James scores 36, Lakers end 5-game skid by beating Bulls
CHICAGO (AP) — LeBron James had 36 points and 10 rebounds, and the Los Angeles Lakers overcame a 20-point deficit to beat the Chicago Bulls 123-107 on Tuesday night and end a five-game losing streak.
James played 33 minutes and showed no signs of letting up with the Lakers barely hanging on in the playoff race. He took over after the Lakers' 14-point lead was cut to four with 8:38 left, making a jumper and then on the next possession going through the lane for a thunderous dunk.
James didn't stop there, hitting a 3-pointer over 7-footer Robin Lopez and capping it off when Josh Hart passed the ball off the backboard to James, who finished with a reverse dunk to put the Lakers up 115-101 with 5 minutes remaining.
Kyle Kuzma added 21 points after missing two games with an ankle injury. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 24 points off the bench for the Lakers, who outscored the Bulls 43-24 in the third quarter.
Lopez had 20 points and seven rebounds, and Otto Porter Jr. finished with 19 for the Bulls.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 24 points and Milwaukee used a 45-point third quarter to pull away from New Orleans.
Khris Middleton had 23 points, Malcolm Brogdon added 18, and Eric Bledsoe and former Pelicans forward Nikola Mirotic each scored 14 for the Bucks. Brook Lopez finished with 13.
Elfrid Payton had his second consecutive triple-double for the Pelicans, finishing with 14 points, a career-high 15 rebounds and 11 assists. He is the first New Orleans player to have a triple-double in consecutive games since Chris Paul in 2008.
Julius Randle scored 23 points and Anthony Davis had 21 points and 12 rebounds.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Ben Simmons scored 26 points, Joel Embiid had 19 rebounds and made some big plays down the stretch, and Philadelphia held off Cleveland.
Collin Sexton led the Cavaliers with 26 points, including a layup with 3:10 left that pulled Cleveland within one. Cedi Osman added 18 and put the Cavs ahead 97-96 with under 3 minutes to go as boos rained down in Philly.
But Mike Scott responded with a 3-pointer to put the 76ers back ahead. And after Simmons made a free throw and Jordan Clarkson a layup for Cleveland, Embiid followed his own miss with a thunderous dunk to give the Sixers a 102-99 lead with under a minute left.
Embiid, playing in his second game after missing eight straight with a sore left knee, had a block on the other end and then made four straight free throws to seal the win as "MVP! MVP!" chants replaced the boos.
DALLAS (AP) — DeMar DeRozan scored 33 points, LaMarcus Aldridge added 28 and San Antonio beat Dallas.
DeRozan and Aldridge had identical 11-for-19 shooting lines from the field and combined to go 17 of 17 from the foul line. The Spurs led from the middle of the first quarter on in winning their sixth in a row. Dallas lost its sixth straight and 11th in 12 games.
Derrick White added 23 points and seven assists for San Antonio.
Jalen Brunson scored a career-high 34 points for the Mavericks and Dwight Powell added 20.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Bojan Bogdanovic scored 24 points and Darren Collison made two free throws 19.5 seconds left to help Indiana slip past New York.
Indiana snapped its two-game losing streak and remained tied with Philadelphia for the No. 3 spot in the Eastern Conference. Collison finished with 16 points.
New York lost its seventh straight despite getting 21 points from Emmanuel Mudiay and 18 from Damyean Dotson. The Knicks also have lost six straight in the series.
TRAIL BLAZERS 125, CLIPPERS 104
LOS ANGELES (AP) — CJ McCollum scored 35 points, Jusuf Nurkic and Damian Lillard added 20 apiece and Portland snapped Los Angeles' five-game winning streak.
McCollum, who was 12 of 21 from the field and made six 3-pointers, took control of the game during the fourth quarter as the Trail Blazers broke things open with a 21-5 run. Portland led 95-94 with 8:50 remaining before going on a 15-3 spurt that included 13 straight points by McCollum, including three 3-pointers.
The Clippers — who were on the end of back-to-back games — led for most of the first 30 minutes before the Trail Blazers went on an 11-3 run to go up 75-68 with 4:55 remaining in the third quarter. McCollum and Lillard completed the run with 3s. Los Angeles slowly crept back and was within one in the fourth before Portland took control.
Montrezl Harrell had 22 points and Lou Williams added 18 for the Clippers, who had won eight of their previous 10.
NUGGETS 133, TIMBERWOLVES 107
DENVER (AP) — Jamal Murray scored 19 of his 30 points in the second half, Mason Plumlee dished out eight of Denver's season-high 40 assists and the Nuggets cruised over banged-up Minnesota.
Paul Millsap finished with 23 points, including a buzzer-beater from half-court to end the third quarter. Nikola Jokic added 18 points, eight rebounds and seven assists to help Denver snap a two-game slide at Pepsi Center.
The Nuggets are hanging on to the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference.
Karl-Anthony Towns had 34 points and 10 rebounds to pace a Timberwolves team that's fading from playoff contention.