LOS ANGELES, US —
Donovan Mitchell returned
from an eight-game injury absence to score 27 points for the Utah Jazz, who
handed the
Brooklyn Nets a seventh straight NBA defeat, 125-102 on Friday.
اضافة اعلان
Mitchell hadn't played since suffering a concussion when he
took an elbow to the head in a game against the
Los Angeles Lakers on January
17.
He stepped right up, however, connecting on eight of 10 shots
from the floor with six three-pointers and six assists.
It was a confidence-boosting performance for a player who
admitted he'd been "kind of nervous" as his symptoms persisted.
"It was bad," Mitchell said. "The headache,
the nausea were pretty messed up.
"It was tough because we've been going through a tough
stretch," he said of his enforced absence. "Guys have been out, so
it's been eating at me."
With Rudy Gobert still sidelined,
Eric Paschall scored 16
points and Hassan Whiteside added 15 for the Jazz, who never trailed against
the depleted Nets.
Brooklyn were without two of their "Big Three"
with Kevin Durant still recovering from a knee sprain and James Harden nursing
a tight hamstring. LaMarcus Aldridge and Joe Harris were also absent.
Kyrie Irving scored 15 points and rookie
Cam Thomas had a
career-high 30, but the Nets trailed by 21 entering the fourth quarter and
never got any closer.
In Dallas,
Luka Doncic scored 33 points in a triple-double
to power the Dallas Mavericks to a 107-98 come-from-behind NBA victory over the
Philadelphia 76ers on Friday.
Slovenian star Doncic added 13 rebounds and 15 assists, his
eighth career game of at least 30 points, 10 rebounds and 15 assists. Only
Oscar Robertson — with 22 — has more.
"I try to play games and win," Doncic said of the
impressive stat. "I have fun out there. As long as we win I'm good. We
came back from two not-so-great losses. We stepped it up, we bounced back and
that's how we have to play."
Philadelphia's Most Valuable Player candidate
Joel Embiid scored 27 points and the Sixers led by 10 at halftime.
But Dallas roared back on the strength of determined
defense, holding Embiid to nine points after the break.
That came later than expected, after a 43-minute delay in
the first quarter because one basket rim was crooked and had to be replaced.
Cavs hold off Hornets
In Charlotte, the
Cleveland Cavaliers fended off a furious
Hornets rally to snatch a 102–101 victory in wild style.
Jarrett Allen scored 29 points and pulled down 22 rebounds
for Cleveland, and Kevin Love made two free throws to seal the win with 1.2
seconds remaining.
The Cavaliers led 76-65 going into the fourth quarter, but
their fortunes changed when Ed Davis, who was on the Cleveland bench but didn't
play in the game, interfered with a three-point attempt by Charlotte's Terry
Rozier, thinking the play had been whistled dead.
He was assessed a technical foul and Rozier was credited
with a three-pointer — and made the technical free throw to cut the deficit to
six points.
Allen's tip-in of a Love miss pulled Cleveland within 101–100
with 35.3 seconds left. That was the score with 2.1 seconds remaining when Cavs
guard Brandon Goodwin missed a jumper. Love grabbed the rebound and missed the
follow-up — sparking celebrations on the Hornets bench.
But officials deemed on review that Love had been fouled,
and he was awarded the game-winning free throws.
In Toronto, the Raptors pushed their winning streak to five
games, following up their overtime triumph over the
Chicago Bulls on Thursday
with a 125–114 victory over the Atlanta Hawks.
Pascal Siakam equaled his season high with 33 points. Fred
VanVleet scored 26 points and handed out 11 assists as the Raptors beat the
Hawks for the second time in a week.
De'Andre Hunter and John Collins scored 23 points apiece for
Atlanta, Trae Young had 22 points and 13 assists for the Hawks a day after his
43-point performance in the Hawks' victory over the league-leading Phoenix
Suns.
Chicago center Nikola Vucevic scored a season-high 36 points
and grabbed 17 rebounds and
DeMar DeRozan added 31 points to power the Bulls to
a 122–115 victory over the Indiana Pacers, who had 42 points from Caris LeVert.
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