Durant hurt in Warriors’ loss to Wizards
WASHINGTON — Even after Kevin Durant injured his left knee and departed only 93 seconds in, and even after Golden State trailed by as many as 19 points, and even after Stephen Curry’s drought from behind the arc stretched to 14 attempts over two games, the NBA-best Warriors had a pretty good chance to take the lead late.
That’s because Curry caught the Washington Wizards trying to made a defensive switch, so he let fly on a potential go-ahead 3-pointer from 31 feet away with less than 10 seconds left Tuesday night and the Warriors trailing by two.
“A shot I normally make, so I was confident,” Curry said. “You live for those moments. You live with the result.” He missed. Markieff Morris grabbed the rebound, then made a pair of free throws with 3.7 seconds remaining, capping his 22-point night and clinching Washington’s 112-108 victory despite Curry’s 25 points.
Durant hyperextended his knee when teammate Zaza Pachulia fell into him after getting pushed by Washington center Marcin Gortat. Golden State’s leading scorer and rebounder — who exited with zero points, ending his streak of 562 regular-season games with at least 10 — will have an MRI exam Wednesday.
“I’m always concerned about any injury, because you never know how bad it’s going to be,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said, “so we’ll just wait and see and keep our fingers crossed.”
Draymond Green, who had 14 points and 14 assists, said he was “just really hoping that it was a bone bruise.”
Washington’s Scott Brooks, who coached Durant when both were with Oklahoma City, said: “Hopefully it’s nothing serious. Prayers go to him.”
Much, much later in the evening, after Golden State had erased its early 39-20 deficit and entered the fourth quarter tied, the Wizards figured they were in trouble. That’s because Curry got that open look, even if he went only 2 for 9 on 3s one night after going 0 for 11.
“We were switching and he just stopped — way, way, way out,” Washington’s John Wall said after tying his career high with 19 assists while dealing with a cold. “Just prayed it didn’t go in.”
Bradley Beal, who led the Wizards with 25 points, said: “I’m not going to lie: When he shot it, I was a little nervous. … We were fortunate he’s been off a little bit from deep range.”
Washington had broken a 108-all tie when Otto Porter made two foul shots after being fouled by Curry on a putback attempt with 17.5 seconds remaining.
“It was huge,” Brooks said. “Otto’s a sneaky rebounder offensively.”
THUNDER 109, JAZZ 106
In Oklahoma City, Russell Westbrook scored 12 of his 43 points in the final 2:05 to help the Thunder beat Utah.
Westbrook also had 11 rebounds and 10 assists for his 30th triple-double of the season and 67th of his career. It was his fourth straight triple-double, and the team’s fourth consecutive win.
Doug McDermott scored 16 points and Enes Kanter added 15 points and nine rebounds for the Thunder, who trimmed Utah’s Northwest Division lead to two games.
Westbrook scored and was fouled on a transition layup with 15.5 seconds to play. He completed the three-point play to give the Thunder a 108-106 lead. After Jerami Grant hit one of two free throws with a second left, Gordon Hayward missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer that could have forced overtime.
He led the Jazz with 19 points.
NUGGETS 125, BULLS 107
In Chicago, Nikola Jokic had 19 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists for his third tripledouble of the season, and Denver rode a second-half surge to beat the Bulls.
Danilo Gallinari scored 22 points and Wilson Chandler added 20 as Denver, which entered the game fourth in the NBA in scoring (110.6 points per game), posted a 70-48 advantage in the second half to erase a halftime deficit.
Gary Harris and Will Barton had 15 points apiece for the Nuggets.
Dwyane Wade and Rajon Rondo had 19 points apiece for Chicago, which had its four-game winning streak snapped. Jimmy Butler finished with just eight points on 3-for-13 shooting.
PISTONS 120, TRAIL BLAZERS 113 (OT)
In Auburn Hills, Mich., Marcus Morris scored a career-high 37 points, including Detroit’s first seven in overtime, and the Pistons rallied from a 13-point, third-quarter deficit to beat Portland.
Ish Smith had 12 points, seven assists and seven steals for the Pistons. The backup point guard was scoreless heading into the fourth quarter but gave Detroit a huge lift down the stretch.
Damian Lillard had 34 points and 11 rebounds for Portland while falling an assist shy of his first triple-double.
He had only one assist after the start of the fourth, however, and the Trail Blazers were eventually done in by their inability to take care of the ball.
C.J. McCollum scored 25 points for Portland.
GRIZZLIES 130, SUNS 112
In Memphis, Tenn., Mike Conley scored 29 points and Marc Gasol added 28 while making all five of his 3-point shots to lead the Grizzlies past Phoenix.
Zach Randolph finished with 23 points and eight rebounds, while Tony Allen had 11 points as Memphis shot 56 percent, including 12 of 25 from outside the arc. The 130 points were a season high for Memphis, which won its second straight.
Conley was 10 of 19 from the field. Gasol shot 10 of 16 and Randolph was 10 of 15 as Memphis shot a season-best percentage from the field.
Eric Bledsoe had 20 points for the Suns, while TJ Warren finished with 17 and Alex Len had 12. Devin Booker, the Suns’ second-leading scorer at 21.1 points a game, was limited to nine points on 3 of 11 from the floor.
HORNETS 109, LAKERS 104
In Los Angeles, Kemba Walker scored 30 points and hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:55 to play, and Charlotte rallied late for a victory over the struggling Lakers.
Frank Kaminsky had 24 points and 12 rebounds for the Hornets, who won for just the third time in 16 games. Charlotte has won two of its last three games for the first time in nearly six weeks.
Julius Randle had 23 points, 18 rebounds and six assists for the Lakers (19-42), who have lost five straight and 16 of 20. They also clinched four consecutive losing seasons for the first time since 1961, the franchise’s first year on the West Coast.