Sports

NEW ORLEANS — DeMar DeRozan scored 23 points and Patrick Patterson had 16 as the Toronto Raptors ended a two-game losing streak, beating the New Orleans Pelicans 115-91 on Saturday to tie a franchise record with their 49th victory of the season.

Toronto were never pushed by the Pelicans, who were down to just nine players on the active roster because of injuries. The Raptors shot 53 per cent from the floor and the defence was nearly as good, holding New Orleans to just 43 per cent shooting.

With New Orleans’ top five scorers on the bench due to injury, Alonzo Gee led the Pelicans with 18 points.

Cavaliers 107, Knicks 93

LeBron James had 27 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists for his third triple-double of the season while Kevin Love added 28 points and 12 rebounds as the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the New York Knicks.

James recorded his 42nd career triple-double and moved within three points of Dominique Wilkins for 12th place on the NBA’s scoring list.

Even with Kyrie Irving resting, the Cavaliers easily bounced back from a loss in Brooklyn on Thursday, shutting the Knicks down in the first half and pulling away when the lead got down to 10 in the fourth quarter.

Carmelo Anthony scored 28 points after a brutal start for the Knicks, who were coming off a home-and-home sweep of Chicago. Kristaps Porzingis had 19.

Hawks 112, Pistons 95

Paul Millsap had 23 points and nine rebounds as the Atlanta Hawks ended the Detroit Pistons’ five-game winning streak.

The Hawks have won 13 of their last 16 and moved a game ahead of Miami atop the Southeast Division.

Tobias Harris scored 21 points, and Andre Drummond had 19 points and 17 rebounds for Detroit but the Pistons couldn’t recover from a poor first quarter. Atlanta never trailed and led by as many as 20 in the fourth.

Nets 120, Pacers 110

Brook Lopez scored 23 points and Bojan Bogdanovic added 18 as the Brooklyn Nets beat the Indiana Pacers.

Sergey Karasev scored a career-high 17 points for the Nets, who took a 104-102 lead on Bogdanovic’s 3-pointer with 5:41 remaining in the game. Lopez then scored nine consecutive points for Brooklyn before Bogdanovic nailed a contested 3-pointer to put Brooklyn ahead 116-110 with 39 seconds remaining.

Paul George then missed a 3-pointer with 25 seconds remaining, sealing the win for Brooklyn.

Magic 111, Bulls 89

Orlando journeyman centre Dewayne Dedmon scored a career-high 18 points and grabbed 13 rebounds while Jason Smith added 14 off the bench as the Magic dealt the Chicago Bulls a blow to their fading play-off hopes.

Elfrid Payton scored 15 points and had 10 assists and Evan Fournier added 12 points for the Magic, who ended a six-game losing streak.

The Bulls (36-36), fighting to climb back into the eighth and final play-off spot in the Eastern Conference, dropped their third straight game. 

Jazz 93, Timberwolves 84

Gordon Hayward scored 16 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter as the Utah Jazz finished a five-game road trip with victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Hayward had just two points on 1-of-6 shooting in the first three quarters. But he shot 6 of 9 in the fourth and Derrick Favours chipped in with 19 points and five rebounds to get the Jazz a much-needed victory as they make a push for the play-offs. The Jazz (36-37) entered tied with Dallas for eighth in the Western Conference and have won seven of their last nine.

Ricky Rubio scored 23 points on 9-of-12 shooting for the Timberwolves, who missed a chance for their first three-game winning streak since November 27. The Wolves shot 38 per cent and fell to 2-12 on the second night of a back-to-back.

Thunder 111, Spurs 92

Kevin Durant scored 31 points and Russell Westbrook added 29 to help the Thunder defeat the short-handed San Antonio Spurs.

Enes Kanter had 20 points and 10 rebounds and Serge Ibaka added 15 points and eight rebounds for Oklahoma City, which won its seventh straight.

Hornets 115, Bucks 91

Nicolas Batum scored 23 of his 25 points in the first half as the Charlotte Hornets used a 3-point barrage to rout the Milwaukee Bucks 115-91.

Marvin Williams added 21 points and Kemba Walker had 18 for the Hornets, who won three of four games in the season series. Charlotte connected on 16 of 29 3-pointers against Milwaukee in this one, a 55 per cent clip.

John Henson had 19 points and Jabari Parker 15 for the Bucks, who have lost five straight and six of seven. 

Celtics 102, Suns 99

Isaiah Thomas scored 28 points against his former team as the Boston Celtics held off the Phoenix Suns despite almost blowing a 21-point lead.

Evan Turner added 17 points, 15 of those in the first half, to go with 11 rebounds for Boston, which won its fourth straight. He also blocked the potential tying shot with 3.9 seconds left.

Phoenix had a chance to take the lead twice with under a minute left but Booker and Knight missed shots.

Marcus Smart made two free throws and after Booker’s put-back basket with 15.5 seconds left made it 100-99, Thomas and Smart each made one free throw. The Suns missed a shot from beyond half-court at the final buzzer.

Trail Blazers 108, 76ers 105

C.J. McCollum converted a three-point play with 7.6 seconds left to break a tie and lift the Portland Trail Blazers past the Philadelphia 76ers.

Trapped in the corner near the sideline and the midcourt line, McCollum split two defenders, drove through the lane and hit a lay-up as he was fouled and stumbled to the floor, helping the Blazers avoid another embarrassing loss to the worst team.

AMMAN  — The 4th West Asian Women’s Basketball Champions Cup ended on Friday with Lebanon’s Riyadi crowned the champ.

The championship hosted by Fuheis Club grouped teams from three countries: Lebanon’s Riyadi and Homenetmen, Palestine’s Sariet Ramallah and Jordan’s Orthodoxi and Fuheis.

Riyadi finished with an unbeaten run after overcoming compatriots Homenetmen, who beat Orthodoxi 75-48 as the latter beat Ramallah 77-71 and settled for third despite losing to Fuheis 63-61. Ramallah came in fourth after beating Fuheis 69-65 as the hosts finished last after losing to Homenetmen 96-47 on the final day.

In 2015, Lebanon’s Riyadi took the title after beating Syria’s Wihda who came in second while Orthodoxi came in third. Fuheis were fourth and Sariet Ramallah finished fifth. Lebanon’s Antranik Club had won the title before. 

In the last regional event in 2014, Orthodoxi finished 4th at the 16th Arab Clubs Basketball Championship for Women in Egypt when Lebanon’s Riyadi retained the title.

In the men’s championship, Orthodoxi hosted the 16th West Asian Clubs Championship earlier this year which qualifies teams to the Asian Basketball Confederation (ABC) Champions Cup.

Iran’s Petroshemi, Lebanon’s Riyadi and Iraq’s Shurta advanced from the zonal qualifiers, Orthodoxi appeared below form and lost all four matches. The West Asian Clubs Championship has been dominated by Lebanese and Iranian team since it started in 1998.

Orthodoxi were the only Jordanian team to win the title in 1999. Jordanian runners-up are Jazira (currently Riyadi’s team) in 1998, Orthodoxi in 2001 and 2002, Arena in 2003 and Zain in 2009.

SYDNEY — Former Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp remains uncertain about his future with Jordan beyond the team’s World Cup qualifying match against Australia on Tuesday.

Redknapp, who arrived Saturday for Jordan’s must-win match against the Socceroos, said earlier this week that he’d be open to extending his two-match coaching deal with Jordan should the team progress to the next round of Asian qualifying.

Jordan, which beat Bangladesh 8-0 in Redknapp’s first match in charge on Thursday, trails first-place Australia by two points in Group B, but could qualify for the third round as one of the four best runner-up teams in the eight groups.

Redknapp says he hasn’t discussed his contract with Jordan Football Association President HRH Prince Ali, adding “I’ve enjoyed it obviously, but I don’t know about the future.”

“I only came for two games, that was what I did with Prince Ali,” Redknapp added.

“I’m [adviser] at [second-tier] Derby at the moment so as soon as I get back from here I go straight to Derby. We play Cardiff away on Saturday, it’s a big game for us. I just want to get a great result from Jordan and go from there.”

Redknapp, who led Tottenham into the Champions League for the first time in 2010, and went on to manage Queens Park Rangers from 2012 to 2015, expects a tough match from Australia on Tuesday. The Socceroos went on a scoring spree of their own on Thursday, beating Tajikistan 7-0.

“It’s got the makings of a real good game,” he said. “We need to win, so we’ve got to be going for it. We’ll have to start well because they’ll be a big crowd, great atmosphere.”

AMMAN – Harry Redknapp on Thursday led Jordan to an 8-0 win over Bangladesh in his first game as an interim head coach of the national team. 

The win was Jordan's fifth victory in Group B of the 2018 FIFA World Cup/2019 AFC Asian Cup joint qualifiers to remain two points behind leaders Australia, who beat Tajikistan 7-0 earlier in the day. 

The game against Bangladesh, held at Amman International Stadium, was Jordan's first of two matches under Redknapp. 

Hamza Dardour netted a first-half hat-trick, who opened the score in the seventh minute before scoring again 16 minutes later when he lifted Yousef Rawashdeh’s cross from the right over Bangladesh keeper Ashraful Rana. 

Before the half-hour mark, Abdullah Deeb scored the third goal from a penalty spot. Two minutes later, Rawashdeh netted Jordan's fourth. 

Dardour scored his hat-trick and the national team's fifth with five minutes of the first half remaining.

Substitute Baha Abdelrahman made it 6-0 in the 63rd minute. With just seven minutes remaining to the match, substitute Yousaf Al Naber got his name on the score sheet. 

In the stoppage time, a challenge by a Bangladeshi defender gave the Jordan the second penalty kick of the match, played by Ahmed Samir to complete the 8-0 win.

Jordan will travel to Australia to face the 2015 AFC Asian Cup champions on Tuesday, with a victory in Sydney seeing Jordan leapfrog the Socceroos and finish top of the table.

Eight group winners will advance to the third round of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, as well as straight to the 2019 Asian Cup in United Arab Emirates, along with the four best runners-up.

AMMAN — Jordan is upbeat as it hosts Bangladesh on Thursday in its return leg Group B qualifier for the 2018 World Cup  doubling as part of the qualification for 2019 Asian Cup.

The Kingdom, now second in the group after losing 1-0 to Kyrgyzstan in its last qualifier, now needs a win ahead of its decisive away match against group leaders Australia on March 29.

After an interim inconsistent period following their November qualifier HRH Prince Ali, chairman of the Jordan Football Association on Tuesday introduced Harry Redknapp who will lead the team in the upcoming period with a focus on reaching the Asian Championship and keep World Cup qualifying chances alive.

Prince Ali attended team practice and underlined players were up to the task ahead. "Let us take things at a time, focus on winning the next two matches and rally around our squad," the Prince added urging fans to boost team morale in the upcoming match on Thursday.

Redknapp sounded optimistic although he has a tough task with the little time to prepare the line-up. "I have come here to win the upcoming two matches. It will not be easy but it's a challenge we must win. We have to believe we can do it," he added.

Redknapp guided Tottenham into the UEFA Champions League for the very first time in 2009–10 the season. He previously managed Bournemouth, West Ham United, Portsmouth, Southampton, and Queens Park Rangers. In his second spell at Portsmouth, he managed the side that won the 2008 FA Cup.

With the match against group leader Australia less than a week away, Jordan is now second in Group B behind Australia after losing 1-0 to Kyrgyzstan, beating Australia 2-0 and Tajikistan 3-0.  In the first leg, Jordan was held to a  disappointing 0-0 draw with  Kyrgyzstan, beat Tajikistan  3-1, Bangladesh 4-0.  

Forty teams are playing home and away in a round-robin format in the current second qualifying round which ends in March. The group winners and four best runners-up (total 12 teams) will advance to the 2019 AFC Asian Cup finals and the final round of qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The next best 24 teams from the preliminary stage of the joint qualifiers will compete in a separate competition for the remaining slots (12 slots or 11 slots + 1 slot for the host) in the 24-team 2019 Asian Cup. 

Jordan is 82nd in latest FIFA World rankings but observesr noted the drawbacks of not playing friendlies ahead of the last two qualifiers and only beating Egypt 1-0 earlier this year under interim coach Abdullah Abu Zam'eh. Egypt did not employ its senior squad and Jordan played without most pros while some were on the injury list. 

The Kingdom had the most memorable World Cup qualifying journey in 2013 when it advanced to play then World's 6th ranked Uruguay in an intercontinental qualifying tie for a place in the 2014 World Cup. Jordan lost the home game 5-0 and held the former World Cup champ 0-0 in the away match. Jordan had never reached that far in World Cup qualifying since taking part in the qualifiers as of 1985. Round 3 had been the furthest Jordan reached in the  past 7 times in the qualifiers since 1986.

In the Asian Cup, Jordan reached the Championship three times since first taking part in qualifiers in 1972. The pinnacle was at the 13th Asian Cup, when they lost to Japan in the quarter-finals and jumped to the best ever FIFA rank of 37th in August 2004. In 2011, Jordan again reached the quarter-finals.

In 2015, Jordan's lineup was led by Briton Ray Wilkins under whom the team failed to advance past 8 groups stage of the 16th Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup. Ahmad Abdul Qader took over in the transitional phase under whom the team played the first qualifier. Belgian Paul Put took over in July and his contract was suspended after he got caught in the midst of a court case over match fixing in the  Belgian league. 

Group B standings

AMMAN – The national football team’s head coach, Harry Redknapp, said players  have to work hard in order to win the next two matches and do their best in order to achieve good results, adding that he does not have a “magic wand” for victories.

“I cannot walk in suddenly… go come on… you know we are going to play like Brazil. If I can help just get another 5 per cent you know from the players that would make a difference. I would be delighted but it’s down to the players,” he said, addressing reporters at a press conference at the premises of Jordan Football Association (JFA) in Amman on Tuesday. 

HRH Prince Ali, president of the JFA, thanked Redknapp and said: “He is passionate to work with Nashama [the nickname given to the national team] and this is a source of pride for me because he is one of the most successful coaches in England and in the world. I wish the team well.”

He expressed hope that the fans would flock to the stadium in Amman on Thursday to support the national team during their World Cup qualifier against Bangladesh, and for the team to win in order to boost their morale against Australia the following week.

Redknapp, who expressed delight to be in Jordan, said he was very pleased with the skills of the players during a training session on Monday. He did not comment on his future with the team, adding that at the moment he is working for two matches.

“I have been in football long enough, in football if I come and we can win the games and everybody is happy with me I would love to come back. At the moment it is just two games and I think if we don’t beat Bangladesh maybe the prince puts me on the plane tomorrow, but we have to make sure that we will win,” he said with a smile. 

Following the press conference, both Prince Ali and Redknapp attended a training session for the team. The Kingdom will face Bangladesh at home on March 24 and Australia in an away match on March 29. 

The national team is second in Group B behind Australia after losing 1-0 to Kyrgyzstan, beating Australia 2-0 and Tajikistan 3-0. In the first leg, 

Jordan was held to a disappointing 0-0 draw with Kyrgyzstan, beat Tajikistan 3-1 and Bangladesh 4-0.

It isn’t the title they ultimately desire, but it’s a start. The real work is yet to come for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

LeBron James had 33 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists, and the Cavs used a new-look defence to clinch the Central Division title with a 124-91 victory Monday night against the Denver Nuggets.

Cleveland (50-20) endured frustrating moments of inconsistency throughout the season, but it still sealed the fifth division crown in team history and their ninth 50-win season.

“All is not bad,” Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said. “We’re still growing, we’re still getting better on a night-to-night basis and we can celebrate this, but we gotta keep moving forward.”

The Cavs scrapped some of their defensive principles that haven’t been working the last few weeks and returned to the simplified format that carried them to the NBA finals last season. They held the Nuggets to 39.5 per cent shooting Monday and led by as many as 36 in the fourth quarter after Denver’s five starters combined to match James’ 33 points.

“It was embarrassing,” Nuggets coach Mike Malone said. “An embarrassing effort. I haven’t seen that from our team most of the year. I’m very disappointed with that.”

The Cavs built a 19-point lead in the first quarter when they scored 38 points, their most in an opening quarter all season. However, they give it all back in the second when Nuggets reserve guard Will Barton scored 16 of his team-high 27.

Cleveland went scoreless for more than six minutes while the Nuggets scored 17 consecutive points mainly off the Cavs’ reserves. When James and the starters returned, the Cavs reclaimed momentum.

The game was essentially over after three quarters, and James left to an ovation with six minutes remaining after securing his second triple-double of the season and the 41st of his career.

In this season of the unexpected, however, James again made a stir by unfollowing the Cavs from his Twitter account. James’ cryptic messages a few weeks ago on social media set the Internet on fire, as did Monday’s revelation he no longer follows the Cavs.

Asked about the reasoning behind it, James stared down a reporter momentarily before responding simply, “Next question”.

The Cavs have fought to stay out of their own way most of the season. Locker room issues led to the firing of coach David Blatt at midseason, while the play of fellow stars Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love seemed to aggravate James at times this season.

Still, Cleveland remain atop the conference and hold a slim one-game lead on the Toronto Raptors for home-court advantage in the East playoffs. The Cavs’ blowout victory Monday, led by a dazzling performance from James, followed an embarrassing loss at Miami on Saturday when Cleveland trailed by 33 in the fourth quarter. That is the way it has gone most of the season.

Even Monday, the reserves let the Nuggets back in the game in the second quarter before the starters could put the game away in the second half.

“We definitely have to develop that killer instinct,” Lue said. “When we get up, we get cute — the fancy passes, we take a couple bad and questionable shots. We’ve got to continue to get better at that and continue to step on guys’ throats when we have them down.”

Cavs forward Channing Frye scored 14 points as a replacement for Love, who did not play because he was ill. J.R. Smith scored 15 points, and Matthew Dellavedova had 10 points and seven assists off the bench. Irving finished with eight points and three assists.

Jusuf Nurkic, Gary Harris and Nikola Jokic each scored 11 points for the Nuggets, although Harris was a minus-45 during his 34 minutes.

“We got our butts kicked,” Malone said. “I’m not going to use any excuses for it. For the most part, they did whatever they wanted and we helped them do it.”

DALLAS — Dirk Nowitzki scored 40 points and Deron Williams had 31 points and 16 assists, leading the Dallas Mavericks to a 132-120 overtime win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday.

Nowitzki and Williams capped season-high scoring efforts with the first 11 points in overtime. Williams made a tiebreaking 3-pointer before Nowitzki scored eight straight points.

The Mavericks’ victory moved them within a half-game of the Trail Blazers for the sixth playoff position in the Western Conference. Dallas has 12 games to play and Portland 11.

The Mavericks (35-35) also gained a tiebreaker by winning the first two of three games in the season series against the Trail Blazers (36-35). The teams play again in Portland on Wednesday.

Damian Lillard led the Trail Blazers with 26 points. Allen Crabbe scored 24 points, and C.J. McCollum had 22. Miles Plumlee had 14 points and 19 rebounds.

Raptors 105, Magic 100

DeMar DeRozan scored 25 points, leading Toronto to the win.

Luis Scola had 20 points as the Raptors moved within one game of idle Cleveland for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.

Evan Fournier and Victor Oladipo each had 21 points for Orlando, which lost their seventh straight game in Toronto and have now lost 13 of the last 14 meetings with the Raptors.

A 3-pointer from Fournier with 1:11 remaining trimmed Toronto’s lead to 97-96, but DeRozan responded with a floating jumper with 53.9 seconds left and added the free throw after being fouled by Ersan Ilyasova.

Pelicans 109, Clippers 105

Jrue Holiday scored 22 points, helping the injury-riddled Pelicans to the victory.

Omer Asik scored a season-high 15 points and tied his season best with 14 rebounds for New Orleans, while Dante Cunningham scored a season-high 19 points. Reserve guard Tim Frazier added a season-high 17 points.

Chris Paul and J.J. Redick each scored 24 points, and Paul also had 13 assists for the Clippers, who lost in Memphis on Saturday night and were playing their second game in less than 24 hours. Los Angeles missed 19 3-point attempts and 13 free throws.

The Pelicans tipped off shortly after announcing All-Star forward Anthony Davis, who hurt his left knee on Friday night, would miss the rest of the season to treat that injury as well as a torn labrum in his left shoulder that he played with for much of the season.

Kings 88, Knicks 80

DeMarcus Cousins had 24 points and 20 rebounds, and Sacramento had their best defensive performance of the season.

The Kings, who came in allowing a league-worst 109.6 points per game, easily surpassed their previous best of 88 points allowed, shutting down a Knicks team that played without leading scorer Carmelo Anthony.

Cousins emerged the winner in a good big-man duel with Robin Lopez, who finished with 23 points and 20 rebounds for the Knicks, playing through his usual frustrations with the officiating and even a security guard in this one.

New York fell to 0-8 this season without Anthony, who was still bothered by symptoms of a migraine that he began suffering from Saturday night in a loss at Washington.

Celtics 120, 76ers 105

Isaiah Thomas led six Celtics players in double figures with 26 points as Boston ended a four-game skid.

Jared Sullinger added 17 points and 13 rebounds for Boston, which swept the four-game season series against the 76ers to make their eight consecutive wins against Philadelphia. The Celtics avoided matching their longest losing streak of the season with the victory.

Carl Landry scored 26 points for the 76ers, who have lost five in a row and 18 of the last 19 to fall to 9-61.

Jazz 94, Bucks 85

Gordon Hayward scored 18 points, including 13 during a decisive third quarter, as the Jazz won for the fifth time in six games.

Utah remained one game behind Dallas for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Trey Lyles added 14 points for the Jazz, and Shelvin Mack had 13 points and 12 assists. Rudy Gobert finished with 12 points and 14 rebounds.

Milwaukee is 4-18 in their last 22 games against Utah. Jabari Parker had 19 points and eight rebounds for the Bucks.

AMMAN – The new head coach of the national football team Harry Redknapp led his first training session at the Amman International Stadium on Monday. Redknapp agreed to take over the team for the World Cup qualifiers against Bangladesh and Australia this month.

The former Tottenham Hotspur manager talked to the technical team as he entered the stadium and he also talked to a number of players. Redknapp is expected to hold his first press conference at the Jordan Football Federation’s headquarters in Amman around midday on Tuesday.

The Kingdom will face Bangladesh at home on March 24 and Australia in an away match on March 29. The national team is second in Group B behind Australia after losing 1-0 to Kyrgyzstan, beating Australia 2-0 and Tajikistan 3-0. In the first leg, Jordan was held to a disappointing 0-0 draw with Kyrgyzstan, beat Tajikistan 3-1 and Bangladesh 4-0.

SAN ANTONIO — LaMarcus Aldridge had 26 points and 13 rebounds, and the San Antonio Spurs beat the Golden State Warriors 87-79 on Saturday night to remain perfect at the AT&T Centre this season and extend their home dominance over the defending NBA champions to 33 straight regular-season games.

Kawhi Leonard added 18 points and 14 rebounds for San Antonio, which have won 44 straight at home in the regular season, tied for the second-longest streak in NBA history. Golden State have the longest regular-season home winning streak at 50 games and counting.

The Spurs held Warriors superstar Stephen Curry to 14 points while limiting him to 1-for-12 shooting on 3-pointers.

San Antonio (59-10) moved within three games of Golden State (62-7) for the league’s top seed with two games remaining between the two teams.

Heat 122, Cavaliers 101

Dwyane Wade scored 24 points to surpass 20,000 for his career, Josh Richardson added 19 and Miami never trailed in beating Cleveland.

Goran Dragic had 18 points and 11 assists for Miami, Joe Johnson also scored 18 and Hassan Whiteside finished with 16 points and 13 rebounds.

Miami outrebounded Cleveland 42-26 and led by as many as 33 at one point.

LeBron James had 26 points for Cleveland and sat out the final 15 minutes, the outcome already long been decided when his night ended. Richard Jefferson scored 20 and Kyrie Irving had 14 for the Cavaliers, who have lost 11 consecutive games in Miami.

Thunder 115, Pacers 111

Russell Westbrook had his second triple-double in two nights, Kevin Durant had 33 points and 13 rebounds, and Oklahoma City overcame Paul George’s 45 points to beat Indiana.

Westbrook finished with 14 points, 11 rebounds and 14 assists, his 14th triple-double of the season. Durant nearly had one, too, finishing with eight assists to lead Oklahoma City to their fourth straight win.

Indiana erased a 10-point half-time deficit and regained the lead early in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t hold it. After Indiana took their last lead at 98-97 with 8:28 to go, the Thunder answered with a 9-0 run.

Nuggets 101, Hornets 93

D.J. Augustin scored 24 points on 8-of-11 shooting, and Denver ended a three-game road losing streak with a victory over Charlotte.

Darrell Arthur and Gary Harris added 13 points apiece for the Nuggets, while Nikola Jokic had 11 points and 14 rebounds before fouling out midway through the fourth quarter.

Nicolas Batum had 24 points, nine assists and eight rebounds for the Hornets, who lost at home for only the third time in the last 15 games. Jeremy Lin had 16 points and Kemba Walker added 15 for Charlotte.

It was a costly loss for the Hornets, who had beaten Miami on Thursday night to pull into a tie with the Heat for the fourth-best record in the Eastern Conference.

Grizzlies 113, Clippers 102

Zach Randolph recorded his first career triple-double with 28 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists, Tony Allen added 22 points and Memphis beat the Clippers.

Randolph, returning from a seven-game absence due to a sore knee, was 10 of 19 from the floor, while Allen was 7 of 10. Ray McCallum added 14 for Memphis, including seven in the fourth quarter. Lance Stephenson had 12 points and JaMychal Green finished with 11 as Memphis ended a four-game losing streak.

The Clippers have lost three of four.

Hawks 109, Rockets 97

Al Horford scored 22 points and streaking Atlanta continued to dominate Western Conference teams by beating Michael Beasley and Houston.

The Hawks have won five straight and eight of nine. They’ve also won six straight against Western Conference teams.

Beasley led Houston with a season-high 30 points, including 12 of the team’s 14 fourth-quarter points. James Harden had 25 and Dwight Howard had eight points and 17 rebounds.

Bulls 92, Utah 85

Derrick Rose scored 22 points to lead short-handed Chicago past Utah, ending the Jazz’s four-game winning streak.

Taj Gibson had 15 points and 10 rebounds, and Nikola Mirotic added 15 points for Chicago.

Rose was 10 for 15 from the field as the Bulls won their second straight. Chicago (35-33) remained in eighth place in the Eastern Conference.

The Bulls were playing without Pau Gasol (right knee swelling) and E’Twaun Moore (left hamstring).

Gordon Hayward, Utah’s leading scorer with 20.1 points per game, had nine points on 4-for-13 shooting after missing two games with plantar fasciitis of the right foot.

Wizards 99, Knicks 89

John Wall had 24 points and 10 assists, and Washington rallied from an 18-point, second-quarter deficit to beat New York for its fourth straight victory.

It was the largest comeback win of the season for the Wizards, who began Saturday 10th in the Eastern Conference, but are now just 1 1/2 games out of the eighth and final play-off spot.

Wall, who was seeking his third straight triple-double, fell short with two rebounds, but committed just one turnover after totalling 17 in his last two games.

Pistons 115, Nets 103

Anthony Tolliver scored all 17 of his points in the second half and Aron Baynes scored 17 of his 21 in the fourth quarter to lift Detroit over Brooklyn.

The Pistons trailed by six in the third and were in danger of what would have been a terrible home loss, but they were eventually able to take advantage of Brook Lopez’s absence, missing the game with a virus.

Tolliver helped turn the game as he made four 3-pointers and matched his season high in scoring. Baynes, another Detroit backup, set a career high thanks to his big fourth quarter.

Thaddeus Young scored 24 points for the Nets. Brooklyn has lost eight of ten.