Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – Tyrese Maxey scored 43 points to lead the short-handed Philadelphia 76ers to a 118-104 NBA victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday as the surging Houston Rockets pulled off a tense 100-96 win over Atlanta. With Joel Embiid missing his 12th straight game and Paul George sidelined with a finger injury, Maxey stepped up and the Sixers won their third straight.
The defeat halted the Lakers’ four-game winning streak, which featured a victory over reigning champions Boston. Worse, star Anthony Davis exited in the first quarter with an abdominal strain. The Lakers were up 20-17 when Davis — fresh off a 42-point, 23-rebound performance in Charlotte on Monday — departed and they struggled defensively in his absence. The 76ers out-scored them 48-32 in the second quarter and led 73-57 at halftime.
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LeBron James scored 31 points with eight rebounds and nine assists but said 22 turnovers were too many. “When your best player goes out it’s always challenging,” James said, but added: “We’ve just got to be better. We had too many turnovers tonight that resulted in too many buckets for them. You can’t make mistake after mistake after mistake.” James, the league’s all-time leading scorer, had one steal to move into sixth place on the all-time steals list with 2,311.
In Atlanta, Jalen Green scored 25 points for the Rockets, who fended off a late Hawks surge to post a fourth straight win. Coming off three big victories — two straight over Eastern Conference leaders Cleveland and a 114-112 victory on Monday over Boston — the Rockets delivered another gritty performance. Green’s steal and layup pushed Houston’s lead to 96-80 with 5:16 to play. But Atlanta sliced the deficit to 98-96 with less than a minute remaining. DeAndre Hunter had a chance to put the Hawks in front but missed a three-pointer and Alperen Sengun sealed the victory with a dunk. Sengun finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds and Jae’Sean Tate added 16 points off the bench for Houston. Trae Young scored 21 for Atlanta, who dropped their sixth straight.
– Depleted Warriors silence Jazz –
The Golden State Warriors shook off the absence of superstar Stephen Curry to beat the Utah Jazz 114-103 in San Francisco. Curry, who sat out with a flare-up of knee trouble, was just one notable Warriors absentee, with Draymond Green sidelined again with a calf strain and Jonathan Kuminga nursing a sprained ankle. Dennis Schroder drilled five three-pointers on the way to 23 points to lead the Warriors. Brandin Podziemski added 20 off the bench and Andrew Wiggins chipped in 19 as Golden State saw their 15-point lead cut to one midway through the fourth quarter before pulling away again for the win.
Collin Sexton scored 30 points to lead six Jazz players to score in double figures, but Utah dropped their seventh straight. In Portland, Deni Avdija matched his season high with 30 points and Anfernee Simons added 25 for the Trail Blazers in a 125-112 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 39 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, and Damian Lillard — who played 11 seasons in Portland — added 20 for the Bucks. But after surrendering an early 12-point lead, Milwaukee never led in the second half.
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