JOE Ingles had 18 points in the Utah Jazz’s 133-109 NBA win over the New Orleans Pelicans, including four of five three-point attempts.
The Australian forward added five rebounds, three assists and two steals in an a-round performance for the surging Jazz, who have won six straight. Rodney Hood was the game’s top scorer with 30 points while Ricky Rubio had 20 points and 11 assists.
Rudy Gobert added 19 points and 10 rebounds for Utah with Derrick Favors matching his points tally.
Jrue Holiday scored 28 points, and Anthony Davis had 15 points and 11 rebounds for New Orleans, who have lost four of five since All-Star centre DeMarcus Cousins suffered a season-ending achilles injury.
The Jazz led by double digits most of the way and led by as many as 20 when Rubio’s driving layup made it 116-96 in the middle of the fourth quarter. All-Star guard Bradley Beal scored 21 points and Kelly Oubre Jr. had 15 to help the Washington Wizards hold on for a 111-102 victory over the Indiana Pacers. The Wizards have won five straight without injured All-Star guard John Wall. Bojan Bogdanovic scored 29 points for the Pacers, who were missing starting guards Victor Oladipo (illness) and Darren Collison (left knee surgery).
Andre Drummond had 17 points and 17 rebounds as the the Detroit Pistons beat the Portland Trail Blazers 111-91 for their fourth-straight victory. Detroit have won three in a row since acquiring Blake Griffin, who contributed 21 points, nine rebounds and six assists, in a trade last week. Mario Hezonja scored 20 points but Jonathan Simmons made the tiebreaking dunk with 1:31min remaining in the Orlando Magic’s 111-109 win over the Miami Heat. The Heat appeared to tie the game after Tyler Johnson was credited with a basket when Orlando’s Bismack Biyombo was called for goaltending with 2.8secs remaining. However, a video review overturned the call.
PHILLY’S MAJOR THREAT HAS EMERGED
LOOK out Philly, Detroit basketball is back.
The Pistons’ encouraging turnaround since signing star forward Blake Griffin from the LA Clippers continued on Tuesday with a 111-91 spanking of Portland.
Griffin had 21 points, six assists and nine rebounds while Andre Drummond put up 17 points, five assists and 17 boards as Detroit won every quarter.
After eight straight defeats took the Pistons from 22-18 to 22-26 — and out of the Eastern Conference’s top eight — they’ve now won four straight, including three since Griffin was inserted in the lineup.
A look ahead at their schedule indicates the streak will continue. Home games against the Brooklyn Nets and Clippers come before a winnable road game against Atlanta.
That’s followed by a three-game home stand against the Pelicans, Hawks and Celtics which could see the Pistons race back up the standings.
It’s bad news for Ben Simmons and the 76ers, who were starting to look like a playoff lock before a recent three-game losing streak.
Tuesday’s win improved the Pistons’ to 26-26. Philly is 25-25 and holds on to eighth place because of its 3-0 head-to-head record against Detroit.
Another streaking team, the Washington Wizards, won their fifth straight on Tuesday, dispatching the Indiana Pacers 111-102.
Washington hasn’t lost since star point guard John Wall was sidelined with a knee injury and has charged into the East’s top four.
Bradley Beal (21 points) led an even scoring contribution as eight Wizards hit double figures in points.
Elsewhere, Cleveland Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue says “there’s no doubt” his slumping team will make the playoffs despite 12 losses in the last 18 games, including another blowout loss on the weekend.
Following the 120-88 embarrassment against the Houston Rockets — it was the Cavs’ eighth consecutive loss on national television in the US and fourth by 24 or more points since January 1 — a frustrated LeBron James said the team should be taken off “every nationally televised game for the rest of the season.”
Cleveland (30-21) has fallen way behind the East-leading Boston Celtics (39-15), while only leading the No. 9-seeded Pistons by 4.5 games.
Lue was asked by reporters after practice on Tuesday whether the Cavs’ string of three consecutive NBA Finals could be broken by missing the post-season completely.
“I mean we’re still going to make the playoffs,” Lue said, via ESPN. “There’s no doubt about that. We’re still confident in that for sure.
“It’s too early for that, but, I don’t think we’ll be knocked out of (making) the playoffs.”
The Cavs went through midseason slumps in each of the past three years but rallied to reach the finals each time.
“We prepare, we’ll be professional and we go out and play,” James told reporters. “At the end of the day as bad as it’s looked of late, we’re still in a good position where we can play some good basketball going into the (All-Star) break and we want to try to control that.”
Lue said he does not plan drastic lineup changes for Wednesday’s road game against the Orlando Magic and Thursday’s home game against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
“See what we have and see what happens, so, right now just got to stay with where we’re at right now and just play better,” Lue said.
Despite the team’s struggles, Lue’s job appears safe, according to an ESPN report over the weekend. “That’s not my focus,” Lue said. “My focus is to try to get the guys to win and playing better. That’s my focus and after that, whatever happens, happens.”
— with wires
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