Klay Thompson scored 34 points, Splash Brother Stephen Curry added 32 with six 3-pointers and Golden State beat the Boston Celtics 123-107 on Saturday night in a rematch of this year’s NBA Finals won by the Warriors in six games.
Jordan Poole had 20 points starting in place of injured Andrew Wiggins despite shooting 1 for 9 from long range.
Thompson scored 12 of his points in the opening quarter shooting 5 of 9 and had 24 by halftime. Curry shot 12 for 21 and had seven assists and six rebounds playing 37 minutes.
Jaylen Brown had 31 points and nine rebounds, Jayson Tatum scored 18 points and Malcolm Brogdon added 16 off the bench for Boston, which had won eight of nine and three straight.
Steph Curry (center) went off for 32 points – including six 3-pointers – in Golden State’s win
Brown scored five straight midway through the fourth with his 3-pointer at the 6:37 mark pulling the Celtics to 105-97. Grant Williams was ejected with 1:52 left.
Poole found Draymond Green for a transition dunk the next time down for the Warriors.
Kevon Looney grabbed a season-high 15 rebounds as Golden State held a 53-39 advantage on the boards.
Jayson Tatum missed two free throws with 5:02 remaining then was called for goal-tending moments later on the other end and Curry connected from the top of the arc the next time down to make it 114-99.
It’s the second loss in the last ten games for Boston, who played without its two best centers
CAVALIERS 110, THUNDER 102
Caris LeVert scored 22 points, Evan Mobley had 21 points and 12 rebounds and the Cleveland Cavaliers never trailed in a 110-102 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday night.
Jarrett Allen had 21 points and 11 rebounds, and Darius Garland added 13 points and eight assists for Cleveland, which is an NBA-best 12-2 at home. All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell missed his second straight game with a sore right lower leg.
‘I’m just trying to come through when my teammates need me,’ said LeVert, who made 4 of 9 3-pointers. ‘It was great when we got things going as a group. And defensively, we were great all night. I know I would not want to play against Evan and J.A.’
Caris LeVert led the way for Cleveland with 22 points in a 110-102 win over Oklahoma City
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the third-leading scorer in the NBA at 31.1 points per game, led Oklahoma City with 23. Aleksej Pokusevski added 16 points and a season-high tying 14 rebounds, and Josh Giddey had 17 points, 13 rebounds and six assists.
Mobley gave Cleveland its largest lead at 72-55 with two free throws midway through the third quarter, but the Thunder rallied to tie it at 89 on a layup by Jalen Williams.
The Cavaliers immediately went back in front on Mobley’s 3-pointer, beginning a 15-4 run that was punctuated by Allen’s three-point play on a dunk.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder in points with 23, but shot below his average of 31
‘Mobley and Allen are really active and bouncy in the paint,’ Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said. ‘I thought (Pokusevski) hung in there physically with them, which was good because they’re so strong down low.’
Lamar Stevens added 10 points and seven rebounds, and Cedi Osman and Isaac Okoro had eight points apiece off the bench for the Cavaliers. Cleveland is 11-0 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse with Mitchell in the lineup and 1-2 when he doesn’t play.
‘We could have folded and let their run keep going, but we got back into the defensive mindset and held our own,’ Allen said. ‘We know if we play our game, we’re able to beat anybody.’
Oklahoma City, which is 2-2 on a five-game road trip, received 12 points from Isaiah Joe and 11 points from Williams. Gilgeous-Alexander fouled out for the first time in 267 career games.
Cleveland moved to three games back on the Milwaukee Bucks in the Central division
BULLS 144, MAVERICKS 115
DeMar DeRozan had 28 points and nine rebounds and the Chicago Bulls took advantage of NBA scoring leader Luka Dončić’s absence to rout the Dallas Mavericks 144-115 on Saturday night.
Doncic sat out with a strained right quadriceps. Swingman Josh Green also was out with a right elbow sprain and forward/center Maxi Kleber missed the game because of a sore right foot. Doncic had 33 points and 11 assists in the Mavericks’ 106-105 home loss to Milwaukee on Friday night.
Nikola Vucevic added 20 points and eight rebounds and Ayo Dosunmu had 17 points to help Chicago win its second straight game. Zach LaVine, Patrick Williams and Derrick Jones Jr. scored 16 points and the Bulls shot a season-high 63.5% from the floor in their biggest-offensive output of the season.
Demar DeRozan hit 28 points to lead the Chicago Bulls in their win over the Dallas Mavericks
Spencer Dinwiddie had 27 points for Dallas and Christian Wood added 21. They dropped their second game in two nights after winning three straight, allowing the most points in a game this season.
The Mavericks were pressed into a quick turnaround against the Bulls and their fatigue showed on both sides of the ball.
The Bulls lead 82-53 at the halftime, setting a team record for points in a first half. Chicago fell just short of its record of 86 points in either half, set in 1990 in a second frame against Phoenix.
Dallas’s Spencer Dinwiddie led the way for a Mavericks team that’s missing Luka Doncic
SPURS 115, HEAT 111
Gregg Popovich got the perfect anniversary gift from his San Antonio Spurs.
Keldon Johnson scored 21 points, Romeo Langford added 19 and the San Antonio Spurs celebrated the 26th anniversary of Popovich’s first game as coach by beating the Miami Heat 115-111 on Saturday.
‘We won,’ Popovich said. ‘That’s what I liked the most.’
Devin Vassell had 18 points for the Spurs, hitting a jumper with 1:13 left that put them ahead to stay. Zach Collins scored 16 points and Doug McDermott added 13.
On the 26th anniversary of his coaching debut, Gregg Popovich’s struggling Spurs won
‘The future’s really bright for this group,’ Langford said.
Jimmy Butler scored 30 points for Miami, which got 23 from Tyler Herro, 14 from Caleb Martin and 12 apiece from Bam Adebayo and Kyle Lowry.
Victor Oladipo added 11 for Miami before fouling out. The Heat were outrebounded 46-32 and San Antonio’s bench outscored Miami’s 47-20.
The Spurs were up 113-111 and used two timeouts with 14.7 seconds left to try to get the ball inbounds. But Collins was called for his sixth foul on the second inbounds attempt, and Miami got the ball back with a chance to tie or win.
The Heat elected to go for the win — Herro missed a 3-pointer, then Martin missed a right-wing 3 as well, and the Spurs finished it off at the line to snap an eight-game road slide and get just their eighth victory in 26 games.
Keldon Johnson led the way with 21 points as San Antonio picked up their 8th win this season
‘I did not even show our team the record,’ Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. ‘That’s just way too dangerous. They play the way you’re accustomed to seeing them play. They really compete.’
The game was played 26 years to the day of Popovich’s debut. He promoted himself into the role after firing Bob Hill following a 3-15 start, and on Dec. 10, 1996, Popovich and the Spurs went into Phoenix and lost 93-76.
Things would get better.
In the loss, Jimmy Butler dropped 30 points as Miami fell to 1.5 games back in the division
The Spurs were 17-47 under Popovich that first year, finished 20-62 and drafted Tim Duncan with the No. 1 pick in 1997.
Over the next quarter-century Popovich became the NBA’s wins leader, the Spurs won five championships — the most recent of them against Miami in 2014 — and now are in the throes of a rebuild with a promising young core.
‘The responsibility really is to try to create a base for them so that they can all have careers, one way or the other,’ Popovich said. ‘Doesn’t matter if it’s the Spurs or somebody else. They’re all really young guys and they deserve that opportunity to be in an environment where they can learn and have a good base to move forward from. That’s where the joy is.’
NETS 136, PACERS 133
Despite having a majority of their starters injured, the Brooklyn Nets pulled out a win against the Indiana Pacers 136-133.
Brooklyn went to Indianapolis without starters Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Ben Simmons, Nic Claxton, and Royce O’Neale as well as bench options Seth Curry, TJ Warren, and Joe Harris.
Cam Thomas led the way off the bench for the Nets, logging 29 minutes but picking up 33 points. Starting point guard Patty Mills chipped in with 24 points.
Tyrese Haliburton led the Pacers with 35 points, with Buddy Hield chipping in for 17 points as Oshae Brissett led the bench with 14 points of his own.
Off the bench, Cam Thomas led the way for the Nets in their shorthanded win over Indiana
CLIPPERS 114, WIZARDS 107
In a return to the city that drafted him, John Wall showed the Wizards what they were missing as he helped the Clippers to a 114-107 victory over Washington.
Wall put up 13 points, three assists, and two steals in the winning effort. Paul George led the team with 36 points alongside seven rebounds and six assists.
Kyle Kuzma led Washington with a double-double in the form of 35 points and 12 rebounds. Kristaps Porzingis did the same with 30 points and 15 rebounds.
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