Popovich notches 1,335th career victory
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Gregg Popovich tied Don Nelson's NBA record with his 1,335th career victory as a coach in the San Antonio Spurs' 117-110 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday night.
Popovich, in his 26th season, will try to pass Nelson when San Antonio hosts the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night.
The Spurs had lost four straight with Popovich on the precipice of matching the record, and they were in danger of extendign that skid with a late collapse against the struggling Lakers, who were without star LeBron James due to a sore left knee.
Dejounte Murray had 26 points and 10 rebounds, and Jakob Poeltl and Josh Richardson each had 18 points. Richardson was making his first start with San Antonio.
76ERS 121, BULLS 106
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Joel Embiid had 43 points and 14 rebounds, and Philadelphia beat Chicago in a showdown between two of the Eastern Conference's top teams headed in opposite directions.
James Harden added 16 points and 14 assists, and Tyrese Maxey added 17 points for the 76ers, who have won six of seven and stayed perfect with Harden in the lineup.
Embiid, the league's leading scorer, made 15 of 27 field goals and 12 of 16 free throws. The MVP front-runner scored at least 40 points for the 10th time this season while upping his season average to 29.7 points per contest.
HEAT 123, ROCKETS 106
MIAMI (AP) — Victor Oladipo scored 11 points in in his first game in nearly a year, Tyler Herro scored 21 of his 31 points in the second quarter and Miami beat Houston.
Oladipo, playing his first game since April 8 following a second surgery to repair a right quadriceps tendon, and made an immediate impact. He took a charge on his first defensive possession, hitting the deck without any signs of problems, then took another later in the game and had a dunk near the end of his 15-minute stint.
Jimmy Butler scored 21 points for Miami, which got Kyle Lowry back after a four-game absence for personal reasons. Bam Adebayo finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Heat.
Kevin Porter Jr. scored 22 points for Houston, which got 20 from Jalen Green, 16 from Josh Christopher and 14 from KJ Martin. Green was 4 for 4 from 3point range in the game's first 5:40, then missed his final six tries from beyond the arc.
MAVERICKS 111, JAZZ 103
DALLAS (AP) — Luka Doncic had 35 points and a season-high 16 rebounds, and Dallas held on against Utah a matchup of possible first-round playoff opponents.
Spencer Dinwiddie scored 23 points and Dorian Finney-Smith added 21 for the Mavericks, who won their fifth consecutive game and pulled within a half-game of the Jazz for the fourth seed in the Western Conference.
Bojan Bogdanovic scored 21 points and Rudy Gobert had 12 points and 13 rebounds for the Jazz, who led for just 13 seconds early in the last of their five-game road trip.