MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -Leon Powe made a layup at the buzzer to lift the Boston Celtics to an 88-86 victory over the Timberwolves on Friday night as an injured Kevin Garnett could only watch his return to Minnesota.
It was a wild ending to a memorable night.
The Timberwolves had the ball with the scored tied 86-86 with 28 seconds left. Marko Jaric missed a 3-pointer and teammate Craig Smith rebounded the ball and tried to kick it back out.
But Ray Allen stepped in front and stole the pass and raced the other way with the clock ticking down. A frantic scramble under the basket ended with Powe putting back a miss just before the buzzer sounded.
The play was reviewed and confirmed that Powe just beat the horn.
Paul Pierce had 18 points and six assists and Allen scored 17 for the Celtics, who were playing their sixth straight game without Garnett, out with an abdominal strain.
Al Jefferson scored 10 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter for the Wolves.
Lakers 117, Magic 113
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) – Kobe Bryant had 36 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, and Pau Gasol scored 30 points, leading Los Angeles to a wild victory.
dded 14 points and seven assists for the Lakers, who gave up a season-high 44 points in the first quarter, but had enough defense at the end to win for the fourth time in the last five games.
Dwight Howard led the Magic with 19 points and 11 rebounds, but played only 29 minutes because of foul trouble. Jameer Nelson added 17 points and nine assists for the Magic, who had seven players score in double figures, but couldn’t contain Bryant and Gasol.
Spurs 99, Knicks 93, OT
NEW YORK (AP) – Michael Finley made the tying 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds left in regulation and San Antonio Spurs dominated overtime as New York matched a season high with their eighth straight loss.
Tim Duncan had 21 points and 14 rebounds for the Spurs, who trailed by 18 points in the third quarter, but scored the first seven points in OT. Finley finished with 17 points.
Manu Ginobili scored 20 points as San Antonio won its fourth straight and improved to 4-2 on its nine-game road trip, which now moves on to one of its marquee games: a visit to league-leading Boston on Sunday.
Jamal Crawford had 24 points for the Knicks, who also lost eight straight from Nov. 9-21. Fred Jones scored 19 points and Zach Randolph had 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Pistons 91, Trail Blazers 82
.
Roy missed the game due to a death in his family, and Portland didn’t have another answer for Billups in the opening 12 minutes when he scored all 17 of his points. The Pistons led by double figures for nearly all the remaining three quarters.
Rookie Rodney Stuckey, Billups’ backup, added a career-high 13 points, and Richard Hamilton and Amir Johnson had 10 each.
LaMarcus Aldridge led all scorers with 22 points, the same number he scored in a 102-94 home win over Detroit on Dec. 13.
Cavaliers 100, Hawks 95
ATLANTA (AP) – LeBron James scored 26 points, Ira Newble added a season-best 18 and short-handed Cleveland, missing four of its top seven scorers because of injuries, beat Atlanta.
James came up huge at the end to help the Cavaliers bounce back after Atlanta rallied for the lead in the final quarter.
First, he slipped inside of Marvin Williams to grab an offensive rebound, then put it back in to give Cleveland a 96-91 lead with 1:19 remaining. Then, James grabbed a rebound off Joe Johnson’s miss, firing a pass ahead to Newble for a breakaway dunk that clinched it with 18 seconds to go.
James also has 11 rebounds and seven assists.
Johnson led the Hawks with 23 points, and Williams added 21.
Clippers 102, Raptors 98
TORONTO (AP) – Corey Maggette matched his season-high with 35 points, Cuttino Mobley had 19 and Los Angeles Clippers beat Toronto.
Al Thornton had 19 points and Chris Kaman had 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Clippers, who had lost 10 of their last 11 road games.
Chris Bosh had 29 points and 12 rebounds but fouled out with 12 seconds left as Toronto lost back-to-back home games for the first time since Jan. 6.
Nets 104, Bobcats 90
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) – Jason Kidd has his first triple-double since demanding a trade and Richard Jefferson scored 23 points to lead New Jersey.
Kidd had 19 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists in his league-leading 12th triple-double, but his first since Jan. 25, three days before he went public with his desire to be elsewhere by this month’s trade deadline.
Gerald Wallace had 21 points for Charlotte in his return after missing the last two games with a strained right foot. Jason Richardson added 17 points and rookie Jared Dudley scored 15 in the Bobcats’ fifth straight loss.
Add A Comment