DETROIT (AP) — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 48 points and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Detroit Pistons 113-107 on Saturday night.
Gilgeous-Alexander shot 17 of 26 from the floor, including 4 of 6 from 3-point range, and added six assists and three steals for Oklahoma City, which won for the ninth time in 10 games.
Cason Wallace added 20 points for Thunder, and Isaiah Hartenstein had 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Detroit’s Cade Cunningham matched a season low with 11 points on 5-of-18 shooting before being ejected for arguing calls late in the third quarter.
Tobias Harris led the Pistons with 18 points, while reserve Dennis Schroder had 17 points and 11 assists in place of Cunningham.
Detroit trailed 91-75 until Malik Beasley’s buzzer-beating layup at the end of the third quarter. His 3-pointer pulled the Pistons within 98-97 with 4:16 left.
Gilgeous-Alexander answered with a 3, a runner in the lane and a layup to make it 106-100 with 2:07 left before setting up Wallace for a clinching 3-pointer.
CELTICS 115, NETS 113
NEW YORK (AP) — Kristaps Porzingis scored 24 points in his return from an eight-game absence with an illness, getting 14 in the fourth quarter to help Boston hold off Brooklyn.
Payton Pritchard added 22 points and Jayson Tatum had 20 points, eight rebounds and eight assists for the Celtics, who seemed headed for an easy night after a 25-7 run to open the second quarter gave them a 21-point lead. The Nets cut it to two in the fourth quarter before Porzingis made some clutch plays in his first game since Feb. 26.
The Celtics rested Derrick White and Al Horford a night after winning in Miami and clinching a playoff spot, then lost Jaylen Brown in the second half after he left with back spasms.
Pritchard, who set the NBA single-season record during the game with his 219th 3-pointer off the bench, made three free throws in the closing seconds.
Cam Johnson scored 23 points and Keon Johnson had 21 for the Nets, who lost for the 10th time in 11 games.
GRIZZLIES 125, HEAT 91
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Jaren Jackson Jr. had 31 points, Desmond Bane added 22 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists as Memphis led from start to finish in a victory over Miami.
Jackson shot 13 of 18 from the field as the Grizzlies won for the fifth time in their last six games. Zach Edey and Brandon Clarke added 12 each for Memphis.
Kel’el Ware led the Heat with 19 points and 11 rebounds, while Bam Adebayo added 18 points. Kyle Anderson and Jaime Jaquez Jr. had 13 points each as the Heat lost their seventh straight.
With Ja Morant, sitting out with a lingering sore right shoulder, Memphis relied on Jackson, who had 23 points at the half. The Grizzlies’ lead reached 18 before Memphis carried a 63-48 lead into the locker room at the half.
Memphis was still shooting 55% from the field midway through the fourth quarter as the lead continued to swell.
BUCKS 126, PACERS 119
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Giannis Antetokounmpo had 34 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists before fouling out and Milwaukee defeated Indiana.
After trailing 105-84 with 11 minutes left, Indiana made a frantic comeback and cut Milwaukee’s lead to 122-119 on Andrew Nembhard’s 3-pointer with 12.5 seconds remaining. The Bucks had led 117-106 when Antetokounmpo fouled out with 2:46 left.
Taurean Prince and Kevin Porter Jr. went 4 of 4 on free-throw attempts down the stretch to preserve the Bucks’ victory.
Damian Lillard added 25 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists as the Bucks (38-28) took a one-game lead over Indiana in the race for fourth place in the Eastern Conference standings and home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
The Bucks went 3-1 against the Pacers this season and would own the head-to-head tiebreaker if they end up with the same record.
Aaron Nesmith scored 30, Pascal Siakam 26 and Tyrese Haliburton 24 for the Pacers. Haliburton also had 15 assists to match his season high.
ROCKETS 117, BULLS 114
HOUSTON (AP) — Jalen Green scored 28 points and Houston extended their winning streak to six straight games with a victory over Chicago.
Green also added six rebounds for the Rockets. Alperen Sengun scored 24 points while adding 15 rebounds. Fred VanVleet shot 8 for 20 (5 for 14 from 3-point range) and 2 of 4 from the free-throw line to finish with 23 points.
Coby White led the way for the Bulls with 23 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Tre Jones finished with 19 points and six assists for Chicago.
VanVleet put up 18 second-quarter points for the Rockets, who trailed 65-60 at halftime. The Rockets took the lead for good with 5:52 remaining in the fourth quarter on a 3-pointer from Green to make it a 100-98 game.
WARRIORS 97, KNICKS 94
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Stephen Curry had 28 points, seven rebounds and five assists two days after becoming the first player in NBA history with 4,000 3-pointers and a day after turning 37, leading Golden State past New York.
Steve Kerr became the Warriors’ regular-season victory leader, passing late Hall of Famer Al Attles with his 558th victory in his 11th season. He was recognized on the scoreboard after the final buzzer followed by congratulations from some of his coaching colleagues.
Golden State won its seventh straight overall — and at home — and 12th in 13.
Karl-Anthony Towns had 29 points and 12 rebounds for New York. He hit a timely 3-pointer with 4:38 to play before fouling out late. Towns dunked over Jimmy Butler to start the game.
Butler again did a little bit of everything with 11 points, seven assists and six rebounds. The Warriors are 14-2 with Butler since he made his debut Feb. 8 and 14-1 in games he has played.
SPURS 119, PELICANS 115
SAN ANTONIO (AP) —Devin Vassell scored 22 points and San Antonio held on to beat New Orleans.
Keldon Johnson and Harrison Barnes each had 19 points for San Antonio and Stephon Castle added 17.
C.J. McCollum had 26 points, nine assists and seven rebounds for the Pelicans, who were without Zion Williamson. The team said the star power forward sat out because of personal reasons.
McCollum shot 5 for 12 on 3-pointers, including 4 for 5 while scoring 14 points in the second quarter. Trey Murphy III scored 20 points.
The Spurs were without Victor Wembanyama (blood clot in right shoulder) and De’Aaron Fox (left pinkie tendon damage).
New Orleans opened the second half on a 15-7 run to take their largest lead at 73-65. San Antonio responded by closing the third quarter on a 25-8 run.
Jeremy Sochan banked in a 3-pointer from halfcourt to give the Spurs a 92-83 lead entering the fourth.
The Associated Press
