TORONTO (AP) -Richard Hamilton scored 22 points, Rasheed Wallace added 20 and the Detroit Pistons extended their winning streak to 11 games with a 101-85 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Friday night.
Chauncey Billups had 18 points for Detroit, which has not lost since an 80-77 defeat in Houston on Dec. 12 and owns the longest current run in the NBA.
The Pistons’ streak is their longest since winning 11 straight in January 2006. Detroit hosts Eastern Conference-leading Boston on Saturday night.
Chris Bosh had 23 points and 16 rebounds for Toronto, which has lost five of seven.
Rockets 96, Magic 94
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) – Rafer Alston scored 20 points, including the game-winning layup with 4 seconds left, and Houston narrowly escaped Orlando with a victory.
Orlando appeared to tie the game at 96 with Adonal Foyle’s tip-in at the buzzer, but officials said he didn’t get the shot off in time. The replay seemed to show he did, and the Rockets literally ran off the floor when the call came down.
Yao Ming got the better of Dwight Howard in a matchup of the probable NBA All-Star starting centers, scoring 26 points and grabbing 10 rebounds to Howard’s 16 points and eight boards. Yao knocked Howard out of the game on fouls with about a minute left, just as Orlando had drawn to 93-91 after trailing by double digits in the fourth quarter.
Celtics 100, Grizzlies 96
BOSTON (AP) – Reserve Tony Allen filled in when Ray Allen struggled, scoring a season-high 20 points to help Boston beat Memphis.
Tony Allen scored 15 in the second quarter to help Boston take the lead for good, Paul Pierce scored 23 with 10 rebounds and Kevin Garnett also had 23 to give the Celtics their eighth straight win. James Posey had nine points and 10 rebounds while also busting open the lip of Memphis’ Rudy Gay, who made just one of his first eight shots but finished with 21 points.
Ray Allen went 0-for-9 from the floor, but sank a pair of free throws with 9.3 seconds left to avoid his first scoreless appearance in a decade.
Juan Carlos Navarro scored 20 for Memphis, and Mike Miller had 16.
Nets 102, Bobcats 96
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) – Vince Carter scored 30 points and New Jersey won a season-high fourth straight game and handed Charlotte its 11th consecutive road loss.
An under-the-weather Richard Jefferson added 28 points and Jason Kidd had 11 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds for his eighth triple-double of the season as the Nets won for the sixth time in seven games.
Jason Richardson scored 33 points for Charlotte before fouling out with 1:17 to play. Gerald Wallace added 25 for the Bobcats, who have not won on the road since beating Miami in their first away game this season.
Cavaliers 97, Kings 93
CLEVELAND (AP) – LeBron James scored 24 points and Daniel Gibson hit a dagger-like 3-pointer with 12 seconds left as Cleveland avoided embarrassment by beating short-handed Sacramento.
Gibson had 13 points, 10 in the fourth, and Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 14 points and 15 rebounds for Cleveland.
John Salmons scored 22 points, Brad Miller 17 and Francisco Garcia 15 for the Kings.
Pacers 113, Hawks 91
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Danny Granger tied a career high with 32 points, and Indiana beat Atlanta to snap a five-game losing streak.
Granger shot 10-for-15 from the field and had nine rebounds. He tied his career best point total on a dunk late in the fourth quarter.
Mike Dunleavy had 23 points and 12 rebounds, and Kareem Rush scored 20 points for the Pacers.
Josh Childress tied a career high with 26 points and Josh Smith added 20 for the Hawks, who have lost three straight.
Wizards 101, Bucks 77
MILWAUKEE (AP) – Antawn Jamison scored 24 points and Washington shot 55 percent from the field to beat listless Milwaukee.
The game wasn’t competitive from the start with the Bucks missing leading scorer Michael Redd, who was kneed in the left thigh against Miami on Wednesday night and is day-to-day.
Caron Butler, who broke his right hand the last time he played in Milwaukee on April 1, had a much better homecoming to Wisconsin with 13 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Antonio Daniels, who returned from a sprained knee on Wednesday, scored 14 points in his second game back.
Charlie Villanueva had 14 of his team-high 20 points during fourth-quarter garbage time as the Bucks made it all too easy for Washington to do whatever it wanted during any part of the game that mattered.
Add A Comment