Rockets win 10th straight
HOUSTON—James Harden had 28 points, nine rebounds and nine assists, and the Houston Rockets held on for their 10th straight victory, 100-91 over the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night.
The Rockets are 44-13 entering the All-Star break after winning 17 of their last 19 games.
Houston led by as many as 17, but the Kings got within striking distance several times in the fourth quarter. They were within six late when Houston used a 7-2 run, capped by a 3-pointer from Harden, to make it 94-83 with just more than a minute left.
The Kings scored the next five points, with a 3-pointer from Garrett Temple, to cut it to six again with 30 seconds left. Joe Johnson, in his Houston debut, added two free throws before Bogdan Bogdanovic hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 96-91 with about 25 seconds left.
Chris Paul added 19 points and seven assists for Houston. Bogdanovic led the Kings with 20 points.
CLIPPERS 129, CELTICS 119
BOSTON—DeAndre Jordan had 30 points and 13 rebounds and Los Angeles beat Boston for its fourth victory in five games.
Tobias Harris added 21 points, Danilo Gallinari had 20, and Lou Williams 19.
Kyrie Irving led Boston with 33 points and eight assists. Al Horford had 20 points, and Marcus Morris added 13 points and 11 rebounds. The Celtics lost for the fourth time in five games, a stretch that has seen them fall behind Toronto for the best record in the Eastern Conference.
PISTONS 104, HAWKS 98
DETROIT—Ish Smith had 22 points and nine assists, Blake Griffin narrowly missed a tripleand the Detroit Pistons ended a three-game losing streak by beating the Atlanta Hawks 10498 on Wednesday night.
Griffin finished with 13 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists, while Andre Drummond added 13 points and 15 rebounds for Detroit, which had seven players in double figures.
Andrew White III had 15 points for the Hawks in his NBA debut, while John Collins had 11 points and 10 rebounds.
The Hawks, who beat the Pistons 118-115 on Sunday, were missing three key players, including leading scorers Dennis Schroder (lower back) and Kent Bazemore (rest). Former Piston Ersan Ilyasova (shoulder) also sat out.
Detroit led by 12 points at the half, then started the third quarter with its second 17-2 run of the game. That put the Pistons ahead by 25, and the margin was 30 before the Hawks finally broke 40 points with 5:20 left in the third.
Detroit still led 82-61 at quarter’s end, but Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy called a timeout after the Hawks cut the margin to 89-74 with 6:58 to play. Atlanta got the lead to single figures, 94-86, with 2:58 left, forcing another timeout. The Pistons fouled two 3-point shots in the final minute along with allowing a three-point play, much to Van Gundy’s disgust.
That made it 100-96 with 10 seconds to play, but Smith hit two free throws to clinch the game.
The undermanned Hawks got off to a quick lead, but Detroit finished the first quarter on a 17-2 run to lead 22-14. The offenses continued to struggle in the second, with the Pistons outscoring Atlanta 23-19 to take a 45-33 lead at the half.
Detroit shot 38 percent in the half, led by 12 points from Smith, and held Atlanta to 33.3 percent. Dewayne Dedmon led the Hawks with eight points and seven rebounds in the half, but didn’t have a basket or a rebound in 11 second-half minutes.
76ers 104, Heat 102
PHILADELPHIA—Ben Simmons had a triple-double, J.J. Redick hit a crucial 19-foot, off-balanced jumper from the baseline with 19.4 seconds left and the short-handed Philadelphia 76ers came back from a 24-point second-half deficit to defeat the Miami Heat 104-102 on Wednesday night.
Dario Saric added 19 points and Marco Belinelli scored 17 in his first game with the 76ers, who won their fifth straight and 11th in a row on their home court.
Philadelphia played without AllStar center Joel Embiid, who sat because of soreness in his right ankle. Scheduled to start for the Eastern Conference in the All-Star game this weekend, Embiid is averaging 23.7 points, 11.1 rebounds and 1.8 blocks.
The 76ers began play in seventh place in the Eastern Conference, 1½ games ahead of the eighth-placed Heat.
James Johnson had 22 points and Goran Dragic added 18 for the Heat, who have lost seven of eight. Hassan Whiteside added a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds for Miami.
The Heat looked like they were going to coast to a victory when Luke Babbitt made a corner 3-pointer to make it 68-44 2:49 into the third quarter. But the 76ers outscored Miami 29-13 the rest of the third period and closed within 84-82 with 8:44 left in the fourth when Belinelli opened the period with three consecutive 3-pointers.
Philadelphia surged into the lead on Simmons’ alley-oop finish after Redick’s pass that made it 92-90 with 5:14 to play and the 76ers took their biggest lead on Belinelli’s layup that put them up 100-94 with 2:25 left. Simmons finished with 18 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists.
Redick’s off-balance jumper made it 102-99 with 19.4 seconds left. Wayne Ellington’s tying attempt with 15 seconds remaining missed, and Philadelphia looked like it had the game won when Robert Covington made a pair of free throws with 13.1 ticks left.
But Tyler Johnson hit a 3 with 4.1 remaining to pull the Heat within 104-102, and then the 76ers turned it over on their next possession.
Dwyane Wade had a chance to win it at the buzzer, but his 3-point attempt rimmed out.
HORNETS 104, MAGIC 102
ORLANDO, Fla.—Dwight Howard had 22 points and 13 rebounds, and the Charlotte Hornets stopped a four-game slide by topping the Orlando Magic 104- 102 on Wednesday night.
Kemba Walker had 20 points for Charlotte on 6-for-19 shooting. Nicolas Batum added 14 points and seven assists in the Hornets’ 10th straight win against the Magic.
Mario Hezonja led Orlando with 21 points and 10 rebounds, but the Magic lost their third straight going into the All-Star break. D.J. Augustin and Marreese Speights had 16 points and Bismack Biyombo finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Orlando led 97-96 before Walker hit a 3-pointer with 1:12 to play. Batum hit another 3-pointer with 11 seconds left to stretch Charlotte’s lead to 102-97.
The teams traded free throws and Speights hit his fourth 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded.
Howard went 9 for 16 from the field and 4 for 6 at the free-throw line. He scored 10 straight Hornets points in the middle of the third quarter, and didn’t get another basket until the three-minute mark of the fourth.
Walker followed Howard’s spurt with five straight, but didn’t get his next basket until his 3-pointer put Charlotte ahead in the final minute.
Orlando had similar issues. Hezonja had a nice run of eight points late in the third period, but all that did was keep the Magic close. He made only one basket in the fourth quarter.
Orlando trailed by nine early in the fourth before making three straight 3-pointers. Aaron Afflalo made the last two of the 3s, but then missed his next three shots and went to the bench.
PELICANS 139, LAKERS 117
NEW ORLEANS—Anthony Davis had 42 points and 15 rebounds in New Orleans’ victory over Los Angeles.
Davis went 15 for 18 from the field and had three assists, three steals and two blocks. Jrue Holiday had 24 points and 11 assists, and reserve Darius Miller scored 19 points.
It was the highest scoring game of the season for New Orleans, which has won three in a row heading into the All-Star break. Kyle Kuzma scored 23 points for Los Angeles.
HORNETS 104, MAGIC 102
ORLANDO, Fla.—Dwight Howard had 22 points and 13 rebounds, Kemba Walker added 20 points and Charlotte edged Orlando to stop a four-game slide.
Mario Hezonja led Orlando with 21 points and 10 rebounds.