⏩ NBA: Oklahoma City tops Chicago in OT.
Shai GilgeousAlexander scored 33 points and dropped 10 assists to help host Oklahoma City beat the Chicago Bulls and former Thunder coach Billy Donovan 127125 in overtime Friday night.
Oklahoma City (66) rallied from 22 points down in the second half. Zach LaVine, who led the Bulls (48) with 35 points, could have won it in overtime but he missed a deep, offbalance 3pointer in the closing seconds.
Donovan knew all too well how good Oklahoma City can be under challenging circumstances. His Thunder team made a habit of rallying and winning close games last season on the way to a playoff berth.
“Those guys are great competitors when they’re down,” Donovan said. “I knew even being up 18 at the half that they were going to fight their way through and have some kind of momentum push there.”
Lu Dort scored 21 for the Thunder, who claimed their first home win in six tries this season.
Celtics 124, Magic 97: Jaylen Brown had 21 points and eight assists and host Boston rolled past Orlando in its return to action following a virus-related weeklong hiatus. Jeff Teague added 17 points to help Boston post its fifth straight victory.
Bucks 112, Mavericks 109: Khris Middleton made a couple of huge 3-pointers and host Milwaukee overcame poor free-throw shooting to snap Dallas’ four-game winning streak. The Bucks were 12-for-25 from the foul line but managed to win their fourth in a row.
Cavaliers 106, Knicks 103: Andre Drummond had 33 points and grabbed 23 rebounds in leading Cleveland to a home win over New York. Drummond posted the Cavaliers’ first 30-20 game since Carlos Boozer had 32 points and 20 rebounds against Seattle on Jan. 20, 2004.
Jazz 116, Hawks 92: Donovan Mitchell made six 3-pointers on his way to 26 points and Utah used a 21-0 second-half run to power past visiting Atlanta. Bojan Bogdanovic added 17 points to boost the Jazz to their fourth straight win.
Clippers 138, Kings 100: Kawhi Leonard had 27 points and six assists in three quarters, Paul George scored 26 and Los Angeles manhandled Sacramento on the road. The Clippers have won 15 consecutive road games against the Kings.
Lakers 112, Pelicans 95: LeBron James had 21 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds, and Anthony Davis added 17 points against his former team in host Los Angeles’ fifth consecutive victory.
Irving fined: The NBA fined Kyrie Irving $50,000 on Friday for violating its health and safety protocols, and said he could return to team activities Saturday — though he won’t play in the Nets’ game that night. The league added that he would forfeit his salary for each game he misses during a five-day quarantine period that would end Saturday if he continues to test negative for the coronavirus. He’s already missed two, which means he has lost nearly $900,000 of his $33.5 million salary. Irving has missed the past five games while away from the Nets for personal reasons.
Coronavirus: Another three NBA games were postponed Friday, including Minnesota’s home game against Memphis only a couple hours before game time, as the league’s struggle with increasing coronavirus numbers continued. Cleveland’s games at Washington on Sunday and Monday are off because the Wizards won’t have enough players. Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns, whose mother and six other relatives have died from COVID-19, said he has tested positive. The Wizards said that they have six players who are positive as well.