Clippers use 22-0 run to beat Nets
LOS ANGELES >> Kawhi Leonard scored 14 of his 21 points in the final five minutes and the Los Angeles Clippers overcame an 18-point deficit in the fourth quarter to beat the Brooklyn Nets 125-114 on Sunday.
The Clippers took their first lead on Leonard’s basket with 2:50 remaining. They closed with a 22-0 run, capped by Leonard’s 3-pointer from the corner, to win for the 10th time in 12 games.
James Harden led the Clippers with 24 points and 10 assists. Russell Westbrook added 23 points off the bench.
Mikal Bridges scored 20 of his 26 points in the first half for Brooklyn. The Nets were coming off an 18-point victory over the Lakers on Friday night.
Down 18 points, the Clippers closed the game on a 39-10 run.
CELTICS 116, ROCKETS 107
Kristaps Porzingis scored 32 points and Nbaleading Boston beat shorthanded
teams play him one-onone,” Michael Porter Jr. said. “Because we know we can score every time.”
The Wizards (7-35) couldn’t get out of their own way when Denver was allowing them to stay close.
They committed 10 turnovers in the first half, leading to 12 Nuggets points. With 13 seconds left before the break, Jordan Poole picked up his third foul for sneakily shoving Kentavious Caldwell-pope out of bounds after Caldwellpope jumped a passing lane for one of his three steals.
But every time the Nuggets (30-14) seemed to put them out of reach, the Wizards lingered. Denver opened up a 16-point lead early in the second half; Washington responded with a 9-2 run to get back within single digits. Porter and Caldwell-pope hit consecutive 3s in the fourth to extend the advantage to 109-92; Washington scored the next Houston.
The Celtics improved to 33-10, rebounding from their first home loss of the season Friday night against Denver. Boston is 20-1 at home and 13-9 on the road.
Porzingis was 11 of 20 from the field and 6 of 11 from 3-point range. Derrick White had 21 points and 12 rebounds, and Jayson Tatum scored 18 points. Dillon Brooks led Houston with 25 points.
MAGIC 105, HEAT 87
Paolo Banchero scored 20 points and Orlando handed Miami its straight loss,
Wendell Carter Jr. added 17 points and nine rebounds and Franz Wagner, back in the lineup after
eight.
Porter finished the night with 19 points, six rebounds and two blocks in an impressive showing that helped cancel out a less efficient Jamal Murray game (19 points, 23 shot attempts) than what he pulled off in Boston.
Zeke Nnaji was Malone’s backup center in Denver’s first sequence of substitutions, but he collected three fouls in 5:05, planting him back on the bench. Deandre Jordan played Jokic’s rest minutes in the second half.
Nnaji has only played seven or more minutes in two of the Nuggets’ last 13 games.
Against teams with losing records — excluding Houston, a team that was high in the standings for all four matchups with Denver — the Nuggets are now 18-0 this season.
“If you want to be a really good team, you have to win the games you’re supposed to win,” Malone said. “And we never play records. We don’t go into missing eight games because of a sprained ankle, also had 19 points.
Bam Adebayo led Miami with 22 points and 11 rebounds.suns 117, Pacers 110
Kevin Durant scored 40 points, Devin Booker had 26 and the Phoenix Suns beat the Indiana Pacers for their fifth straight victory.
Bradley Beal added 25 points on 11-of-16 shooting for Phoenix.
Indiana has lost four of five. Buddy Hield led the Pacers with 18 points, and Pascal Siakam — acquired this week from Toronto — had 15 points and seven assists. All-star guard Tyrese Haliburton sat out for the sixth time in seven games because of a left hamstring strain. a team meeting and say, ‘They’re seven and whatever.’ We talk about Kyle Kuzma and Jordan Poole. … But the fact that we’ve won the large majority of the games against teams below .500 speaks to understanding who we are and what we’re trying to accomplish. That’s what happens when you’re the reigning world champs. You have to be up for those games.”