Utah Jazz hang on for win against Atlanta Hawks

ATLANTA — Atlanta’s Paul Millsap missed on a couple of late attempts and the Hawks were beaten 97-96 by Utah on Sunday, missing a chance to extend their NBA Southeast Division lead.

Derrick Favours scored 23 points and Rodney Hood added 20 for the Jazz, who closed within a game of Northwest leader Oklahoma City, which was comfortably beaten at home by Boston.

Toronto was another division leader to lose, falling at in-form Sacramento, while Charlotte defied a fourth-quarter rally by Portland.

Atlanta’s Millsap had a season-high 28 points but failed to hit the rim on a 3-point attempt in the final minute and missed a 12-footer at the buzzer.

Point guard Jeff Teague sat out with a sore ankle, leaving the Hawks without their second-leading scorer.

Utah took a seven-point lead on Alec Burks’ runner with 2:20 remaining.

Boston’s Marcus Smart scored a career-high 26 points to help the Celtics beat Oklahoma City 100-85.

Isaiah Thomas scored 20 points for Boston, which shot 48 per cent and outrebounded the Thunder 47-34.

Smart also guarded Russell Westbrook effectively. He was part of a collective effort that held the reigning scoring champion to 5-for-20 shooting. Westbrook still scored 27 points and carried a larger load with Kevin Durant out with a hamstring injury.

Westbrook had posted triple-doubles in his previous two games but finished this one with just five assists and four rebounds.

Sacramento’s DeMarcus Cousins scored 10 of his 36 points in the fourth quarter and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the Kings past Toronto 107-101 and to a third straight win.

Rudy Gay had 26 points and Omri Casspi added 14 for Sacramento, which won despite committing 20 turnovers that led to 20 points.

The Kings outscored the Raptors 14-2 over the final 3:22 — including the final 11 points of the game.

DeMar ReRozan scored 24 points for Toronto.

Charlotte’s Nicolas Batum scored 33 points and Al Jefferson added 29 in a 106-94 victory over Portland.

The Hornets led 71-45 at halftime and by 29 points midway through the third quarter but the  Trail Blazers sliced that gap back to six points with 2:58 remaining.

Charlotte responded with an 8-0 run that sealed victory.

Damian Lilliard had 23 points for Portland, which lost its fifth straight.

New York’s Carmelo Anthony had 29 points and 13 rebounds to help the Knicks beat New Orleans 95-87.

Memphis’ Jeff Green scored a season-high 21 points and Mike Conley matched his season-high with 20 points to lead Grizzlies past Minnesota 114-106.

Los Angeles Lakers won their second game and avoided falling to 1-9 for the first time in team history by defeating Detroit 97-85, with Kobe Bryant contributing 17 points, eight rebounds and nine assists.

Guard Jordan Clarkson also had 17 points for Los Angeles (2-8) as Bryant made just 6-of-19 shots from the floor but was effective in involving his teammates.

Guard Nick Young came off the bench to score 13 points for the Lakers, whose only other victory was over the Brooklyn Nets. Centre Roy Hibbert chipped in 12 points and seven rebounds.

Despite suffering a woeful start to the new season, the Lakers defeated the Pistons for the seventh consecutive time and the 10th time in the past 11 meetings.

Reserve guard Spencer Dinwiddie scored 17 points for the Pistons (5-5). Centre Andre Drummond extended his streak of double-doubles to 10 in a row with 17 points and 17 rebounds, but he and the Pistons saw their losing streak reach four games.

Los Angeles was clinging to a 78-74 lead after a dunk by Drummond on an alley-oop pass from Reggie Jackson with 7:28 remaining but the Lakers scored seven consecutive points, starting with a three-pointer by Bryant with 3:44 left.

That sealed the outcome as Detroit got no closer than eight the rest of the way.