January 15 – Joel Embiid hit a game-winning shot with five seconds left and James Harden fired in 18 of his 31 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Philadelphia 76ers to a 118-117 win over the Utah Jazz on Saturday in Salt Lake City.
Embiid finished with 30 points and seven rebounds, Tyrese Maxey scored 21 points and Shake Milton contributed 17 as the 76ers began a five-game Western Conference road trip on the right note.
Jordan Clarkson led the short-handed Jazz with 38 points, nine rebounds and five assists. He momentarily put Utah ahead with a go-ahead bucket with 13 seconds left after the Jazz rallied out of a 20-point, first-half deficit. Talen Horton-Tucker scored 20 points off the bench for Utah, which played without four regulars, including leading scorer Lauri Markkanen, who was sidelined with a left hip contusion.
Clarkson kept the Jazz in it with 17 points in the fourth quarter. After Embiid split a pair of free throws, Walker Kessler tipped in a Clarkson miss to give the Jazz their first lead of the game, 115-114, with 33.9 seconds remaining. The teams traded leads in the waning moments, with Harden making a short jumper followed by Clarkson hitting his go-ahead shot prior to Embiid’s game-winner.
Trail Blazers 136, Mavericks 119
Damian Lillard recorded 36 points and 10 assists while outplaying Luka Doncic to lead Portland to a convincing victory over visiting Dallas.
NBA scoring leader Doncic had a season-worst 15 points — 19 below his average — to go with 10 assists and six rebounds. He was just 7 of 19 from the field and missed all five 3-point attempts. Lillard was 11-of-20 shooting, including 4 of 11 from behind the arc, as the Trail Blazers ended a string of six straight losses to Dallas. A second round of Lillard versus Luka will occur Sunday night, also in Portland.
Reggie Bullock hit two straight 3-pointers to bring Dallas within 85-74 with 6:14 left in the period. Consecutive treys by Jerami Grant and Gary Payton II gave Portland a 106-88 lead in the final minute before Doncic’s basket left the Mavericks down 16 entering the fourth quarter. Lillard scored four straight points and Anfernee Simons hit a trey during a 7-0 run that made it 125-101 with 6:41 remaining and Portland cruised to the finish.
Heat 111, Bucks 95
Gabe Vincent scored 27 points as Miami posted a victory over visiting Milwaukee.
Bam Adebayo led the charge down low, finishing with his 21st double-double of the season by collecting 20 points and 13 rebounds. Victor Oladipo scored 20 points and Jimmy Butler added 16. Milwaukee boasted six players that scored in double figures, including all five starters. Bobby Portis led the team with 15 points while Jrue Holiday had 12 points and 10 assists.
The Heat led by as many as 15 points in the second quarter, but the Bucks were able to cut the deficit to one in the third. Miami was able to pull ahead just under halfway through the final period, though, going on a 13-0 run to take a commanding 97-79 lead with 7:13 to play.
Grizzlies 130, Pacers 112
Desmond Bane scored 25 points, Ja Morant added 23 points and 10 assists and Memphis extended its winning streak to a season-high nine games with a resounding victory over Indiana in Indianapolis.
Santi Aldama had 17 points, Ziaire Williams scored 13 and Steven Adams had 10 points and nine rebounds for the Grizzlies, who led by as many as 34. Memphis improved to a season-high 16 games over .500 as Jaren Jackson Jr. finished with two blocks, extending his streak with multiple blocks to a franchise-record 13 games
Chris Duarte scored 25 points to lead Indiana, while Bennedict Mathurin added 16, T.J. McConnell had 13 points and 11 assists and Isaiah Jackson chipped in 12 points. Indiana lost its third straight while shooting 36.9 percent from the field and 11 of 47 (23.4 percent) from 3-point range.
Celtics 122, Hornets 106
Jayson Tatum racked up 33 points and Malcolm Brogdon tallied a season-high 30 as Boston got it together in the second half for a road victory against Charlotte.
Tatum shot 12-for-27 from the field (4-for-14 from 3-point range) and Brogdon came off the bench to make 11 of 17 shots from the floor (4-for-6 on 3-point tries). Al Horford had 16 points and Marcus Smart added 13 and 12 assists for the Celtics, who made 19 baskets from 3-point range to win their sixth game in a row.
Charlotte scored only 40 second-half points after leading at the break. LaMelo Ball’s 31 points led the Hornets, while Terry Rozier posted 21 points and P.J. Washington had 14. Mason Plumlee added nine points and 16 rebounds.
Hawks 114, Raptors 103
Trae Young had 29 points and nine assists, and visiting Atlanta led wire-to-wire to defeat Toronto.
Dejounte Murray added 27 points and eight rebounds for Hawks, who took the season series between the teams 2-1. Scottie Barnes had 27 points and 12 rebounds for the Raptors, who finished a 3-3 homestand. Pascal Siakam added 15 points before fouling out.
The Raptors scored the first four points of the fourth quarter. Chris Boucher’s 3-pointer cut the lead to nine with 8:24 to play. De’Andre Hunter responded with a 3-pointer with 8:03 left. Barnes had four straight points, cutting the lead to eight with 5:47 left. Murray came back with four straight points. Boucher hit a 3-pointer to trim the lead to seven with 3:14 to play, but Toronto could never mount a comeback.
Timberwolves 110, Cavaliers 102
Anthony Edwards scored 26 points, dished seven assists and grabbed six rebounds, and Minnesota’s bench contributed 56 points en route to a win over Cleveland in Minneapolis.
Minnesota’s backups helped carry much of the offensive load on a night when Edwards was the sole Timberwolves starter to score in double figures. Edwards shot 10 of 18 from the floor en route to his game-high scoring, including 3 of 6 from 3-point range.
Naz Reid’s 17 points and Jaylen Nowell’s 16 points paced the Minnesota reserves, who combined to outscore the Cleveland bench by a 29-point margin. Rudy Gobert was limited to six points and four rebounds, the result of a groin injury. Gobert’s former Utah Jazz teammate and current Cleveland leading scorer, Donovan Mitchell, came into Saturday’s matchup averaging 29.2 points per game. Minnesota held him to less than half that, with 14 points on 5-of-16 shooting from the floor.
–Field Level Media
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