Jokic outduels Doncic, hits winner as Nuggets top Mavericks

Nikola Jokic scored 26 of his 33 points in the second half, including the winning basket with 7.9 seconds left, and the Denver Nuggets pulled out a 107-106 road win over the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night.

Luka Doncic led Dallas with 27 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds.

The Mavericks played their fifth straight game without Kristaps Porzingis (right knee soreness), who is second on the team in scoring and rebounding.

ROCKETS HOLD OFF HAWKS >> James Harden scored 41 points, including 22 in the first quarter, to lead the Houston Rockets over Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks 122-115 in Atlanta. Harden had 10 assists and 10 rebounds for his second straight triple-double.

Young had 42 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists.

DEROZAN SCORES 30 AS SPURS BEAT CELTICS >> DeMar DeRozan scored 30 points to lead San Antonio to a 129-114 road victory over the Boston Celtics, when the Spurs scored 22 of the game’s first 25 points.

Kemba Walker returned after missing three games with the flu and was ejected with back-to-back technical fouls when he argued a noncall in the third quarter.

HAWKS’ YOUNG CANCELS

MEDICAL DEBT FOR ATLANTA RESIDENTS >> The holiday season is over but Atlanta Hawks point guard Trae Young still had some charity gift giving in mind: wiping out medical debt for hundreds of the city’s residents.

The 21-year-old star donated $10,000 to a medical debt erasure agency which relieved over $1 million in debt for those residents, news outlets reported.

Through the Trae Young Foundation, Young donated the money to RIP Medical Debt, an organization that buys and forgives medical debt in the United States, according to a news release. KNICKS’ PORTIS FINED $25K FOR RECKLESS PLAY >> New York Knicks forward Bobby Portis was fined $25,000 for an incident during Tuesday’s game against the Los

Angeles Lakers. The league disciplined Portis for “recklessly making contact above the shoulders of an airborne shooter.”

Kentavious CaldwellPope was driving for a layup in the second quarter when Portis swung his right arm into the head of the Lakers’ guard.

Portis received a flagrant 2 foul and was ejected from the game with 8:02 left in the quarter.

MAGIC’S AMINU HAS KNEE SURGERY >> Orlando Magic forward Al-Farouq Aminu will be re-evaluated in approximately 12 weeks after undergoing surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee, the team announced. He sustained the injury on Nov. 29 against Toronto and missed the past 19 games for the Magic. OLADIPO PLANNING RETURN IN LATE JANUARY >> Indiana Pacers guard Victor Oladipo said he hopes to return to game action Jan. 29 against the Chicago Bulls.

It’s the first time since Oladipo sustained a seasonending knee injury last January that the team or the two-time All-Star has established a specific date.

The two-time All-Star has spent nearly a year working his way back from a ruptured quad tendon that required season-ending surgery.