Valentine, Mirotic lead Chicago Bulls over Orlando Magic
CHICAGO—Denze l Valentine had 16 points and 10 rebounds, Nikola Mirotic had 15 points and 10 rebounds, and the Chicago Bulls beat the Orlando Magic 112-94 on Wednesday night for their seventh straight win.
The Bulls had lost 10 straight with Mirotic out of the lineup prior to his return Dec. 8, and they haven’t lost since to improve to 10-20.
Nikola Vucevic scored 18 points for Orlando, which lost its sixth in a row.
Facing the league’s fourthworst scoring defense, the Bulls took a 43-27 lead with 9:05 left in the second quarter on Mirotic’s layup, one of many easy baskets. Chicago’s strong ball movement resulted in easy looks inside and out, and the team had assists on 10 of its first 15 shots.
Pacers 105, Hawks 95
ATLANTA—Victor Oladipo scored 23 points, Myles Turner had 20 and the Indiana Pacers beat the Atlanta Hawks 105-95 on Wednesday night.
Bojan Bogdanovic had 19 points as Indiana won for the second time in five games. The Pacers rallied from a sluggish start to shoot 48.8 percent.
Atlanta has yet to win consecutive games this season and dropped to 7-24. The Hawks bench outscored Indiana’s 46-28, led by 18 points and nine rebounds from John Collins. Marco Belinelli added 13 points off the bench, and Kent Bazemore led Atlanta’s starters with 13.
Kings 104, Nets 99
NEW YORK— George Hill scored 22 points, Zach Randolph added 21 and the Sacramento Kings completed their first back-to-back sweep of the season by beating the Brooklyn Nets 104-99 on Wednesday night.
The Kings got off to a sizzling start following their victory in Philadelphia a night earlier, then held on after Brooklyn cut a 21-point lead to two with just over a minute to play.
Raptors 129, Hornets 111
CHARLOTTE, N.C.—DeMar DeRozan scored 18 of his 28 points after halftime and the Toronto Raptors overcame a slow start to beat the Charlotte Hornets 129-111 on Wednesday night for their fourth straight win.
Serge Ibaka scored 15 of his 24 points in the first half for Toronto, and OG Anunoby shot 6 of 7 from beyond the arc while scoring 20 points. Toronto has won 10 of 11 and is in third place in the Eastern Conference.
Heat 90, Celtics 89
BOSTON—Kelly Olynyk scored a career-high 32 points in his rousing return to Boston, and the undermanned Miami Heat hung on Wednesday for a 90-89 victory over the Celtics.
On a night when the Celtics honored their former forward in his first game back, the popular Olynyk received a standing ovation from Boston fans and led the Heat (16-15) to another win against the top team in the Eastern Conference. Josh Richardson had 19 points and six assists for Miami, which took two of three in the season series. The Heat ended Boston’s 16-game winning streak earlier this season with a victory at home.
Thunder 107, Jazz 79
OKLAHOMA CITY—Russell Westbrook had 24 points and 10 rebounds to help the Oklahoma City Thunder roll past the Utah Jazz 107-79 on Wednesday night.
Westbrook made 10 of 13 shots and had seven assists and four steals.