NBA Wrap: Warriors hold off Houston, Westbrook stars for Thunder, Pistons beat Timberwolves
GOLDEN State bounce back without Steph Curry to defeat Houston, Russell Westbrook leads Thunder, Detroit beat Minnesota. It’s all in the NBA Wrap.
GOLDEN State bounce back without Steph Curry to defeat Houston, Russell Westbrook leads Thunder, Detroit beat Minnesota.
All the news and results is in the NBA Wrap.
AUSSIES IN ACTION
Golden State’s starting centre Andrew Bogut backed up after yesterday’s loss with an important role in the Warriors’ victory over Houston. The Aussie fell just short of a double-double, with 11 rebounds and nine points, and added one assist and one block.
Joe Ingles was sensational in 17 minutes for Utah. Against Portland Ingles contributed three rebounds and nine points.
Aron Baynes played off the bench in Detroit’s win, scoring two points and five rebounds. But some of Baynes’ best plays were not reflected in stats.
#Pistons Aron Baynes is playing some nice defense on #TWolves Towns. He's just bodying him up and not fouling.
— Rod Beard (@detnewsRodBeard) December 31, 2015
GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS 114 — HOUSTON ROCKETS 110
Klay Thompson scored 38 points, Draymond Green had a triple-double and the Golden State Warriors overcame star Stephen Curry’s absence to beat the Houston Rockets 114-110 on Thursday night.
Golden State was blown out by Dallas on Wednesday night for just its second loss of the season when Curry missed his first game since March because of a sore left lower leg. But the Warriors were able to outlast the Rockets thanks to the big night by Thompson, who made six 3s.
Green had a career-high 16 assists and added 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Houston cut it to 3 with a jump shot by James Harden with about 5 minutes left before Golden State scored the next six points, highlighted by an alley-oop dunk from Andre Iguodala to Bogut, to make it 111-102.
Harden had 30 points for the Rockets. They have dropped seven straight regular-season games to the Warriors.
Shaun Livingston made his second start of the season in place of Curry, who was injured Monday night against Sacramento, and finished with 13 points. Interim coach Luke Walton said Curry was feeling better Thursday, but that he was not ready to play. Before he sat out Wednesday, last season’s MVP hadn’t missed a game since March 13.
The Warriors led by eight entering the fourth quarter and had scored four straight points to extend their lead to 99-87 with about nine minutes remaining. Houston used a 13-5 run after that to cut the lead to 104-100 with about 6 minutes left. Dwight Howard scored four points in that stretch and Harden capped it with a 3-pointer.
The game was tied after a 3-pointer by Thompson with about 9 minutes left in the third quarter before Houston used a 6-2 run, capped by a dunk from Howard, to take a 74-70 lead midway through the quarter.
Houston led by 3 points about 3 minutes later when Golden State scored 10 straight points to take a 88-80 lead with less than a minute left in the quarter. Thompson scored five points in that span and Iguodala added a 3-pointer before James Michael McAdoo capped it with a dunk following a turnover by Ty Lawson.
DETROIT PISTONS 115 — MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES 90
Andre Drummond had 23 points and 18 rebounds and Reggie Jackson added 19 points and nine assists, leading the Detroit Pistons to a 115-90 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday night.
Drummond came out with just over three minutes to play, narrowly missing his sixth 20-20 game of the season. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 22 points for the Pistons, who had lost three in a row.
Karl-Anthony Towns led the Timberwolves with 22 points and nine rebounds, while Andrew Wiggins had 21 points. Minnesota was coming off a 94-80 victory over Utah on Wednesday night.
OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER 110 — PHOENIX SUNS 106
Russell Westbrook had 36 points and 12 assists, and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat Phoenix 110-106 on Thursday night for the Suns’ seventh straight loss.
Kevin Durant scored 23 points for Oklahoma City, which has won three straight and 12 of 14. Westbrook also had five steals and blocked a shot.
The Suns had six players score in double figures. T.J. Warren had 29 points and nine rebounds, and P.J. Tucker scored 22 points.
UTAH JAZZ 109 — PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS 96
Trey Burke scored a season-high 27 points, and the Utah Jazz cruised past the Portland Trail Blazers 109-96 on Thursday night.
Burke connected on 12 of 19 shots, and Gordon Hayward had 23 points and 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season. Rodney Hood finished with 18 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
Utah had dropped three of four.
The Jazz grabbed control in the second quarter, outscoring the Blazers by 18 after the game was tied at 25 after one. Utah hit four 3-pointers during a 21-3 run.
Portland’s C.J. McCollum scored 32 points, including six 3-pointers. Meyers Leonard had 17, and Allen Crabbe scored 15.
The Blazers are 2/3 in their last five games.
MILWAUKEE BUCKS 120 — INDIANA PACERS 116
Khris Middleton scored 33 points, and the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Indiana Pacers 120-116 on Thursday night.
Greg Monroe added 23 points for Milwaukee, which shot 58 per cent (45 for 77) from the field. Jabari Parker, Giannis Antetokounmpo and reserve Jerryd Bayless had 14 points apiece.
The Bucks grabbed control with a 20-6 run in the third quarter.
The difference in the game was superb shooting from Milwaukee, and Indiana’s 20 turnovers led to 35 points for the Bucks.
Paul George led the Pacers with 31 points. George Hill added 15 points and six rebounds.
LA CLIPPERS 95 — NEW ORLEANS PELICANS 89
J.J. Redick scored 26 points for a second straight night, Chris Paul closed out a poor shooting performance with pivotal plays in the final minutes, and the Los Angeles Clippers concluded an unbeaten five-game road trip with a 95-89 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday.
Paul missed 15 of his first 17 shots, but hit a 19-foot step-back jumper with a minute to go to give Los Angeles a 90-87 lead. Before and after that score, Paul assisted on baskets by Jamal Crawford. Paul then added three free throws in the final 21 seconds.
DeAndre Jordan grabbed 20 rebounds to go with 11 points, and Crawford finished with 15 points for Los Angeles.
Anthony Davis had 14 points and 15 rebounds for New Orleans, while Ryan Anderson scored 17.
Originally published as NBA Wrap: Warriors hold off Houston, Westbrook stars for Thunder, Pistons beat Timberwolves
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