Bulls 120 Wizards 119
DeMar DeRozan hit a triple just before the buzzer for the second straight game to give the Chicago Bulls a 120-119 win over the Washington Wizards on Saturday.
Washington had led 119-117 with a 3 by Kyle Kuzma with 3.3 seconds remaining, but DeRozan responded against the Wizards in the same way he defeated Indiana on Friday night.
DeRozan finished with 28 points and Zach LaVine with 35 to help the Bulls add their seventh straight win, Chicago’s longest winning streak since December 18-29, 2014.
The Wizards were ahead practically the entire game, outscoring Chicago 72-30 in points inside the area.
Kuzma had 29 points and 12 rebounds, and teammate Bradley Beal finished with 27 points and the most assists of his career with 16 in his first game as a starting point guard. Beal also passed the personal mark of 14,000 points.
Midway through the second quarter, the umpires called a technical foul by the Wizards for counting too many players on the court. Alize Johnson, one of five players under a 10-day contract, was the sixth element on the court.
Warriors 123 Jazz 116
Stephen Curry contributed 28 points and nine assists as he led the Golden State Warriors to a 123-116 victory over the Utah Jazz on Saturday.
Andrew Wiggins scored 25 points for the Warriors, while Otto Porter Jr. had 20 points, eight assists and seven rebounds. Andre Iguodala added 12 points, eight assists and seven rebounds as a substitute – including a 3-pointer that sealed the win near the end.
Donovan Mitchell, Bojan Bogdanovic and Jordan Clarkson scored 20 points and Rudy Gobert added 20 points and 19 rebounds in Utah’s seventh loss at home.
Utah rallied from a 16-point deficit in the third quarter and took the lead with a 19-5 streak. Bogdanovic and O’Neale hit successive 3s to cap that streak that gave the Jazz a 79-74 lead.
Utah scored 41 points in the third quarter – the most Golden State allowed in a single quarter this season. But the Warriors rallied in the fourth quarter, scoring on seven straight possessions to go up 111-106.
Utah skipped the game 111-111 with a triple by Bogdanovic. Curry responded with successive shots and Iguodala added a triple to put the Warriors up 119-112 with 40 seconds remaining.
Golden State made 53% of its field goals before halftime and 53.5% overall. The Warriors hit 17 3-pointers to improve to a 5-16 record in New Years games.
Clippers 120 Nets 116
Eric Bledsoe scored 27 points, his season-high, and the Los Angeles Clippers – impaired by injuries and COVID and playing for the second night in a row – rallied to defeat the Brooklyn Nets 120-116 on Saturday night.
Terance Mann and Reggie Jackson added 19 points each for the Clippers, who for the second night in a row were led by assistant coach Brian Shaw as coach Tyronn Lue is under health and safety protocols for COVID-19.
But the Clippers’ absences were much more than their coach. With Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and Nicolas Batum injured and Ivica Zubac and Luke Kennard on COVID-19 protocols, Los Angeles turned to a very different lineup than normal. They didn’t even have Marcus Morris Sr., who was given rest after scoring 20 points in Friday’s loss at Toronto.
However, the squad was good enough to beat the Nets, who wasted James Harden’s seventh triple-double.
Harden finished with 34 points, 13 assists and 12 boards. Kevin Durant added 28 points and nine rebounds, but Brooklyn fell to 0-2 since Durant returned from a three-game absence in protocols for COVID-19.
The Nets had beaten the Clippers 124-108 without Durant in Los Angeles on Monday, in a Harden performance of 39 points and 15 assists.
Bucks 136 Pelicans 113
Giannis Antetokounmpo finished with 35 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists in his second triple-double of the season and the Milwaukee Bucks added their sixth straight victory by overwhelming the New Orleans Pelicans 136-113 on Saturday night.
In four games since his return from COVID-19 protocols that caused him to miss five games, Antetokounmpo has averaged 33 points, 11.5 boards and 6.5 assists.
The two-time MVP reached 10 assists in the game with a pass to Grayson Allen for a triple that put the Bucks up 117-97 with 6:55 left. Antetokounmpo hit a 3-pointer on his own 26 seconds later.
Antetokounmpo’s other triple-double game this season came on December 12, when he added 20 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds in a 112-97 win over the New York Knicks.
Nuggets 124
Rockets 111
Nikola Jokic scored 24 points, Argentine guard Facundo Campazzo added a career-high 22, and the Denver Nuggets raced off in the second quarter to take control of the game in a 124-111 victory over the Rockets on Saturday. from Houston.
The Nuggets returned to the court after their Thursday game against Golden State was postponed due to insufficient players available due to injuries and health and safety protocols due to COVID-19.
It was Denver’s third straight win, which in turn extended Houston’s losing streak to seven games.
Houston led by as many as 11 points in the first quarter before the Nuggets scored 47 points in the second, their most in a period this season, posting their season-high in a half by reaching the half time winning 77-55.
Campazzo led Denver’s attack in the second, contributing 10 points and eight assists as the Nuggets built their lead. The Argentine finished with 12 assists, his season high.
Denver led by 19 points near the end of the third quarter before scoring the last six points of that period, capped by Campazzo’s basket, to enter the fourth quarter with a 99-74 lead.
Bol Bol scored a career-high 11 points on his return to the Nuggets lineup after missing five games to COVID protocols.
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