Career night by Rivers leads Clippers over Rockets
HOUSTON — Austin Rivers scored a careerhigh 36 points with six 3-pointers, and the short-handed Los Angeles Clippers withstood James Harden’s second straight 51-point performance to beat the Houston Rockets 128-118 on Friday night.
The Rockets, who had a 14-game winning streak snapped by the Lakers on Wednesday, lost consecutive games for just the second time this season and the first since Oct. 28 and 30.
Rivers made a 3-pointer with just under three minutes to play that pushed the lead to 117-111. Ryan Anderson made two free throws for Houston before C.J. Williams added a layup for the Clippers.
Former Rocket Lou Williams, who had 32 points off the bench, then made his fourth 3-pointer of the quarter after that to make it 122-113 before a turnover by Harden spurred coach Mike D’Antoni to call a timeout.
Rivers made another 3-pointer after the timeout and Harden made a layup before fouling out a few seconds later.
He received a technical for arguing about the call and was ejected from the game.
It was Harden’s third 50-point game this season. Andre Drummond had 18 points and 15 rebounds, and the Detroit Pistons rallied to beat the New York Knicks 104-101 Friday night. Tobias Harris scored 24 points for the Pistons, who won for the fourth time in five games. Reggie Jackson’s runner in the lane made it 101101 with 44 seconds left, and Ron Baker turned the ball over at the other end. Jackson then split a pair of free throws to give the Pistons a one-point lead with 23.7 seconds to go. Courtney Lee missed for New York, and after Stanley Johnson’s two free throws, Porzingis missed a desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer. DeMarcus Cousins had 26 points, 11 rebounds and six assists, and the New Orleans Pelicans never trailed in a win over the Orlando Magic. Anthony Davis added 20 points and 11 rebounds, and Jrue Holiday had 24 points for New Orleans. The loss was the seventh straight for the Magic, who have not led at any point in their last three games. Rondae Hollis-Jefferson had 21 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Brooklyn Nets to a victory over the Washington Wizards. Caris LeVert scored 17 points, while DeMarre Carroll, Spencer Dinwiddie and Nik Stauskas added 15 apiece to help the Nets snap a fourgame losing streak. Kelly Oubre Jr. had 13 points for the Wizards.
Khris Middleton scored 28 points, Giannis Antetokounmpo had 26 and the Milwaukee Bucks overcame a late deficit to beat the Charlotte Hornets. After Kemba Walker gave Charlotte a 104-100 lead with 2:24 remaining, Milwaukee closed on a 9-0 run. The Bucks tied it on dunks by Antetokounmpo and Middleton and took the lead on Eric Bledsoe’s layup. Bledsoe had 24 points and 10 assists in the first game of the home-andhome set.
Wayne Ellington tied a career high with 28 points, Josh Richardson scored 24 and the injury-ravaged Miami Heat never trailed on the way to beating the Dallas Mavericks. Tyler Johnson scored 19 and Bam Adebayo scored 14 for Miami, which shot 64 percent — secondbest in franchise history. The Heat started both halves with 12-0 runs and went 16 for 25 from 3-point range.