San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Thunder rally past Rockets
Paul George scored 45 points, Russell Westbrook matched the NBA record with his ninth straight triple-double and the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder overcame a 26-point deficit to beat the Houston Rockets 117-112 on Saturday night.
Westbrook had 21 points, 11 assists and 12 rebounds to match the record streak set by Wilt Chamberlain in 1968. Westbrook has 22 triple-doubles this season and 126 overall. He also had 10 turnovers and was 8-for-21 from the field.
James Harden led the Rockets with 42 points, reaching 30 points for the 29th straight game — two shy of Chamberlain for the second-longest streak in NBA history, but far behind Chamberlain’s record run of 65 games. Harden was 11-for-28 from the field, going 6-for-16 from 3-point range, and made 14 of 15 free throws.
The 26-point deficit was Oklahoma City’s largest of the season.
Westbrook gave the Thunder a one-point lead with a driving layup with 26.9 seconds remaining. On the following possession, Harden missed a 3-point attempt, and George got the rebound and was fouled with 3.4 seconds left. He made both free throws to put Oklahoma City up three. Houston turned it over on the following inbounds play.
Magic 103, Bucks 83: Jonathan Isaac scored 17 points and Nikola Vucevic and Terrence Ross each added 15 as visiting Orlando cruised past Milwaukee, which was playing without All-Star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (right knee soreness) and saw its six-game winning streak end.
Grizzlies 99, Pelicans 90: Joakim Noah had season highs of 19 points and 14 rebounds to lead Memphis to a victory over visiting New Orleans. C.J. Miles, playing his first game for the Grizzlies, added 13 points to help Memphis win for the third time in four games. Julius Randle led the Pelicans with 21 points, and Anthony Davis had 14 points and 16 rebounds.
Wizards 134, Bulls 125: Bradley Beal scored 31 points to help visiting Washington beat Chicago in the first meeting between the teams since they swapped three forwards in a trade. The Wizards got Jabari Parker, Bobby Portis and a 2023 second-round pick from the Bulls for Otto Porter Jr. Parker scored 20 points and Portis had 10 points and 12 rebounds against their former team.
Raptors 104, Knicks 99: Marc Gasol had seven points and six rebounds in his Toronto debut and the Raptors sent host New York to its 16th straight loss. Acquired from Memphis, Gasol played 19 minutes. He entered late in the first quarter and made a hook shot on his first try. Kyle Lowry scored 22 points and Serge Ibaka added 15 points and 13 rebounds for the Raptors.
Hornets 129, Hawks 120: Kemba Walker hit nine 3-pointers and scored 37 points, Marvin Williams added 27 points and visiting Charlotte beat Atlanta to snap a two-game skid.
Pacers 105, Cavaliers 90: Bojan Bogdanovic scored 23 points and host Indiana extended its winning streak to five games with a victory over Cleveland.
Jazz 125, Spurs 105: Donovan Mitchell scored 23 points, Rudy Gobert had 21 points and 13 rebounds and visiting Utah beat San Antonio. Royce O’Neale tied his season high with 17 points and made all four of his 3-point attempts. Ricky Rubio tallied 16 points, six rebounds and six assists. DeMar DeRozan scored 23 points and LaMarcus Aldridge had 15 for the Spurs, who have lost four in a row.