SCOREBOARD
Saturday, Dec. 29
Boston at Utah (9 p.m. EST). The Celtics have won nine of their last 10 games.
STARS
Friday
-Allen Iverson, Nuggets, scored 39 points to lead Denver to a 124-120 victory over the Golden State Warriors.
-Ben Gordon, Bulls, scored 19 of his 31 points in the fourth quarter to lead Chicago to a 103-99 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.
-Dwight Howard, Magic, had 29 points and 20 rebounds in a 121-114 overtime win over the Heat.
BASKETBALL ROYALTY
Phil Jackson pulled even with Red Auerbach in regular-season victories, 5 1/2 seasons after tying the Boston Celtics’ coach for the most NBA championships won. The Lakers beat the Utah Jazz 123-109 Friday night, giving Jackson his 938th career win and a share of seventh place on the career list. Jackson will get a chance to pass Auerbach when the Lakers host the Celtics on Sunday night in the 177th regular-season meeting of the NBA’s greatest rivalry. They’ve faced each other 10 times in the finals, with Boston winning the first eight and the Lakers prevailing in 1985 and 1987.
NOT ENOUGH
Dwight Howard had 29 points and 20 rebounds, Hedo Turkoglu capped his 22-point night by hitting a huge 3-pointer with 11 seconds left and the Magic survived some late-game Miami heroics to beat the Heat 121-114 on Friday night – giving coach Stan Van Gundy a victory in his return to South Florida. Wade matched a career high with 48 points, 20 of them coming in the fourth quarter and all of them in regulation for Miami, which fell to 8-22.
STREAKING
Brandon Roy scored 22 points despite not playing the second quarter, and the Portland Trail Blazers got their league-leading 12th straight victory Friday night by beating the Minnesota Timberwolves 109-98. The streak matches Portland’s best run since winning 12 in a row during the 2001-02 season, the team’s second-longest stretch. Portland’s longest streak was 16 games in the 1990-91 season.
WINNING DEBUT
Ben Gordon scored 19 of his 31 points in the fourth quarter and the Chicago Bulls beat the Milwaukee Bucks 103-99 Friday night to give Jim Boylan a win in his debut as interim coach. Boylan was promoted from his assistant’s role Thursday, replacing Scott Skiles, who was fired on Christmas Eve after the Bulls’ horrendous start. Chicago is now 10-17.
DIALING IT DOWN
Amare Stoudemire scored 28 points on 12-of-15 shooting Friday night and the Phoenix Suns won for the first time this season with fewer than 100 points, pulling away over the final 1 1/2 minutes to beat the Los Angeles Clippers 94-88. The Suns were 0-5 when scoring under 100.
STRONG IN DEFEAT
Miami’s Dwyane Wade matched a career high with 48 points in a 121-114 overtime loss to the Orlando Magic on Friday night. … Michael Redd scored 34 points for the Bucks in a 103-99 loss to the Chicago Bulls. … Baron Davis had 29 points and 13 assists in Golden State’s 124-120 loss to the Denver Nuggets.
SPEAKING
“The longer you stay here, the more wins you’re going to accumulate. But I’ve never really followed that stuff, you know? I think the night that made the most sense to me, in terms of numbers of wins, was when I got my 500th and Bill Fitch was coaching on the other side. He was my college coach, and he came over and shook my hand after the game.” – Lakers coach Phil Jackson, who pulled even with Red Auerbach in regular-season victories at 938 with a 123-109 win over the Utah Jazz on Friday night.