CELTICS 115, JAZZ 104
BOSTON -- Isaiah Thomas had 29 points and a career-high 15 assists, and the Boston Celtics made 17 three-pointers for the second consecutive game in beating the Utah Jazz 115-104 on Tuesday night.
Al Horford and Jae Crowder added 21 points apiece and Avery Bradley scored 14 for the Celtics, who have won four of five and eight of 10.
The Celtics ended Utah's four-game winning streak and beat the Jazz for the ninth consecutive time in Boston.
Gordon Hayward led Utah with 23 points. Derrick Favors scored 12 and Rudy Gobert pulled down 13 rebounds, extending his streak of 10 or more to 21 consecutive games.
Thomas, coming off his career-high 52 points Friday against the Heat, has scored at least 20 in 19 consecutive games. He added another personal best Tuesday with 15 assists, two more than his previous high of 13 against Charlotte in December 2015.
Thomas' three-pointer with 2:53 left in the second quarter started Boston on a 10-4 run that gave the Celtics a 54-45 halftime lead. Boston stretched the lead to 68-54 early in the third.
Shelvin Mack pulled Utah to 73-65, but the Celtics pulled away again. Horford started the run with a three from the top of the key and Thomas drove through traffic for a layup. Marcus Smart added a basket before Crowder hit his fifth three-pointer of the game to put Boston up 83-66.
Utah's only points during the Celtics' run came on technical foul shots by Hayward, one for a three-second violation and another when Crowder was called for a technical during a timeout.
Boston went up by 15 early in the fourth before the Jazz used an 11-3 run to pull to 98-91 on consecutive layups by Joe Johnson. That was as close as it got and the Jazz were forced to foul late, sending Thomas to the line four times. He was perfect from the stripe for the second consecutive game.
76ERS 93, TIMBERWOLVES 91
PHILADELPHIA -- Robert Covington made a fall-away shot off an inbounds pass with 0.2 seconds left to give the Philadelphia 76ers a victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Sixers needed the late basket after they blew a 26-point lead and seemed headed to overtime. Ricky Rubio, just a 26 percent three-point shooter, buried one with 1.6 seconds left that tied it at 91.
Dario Saric hit Covington, who had been booed most of the game, for the decisive bucket that sent the crowd into a frenzy.
Joel Embiid scored 25 points and Ersan Ilyasova had 19 for the Sixers.
PACERS 121, PISTONS 116
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- Paul George had 32 points and the Indiana Pacers beat the Detroit Pistons.
Myles Turner and Jeff Teague each scored 17 for Indiana, which blew a 15-point first-half lead but pulled away in the fourth quarter to win its third consecutive game. The Pacers (18-18) are 2 1/2 games ahead of Detroit (16-21) in the Eastern Conference standings.
Tobias Harris led the Pistons with 22 points. Andre Drummond and Reggie Jackson each had a double-double.
Detroit lost for the eighth time in 10 games, with two of the defeats coming at home to Indiana.
MAVERICKS 113, WIZARDS 105
DALLAS -- Harrison Barnes scored 26 points and Deron Williams added 21 as the Dallas Mavericks rallied to beat the Washington Wizards.
Devin Harris had 17 points and Seth Curry 16 for the Mavericks. Williams, Harris and Curry each hit four three-pointers as Dallas made 17-of-32 from long range.
John Wall led Washington with 27 points and Bradley Beal added 25 for the Wizards, who fell to 1-6 on the second half of back-to-back games. They lost to Houston on Monday night.
Dallas trailed by 12 in the third quarter before rallying.
SPURS 110, RAPTORS 82
SAN ANTONIO -- Kawhi Leonard had 25 points, LaMarcus Aldridge added 23 and the San Antonio Spurs beat Toronto, holding the Raptors to their lowest score of the season.
San Antonio dominated a matchup of teams with the second-best record in each conference, leading by as many as 34 points.
Leonard and Aldridge combined to shoot 19 for 28 from the field, but it was veteran point guard Tony Parker who set the tone for the Spurs.
Parker finished with 15 points and eight assists in 23 minutes.
KINGS 120, NUGGETS 113
DENVER -- DeMarcus Cousins scored 31 points, Darren Collison had 26 points and seven assists, and the Sacramento Kings beat the Denver Nuggets.
Sacramento led most of the way to stop a two-game skid and win for the fifth time in seven games.
The Kings used a 15-0 run in the second quarter to take a 50-36 lead. Denver went nearly seven minutes without a field goal and missed 10 shots before Jusuf Nurkic hit a layup with 2:46 left before halftime.
Denver got within three in the fourth quarter and had chances to trim it to one or tie, but Sacramento kept extending the lead with Cousins on the bench.
SUNS 99, HEAT 90
PHOENIX -- Devin Booker scored 27 points -- 18 in the second half -- and rookie Marquese Chriss added a career-best 18 as the Phoenix Suns handed the severely short-handed Miami Heat their sixth consecutive loss.
The Suns snapped a 12-game losing streak against Miami. Phoenix hadn't beaten the Heat since Nov. 3, 2009.
Goran Dragic scored 22 of his 24 points in the first half for the Heat, who had just eight available players in the opener of a six-game road trip.
Willie Reed had 22 points and 18 rebounds, both career highs, for Miami.
Sports on 01/04/2017