Austin Reaves drove for a go-ahead layup with one second left to cap a triple-double, LeBron James added to his Christmas Day lore with 31 points and the Los Angeles Lakers overcame an injury to Anthony Davis to outlast the Golden State Warriors 115-113 on Wednesday night/Thursday morning in San Francisco.
Despite losing Davis for good to a twisted left ankle in the eighth minute of the game, the Lakers held the upper hand for almost the entire final three quarters, leading to a fourth win in five games.
The Lakers led 109-100 with 1:30 to go before Stephen Curry nearly stole the show. The Warriors star scored eight points in a 13-4 run, burying a pair of improbable 3-pointers in the final 12.2 seconds, including a game-tying 31-footer with 7.6 seconds left.
Reaves wound up with 26 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, and James had 10 assists, too. Curry logged a game-high 38 points, a majority of which came on eight 3-pointers, tying the NBA record for a Christmas game.
Timberwolves 105, Mavericks 99
Anthony Edwards scored 26 points and visiting Minnesota beat Dallas, which played the second half without star Luka Doncic after he sustained a left calf strain late in the second quarter.
Doncic suffered the non-contact injury with 2:31 left in the second quarter and went straight to the locker room. The guard had 14 points in 16 minutes for the Mavericks, who were trailing 51-38 at the time of his injury.
Dallas fell behind by as many as 28 in the third quarter before mounting a comeback in the final period. The Mavericks cut the deficit to 101-99 on Klay Thompson’s 3-pointer with 1:05 remaining. Kyrie Irving scored 15 of his 39 points in the fourth quarter but missed a 3-pointer that would have given Dallas the lead with 37 seconds left, and Edwards scored on the next possession to give the Wolves a four-point lead.
76ers 118, Celtics 114
Tyrese Maxey collected 33 points and 12 assists to lead Philadelphia to a victory at Boston. The 76ers received 27 points and nine rebounds from Joel Embiid and 23 points from Caleb Martin, who made 7 of 9 3-point attempts.
The Celtics, who trailed by 15 in the fourth quarter, trimmed their deficit to 116-114 with 4.9 seconds to play, but Embiid made two free throws to put the 76ers up by four with 2.8 seconds left. Philadelphia has won six of its past eight games.
Jayson Tatum led Boston in points (32) and rebounds (15). Jaylen Brown added 23 points and seven rebounds, but the Celtics lost a second game in a row for the first time this season.
Knicks 117, Spurs 114
Mikal Bridges outdueled Victor Wembanyama by scoring 15 points in the fourth quarter to lead host New York to a comeback win over San Antonio.
Bridges and Wembanyama combined to score 26 points in a fast-paced fourth quarter in which the teams combined for 60 points while shooting a collective 54.8 percent (23-for-42). Bridges finished with a season-high 41 points — the second-most by a Knicks player on Christmas Day behind Bernard King’s 60-point effort in 1984. Wembanyama had 42 points, 18 rebounds, four assists and four blocks in his Christmas Day debut.
Miles McBride hit the tiebreaking 3-pointer with 2:43 left to give the Knicks the lead for good as the hosts won their season-high fifth in a row and improved to 15-4 since Nov. 15. Jeremy Sochan had 21 points and nine rebounds for the Spurs.
Suns 110, Nuggets 100
Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal scored 27 points apiece and Phoenix avenged a one-sided loss at Denver on Monday with a solid victory over the visiting Nuggets.
Tyus Jones added 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting and Monte Morris scored 11 off the bench for the Suns, who halted a three-game losing streak.
Nikola Jokic recorded 25 points and 15 rebounds and Michael Porter Jr. added 22 points as the Nuggets lost for just the second time in the past seven games.
Reuters
