CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Brandon Miller scored 26 points, Collin Sexton made all five 3-point attempts off the bench and finished with 21 points and the Charlotte Hornets held on to beat the San Antonio Spurs 111-106 on Saturday to extend their winning streak to six games.
LaMelo Ball 16 points, eight rebounds and eight assists to help give the Hornets their longest win streak in nearly a decade. Charlotte won seven straight games in March 2016.
Dylan Harper scored 20 points to lead the Spurs. Victor Wembanyama was held in check for most of the game, finishing with 16 points on 6-of-15 shooting and eight rebounds.
Charlotte’s 17-point lead in the third quarter disintegrated after Harrison Barnes hit back-to-back 3s and the Spurs turned a Sexton turnover into a De’Aaron Fox layup to cut the lead to two with less than five minutes to play.
But the Spurs could never regain the lead.
With 36 seconds left and Charlotte leading by three, officials initially whistled Fox for a foul on a Miller 3-point attempt. But after reviewing the call, it was overturned and resulted in a jump ball, which the 7-foot-4 Wembanyama easily won.
Wembanyama launched a hurried a 3-point shot moments later and the Hornets snagged the rebound. Down 3, the Spurs inexplicably allowed 15 seconds to elapse before fouling Miller, who made both free throws with 10.6 seconds left to seal the game.
PACERS 129, HAWKS 124
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Andrew Nembhard scored 26 points, Pascal Siakam added 25 and Indiana held off Atlanta.
Indiana nursed a single-digit lead for much of the third quarter and led 103-100 entering the fourth. It was tight the rest of the way before Siakam hit a crucial 12-foot jumper with 18.6 seconds remaining to push the Pacers ahead 127-123.
Aaron Nesmith added 23 points, Nembhard had 10 assists and Siakam shot 11 of 15 from the field. The Pacers won despite 23 turnovers.
Atlanta dropped its second straight game despite Jalen Johnson’s eighth triple-double of the season. The forward finished with 33 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists. Nickeil Alexander-Walker added 21 points.
The Pacers have won seven of their past 12 games, enjoying a solid stretch of basketball after starting the season with a 6-31 record. Indiana has played all year without star guard Tyrese Haliburton, who tore his right Achilles tendon in Game 7 of the NBA Finals last season.
Indiana jumped to an 80-73 lead by halftime, spurred by a 45-point second quarter. Johnson led the Hawks with 21 points before the break while Nembhard also had 21 for the Pacers.
76ERS 124, PELICANS 114
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Joel Embiid had 40 points and 11 rebounds to help Philadelphia win hours after Paul George was suspended 25 games for violating the NBA’s anti-drug policy, beating New Orleans.
The NBA did not disclose the nature of the violation or the substance that was involved, and George released a statement to ESPN saying he took something that was “improper.”
Without George, the 76ers couldn’t shake the 13-win Pelicans until the final minutes.
Tyrese Maxey scored 18 points and hit one of his four 3-pointers that gave the Sixers a 117-111 lead and Embiid and VJ Edgecombe followed with consecutive 3s for the 123-113 lead.
Embiid heard “M-V-P! M-V-P!” chants as he stepped to the free-throw line with 11.3 seconds left. He sank his first one to hit the 40-point mark.
Kelly Oubre Jr. scored 19 points and the 76ers hit 17 3-pointers to end the night on a high note after they learned they would have to make a playoff push largely without George.
Saddiq Bey led the Pelicans with 34 points and Zion Williamson had 11.
TIMBERWOLVES 131, GRIZZLIES 114
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Anthony Edwards scored 33 points, Julius Randle added 27 points and seven assists, and Minnesota won its fourth straight, beating Memphis.
Minnesota’s winning streak was punctuated by a wire-to-wire victory over the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night. All four wins have been by double-digits.
Naz Reid and Jaden McDaniels had 20 points apiece for the Timberwolves, Reid adding nine rebounds. Rudy Gobert grabbed 16 boards and added a pair of blocks.
Ty Jerome, playing in his first game of the season after recovering from a right calf strain, led Memphis with 20 points and six assists but could not prevent the Grizzlies from losing their sixth straight.
GG Jackson added 19 points and Jaylen Wells had 15.
BULLS 125, HEAT 118
MIAMI (AP) — Ayo Dosunmu scored a season-high 29 points and short-handed Chicago topped Miami.
Dosunmu added nine assists and eight rebounds. Matas Buzelis scored 21 points and Isaac Okoro added 20 for the Bulls, who hit 20 3-pointers.
Pelle Larsson scored 22 and Bam Adebayo had 15 of his 21 in the fourth quarter for Miami, which tied the game four times in the final 3:37 but didn’t reclaim the lead in any of those instances. Jaime Jaquez Jr. scored 20 for Miami.
The teams play again in Miami on Sunday. It’ll be the first time since Baltimore and Houston in 1972 that two NBA teams play three consecutive games in the same regular season against one another; the Heat won at Chicago in a rescheduled game on Thursday night.
ROCKETS 111, MAVERICKS 107
HOUSTON (AP) — Amen Thompson had 21 points, nine assists and eight rebounds to lead Houston to a victory over Dallas.
An alley-oop dunk by Thompson put Houston up four with under two minutes left before the Mavericks scored the next four points, with baskets from rookie Cooper Flagg and Naji Marshall, to tie it about a minute later.
Alperen Sengun’s layup put Houston on top with 28.6 seconds left before Flagg missed a shot in the lane on the other end. The Rockets grabbed the rebound and a dunk by Tari Eason made it 111-107 with 14.4 seconds remaining.
A 3-point attempt by Flagg bounced off the rim after that to end it.
Flagg led the Mavericks with 34 points and 12 rebounds a game after the 19-year-old set the NBA record for points by a teenager with 49 in a loss to Charlotte on Thursday night. Saturday was the fifth game this season with at least 30 points for the No. 1 pick in last year’s draft.
Jabari Smith Jr. added 19 points for the Rockets and Sengun had 14 points and 14 rebounds.
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