Rockets get past Dallas, 100-96
DALLAS—James Harden scored 25 points after another rough shooting start against Dallas, and the Houston Rockets beat the Mavericks 100-96 Friday night.
Harden, who missed his first 11 shots in a home loss to Dallas last month, was 3 of 12 in the first half before making seven of 11. That included a clinching jumper that hit the rim and backboard before bouncing on the rim a couple more times and going in for a fourpoint lead with 7 seconds left.
The All-Star guard also had nine assists, including one to Terrence Jones for a wideopen dunk that put Houston ahead for good at 98-96 in the final minute.
Deron Williams had 22 points and six assists to lead the Mavericks.
HAWKS 100, LAKERS 87
ATLANTA—Al Horford scored 16 points, Paul Millsap and Kent Bazemore each added 15 and the Hawks beat the Los Angeles Lakers 100-87 Friday night to spoil Kobe Bryant’s last game in Atlanta.
In the third game since announcing his retirement plans earlier this week, Bryant scored 14 points on 4-for-19 shooting. Lou Williams topped the struggling Lakers, who never led, with 18 points.
Bryant showed a few flashes of his once-dominant skills, holding up three fingers on each hand after hitting consecutive 3-pointers to bring the loudest cheers of the night from the capacity Philips Arena crowd midway through the third.
The second basket cut the lead to seven, and the Lakers pulled within four with 5:59 left in the game when Bryant assisted on Williams’ 3.
After the game ended, Bryant walked to midcourt to give a smile and a hug to Kyle Korver, a 13th-year veteran, in an exchange of mutual admiration.
The game’s outcome was hardly unexpected given Bryant’s age and the state of his underperforming team, but Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer still showed respect by putting his best defender, Thabo Sefolosha, on the 17-time All-Star.
KNICKS 108, NETS 91
NEW YORK—Carmelo Anthony and Kristaps Porzingis have mostly taken turns having big games this season. The thought of them doing it consistently on the same night gives the Knicks hope for the near future.
Anthony and Porzingis had it going last night and the Nets couldn’t stop them, although they probably could have tried a little harder. The Knicks got open looks all over the court, led by 31 and scorched the Nets, 108-91, at Madison Square Garden.
The Knicks improved to 10-10, and will go for their third straight win Saturday in Milwaukee.
Anthony shot 5-for-8 from 3 and 9-for-18 overall and led the Knicks with 28 points and seven rebounds. Porzingis was 3-for-4 from deep and had 19 points and 10 rebounds. Porzingis, the Eastern Conference’s Rookie of the Month for October/November, had his 10th double-double and third in a row.
The two have scored at least 20 points in the same game just once this season, and might have done it again if this wasn’t such a lopsided game. Anthony played 31 minutes and Porzingis 26. When they were on the floor together, the Knicks outscored the Nets 64-48. Porzingis had 10 points in the first 6:37 of the game, matching the Nets’ total at the time.