Suns feel relief after missed heave
SUNS 116, SIXERS 113
PHILADELPHIA — Joel Embiid grabbed a two-handed rebound, turned and heaved an 85-foot, right-handed strike with a throw ripped from Bryce Harper’s playbook that banked off the glass and rattled off the front and back of the rim and out.
The Philadelphia center was flat on his back in disbelief over the near-make that would have sent the game to overtime.
“It would have made for a long flight, long night and not a lot of sleep,” Phoenix Suns Coach Monty Williams said. Rest easy, Phoenix. Chris Paul, Devin Booker, Mikal Bridges and the Suns walked off winners on the road for the second time this week against one of the top teams in the East. Paul scored 28 points, Booker had 19 and Bridges 18 to lead the Phoenix Suns to a 116-113 victory over Philadelphia on Wednesday night.
Embiid had 38 points, 17 rebounds and one oh-so close shot.
“When I threw it, it looked good,” Embiid said.
Paul, a 93% free-throw shooter, missed one from the line that would have sealed the win instead of giving Embiid a glimmer of highlight-reel hope.
“If you’re up three, I always want to make the free throw to go up four,” Paul said. “That shot was in-and-out. I ain’t never seen anything like it.”
Neither had the rest of the Suns.
“That was a heck of a display of a throw right there,” Suns forward Cameron Johnson said.
Said Bridges: “I don’t know how I would have reacted. That was crazy.”
The Suns improved their NBA-best road record to 19-7 and are second overall at 4216 — 11/2 games behind Utah for the league lead.
The Sixers again played without starters Ben Simmons (unspecified illness) and Tobias Harris (right knee). Simmons missed his second consecutive game and Harris his third. Seth Curry also missed the game with a left hip flexor.
The Sixers would certainly like all three back in time for this week’s two-game set in Milwaukee. Shake Milton, Furkan Korkmaz, and Matisse Thybulle joined Embiid and Danny Green (18 points) in the lineup.
“I know we got a lot of guys out, but we still want to win the game,” 76ers Coach Doc Rivers said.
CLIPPERS 117, GRIZZLIES 105
LOS ANGELES — Luke Kennard scored a season-high 28 points and short-handed Los Angeles rallied from an 18-point, first-quarter deficit to beat Memphis. Marcus Morris added 25 points and
Terance Mann had 19 points in helping the Clippers win their third in a row and
10th in 11 games despite being without starters Kawhi Leonard (sore foot), Paul
George and Reggie Jackson, who both rested.
Ja Morant led Memphis with 22 points.
Jaren Jackson made his season debut for the Grizzlies with 15 points and
8 rebounds to go with 5 fouls off the bench. He’d been out since August after having surgery on his left meniscus and missing the first 56 games.
NUGGETS 106, TRAIL BLAZERS 105
PORTLAND, Ore. — Nikola Jokic scored 25 points and made three key free throws down the stretch to give Denver a victory over Portland.
Michael Porter Jr. added 17 points, all in the opening quarter, and the Nuggets won their fourth in a row.
Damian Lillard scored 22 points for Portland. The Trail Blazers lost their third in a row.
RAPTORS 114, NETS 103
TAMPA, Fla. — Pascal Siakam had 27 points and 9 rebounds, OG Anunoby scored 25 points and Toronto seized control in the third quarter in a victory over Brooklyn, extending the Raptors’ winning streak to four games.
Kyrie Irving had 28 points, 11 rebounds and 8 assists for the Nets, and Bruce Brown added 21 points and 14 rebounds.
Toronto made 13 of 24 shots (54%) and outscored the Nets 36-23 in the third quarter.
CAVALIERS 121, BULLS 105
CLEVELAND — Collin Sexton scored 30 points and Darius Garland added 25 as Cleveland never trailed in a victory over Chicago, snapping a five-game home losing streak.
Kevin Love added 15 points and nine rebounds for Cleveland, which built its largest lead of the season at 94-61 in the third quarter on its way to its first victory at home in a month.
Lauri Markkanen scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half and Thaddeus Young had 14 points and 8 rebounds for Chicago. The Bulls entered the night tied with Washington for the final play-in tournament spot in the East, while the Cavaliers were four games back.
Chicago pulled within 112-97 on a Denzel Valentine layup with 5:33 remaining, but Cleveland scored the next five points to end the threat. Larry Nance Jr. and Isaiah Hartenstein finished with 10 points apiece for the Cavaliers, who forced 20 turnovers and scored 23 points off them.
WIZARDS 118, WARRIORS 114
WASHINGTON — Stephen Curry had his first rough night for Golden State in a month, and Bradley Beal rallied Washington in the fourth quarter for its season-best sixth consecutive victory.
Coming off a historic 11-game stretch in which he made 78 three-pointers and surpassed Beal as the NBA’s scoring leader, Curry scored 18 points on 7-of-25 shooting, including 2 of 14 on three-pointers.
Beal scored 29 points in the Wizards’ first home game with fans in more than a year.
Former Wizard Kelly Oubre Jr. led Golden State with 24 points.
HEAT 107, SPURS 87
SAN ANTONIO — Bam Adebayo scored 23 points while Jimmy Butler had 18 points and 11 assists to help Miami beat San Antonio for its third consecutive victory.
Tyler Herro added 22 points for Miami, which has won nine of 13.
San Antonio was led by DeMar DeRozan with 15 points. Derrick White added 13 points, Dejounte Murray had 11 and no other player scored more than 10 points for the Spurs, who have lost five in a row at home.
KNICKS 137, HAWKS 127 (OT)
NEW YORK — Julius Randle had 40 points and 10 rebounds to lead New York to an overtime victory over Atlanta.
Randle’s driving layup with eight seconds left in regulation gave New York a 122-119 lead, but Bogdan Bogdanovic hit a three-pointer with 6.2 seconds left to send the game into overtime.
The Knicks scored the first 10 points of the extra session and won their eighth consecutive game.
Derrick Rose and Immanuel Quickley each scored 20 points for New York. Reggie Bullock added 18 and R.J Barrett 16. Nerlens Noel had 12 rebounds.
Trae Young had 20 points and 14 assists for the Hawks, but left the game with 1:13 remaining in the third quarter after suffering an ankle injury. He did not return.
Chris Capela had 25 points and 22 rebounds for Atlanta. Bogdanovic scored 20 points. John Collins finished with 18 and Kevin Huerta 17.
PACERS 122, THUNDER 116
INDIANAPOLIS — Malcolm Brogdon had 29 points, 15 rebounds and 7 assists, and Caris LeVert scored 28 points as short-handed Indiana beat Oklahoma City.
Indiana snapped a three-game losing streak despite playing without anyone taller than 6-7. Indiana was missing three starters — two-time All-Star forward Domantas Sabonis, center Myles Turner and forward T.J. Warren — and four backups.
Darius Bazley matched his career-high with 26 points for Oklahoma City. The Thunder have lost 12 in a row.
MAVERICKS 127, PISTONS 117
DALLAS — Luka Doncic had 30 points and 10 rebounds, Kristaps Porzingis added 19 points and 7 boards and Dallas beat Detroit to stop a four-game home losing streak.
Jalen Brunson scored 18 of his 20 points in the first half of a game that was supposed to be played Feb. 17 but was postponed because of severe winter weather in Texas.
Jerami Grant scored 26 points and Cory Joseph added 23 for the Pistons, who haven’t beaten a team with a winning record since a 108-102 win at Boston on Feb. 12. Mason Plumlee had 13 points and 16 rebounds.
KINGS 128, TIMBERWOLVES 125
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Buddy Hield scored 29 points, including a three-pointer with 8.8 seconds remaining, lifting Sacramento to a victory over Minnesota.
Moments after Minnesota’s D’Angelo Russell missed from above the arc, Hield came back the other way and hit his seventh three-pointer of the game to help Sacramento avoid being swept in the three-game season series with the Timberwolves.
De’Aaron Fox had 30 points, 7 assists and 5 rebounds for the Kings. Harrison Barnes added 22 points and seven assists.
JAZZ 112, ROCKETS 89
HOUSTON — Jordan Clarkson scored 22 points, Joe Ingles had 21 and NBA-leading Utah beat Houston.
The Jazz have won four of their last five games.
Rudy Gobert had 19 points, 18 rebounds and 2 blocks for Utah, Mike Conley had 11 points and 13 assists, Bojan Bogdanovic scored 14 points and Georges Niang added 13.
John Wall led Houston with 21 points and six assists. Christian Wood had 16 points and 8 rebounds, and Kelly Olynyk had 10 points.