Virus outbreak idles San Antonio, Charlotte
Lakers win 1st game in Minnesota since ’15
The San Antonio Spurs are dealing with a coronavirus outbreak among four players, the NBA said Tuesday, meaning the team will not play until the middle of next week at the earliest.
Meanwhile, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms — whose city was picked to play host to the NBA All-Star Game and skills competitions on March 7 — raised major concerns about the notion of fans coming to the city for the events.
“People should not travel to Atlanta to party,” she said.
The NBA on Tuesday postponed five more games: the next three for the Spurs — at Cleveland on Wednesday, at New York on Saturday and at Indiana on Monday — as well as the next two for the Charlotte Hornets while contact tracing is completed.
The Hornets were scheduled to play host to Chicago on Wednesday and Denver on Friday. Their games are halted because they were the last team to play the Spurs, losing to them on Sunday. The league is reviewing data to see if any Hornets may have been exposed to someone who tested positive for COVID-19, a process that takes time.
Tuesday night
LAKERS 112, TIMBERWOLVES 104: In Minneapolis, LeBron James had 30 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists, and Dennis Schröder scored 24 points, helping Los Angeles pull away from Minnesota.
Montrezl Harrell pitched in 17 points for the Lakers, who stopped a seven-game losing streak at Minnesota with their first win at Target Center since March 25, 2015.
Minnesota rookie Anthony Edwards had a career-high 28 points plus seven rebounds and five assists. Karl-Anthony Towns scored a quiet 15 points for the Timberwolves, who were outscored 17-5 to start the fourth quarter after a spirited effort over the first three periods.
Edwards, the first overall pick in the draft, hit his fourth and fifth 3-pointers of the game to cut the lead to 105-100 with 3:28 to go. Edwards was called for a charging foul on James, knocking the four-time league MVP over and negating a runner in the lane with 2:57 left, and the Timberwolves never got any closer.
The Lakers played the first of what will be several games in a row without seven-time All-Star Anthony Davis, who was shelved with an injury to his Achilles tendon.
PELICANS 144, GRIZZLIES 113: In Memphis, Tenn., Zion Williamson scored 31 points while dominating inside, and New Orleans ended a three-game skid with a victory over Memphis.
Williamson, who was 13 of 16 from the field, added seven rebounds and six assists as the Pelicans finished with a season high in points. Josh Hart scored a season-high 27 points and Brandon Ingram had 22 for New Orleans.
Ja Morant scored 28 points on 12-of-16 shooting for Memphis. Kyle Anderson finished with 19 points and Dillon Brooks scored 18, going 4 of 6 from 3-point range.
The Pelicans won their fifth straight over the Grizzlies in the latest showdown between Williamson, the top overall pick in the 2019 draft, and Morant, who was taken second.
RAPTORS 123, BUCKS 113: In Milwaukee, Fred VanVleet scored 33 points, Pascal Siakam added 23 and Toronto withstood the loss of Kyle Lowry to beat slumping Milwaukee.
Lowry exited with a sore left ankle in the third quarter but had 18 points, six rebounds and six assists in 22 minutes. The ankle problem caused Lowry to go to the locker room late in the first half, though he returned to start the third quarter.
Milwaukee lost its fourth straight despite getting 34 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists from Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Bucks hadn’t dropped four in a row since the 2019 Eastern Conference finals against Toronto.
TRAIL BLAZERS 115, THUNDER 104:
In Oklahoma City, Damian Lillard scored 12 of his 31 points in the final 4:11 to help Portland beat Oklahoma City.
The Trail Blazers squandered a 24-point lead in the second half, then regained control behind Lillard, who made all four of his 3-point tries during the closing run while playing with five fouls.
Gary Trent Jr. scored 19 points and Enes Kanter had eight points and 21 rebounds for Portland.
CELTICS 112, NUGGETS 99: In Boston, Jaylen Brown had 27 points and eight assists to help Boston withstand a 43-point night from Nikola Jokic and beat Denver.
Jayson Tatum added 21 points and eight assists to help Boston bounce back following two anemic performances in back-to-back losses to Detroit and Washington — the Eastern Conference’s bottom two teams.
It was Jokic’s third 40-point game of the season.