DENVER — Luka Doncic came within one rebound of his second straight triple-double, finishing with 38 points and 13 assists to lead the Dallas Mavericks over the Denver Nuggets 124-117 in overtime Thursday night.
Doncic sat out Sunday’s loss to Chicago and responded with his first triple-double of the season against Houston on Monday. He followed that up with a season high in points.
Nikola Jokic scored 20 of his 38 points after halftime and grabbed 11 rebounds for Denver. Jamal Murray added 21 points and nine assists.
Josh Richardson scored 14 points, including five straight in overtime to give the Mavericks the lead for good. His 3-pointer from the wing with 1:25 left put Dallas ahead 119-114. Denver got within three on a 3-pointer from Jokic, but Doncic scored four straight to ice it for the Mavericks.
Dallas rallied from four down to take a 101-97 lead on Maxi Kleber’s 3-pointer, his first points of the night, but Jokic scored the next five to put Denver ahead.
Kleber’s 3-pointer put Dallas up 109-107 with 2.4 seconds left, but Jokic capped a 17-point fourth quarter with an 18-foot jumper at the horn to send the game to overtime.
TRAIL BLAZERS 135, TIMBERWOLVES 117
Damian Lillard had 39 points, including seven 3-pointers, and the Portland Trail Blazers handed the Minnesota Timberwolves their sixth straight loss with a 135-117 victory Thursday night.
CJ McCollum added 20 points for the Blazers, who led by 33 in the second half. Jusuf Nurkic had 17 points and seven rebounds before Portland rested its starters in the fourth quarter.
D’Angelo Russell and Anthony Edwards each scored 26 points for the Timberwolves (2-6), who continue to struggle without Karl-Anthony Towns as he recovers from a dislocated left wrist. He’s missed six games, coinciding with Minnesota’s losing streak.
Lillard, who also had seven rebounds and seven assists while playing less than 30 minutes, said he made a point of coming out strong.
“I need to be more aggressive, be in attack mode, just trying to lift the level of urgency from the start,” Lillard said.
The Timberwolves had a narrow 29-28 edge after the opening quarter, paced by Russell with 11 points.
Portland (4-4) pulled in front in the second, taking a 46-36 lead on Gary Trent Jr.’s 3-pointer. Robert Covington’s 3, which capped a 15-0 run, extended the lead to 54-36 as Minnesota’s offence stalled.
After leading 75-56 at the break, the Blazers pushed their advantage to 95-65 in the third quarter on Lillard’s 3-pointer from 33 feet out.
Edwards dunked to get Minnesota to 116-100 with just over six minutes left.
“Losses when they stack up, it hurts,” Minnesota coach Ryan Saunders said. “We’re all competitors here. You’ve got to fight the natural instinct to let go of the rope when things get tough. You grab onto somebody next to you when things get tough.”
Saunders said help might be on the way soon because Towns has been making progress. “Once we get back to Minnesota, we’ll evaluate more, and get him around the team and see where he is at that point,” Saunders said.
Until their big man does return, Malik Beasley said the Timberwolves need to weather this slump.
“We’ve got to help each other. We’ve got to trust each other. That’s the main thing. We’ve got to have each other’s back. I don’t think we’re doing that right now. We’ve got to come together,” he said.
SPURS 118, LAKERS 109
LOS ANGELES — A trip to Los Angeles proved to be just what the San Antonio Spurs needed to snap out of an early-season slump.
Two nights after beating the Clippers to snap a four-game losing streak, the Spurs picked up another win at Staples Center on Thursday, this time defeating the Los Angeles Lakers 118-109.
LaMarcus Aldridge led San Antonio with a season-high 28 points and was one of five in double figures. Demar DeRozan added 19 points and eight assists.
“He scored for us and he worked hard on D,” said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich about Aldridge. :You know, he’s guarding Anthony Davis out there. That’s a pretty tough job. So he played a really good all around game.“
The Spurs were 16 of 35 on 3-pointers after making 20 from beyond the arc against the Clippers. Eight players made 3-pointers with Aldridge and Rudy Gay leading the way with three apiece.
Gay hit a pair of 3-pointers during a 9-2 run midway through the fourth quarter that broke the game open after Los Angeles had pulled within 96-93 on Montrezl Harrell’s layup.
“We were sharing the ball. Once you get into a good rhythm shooting it is contagious. When guys share the ball we have nights like tonight,” DeRozan said.
LeBron James had 27 points and 12 assists while Davis added 23 points and 10 rebounds for the Lakers, who had their four-game winning streak snapped.
“We played a real poor defensive first half,” coach Frank Vogel said. “We didn’t handle Aldridge well enough and as a result we got outplayed.”
The Lakers and Spurs have played each other three times in nine days with the road team winning each time. Los Angeles took a pair last week in San Antonio.
San Antonio scored the first nine points and led the entire way. Lonnie Walker IV’s jumper gave the Spurs a 84-74 lead in the third quarter before the Lakers went on a 15-5 run to tie it. Harrell’s putback off Talen Horton-Tucker’s miss evened it at 89 with 1:04 remaining before the Spurs regained control.
The Spurs largest advantage was 15 points late in the first quarter and they were up 65-56 at halftime.
CAVALIERS 94, GRIZZLIES 90
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Andre Drummond had 22 points and 15 rebounds, Larry Nance Jr. added 18 points on 7-for-7 shooting from the field and the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Memphis Grizzlies 94-90 on Thursday night.
Cedi Osman scored 16 points as Cleveland snapped a two-game skid. JaVale McGee added 13 points.
Jonas Valanciunas led Memphis with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Brandon Clarke had 14 points. Dillon Brooks scored 11 but was 4 of 13 from the field.
“Pretty bad game for us,” Valanciunas said. “We’ve just got to bounce back. Play better offence. Play better defence. A little more effort in the game. All of us, me included.”
A key sequence came with 34 seconds left. On a breakaway by Memphis guard Tyus Jones, Isaac Okoro was called for a foul on Jones’ layup attempt, which the rookie from Auburn blocked. Cleveland challenged, the foul was overturned and the Cavaliers won the ensuing tip.
That led to a dunk from Okoro with 10.6 seconds left for a 93-90 lead.
“What Isaac understands is there are a multitude of ways you can impact winning throughout the game, and especially in the clutch,” Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “That chase-down block, if it wasn’t the middle of January, we’d be talking about that block for a long, long time. It was phenomenal.”
The Cavaliers were minus leading scorer Collin Sexton, who sat out with a left ankle sprain. That left Cleveland trying to pick up Sexton’s missing 25.1 points a game.
In the aftermath of Wednesday’s chaos at the U.S. Capitol, and to protest racial and social injustice, the teams paused at the opening tip, went to the sideline, locked arms and took a knee. They were joined by coaches, staff and reserves covering the entire sideline from end line to end line. The three officials knelt at midcourt behind the line of players.
“I’m just so proud to be a part of this league. Our league is at the forefront of all ? positive change in my mind,” Nance said. “All things equality. All things social justice. I couldn’t be more proud of the players, the teams, the league we’re in.”
NETS 122, 76ERS 109
The Brooklyn Nets couldn’t put Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant into those throwback blue tie-dye jerseys from 30 years ago.
The NBA’s leading team still couldn’t come close to beating them.
Joe Harris scored a season-high 28 points and the Nets shook off the absence of their two superstars to beat the Philadelphia 76ers 122-109 on Thursday night.
Brooklyn jumped out quickly and had a double-digit lead for much of the second half while winning its second straight, both without Durant.
”Obviously it’s a totally different team when those guys are out here,” guard Caris LeVert said, ”but I think we’ve done a great job of having a next-man-up mentality, guys stepping into those roles and fulfilling what we need as a team.”
LeVert had 22 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds, and Jarrett Allen added 15 points and 11 boards for the Nets.
Irving was ruled out Thursday afternoon for personal reasons, though coach Steve Nash said before and after the game he hadn’t spoken to his point guard and didn’t know the reason for his absence, calling it a personal matter. LeVert said Irving texted his teammates before the game and they supported his absence. The Nets said Irving would not travel with the team to Memphis on Thursday night.
The Nets already knew they’d be without Durant for a second consecutive game because of the NBA’s health and safety protocols. Nash said Durant would be able to return Sunday if he continues to test negative for the coronavirus until then.
Nash said he didn’t think the strong performance without them sent a message to the rest of his players.
”I think the message is for the whole group that when we play connected and we have that fighting spirit, we give ourselves a great chance every night no matter who’s available,” he said.
The 76ers came in at 7-1 and off their best performance of the season, when they shot an NBA season-high 61.7% in a 141-136 victory over Washington on Wednesday.
But they couldn’t duplicate that, with Joel Embiid starting slowly before finishing with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Shake Milton had a season-high 24 points in his first start of the season in place of Seth Curry, who had a sore left ankle, but Ben Simmons was limited to 11 points, four rebounds and two assists.
Milton said he didn’t believe the Sixers had a letdown because of the Nets’ absent stars.
”I don’t think that was it at all,” he said. ”It’s the NBA and it was a back-to-back, but guys in the NBA know they can play. So if you don’t come out and you’re not on top of your game and you’re not ready to go, not mentally locked in, you can get beat by anybody.”
The Sixers quickly fell into a 20-8 hole, but recovered to move into the lead early in the second quarter. The Nets broke away again late in the period, going up by 16 before taking a 65-51 lead to the locker room, and were never seriously threatened afterward.
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