Stephen Curry endured his worst career shooting night as the Golden State Warriors secured a narrow win against the Toronto Raptors as Kawhi Leonard reaches career milestone.
While Curry’s shooting slump startled fans who love betting on basketball and sports fan alike, wins for the likes of Los Angeles Lakers, Clippers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Denver Nuggets were much expected.
Toronto Raptors 105-106 Golden State Warriors
Damion Lee converted the tying and go-ahead free throws with 3.3 seconds left and the Golden State Warriors withstood a rough fourth quarter to hold off the Toronto Raptors 106-105 on Sunday night despite uncharacteristic struggles by Stephen Curry.
Curry shot 2 of 16 and missed nine of his 10 3s for 11 points after scoring 143 over his previous four games, including a career-high 62 one week earlier against Portland.
Pascal Siakam missed a jumper as the buzzer sounded but finished with 25 points, and Fred VanVleet scored 21 for Toronto in a rematch of the 2019 NBA Finals won in six games by the Raptors.
Andrew Wiggins had 17 points and matched his career high with four blocked shots as Golden State nearly squandered away a game it led by 17.
Los Angeles Lakers 120-102 Houston Rockets
Anthony Davis had 27 points, LeBron James added 18 and the Los Angeles Lakers won for the sixth time in seven games with a 120-102 victory over the Houston Rockets on Sunday night.
It was a testy game that included five technical fouls, two flagrant fouls and the first-half ejections of Markieff Morris and DeMarcus Cousins.
Davis, who sat out on Friday with a groin strain, helped the Lakers finish with 62 points in the paint in a game in which they led by as many as 27.
Talen Horton-Tucker had 17 points off the bench and Harrell had 16 points and eight rebounds.
Christian Wood scored 23 points and James Harden had 20 in the first of two straight games against the Lakers with the second one coming Tuesday night in Houston.
San Antonio Spurs 88-96 Minnesota Timberwolves
D’Angelo Russell had 27 points, five rebounds and five assists as the Minnesota Timberwolves snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 96-88 win Sunday over the San Antonio Spurs.
Russell scored eight of his points in the fourth quarter, including a 3-pointer to tie the score with 7:02 left and two free throws to ice it with 31.5 seconds remaining. Russell and Malik Beasley, who added 24 points, helped the Wolves get their first win since Dec. 26.
Lonnie Walker IV picked up the scoring slack with DeRozan out, with a season-high 25 points to lead the Spurs. He paced the offense in the first half with 17 points on 8-of-14 shooting.
LaMarcus Aldridge added 20 points for the Spurs, and Patty Mills scored 18.
Denver Nuggets 114-89 New York Knicks
Nikola Jokic had 22 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in another short night, and the Denver Nuggets reached .500 for the first time this season with a 114-89 victory over the New York Knicks on Sunday.
The Nuggets opened 1-4 after reaching the Western Conference finals last season but have now answered with four wins in five games.
The last two were easy. The Nuggets pulled away from the seven-man 76ers in the third quarter and rested their starters in the fourth of a 115-103 victory Saturday. They jumped on the Knicks much earlier Sunday and it was never a game after halftime.
Oklahoma City Thunder 129-116 Brooklyn Nets
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 31 points to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 129-116 win over the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday.
Gilgeous-Alexander was one of six players to finish in double-figure scoring for the Thunder, who won their third straight and beat Brooklyn for the fifth consecutive time.
Al Horford had 22, George Hill added 14, and Lugentz Dort and Isaiah Roby had 13 each.
Kevin Durant scored 36 points to lead Brooklyn. The loss was the second straight for the Nets. Caris LeVert added 21 points, Jarrett Allen had 15 points and 10 rebounds, and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot scored 12.
Los Angeles Clippers 130-127 Chicago Bulls
Freed from the pesky mask he’d been wearing on court for two weeks, Kawhi Leonard cut loose. Getting a steal and a dunk, hitting 3-pointer after 3-pointer.
He finished with a season-high 35 points, going over 10,000 in his career, and the Los Angeles Clippers rallied to beat the Chicago Bulls 130-127 on Sunday.
