Rockets send Mavs to another loss; Hawks continue winning streak
HOUSTON: Houston beat Dallas 99-94 on Wednesday to inflict a fourthstraight defeat on the Mavericks and widen the gap between the Rockets and their Texan rivals in the NBA Southwest Division.
The Rockets closed within 1-1/2 games of Southwest leader Memphis, and also moved 2-1/2 clear of Dallas and another state rival in San Antonio.
Elsewhere, Cleveland extended its winning streak to eight even in the absence of LeBron James as they beat Portland, Phoenix held on to beat Washington and Atlanta pushed its winning run out to 17 games by defeating Brooklyn.
Houston had a balanced scoring effort led by 18 points from Josh Smith and 17 from James Harden, compensating for the absence of the injured Dwight Howard.
The game remained up for grabs into the closing seconds. Houston’s Terrence Jones blocked a shot by Monta Ellis but knocked it out of bounds in the closing moments, giving Dallas a final chance. The inbounds pass by Chandler Parsons sailed out of bounds to give Houston the ball. Harden made two free throws after that to secure the win.
Ellis led the Mavericks with 33 points.
Cleveland’s Kyrie Irving scored a career-high 55 points, breaking the arena record, to lead the Cavaliers to a 99-94 win against Portand.
Irving took over with James sidelined with a sprained right wrist. He buried a 3-pointer with 6.4 seconds left to break a 94-94 tie, and then sank two free throws with 2.1 seconds remaining to seal the win.
Irving broke the previous scoring record at Quicken Loans Arena held by Allen Iverson. His point total was also the highest in the league this season, bettering the 52 scored by Golden State’s Klay Thompson and Minnesota’s Mo Williams. Irving made a teamrecord 11 3-pointers and finished 10 of 10 from the free-throw line.
LaMarcus Aldridge, playing his second game since deciding to delay thumb surgery until after the season, scored 38 to lead the Trail Blazers, who have dropped six of seven.
Phoenix had five players in double figures to beat Washington 106-98.
Goran Dragic scored 20 points to lead the Suns, who improved to 5-2 with one game remaining in an unprecedented run of eight-straight home games.
The Wizards, playing their fourth game in five nights, trailed by 22 in the first half and 18 early in the fourth quarter before twice cutting it to four.
Otto Porter and Marcin Gortat scored 14 each for Washington.