Rudy Gobert and Joe Ingles on Friday scored 27 points each as the league-leading Utah Jazz used an explosive and balanced attack to beat the Milwaukee Bucks 129-115 and continue their dominant run through the NBA.
The Jazz had four players score 25 points in a game for the first time in franchise history as Donovan Mitchell (26) and Jordan Clarkson (25) also got into an offensive flow in front of a crowd of almost 4,000 at the Vivint Smart Home Arena.
It was the sixth straight win and the 17th victory in 18 games for the Jazz, who became the first NBA team to reach 20 wins when they beat Boston on Tuesday.
Photo: AP
“It doesn’t matter who does the scoring, we are going to go out there and play the right way,” Mitchell said.
Gobert had 12 assists and four blocks, while Clarkson came off the bench to score 25 for Utah, who have beaten Milwaukee twice this season and both times by double digits.
Giannis Antetokounmpo finished with 29 points, 15 rebounds and six assists, but the Bucks lost their second straight game.
The Jazz seized control in the second quarter when they outscored the Bucks 34-21. They put up 35 points in the first quarter and nailed 12 of 24 three-pointers in the first half.
In Los Angeles, LeBron James and Anthony Davis combined for 63 points as the Lakers used a second-half blitz to beat the Memphis Grizzlies 115-105 for their seventh straight win.
For the first time in four games defending champions the Lakers did not have to go into overtime, but they did need to rally from a 20-point first-half deficit for the second consecutive game.
“We got to figure that out,” James said. “We shouldn’t be down in the first quarter. We can’t do that against good teams and we got some good teams coming up. Being down 22-2 is not a good ingredient for [a] championship team, but we found a way to get it done.”
Davis scored 35 points, while James finished with 28 points, nine rebounds and eight assists for the Lakers, who looked tired early after playing three straight overtime games and were down 22-2 halfway through the first quarter.
The Lakers outscored Memphis 41-23 in the third quarter. In the fourth, they boosted the lead to double digits and cruised the rest of the way.
“We finally got some stops. Our defense wasn’t where it needed to be in the first quarter. We grinded it out made a little bit of a run at the end of the third,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said.
James played 34 minutes, capping his scoring performance with an emphatic one-handed dunk on a pass from Marc Gasol with three minutes to go.
In Dallas, Luka Doncic scored a career-high 46 points to propel the Mavericks to a fourth straight victory, 143-130 over the New Orleans Pelicans.
Doncic added 12 assists and eight rebounds — his seventh career game with at least 40 points and 10 assists.
Kristaps Porzingis added 36 points for the Mavericks, who withstood a career-best 36 points from Pelicans star Zion Williamson.
The scoring extravaganza included a franchise record 25 three-pointers from the Mavericks, who took a 69-65 lead into the second half — in which they never trailed.
Doncic connected on five of eight from three-point range, while Porzingis hit eight of 13 from beyond the arc.
Williamson was a perfect 10 of 10 from the field in the first half and 14 of 15 overall — his lone miss a three-point attempt in the third quarter.
“Luka was phenomenal,” Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. “K.P. was phenomenal. Williamson was ridiculous.”
Dallas pushed the lead to double digits midway through the third quarter, connecting on 13 of their first 15 shots after the break.
Carlisle thought the contest was a “pillow fight” defensively, but he could not help but be impressed by the explosive offense on display.
“The shotmaking was phenomenal, by both teams,” he said. “We were able to get a little bit of traction defensively in the fourth.”
Elsewhere, Kawhi Leonard scored 33 points on 14-of-21 shooting and Marcus Morris came off the bench to score 20 points as the Los Angeles Clippers cruised to a 125-106 win over the Chicago Bulls.
The Denver Nuggets edged the Oklahoma City Thunder 97-95, the San Antonio Spurs downed the Atlanta Hawks 125-114, the Detroit Pistons beat the Boston Celtics 108-102, the Orlando Magic caned the Sacramento Kings 123-112, the Charlotte Hornets tamed the Minnesota Timberwolves 120-114, the New York Knicks walloped the Washington Wizards 109-91 and the Portland Trail Blazers crushed the Cleveland Cavaliers 129-110.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
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Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
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