NBA roundup: OG Anunoby’s 33 points carries Knicks past Kings
OG Anunoby scored a team-high 33 points, helping lead the New York Knicks to 143-120 win over the visiting Sacramento Kings on Saturday.
Mikal Bridges added 27 points, Jalen Brunson had 25 points and 11 assists, while Josh Hart collected 20 points, 18 rebounds and 11 assists as the Knicks won their third straight game. Karl-Anthony Towns had 18 points and 15 boards for New York, which made 17 of its 36 (47.2 percent) 3-point attempts.
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Malik Monk led the Kings with 31 points. Domantas Sabonis chipped in 25 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists, while DeMar DeRozan scored 18 as Sacramento dropped its second in a row. De’Aaron Fox added 14 points and Keegan Murray had 12 in the loss.
Leading 72-67 at halftime, New York doubled its advantage as Bridges’ triple gave the Knicks an 86-76 lead at the 8:47 mark of the third quarter. Sacramento answered with a 12-4 run, stamped with Murray’s dunk and Sabonis’ layup that trimmed the Kings’ deficit to two.
Later in the third, Sabonis’ layup pulled the Kings within three before Brunson’s five straight points began a 14-6 New York run to end the quarter, giving the Knicks a 111-100 advantage entering the fourth.
Bridges scored the first five points of the fourth quarter for the Knicks, who outscored the Kings 32-20 over the final quarter en route to the easy win.
With just over five minutes left in the first quarter, Monk’s pullup jumper trimmed the Kings’ deficit to 21-17 before Precious Achiuwa’s floater and Landry Shamet’s 3-pointer began a 10-0 Knicks run.
Anunoby finished the first quarter and then began the second quarter with dunks, giving the Knicks a 40-25 advantage. Fox then connected on a triple before Anunoby’s three-point play pushed New York’s advantage back to 15.
The Knicks’ lead grew to 17 on Towns’ layup at the 7:26 mark of the second quarter, but Monk scored on back-to-back Sacramento possessions, cutting the Kings’ deficit to 55-42.
After New York extended its lead to 19, the Kings finished the half on a 23-9 run, including Monk’s 12 points over the final 5:01, helping trim New York’s halftime lead to 72-67. Anunoby had 20 points in the first half for New York, while Monk led all scorers with 23.
Raptors defeat Hawks for second time in three days
Scottie Barnes, RJ Barrett and Chris Boucher combined for 70 points to lead the visiting Toronto Raptors to a 117-94 win over the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday and earn back-to-back road wins for the first time this season.
Toronto swept the two-games-in-three-days series and took the season series 2-1. Toronto won for just the third time in 22 road games and has won three straight in Atlanta. The Hawks have lost four in a row and dropped to 11-10 at home.
Barnes had 24 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists, Barrett added 23 points and eight rebounds, and Boucher came off the bench to score 23.
Atlanta was led by Vit Krejci, who scored a career-high 22 points. Krejci matched his career high with six 3-pointers and had a season-high seven assists.
Trae Young had a miserable game. He scored 16 points, had a season-low four assists — ending a streak of 202 consecutive games with at least five assists — and committed a season-high 11 turnovers.
The Hawks saw their early 12-point lead erased by a 16-2 Toronto run that gave the Raptors a 31-29 lead. There were seven lead changes and six ties in the first half as Toronto built a 55-48.
The Raptors padded their cushion in the third quarter led 86-70 going into the fourth.
Atlanta cut the lead to 88-79, but the Raptors scored nine straight to take their biggest lead of the game.
Atlanta got Larry Nance Jr. back after he missed 12 games with a broken right hand, but he may have reinjured it after banging it on the backboard late in the third quarter. He was taken to the locker room and did not return to the game.
The Hawks were without De’Andre Hunter, a pregame scratch because of an illness, and Jalen Johnson, who was ruled out indefinitely with a shoulder injury.
Both teams play again on Monday. The Raptors will host New Orleans and the Hawks will play at Minnesota.
76ers win again, top Bulls
Tyrese Maxey had 31 points and nine assists while Kelly Oubre Jr. notched a double-double of 22 points and 12 rebounds to lift the visiting Philadelphia 76ers to a 109-97 win against the slumping Chicago Bulls on Saturday.
The 76ers have won two games in as many nights on the heels of a seven-game losing streak. Chicago has lost seven of eight.
The Bulls committed 20 turnovers.
Chicago led 83-80 after three quarters, finding its best offensive rhythm with 30 points in the period before sputtering down the stretch.
The 76ers regained the lead for good at 89-88 on Reggie Jackson’s pullup trey with 8:03 remaining. Philadelphia led by as many as 13 points in the game, gaining control by capitalizing on a Bulls scoring drought of 3:27 during one sequence in the fourth.
Zach LaVine had 25 points and eight rebounds for Chicago. Nikola Vucevic added 22 points and 12 rebounds.
Josh Giddey registered his third straight double-double for the Bulls, contributing 10 points and 10 rebounds to go with seven assists.
Eric Gordon (13 points) and Jackson (12) also scored in double figures for the 76ers. Paul George scored nine first-half points in 13 minutes for Philadelphia but didn’t play after halftime after injuring his left pinky finger.
Maxey boosted Philadelphia to an early advantage behind a hot hand. He scored 15 points in the opening quarter, including 13 straight for the 76ers during one stretch, on 6-for-8 shooting.
By halftime, he had 20 points behind a 7-for-12 effort from the floor.
The 76ers led 60-53 at intermission, shooting 46.8 percent. LaVine (12 points) and Vucevic (10) were in double figures for the Bulls. Both teams settled in after a sluggish start, as George delivered the first points for either side with a step-back jumper at the 9:51 mark of the first quarter.
Philadelphia center Joel Embiid missed his 11th consecutive game with a knee injury.
Chicago’s Coby White (ankle) missed his third game in a row.
The 76ers have won three straight against the Bulls and clinched at least a split of the season series.
Grizzlies top Jazz for sixth straight win
Jaren Jackson Jr. scored 28 points and Zach Edey added 19 points, seven rebounds and four blocks as the host Memphis Grizzlies beat the Utah Jazz 125-103 Saturday for their sixth straight win to tie a season-best streak.
Utah, which lost its fifth straight and for the eighth time in nine games, was led by Collin Sexton with 20 points and Svi Mykhailiuk with 16.
The Grizzlies completed a 4-0 homestand while improving to 8-2 in their last 10 and improving to 19-5 at home.
Memphis guard Ja Morant returned after missing Friday’s game against the Pelicans and had 11 points and seven assists. Desmond Bane contributed 17 points, nine rebounds and six assists, Jaylen Wells scored 16, and GG Jackson had 15 points and six rebounds.
Despite his all-around numbers, Bane did see his streak of seven straight 20-point games end.
Ahead by 65-57 at the half, the Grizzlies pulled away early in the third quarter behind Morant, who buried consecutive 3-pointers during a 25-second span for a 15-point lead at 75-60. The Memphis advantage reached 27 points by the end of the quarter, one in which the Grizzlies outscored the Jazz 36-17.
The first half also saw several minor skirmishes and a player ejection. Utah’s Drew Eubanks was tossed out with 9:10 to go in the second quarter after being assessed a Flagrant 2 foul for aggressively pushing Edey in the back.
The ejection came less than a minute after Morant and Utah’s Keyonte George were each given technical fouls for getting into a slight shoving match following a change of possession.
The Grizzlies led 35-31 after the first quarter and extended their lead to 13 points on several occasions in the second. Jackson had 11 of his 20 first-half points in the second quarter, including a runner at the buzzer for the eight-point lead at intermission.
Sexton had 13 points for the Jazz in the opening half, nine coming from the free throw line.
Haliburton helps push Pacers past Spurs in Paris
Tyrese Haliburton scored a game-high 28 points and took over in the pivotal final five minutes of the third quarter as the Indiana Pacers handled the San Antonio Spurs 136-98 on Saturday afternoon to split the NBA Paris Games series.
San Antonio captured the first game of the set 140-110 on Thursday but had no answer for the Pacers in the finale. Indiana led by 15 points at halftime and by 12 after three. Haliburton scored 16 points in a decisive 19-6 run to end the period.
The Pacers poured it on in the fourth quarter, leading by as many as 38 points while waltzing to the finish line.
Pascal Siakam added 23 points and 11 rebounds for Indiana, which won for the third time in its past four contests. Andrew Nembhard had 15 points, Myles Turner scored 14, Bennedict Mathurin hit for 13, T.J. McConnell 12 and Thomas Bryant 10.
Harrison Barnes led San Antonio with 25 points while Victor Wembanyama, a Paris native, added 20 points and 12 rebounds. Stephon Castle scored 17 points and Chris Paul tallied 11.