By the Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — De’Aaron Fox scored 10 of his 27 points in the final five minutes and the Sacramento Kings overcame a 20-point deficit in the first half to beat the Memphis Grizzlies 128-123 on Thursday night, ending an eight-game losing streak.

Buddy Hield had 26 points and seven rebounds to help the Kings win for the first time since beating Golden State on Dec. 15. Richaun Holmes added 18 points and seven rebounds, and Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 16 points.

The Kings allowed 42 points in the first quarter and 37 in the third but held the Grizzlies to 13 through the first 10 ½ minutes of the fourth quarter, one of the best defensive stretches of the season by coach Luke Walton’s team.

Sacramento took control with a 14-4 run after trailing 106-104 with 5:11 to go.

Ja Morant, the Western Conference rookie of the month for December, had 23 points and seven assists for Memphis. Jonas Valanciunas added 18 points and 12 rebounds.

The Grizzlies led 42-26 after the first quarter and took a 97-90 advantage into the fourth.

Before the game a moment of silence was held for former NBA Commissioner David Stern. At halftime, a tribute to Stern played on the giant video scoreboard. Stern died Wednesday at the age of 77.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By the Associated Press

CLEVELAND — Devonte’ Graham hit the biggest shot of the game. And then his coach came up with a clutch timeout.

Graham hit a 3-pointer with 26 seconds left to break a tie and cap Charlotte’s late rally in the Hornets’ 109-106 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday night.

“It was late in the clock, so I just let it fly,” said Graham, who had 16 points after being held scoreless in the first half.

Graham’s shot from about 30 feet at the top of the key gave Charlotte a 106-103 lead, but coach James Borrego’s timeout a few seconds later might have saved the game.

Graham hit two free throws with 9.7 seconds left for a 108-103 lead. After Cedi Osman’s 3-pointer made it 108-106 with four seconds remaining, Dwyane Bacon’s pass from under the basket went out of bounds.

Because the ball wasn’t touched by a Cleveland player, Cavaliers coach John Beilien and his players erupted in protest when it was ruled Charlotte maintained possession. The Cavaliers were then informed that the Hornets were awarded timeout an instant before the ball was thrown in.

“I know we turned it over,” Borrego said. “The ball went out of bounds. I think we were very fortunate there.”

Cavaliers guard Collin Sexton was close to the play, but wasn’t aware the timeout had been called. He also thought the Cavaliers’ failure to hold the lead played a bigger role in the loss.

“It could have went either way,” he said. “Once he (Bacon) got it, it went through the net and he threw it out real quick. We shouldn’t have been in that position.”

Terry Rozier hit a foul shot with 3.6 seconds left, giving Cleveland a final chance but Sexton’s 3-pointer from just inside halfcourt bounced off the rim.

“When I shot it, it felt looked good, felt good,” Sexton said. “I was feeling it and I let it go. It was right on target, but I missed it.”

The Hornets came back from a nine-point deficit with five minutes to play to end a six-game losing streak Rozier led the Hornets with 30 points while Graham also had 11 assists. Bacon scored 15 points and P.J. Washington had 14.

Cleveland led 100-91 with 5:31 to play before Charlotte rallied. Sexton scored 21 points, and Kevin Love had 18 for Cleveland.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By the Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS — Denver Nuggets rookie Michael Porter Jr. took command on his hometown stage Thursday night.

He repeatedly beat Pacers defenders and even occasionally the shot clock with his nifty drives to the hoop. He knocked down 3-pointers. He even upstaged All-Star teammate Nikola Jokic.

Porter scored a season-high 25 points, helping the Nuggets battle back from a double-digit deficit in the first half and leading them past Indiana, 124-116.

“It was cool,” said Porter, whose first appearance on the Bankers Life Fieldhouse floor came as a fourth grader. “I was hitting some of my shots and doing some of my moves that I used to do, so I felt pretty good out there.”

It probably looked familiar to some in the crowd, too.

Porter spent Wednesday reminiscing with old grade-school buddies from an Indianapolis suburb and invited them to his first NBA appearance on the Pacers’ home court.

He couldn’t have written a more perfect script.

Porter helped the Nuggets get back on track after they gave up 37 first-quarter points, helped them take control late in the third quarter and was still playing well enough to help them close it out — with some help from his teammates.

He wound up 11 of 12 from the field, 2 of 3 on 3-pointers, grabbed five rebounds and had one big assist.

And on a night Jokic struggled because of foul trouble, the Nuggets needed someone else to step forward.

Yes, Jokic finished with 22 points, 12 in the fourth quarter, and seven rebounds. But it was Porter who drew the rave reviews.

“It’s another glimpse into a very bright future,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “He just got his first postgame water celebration, the guys dumped him. Everybody on the bench was happy for him.”

Jeremy Lamb had a season-high 30 points for the Pacers, who have lost four of six.

Domantas Sabonis had 18 points, nine rebounds and nine assists, falling just short of his first career triple-double for the second time this week.

But it was a frustrating night for the Pacers, who led the entire first half and never trailed until another Indiana native, Gary Harris, knocked down a 3-pointer with 9:16 left in the third quarter to make it 73-72.

Lamb answered with a 3, which turned the game into a back-and-forth contest until Monte Morris closed out the the third with a 3-pointer and an 18-foot jumper — off a rebound and pass from Porter — to give the Nuggets a 92-88 lead.

Denver opened the fourth by outscoring Indiana 11-6 to make it 103-94 and the Pacers could only get as close as 107-104 with 6:31 to go. Jokic and Porter scored eight of Denver’s next 10 points to seal the victory.

“You have to tip your cap to him,” Turner said, referring to Porter. “I’ve been following his career and I think he’s been through a lot. It’s cool and refreshing to see someone like that go off and have a good game. You hope, obviously, it’s against someone else.”

Source: Manila Bulletin

By the Associated Press

SAN ANTONIO  — Chris Paul isn’t slowing down in his 16th NBA season, especially against San Antonio.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 25 points, Paul added 16 and the Oklahoma City Thunder rallied to beat the Spurs 109-103 on Thursday night, snapping a nine-game skid in San Antonio.

Paul has had many memorable battles against San Antonio, including the winning shot for the Los Angeles Clippers in the 2015 playoffs to eliminate the Spurs. There was no winner Thursday, but Paul dropped San Antonio again in the fourth.

“That’s who he is. It’s not like he’s a no-name,” San Antonio guard Lonnie Walker IV said. “He’s a great player. He made shots when it was most important, which was in the fourth quarter, and led his team to victory.”

Paul had 10 points in the final quarter to help Oklahoma City win its fourth straight and overcome 30 points from San Antonio’s DeMar DeRozan.

“It’s always tough when you’re playing against a high IQ point guard like Chris Paul,” DeRozan said. “Once you have knowledge of the game, there’s not much you haven’t seen. No matter how fast you go, at the end of the game. it’s all about smarts.”

The Thunder won the battle between the current seventh and eighth seeds in the Western Conference, extending their lead over the Spurs to four games.

“This is a tough place to play, tough place to win,” Paul said. “At some point, we could have laid down, but we’re not built like that. Guys kept playing, kept competing.”

That could also be said about Oklahoma City’s season thus far. The Thunder (19-15) are battling for a playoff spot in what some considered a rebuilding season after the team traded All-Stars Russell Westbrook and Paul George in the offseason.

“He’s an incredible guy,” Thunder coach Billy Donovan said of Paul. “He’s very, very generous. He’s a great leader.

Coming into an environment and a team with as many new players. For him, they’re all new, having not played with anybody. The way he’s tried to reach out and extend himself and build a chemistry inside our team, it’s been incredible to watch.”

The Thunder had a season-low four turnovers, including just one by Paul in 32 minutes.

Oklahoma City had five players score at least 13 points, including 19 from Dennis Schroder.

LaMarcus Aldridge added 22 points for San Antonio. Aldridge finished 4 for 4 on 3-pointers two games after setting a career-high with five 3-pointers.

The Spurs shot just 37% from the field in the third quarter but maintained a 76-74 lead. Gilgeous-Alexander had 15 points in the third quarter, going 2 for 2 on 3-pointers.

Oklahoma City opened the final period on an 18-9 run to wrest control from San Antonio, which had led by 14 points in the first half. Paul was 5 for 7 in the final period.

“We didn’t move the ball very well tonight,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “I think we were on the dribble too much. We didn’t really attack. I thought they attacked a lot better than we did. They just (went) straight ahead at the rim, found people, and we were too much on the dribble and never really got out of it.”

Source: Manila Bulletin

By the Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS  — With the stars still out, the supporting cast stepped up again for the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Shabazz Napier and Robert Covington each scored 20 points to help the Timberwolves beat the Golden State Warriors 99-84 on Thursday night in a matchup of injury-ravaged teams.

Napier scored 20 or more for the third consecutive game. The last time he did that was Dec. 23-30, 2017, for Portland. He also had seven assists. The Timberwolves won for the second time in three games. Both wins have come without Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins.

“I have always been an aggressive guard, but it makes everything else easier,” Napier said. “I have been trying to get other guys involved, and I have been very fortunate to make great passes and have other guys make shots.”

Naz Reid added 13 points, Kelan Martin had 12 and Minnesota held Golden State to the lowest points total by an opponent this season.

“We’ve navigated through some injuries, some illness, been some personal circumstances that were unforeseen and in a lot of cases, we’ve had guys step up,” Minnesota coach Ryan Saunders said.

Glen Robinson III scored 16 points for the Warriors, and Eric Paschall had 13, They have lost three straight after a four-game win streak from Dec. 20-27.

“It was disappointing, because we’ve had a good stretch of basketball,” Golden State coach Steve Kerr said. “The last few weeks we’ve played very well. So this feels like the exception rather than the rule. But we’ve got to prove that’s the case on Saturday.”

Golden State was without D’Angelo Russell, along with long-absent stars Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.

The Timberwolves went on an 18-3 first-quarter run and led by as many as 22 in the first half. They held Golden State to 19 points in the first quarter and 41 in the first half.

“We just got out to a slow start,” Robinson said. “We’ve been coming out with some energy, coming out better. That’s on us, on the starting group. The second half, the second unit kept us in it a little bit.”

The Warriors went on an 11-2 run that started in the final minute of the third quarter and carried into the fourth.

They trimmed the lead to eight at 92-84 on Damion Lee’s basket with 4:35 left. That was as close as they would get.

Napier and Covington hit 3-pointers down the stretch, and the Timberwolves held the Warriors scoreless the rest of the way.

“We’ve been playing hard,” Martin said. “That continued on both ends. Obviously, some shots not falling, but we make up for it on the defensive end with our energy, intensity and then get out in transition and score.”

Minnesota was playing for the second consecutive night. The Timberwolves improved to 2-3 when playing the second game of a back-to-back.

“As a coach, I don’t know if you’re ever satisfied,” Saunders said. “There is always work to be done, always things you could improve upon. But when it comes to energy and being engaged, that’s a big positive for us on the second night of a back-to-back.”

Source: Manila Bulletin

By the Associated Press

DALLAS — With Luka Doncic resting and Dallas’ other two top scorers out with injuries, Seth Curry kept the Mavericks even with Brooklyn until the 20-year-old phenom could take over again.

Curry scored 15 of his 25 points with Doncic sitting the last half of the third quarter, before the 2019 Rookie of the Year had 15 of his 31 in the fourth as the Mavericks pulled away for a 123-111 victory over the Nets on Thursday night.

Dallas avoided its first three-game losing streak of the season in the second straight game without 7-foot-3 forward Kristaps Porzingis and shooting guard Tim Hardaway Jr., who together have been good for about 30 points a night.

Curry made all five of his 3-pointers and was 9 of 13 overall in the fourth game with at least 20 points this season for the younger brother of Stephen Curry.

“A lot of guys can make plays and we never know who’s going to get the touches or the shots that night other than Luka,” Curry said. “It’s fun to play. Every night it seems like somebody different is making a big impact.”

Maxi Kleber scored a season-high 18 points, making his first three 3-pointers and finishing 3 of 4 as the Mavericks shot 46% from long range (18 of 29) to open a six-game homestand, their longest of the season.

Doncic remained tied with Jason Kidd for the franchise record for triple-doubles in one season with nine. That’s in part because he had seven assists while taking more of the scoring load. Doncic had a game-high 13 rebounds.

Porzingis is nursing a sore right knee — not the one he injured in what ended up being his final game for the Knicks almost two years ago — and Hardaway is working back from a hamstring strain.

Spencer Dinwiddie led seven Brooklyn players in double figures with 19 points, but the Nets shot 33% while getting outscored 30-18 in the fourth quarter and losing their fourth straight game for the first time this season.

“We didn’t get a stop,” Dinwiddie said. “Obviously, that’s what kind of ballooned their lead and we obviously didn’t make enough shots to keep pace.”

Doncic started a decisive 13-4 run with a 3-pointer midway though the fourth quarter and capped it with layup for a 116-104 lead with 3:48 remaining.

Curry replaced Doncic midway through the third and made five of six shots, including all three of his 3s.
“The style we play offensively is very empowered to the players,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “When you get a guy like Seth that’s hot, they just need to find him.”

Brooklyn’s Dzanan Musa scored a career-high 14 points. Taurean Prince, Joe Harris, Wilson Chandler and Theo Pinson had 11 apiece.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By the Associated Press

MIAMI — They spent more than two hours working on defense in an unusually long practice on Wednesday.
And on Thursday, the Miami Heat showed what they learned.

Bam Adebayo had 15 points and 14 rebounds, and the Heat put together their best defensive performance of the season in an 84-76 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Thursday night.

The Raptors’ scoring total was their lowest in more than four years — also coming in a game at Miami on Nov. 8, 2015 — and the second-lowest by any team in the NBA this season.

“We took it to heart,” Adebayo said. “We need to defend and that’s what we did tonight.”

Tyler Herro and Goran Dragic each scored 13 points for Miami, which is now 2-0 against the Raptors this season and improved to 9-0 after a loss. The Heat and Milwaukee are the only teams to not lose consecutive games this season.

Derrick Jones Jr. scored 10 points and Jimmy Butler finished with eight points, 12 rebounds and seven assists for Miami.

“It was all about defense,” Dragic said. “We feel like we play a great team defense, we help each other. Most of the time we were in zone. A great team win, let’s go to the next one.”

Serge Ibaka had 19 points and 10 rebounds for Toronto. Kyle Lowry scored 15 points, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson added 13 and OG Anunoby had 12 points and 12 rebounds. The Raptors shot only 31.5% and were 6 for 42 from 3-point range.

“If we make five more 3s we win the game,” Lowry said. “Still, give them credit, a great game plan and a great job by them, but it’s something we’ll look at and figure out for next time. The next team who plays zone I’m sure we’re not going to shoot that bad.”

There was a pregame tribute and moment of silence for former NBA Commissioner David Stern, who died Wednesday at the age of 77. Both the Raptors and the Heat were born under Stern’s leadership of the league.

“There probably is some serendipity to this game, to have the expansion of the league … it’s a byproduct of his leadership and vision,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.

Miami set a season-best for points allowed by a huge margin; the previous Heat low in that department this season was 94 against New Orleans on Nov. 16. Toronto’s previous season low for points was 88, in a loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Nov. 11.

Anunoby was fouled on a 3-point try with 1:21 left in the third, making all three free throws to tie the game at 60. It was Toronto’s second time cashing in on such a foul in the game, after Lowry went 3 for 3 in that situation late in the first quarter.

But the Heat went on a 17-5 run in the fourth and held Toronto to 16 points in the final 12 minutes.

“They didn’t make much more than us, but they made just enough to get the win so give those guys credit,” said Raptors guard Fred VanVleet, who was 3 for 16 from the field and 1 for 11 from 3-point range.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By the Associated Press

CHICAGO — The Jazz answered a big run with one of their own and withstood a final push down the stretch to walk away with another victory.

Those are adding up for Utah.

Bojan Bogdanovic scored 19 points and the surging Jazz held off the Chicago Bulls 102-98 on Thursday night.

The Jazz went on a 24-4 run in the third quarter to grab a nine-point lead and emerged with their 10th win in 12 games after Chicago tied it in the closing minutes.

Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert each scored 17 for Utah. Mitchell hit two free throws with 19 seconds remaining, and Gobert had 12 rebounds. The Jazz also got big contributions from their bench, with their reserves outscoring the Bulls’ 36-23.

“Everybody did a little something in a given time to help us win the game,” coach Quin Snyder said. “And that’s how you win on the road and that’s how you win close games.”

Zach LaVine led Chicago with 26 points and Lauri Markkanen scored 18. Wendell Carter Jr. added 18 points and 13 rebounds. The Bulls lost for the third time in four games, but coach Jim Boylen made it clear he’s not about to change his rotation.

“We are laying the foundation and the building blocks,” he said. “We’re a new system, a new team with a new coach. I wanted to be a defensive team; we are. We need to improve our rebounding. … We need to improve offensively. I’m not going to be deterred from that mission. And I like this group of men. They work and they care. They try to represent the city. They play hard.”

The Jazz led 96-88 in the closing minutes before Chicago scored eight straight, tying it on LaVine’s 3 with 1:43 remaining.

Bogdanovic hit two free throws and Gobert dunked to make it a four-point game, before Carter made two foul shots for Chicago with 47 seconds remaining.

After Mitchell missed a 3, LaVine missed trying to draw a foul from Gobert on a wild potential tying drive. The Jazz got the rebound, and Mitchell hit two free throws with 19 seconds left for the final score.

“I hit him with the body, so I did the best I could,” LaVine said. “I didn’t just want to settle for a 3, so go in there to tie it up. It just didn’t happen. I didn’t convert a lot of those. I thought I was getting a lot of contact, but you got to go out there and make plays.”

Source: Manila Bulletin

By the Associated Press

ORLANDO, Fla. — The Orlando Magic are bracing to be without forward Jonathan Isaac for at least two months and possibly more, after tests Thursday showed an injury to the posterior lateral corner of his left knee as well as a bone bruise.

The Magic said Isaac — who is off to the best statistical start of his career, particularly on the defensive end — will be out indefinitely, won’t be re-evaluated for at least eight weeks and that surgery may still be an option.

“While this certainly is disappointing news, there was no damage to his ACL, MCL and PCL ligaments,” Magic President of Basketball Operations Jeff Weltman said. “All signs point to a complete recovery and this should not impact his future growth.”

Isaac has started 32 of Orlando’s 34 games this season and was having the best year of his three-year career — his per-game averages of 12.0 points, 6.9 rebounds, 2.4 blocks, 1.6 steals and 1.4 assists are all career-bests.

He is one of only two players averaging more than 2.0 steals and 1.0 blocks entering Thursday’s games. The other is Anthony Davis of the Los Angeles Lakers.

Isaac was hurt in the first quarter of Orlando’s win over Washington on Wednesday.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By the Associated Press

MIAMI — Nick Nurse has quite a few reasons to be thankful for David Stern.

The coach of the NBA champion Toronto Raptors first encountered Stern around 20 years ago. Nurse, who was coaching in London, met Stern — then the NBA commissioner — through a mutual friend and remembers how fascinating it was to have conversations with him. Fast forward a few years, and Nurse had an idea to bring a team from what was then called the NBA Development League to his native Iowa.

Stern and the NBA liked the idea. The Iowa team was born. Nurse was its first coach. The rest is history. And Nurse is one of countless people reflecting now on Stern’s impact, after the man who ran the NBA for 30 years died on Wednesday about three weeks following a brain hemorrhage.

“There’s no denying how much he grew the game. He was the leader behind all that,” Nurse said. “Obviously, lots of important people play important roles there, but still, somebody’s got to lead that thing and he was doing that at a level that was unseen.”

For all of Stern’s accomplishments — and there are many — growth of the game may be the biggest one of all.

Nurse is the perfect example. If what is now called the G League wasn’t born, at Stern’s behest, then Nurse probably wouldn’t be coaching the reigning champions right now. And if Stern didn’t push to reach out into more markets, including Canada, then the Raptors might not even exist.

“This was his baby,” Toronto guard Kyle Lowry said. “He helped grow this thing into what it is today. And you’ve got to give him a lot — I wouldn’t say all — but a whole lot of the credit.”

Stern, when he stepped down as commissioner, said growth of the league was his top achievement.

“My greatest accomplishment was in hiring the now 1,200 people — that used to be 24 — that have taken the league to where it is,” he said.

Some of Stern’s other accomplishments of note:

All-Star Weekend

Stern turned the NBA’s All-Star Game — which long predated his work with the league — into a weekend festival.

The slam dunk contest was added in 1984, the 3-point contest in 1986, what started as the rookie game arrived in 1994 and the skills contest was born in 2003.

The game itself, always held on Sunday night to cap the weekend, is now just a part of the show.

“It was a showcase of what David Stern knew was the backbone of the NBA — its stars,” Larry Bird, the first 3-point contest winner, said in 2014.

Equality

Boston’s Bill Russell was arguably the first black player to achieve superstar status in the NBA, though Stern always wasn’t a fan. He rooted for the Knicks, not the Celtics, and thought Harry Gallatin was a better player.

“That’s what fanship does,” Stern said.

In the end, Russell might have become Stern’s favorite player.

Stern loved Russell. He loved the way he expressed his political views. He loved his grouchiness. And when Stern saw the way Russell and Bob Cousy — a star white guard for Boston — played seamlessly together, he had a realization.

“Our sport was under duress because people said it was getting too black,” Stern said in his Hall of Fame induction speech. “I remembered this guy named Russell who played with this other guy named Cousy. The best basketball that I think ever existed in the world and it dawned on me that we had something to teach the world.”

With that, equality — all sorts of it, including racial and gender — became a passion of Stern’s. He championed the creation of the WNBA. He was Magic Johnson’s biggest advocate when the Lakers star announced he had been diagnosed with HIV in 1991. And he supported Johnson when he returned to the league after his first retirement, plus pushed for him to be part of the first Olympic “Dream Team” in 1992.

“We were able to change the world,” Johnson said.

Draft lottery

The formula and the system have been tweaked a bit in recent years, but Stern also oversaw the league when the draft lottery was added and first used in 1995.

In short, the lottery allows non-playoff teams a chance to choose first in the next NBA draft. The NHL subsequently added a lottery of its own.

It didn’t stop NBA teams from tanking, despite Stern’s hopes otherwise.

“The draft lottery is responsible only for ameliorating the possible side effects of having the same kind of draft that others have,” Stern said.

Salary cap

Stern inherited a troubled league — some teams were in terrible financial shape — when he became commissioner in 1984, and at that time adding a salary cap was considered risky.

Stern knew it would work. He was right, of course. The first cap was $3.6 million. The cap now is around $109 million. What it does, in simplest terms, is make the teams and the players partners: If one side succeeds financially, so does the other side.

There was labor strife on his watch, numerous times — but the game has never been on better financial footing than it is now.

Source: Manila Bulletin