THURSDAY’S GAMES
HOME team in caps.
ROCKETS 104, Trail Blazers 101 : Victor Oladipo scored 25 points and the Houston Rockets shook off a terrible first quarter and held on late to beat Portland. The Rockets were down by 20 points in the first quarter before using a big second to take the lead and hold on down the stretch for their fourth straight victory. A driving layup by Oladipo extended the lead to 101-98 with 26.2 seconds left.
PISTONS 107, Lakers 92 : Blake Griffin scored 23 points and the Detroit Pistons took advantage of Anthony Davis’ absence. LeBron James had 22 points and 10 assists, but only two of those points came after halftime. The defending champions have lost back-to-back games, the first losing streak of any kind for the Lakers since before last year’s playoffs. Davis was out with a right quad contusion.
Clippers 109, HEAT 105 : Actual ticketholders were back at a Miami Heat game for the first time since March. The Los Angeles Clippers had many of them deciding to leave early.
Nicolas Batum scored 18 points and the Clippers used a 20-2 run in the third quarter to help fuel what became a 109105 victory over the short-handed and reeling Heat. Lou Williams had 17 points for the Clippers.
Warriors at SUNS, late : Rookie center James Wiseman came off the Warriors’ bench to score a career-high 25 points and dazzled opposite Minnesota No. 1 pick Anthony Edwards in a matchup of last year’s top two draft selections, and Golden State swept a two-game home series against the Timberwolves with a 123-111 win Wednesday night. Edwards, who like Wiseman is just 19, also scored 25 points.