NBA-best Jazz fall to Wizards
Bradley Beal scored 43 points, Russell Westbrook had 35 points, 15 rebounds and 13 assists in his 13th triple-double of the season and the Washington Wizards beat the Utah Jazz 131-122 on Thursday night.
Washington broke a five-game losing streak overall and a nine-game skid against Utah.
Donovan Mitchell equaled a season high with 42 points for the Jazz, who at 29-11 still have the NBA’s best record but have lost four of six in March.
“We’re playing against the best team in basketball,” Washington coach Scott Brooks said. “Our antennas were up. We’ve got to do that every night.”
Utah’s Joe Ingles added a career-high 34 points, including eight 3-pointers.
It was Beal’s fifth 40-point game of the season. Westbrook’s 15 rebounds equaled a season high.
“We guarded for 48 minutes,” Beal said. “We just did a good job of making them uncomfortable. We executed on the offensive end. We made sure everyone was involved, but it was definitely the defense that won us the game.”
Washington scored 13 straight to take a 23-12 lead with 5:02 to play in the first quarter. The Wizards increased their lead to 64-40 just before halftime, and the Jazz got no closer than 112-105 with 6:20 to play.
“The urgency that we have on defense needs to improve,” Utah coach Quin Snyder said.
Washington had 24 points off 17 Jazz turnovers.
“I think teams are just playing more physical,” Mitchell said. “I think they just wanted it more.”
The Wizards lost a two-point game to Sacramento on Wednesday night.
“They played a tough game last night, but you couldn’t tell by the way they played,” Mitchell said.
Knicks 94, Magic 93 — Julius Randle recorded his third triple-double of the season with 18 points, 17 assists and 10 rebounds to lead the New York Knicks to a victory over the Orlando Magic.
Evan Fournier scored 23 points but Reggie Bullock stole his pass on Orlando’s final possession as the Magic dropped their ninth straight.
New York had lost consecutive games to Brooklyn and Philadelphia, the top teams in the Eastern Conference, and four out of its last six overall.
Randle has nine triple-doubles in his seven-year NBA career and became the first Knicks player with three or more in a season since Micheal Ray Richardson had seven in 1981-82.
Alec Burks scored 21 points for the Knicks, who improved to 21-21.
Hawks 116, Thunder 93 — Trae Young and Bogdan Bogdanovic each scored 23 points and Atlanta won its seventh straight, beating Oklahoma City.
The Hawks have put together the streak since Nate McMillan took charge as interim coach and have won seven in a row for the first time since 2016-17.
John Collins finished with 15 points for Atlanta, which outrebounded the Thunder 47-36 and shot 54.8% from the field, 17.7% better than Oklahoma City.
Gilgeous-Alexander had 19 points as he found his shooting touch in the second half.