By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Danilo Gallinari posted 20 of his total 29 points in the first half as the Atlanta Hawks (20-20) prevailed over the Houston Rockets (11-27) with a 119-107 victory.
This marked the Rockets’ 17 straight loss, a new franchise-worse, while for the Hawks this was their sixth straight win.
John Collins added 20 points for the Hawks and Trae Young finished with a double-double of 13 points and 14 assists. Victor Oladipo led the way for Houston with 34 points, Jae’Sean Tate had 25, and Kevin Porter, Jr. scored 22.
Damian Lillard posted 50 points and 10 assists, as the Portland Trail Blazers grabbed a huge comeback win to down the New Orleans Pelicans 125-124. Lillard, who had six 3-pointers in the game, made a pair of free throws with 1.2 seconds left for Portland, which came back from a 17-point deficit in the fourth period.
Brandon Ingram scored 30 points and Zion Williamson tapped 28 for the Pelicans. Lonzo Ball had 11 points and a season-high 17 assists.
Zach LaVine erupted with 40 points and together with Lauri Markkanen who had 22 points, 5 rebounds, led the Chicago Bulls (18-20) to a 123-102 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder (17-23). Tomas Satorasnky added up 13 points, 7 assists and 3 steals for the winners, while on the other end, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 21 points.
Rookie Aleksej Pokusevski had 4 points, 8 rebounds in 29 minutes as a starter and Theo Maledon contributed 8 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists.
LeBron James led the Los Angeles Lakers (27-13) to a 137-121 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves (9-31) with his 99th career-triple double. James recorded 25 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists, while Montrezl Harrell also scored 25 points in another big game for the defending NBA champions who came up with their third straight win.
Dennis Schröder, Kyle Kuzma and Talen Horton-Tucker all scored 16 points apiece, while on the other end Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards scored 29 points each for the Timberwolves.
Donovan Mitchell contributed 8 of his 21 points in the fourth period as the Utah Jazz (29-10) made 19 3-pointers to beat the Boston Celtics (20-19) 117-109. Jordan Clarkson had 20 points coming off the bench. Mike Conley scored 17 points and Rudy Gobert finished with a double-double of 16 points and 12 rebounds.
Jayson Tatum led the Celtics with 29 points and Jaylen Brown added 28, while big man Daniel Theis contributed 15 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists.
Jimmy Butler tapped 28 points and 12 rebounds and Bam Adebayo returned from a knee issue to post with 14 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists as the Miami Heat (22-18) overcame the Cleveland Cavaliers (14-25) with a 113-98 win. Kelly Olynyk tapped 17 points, Tyler Herro had 15 and Duncan Robinson added 14 for Miami, while on the other end of the court, Collin Sexton led the Cavs with 21 points and Cedi Osman contributed 8 points coming from the bench.
The Philadelphia 76ers (28-12) cruised to their sixth straight win after beating the New York Knicks (20-21) 99-96 on Tuesday, paced behind Tobias Harris who scored 30 points and Seth Curry who had 20 points. Julius Randle led the way with 19 points and 16 rebounds for the Knicks and RJ Barrett added 17 points.