NBA: Pistons beat the Wizards 96-87, snapping an 8-game skid

WASHINGTON (AP) — Cade Cunningham scored 33 points, Jalen Duren had 20 points and 18 rebounds and Detroit Pistons snapped an eight-game losing streak with a victory over Washington Wizards  on Friday night.

The Pistons blew a 19-point halftime lead but recovered in the matchup of the NBA’s bottom two teams. Washington (14-60) still lead Detroit (13-61) by a game in the standings after the teams completed a split of their four-game season series — with the road team winning each game.

Corey Kispert scored 23 points for the Wizards, who trailed 59-40 after an abysmal first half but came all the way back to lead by one after scoring the first six points of the fourth quarter. Detroit missed their first nine shots of the fourth but quickly went back ahead and led 89-83 after a three-point play by Cunningham.

WARRIORS 115, HORNETS 97

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Stephen Curry scored 23 points with four 3-pointers in his annual Charlotte homecoming game and Golden State Warriors beat Charlotte Hornets for their third straight win.

Andrew Wiggins turned in another strong game with 20 points, eight rebounds and eight assists and Trayce Jackson-Davis added 18 points for the Warriors, who entered the game in 10th place in the Western Conference standings and battling the Houston Rockets for a spot in the play-in tournament.

Miles Bridges had 22 points and nine rebounds to lead Charlotte, which failed in their bid to win back-to-back games for the first time since the All-Star break.

The Warriors broke open a tight game at halftime by outscoring the Hornets 39-26 in the third quarter behind 12 points from Curry and seven from Wiggins.

PACERS 104, LAKERS 90

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Pascal Siakam finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds, Tyrese Haliburton added 21 points, eight assists and eight rebounds and Indiana Pacers beat the Los Angeles Lakers in a pivotal game for both teams’ playoff aspirations.

Indiana have won four of six to retain the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference, with the latest victory giving Rick Carlisle career win No. 938 to tie Red Auerbach for 12th in NBA history.

Injured All-Stars LeBron James (left ankle) and Anthony Davis (left knee) both started and played like perennial All-Stars as the Lakers tried to improve their playoff positioning from the No. 9 seed in the West.

Davis finished with 24 points and 15 rebounds, while James had 16 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists. Austin Reaves added 16 points and 13 rebounds on a night the Lakers went 5 of 29 on 3-pointers and committed 16 turnovers, five by James.

CLIPPERS 100, MAGIC 97

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Kawhi Leonard and Paul George hit jump shots in the final seconds and the Los Angeles Clippers beat Orlando Magic.

Leonard, who scored 25 of his 29 points in the second half, put the Clippers ahead with a mid-range jumper with 34 seconds left. George scored with five seconds to play before Orlando’s Franz Wagner missed a couple of 3-point attempts just before the buzzer to finish the Clippers’ fourth straight road win.

Paolo Banchero led Orlando with 23 points and eight rebounds, but had two of his seven turnovers late in the game.

Jalen Suggs scored 15 for the Magic and Moritz Wagner came off the bench for 12 points and nine rebounds.

It was the third straight loss for the Magic.

NETS 125, BULLS 108

NEW YORK (AP) — Dennis Schroder and Mikal Bridges each made seven 3-pointers, and Brooklyn Nets tied an NBA record by making 18 3s in the second half of their victory over Chicago Bulls.

Cam Thomas scored 28 points and Schroder added 27 for the Nets, who made 25 3s overall and finished 18 of 24 (75%) in the second half, when they outscored the Bulls 78-56. Bridges had 25 points.

Nic Claxton finished with 11 points and 13 rebounds for the Nets, who have won their last three games after losing six straight.

Brooklyn shot 47% from the field and nearly 57% behind the arc.

DeMar DeRozan had 31 points and Coby White scored 18 for the Bulls, who have lost four of their last five games.

CAVALIERS 117, 76ERS 114

CLEVELAND (AP) — Evan Mobley drained a go-ahead 3-pointer with 28.2 seconds left and Cleveland All-Star Donovan Mitchell — in his first game back from injury — made two late free throws as Cleveland Cavaliers edged Philadelphia 76ers before hitting the road.

Georges Niang scored 25 points against his former Philly teammates and Mobley had 18 of his 20 in the second half as the Cavs, who struggled without Mitchell and won for just the second time in six games.

Darius Garland added 14 points and 12 assists for Cleveland, currently holding the No. 4 seed in the East.

The back-and-forth game featured 27 lead changes, seven in the fourth quarter.

Wearing a protective mask, Mitchell came back after missing six straight games and scored 12 in 32 minutes.

Kyle Lowry had 23 points and Tobias Harris 21 for the Sixers, who are hanging onto a play-in spot as they wait for superstar Joel Embiid to get healthy.

MIAMI 142, PORTLAND 82

MIAMI (AP) — Bam Adebayo had 21 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists and Miami Heat had the largest margin of victory in team history, routing Portland Trail Blazers.

The Heat remained seventh in the East and extended the Trail Blazers’ losing skid to nine.

Thomas Bryant had a season-high 26 points, Terry Rozier added 22 and Haywood Highsmith finished with 20, the second time in club history that four players had with 20 or more. The Heat were never threatened after a 21-4 run put them ahead 50-29 in the second quarter.

The Heat broke the team margin record of 43 against the Los Angeles Clippers on Dec. 29, 1994, also set a club record with 41 assists. They made 21 of 39 3-pointers, with Highsmith making 5 of 6 and Rozier 6 of 10. Adebayo also made two 3-pointers.

THUNDER 128, SUNS 103

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Josh Giddey scored 23 points to help Oklahoma City Thunder roll past Phoenix Suns, despite All-Star guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander sitting out with a bruised right thigh.

Giddey, who averages about 12 points, has averaged 26.3 in his past three games. He made 10 of 15 field goals against Phoenix and had nine assists and seven rebounds. He’s helping the Thunder stay well-positioned for the postseason — Oklahoma City tied with the Minnesota Timberwolves for the best record in the Western Conference.

The effort to fill Gilgeous-Alexander’s void was collective Friday. Chet Holmgren scored 20 points and Jalen Williams and Cason Wallace each added 16 for Oklahoma City. Without Gilgeous-Alexander, the NBA’s No. 3 scorer at 30.4 points per game, the Thunder still shot 56.3% and made 16 of 30 3-pointers.

SPURS 130, KNICKS 126, OT

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Victor Wembanyama had a career-high 40 points and added 20 rebounds and seven assists, and San Antonio Spurs overcame Jalen Brunson’s career-best 61 points to beat New York Knicks in overtime.

Brunson finished one point shy of Carmelo Anthony’s franchise record of 62 points on Jan. 24, 2014, missing a 3-pointer that would have given the Knicks the lead with 5.4 seconds remaining in OT.

Brunson had the fifth-highest point total in the NBA this season.

Wembanyama made a 3-pointer to give San Antonio a four-point lead in OT. He had the first 40-point, 20-rebound game by rookie since Shaquille O’Neal had 46 points and 21 rebounds on Feb. 16, 1993. Wembanyama also had a blocked shot and a steal while collecting his 39th double-double in 65 games.

Devin Vasell added 23 points for the Spurs, who won three straight for the first time this season.

TIMBERWOLVES 111, NUGGETS 98

DENVER (AP) — Anthony Edwards scored 25 points and Mike Conley added 23 in Minnesota’s 111-98 rout of Denver Nuggets that sent the Timberwolves into a first-place tie in the Western Conference — and the defending NBA champion Nuggets into third place.

The Nuggets (51-23) failed to reach 100 points for the second straight game and fell a-half game behind the Timberwolves and the Oklahoma City Thunder, who easily handled Phoenix 125-108 on Friday night.

The Nuggets were without star point guard Jamal Murray (ankle, knee) for a fourth consecutive game, and once again their lack of depth was exposed as their bench provided very little help in Denver’s second straight loss at home.

Nobody missed Murray more than MVP favorite Nikola Jokic, who had consecutive cringing turnovers to end the third quarter and missed 11 of his first 17 shots against Minnesota’s pestering double teams before rallying to finish with 32 points.

Rudy Gobert added 21 points for Minnesota, which has won four in a row. Playing on the court where their playoff run ended last season, the Timberwolves took the lead for good on Gobert’s alley-oop dunk in the opening minutes and never let up in cruising to their biggest victory of the season.

ROCKETS 101, JAZZ 100

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Jalen Green scored 30 of his 34 points in the second half and had nine rebounds as Houston beat Utah for their 11th straight win.

Fred VanVleet had 22 points, Amen Thompson added 18 points and 14 rebounds while Jabari Smith, Jr. scored 14 points for the Rockets. Houston scored 27 points off 21 Utah turnovers and outscored the Jazz 25-12 in second-chance points.

John Collins led Utah with 30 points and 11 rebounds. Collin Sexton added 29 points. for the Jazz who lost their eighth straight game. Kris Dunn finished with 11 points and eight rebounds.

The Rockets trailed the entire first half but swung momentum their way during a third-quarter scoring outburst from Green.

MAVERICKS 107, KINGS 103

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Dante Exum hit the winning 3-pointer with 27.5 seconds to go, Kyrie Irving had 30 points and Dallas beat Sacramento for their sixth straight win.

Exum’s wide-open shot, set up by P.J. Washington, made it 106-103 and capped a second-half comeback for the Mavericks, who trailed by 15. Fourteen of Irving’s 30 points came in the fourth quarter, and Luka Doncic added 26 for Dallas.

Harrison Barnes missed a potential game-tying 3-point attempt, and then committed a backcourt violation after the Kings got the offensive rebound.

Dallas also rallied from a nine-point deficit to start the fourth quarter, going on a 12-0 run to take its first lead of the game midway through the quarter.

Dallas, which have won 10 of its last 11 games, moves two games ahead of the Kings for the sixth spot in the Western Conference that would avoid the play-in tournament. Sacramento remain in the eighth spot in the West.