Jokic leads Nuggets past the Cavaliers
Nikola Jokic had 24 points, 18 rebounds and 13 assists for his latest triple-double and Michael Porter Jr. scored 25 points, leading the Denver Nuggets past the host Cleveland Cavaliers 115-109 on Thursday night.
Jokic’s 13th triple-double in 16 games and his NBAleading 22nd this season helped the Nuggets come out of the All-Star break with an impressive road win over the Cavs, who dropped to 25-7 at home. The Nuggets improved to 22-0 when Jokic gets a triple-double.
Evan Mobley scored 31 points for Cleveland. CELTICS 142, PACERS 138 (OT) » Jayson Tatum scored 31 points, including the final four in overtime, for visiting Boston. Jaylen Brown added 30 points as the Celtics improved the NBA’s best record to 43-17. Myles Turner tied his career high with 40 points for Indiana. He made a career-best eight 3-pointers as the Pacers shot 22 of 49 overall on 3s.
76ERS 110, GRIZZLIES 105 » Tobias Harris sank the goahead 3-pointer with 39 seconds left, James Harden scored 31 points and Joel Embiid had 27 points (on 7 of 25 shooting) and 19 rebounds to help host Philadelphia rally as Memphis led by nine with under six minutes to play. Desmond Bane scored 25 points for the Grizzlies. RAPTORS 115, PELICANS 110 » Pascal Siakam scored 26 points and Jakob Poeltl had 21 points and 18 rebounds for host Toronto. Gary Trent Jr. and Scottie Barnes scored 18 apiece for the Raptors. Brandon Ingram scored 14 of his 36 points in the fourth for New Orleans and CJ McCollum finished with 23.
MAGIC 108, PISTONS 106 » Wendell Carter Jr. tipped in Paolo Banchero’s missed layup at the buzzer to give host Orlando the victory. Franz Wagner led the Magic with 21 points, and Carter finished with 14 points and 14 rebounds. Jaden Ivey led Detroit with 25 points. MAVERICKS 142, SPURS 116 » Luka Doncic scored 28 points, Kyrie Irving added 23 and the All-Star pair won for the first time together in Dallas, leading the host Mavericks past woeful San Antonio. Malaki Branham led San Antonio with 23 points.
JAZZ 120, THUNDER 119 (OT) » Lauri Markkanen hit three free throws with 4.6 seconds left in overtime to give host Utah the lead and finished with 43 points and 10 rebounds. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 39 points and missed a potential game-winning jumper at the overtime buzzer for the Thunder. KINGS 133, TRAIL BLAZERS 116 » De’Aaron Fox scored 31 points and Domantas Sabonis had his seventh tripledouble for host Sacramento. Sabonis had 18 points, 18 rebounds and 10 assists. Nassir Little scored 26 points for Portland, which rested Damian Lillard.
LOS ANGELES » The baby blue Minneapolis Lakers throwbacks seem more and more appropriate these days.
The Lakers haven’t called Minnesota home for 60 years, but three members of their starting lineup — D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt — were all recent members of the Timberwolves. And to hear coach Darvin Ham tell it, they’re going to remain starters for the foreseeable future.
The Lakers have used an NBA-high 30 different starting lineups in 60 games this season, no more than eight games for any one group. But post-trade deadline, Ham wants to give his team the kind of continuity that they haven’t been afforded at any other time.
“When you go into a game, you know what slot