Thunder roll past Rockets, even without Westbrook
Paul George scored 20 points and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Houston Rockets 98- 80 on Thursday night without point guard Russell Westbrook for their seventh straight victory.
Westbrook missed his second consecutive game with a sprained left ankle. George also had 11 rebounds, six assists and six steals. The Thunder were 0- 4 before the streak.
Steven Adams had 19 points and 10 rebounds, and Terrance Ferguson and Dennis Schroder each added 14 points. James Harden scored 19 points, but made just 7 of 19 shots for the Rockets. Clint Capela added 17 points for Houston. The Rockets had won three in a row.
Houston’s Carmelo Anthony, who played for the Thunder last season and was traded this summer, scored two points on 1-for11 shooting. Chris Paul added 10 points.
CELTICS 116, SUNS 109, OT »
Kyrie Irving scored 18 of his season-high 39 points in the fourth quarter and overtime, and Boston overcame a 22-point deficit to beat Phoenix.
Irving scored Boston’s first six points in the extra period, and Marcus Morris finished with 17 against his former team — including the tying 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds left in regulation.
Devin Booker led the Suns with a season-high 38 points, and T. J. Warren had 29.
Portland had struggled all night to separate from the Clippers, but pulled in front 93- 83 on Zach Collins’ dunk with 9:42 left. Another dunk by Collins put the Blazers up 100-90 with 6:10 to go.
The Clippers closed to 107-101 on Gallinari’s jumper, but Jusuf Nurkic answered for Portland with a layup and Los Angeles could not get any closer down the stretch.
TRAIL BLAZERS 116, CLIPPERS 105 »
Damian Lillard had 25 points as Portland won its third straight. CJ McCollum added 23 points for Portland, which has won six of seven.
Danilo Gallinari and Lou Williams each scored 20 for the Clippers. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had a career-high 19.
REPORT: CAVS’ HILL OUT TWO WEEKS WITH INJURY »
A person familiar with the situation says Cavaliers starting point guard George Hill will miss at least two weeks with a shoulder injury.
Hill has a sprained shoulder, said the person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because Cleveland has not yet provided an update on the veteran guard’s condition. Hill was kept out of Wednesday’s loss to Oklahoma City because of soreness.
ESPN was first to report Hill’s injury.
Hill’s setback is another shot to the Cavs, who are an NBA-worst 1-10 and will be without All- Star forward Kevin Love for another five weeks — and possibly longer.
While Hill is out, rookie Collin Sexton will likely stay in the starting lineup. The No. 8 overall pick made his first start against the Thunder and finished with a season- high 15 points, two rebounds and an assist in 42 minutes.