 29 points and eight rebounds for visiting Toronto in its fourth straight win. Gary Trent Jr. scored 19 points and Scottie Barnes added 12 for the Raptors. Isaiah Livers, Hamidou Diallo and Bojan Bogdanovic had 11 points apiece for the Pistons.
KNICKS 128, PELICANS 106 » Julius Randle scored 28 points and RJ Barrett had 25 to lead host New York. Jalen Brunson added 20 points and Mitchell Robinson had 11 points and 13 rebounds for the Knicks. Brandon Ingram led New Orleans with 19 points and Josh Richardson scored 16.
JAZZ 118, SPURS 102 » Lauri Markkanen scored 27 points to lead host Utah and Kris Dunn and Ochai Agbaji scored 15 and 14, respectively. Jeremy Sochan led San Antonio with 22 points; Keldon Johnson had 18.