■ CHICAGO BULLS BEAT DALLAS MAVERICKS, 127-124
Kriss Dunn scores careerhigh 32 points in Chicago’s three-point win on the road
Chicago Bulls held off a frantic Dallas rally in a 127-124 victory over the Mavericks on Friday night. Dallas actually had a shot to tie, but Yogi Ferrell’s 3-pointer at the buzzer was short. →
Kris Dunn scored a career-high 32 points, Justin Holiday added 23 and the Chicago Bulls held off a frantic Dallas rally in a 127-124 victory over the Mavericks on Friday night.
Rookie Lauri Markkanen had 16 with an emphatic follow-up dunk during a surge that put the Bulls up 10 with 1:08 to play.
The Mavericks slowly trimmed the deficit with full-court pressure and fouls in the final minute. Dallas actually had a shot to tie, but Yogi Ferrell’s 3-pointer at the buzzer was short. The teams combined for 35 points in the final 68 seconds.
Wesley Matthews led Dallas with 24 points and Harrison Barnes had 23 in a fitting matchup of teams having nearly identical seasons — miserable starts followed by respectable recoveries that pulled each out of last place in its conference.
76ERS 114, PISTONS 78
In Philadelphia, Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid sparked Philadelphia to a mammoth lead in a romp over Detroit.
Embiid had 23 points and nine rebounds. Simmons had 19 points and nine assists to lead the Sixers to their fourth straight win, which moved them back to .500.
With 2 minutes left in the first half, Embiid and Simmons had combined for 26 points on 12-of19 shooting. The Pistons had 26 points on 11-of-38 shooting.
The 76ers have a bad habit of blowing double-digit leads that crushed their push toward a more respectable spot in the standings. They wasted an 18-point lead in a loss to Portland. The Sixers turned a 22-point edge into a loss against Toronto. And they led by 16 points before Sacramento beat them.
The Sixers opened the game on a 15-2 run and, unlike their December collapses, they never let this one get close. They led 97-61 through three. /
When you have a 10-point lead with about a minute to go, you’ve got to find a way to get a couple of stops... But it’s a really good win coming down here against a team that’s been really hot, rolling. FRED HOIBERG, Chicago coach