Saturdays National Basketball Association Capsules
SAN ANTONIO 107, TORONTO 97
SAN ANTONIO Tony Parker had 24 points and 10 assists as the San Antonio Spurs snapped their brief two-game skid with a 107-97 victory over the sliding Toronto Raptors.
Tim Duncan had 19 points and seven rebounds for the Spurs, who suffered road losses to the New Orleans Hornets and Orlando Magic this week.
San Antonio, which had its six-game winning streak snapped with the setback to the Hornets, avoided losing three in a row for the second time this season. The Spurs dropped three straight to begin the season from October 29-November 4.
Toronto, meanwhile, now has lost four in a row. The Raptors suffered an embarrassing 91-82 loss to the lowly Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday.
The Raptors came out strong in the first quarter, looking to get the taste of that loss out of their collective mouth - taking a 25-20 advantage after the opening period.
But Matt Bonner made a jumper to give the Spurs the lead for good with 7:39 left in the second en route to a 56-48 lead at halftime. San Antonio cruised in a lackluster second half.
Jermaine ONeal, who suffered a minor shoulder injury against the Thunder, collected 24 points and 10 rebounds for the Raptors in this one.
ORLANDO 106, LA LAKERS 103
ORLANDO, Florida For the second straight game, Kobe Bryant missed out on a shot to play the hero. The result, for the first time all season, was a two-game losing streak for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Bryant misfired on an off-balance 3-point attempt at the buzzer - one night after his game-tying try against the Miami Heat rolled in and out - as the Orlando Magic survived for a 106-103 triumph.
The leagues reigning MVP still managed to put up a season-high 41 points, but it wasnt enough. With three seconds left and the Lakers trailing by one, Sasha Vujacic launched a 3-pointer from the corner but it rattled around the rim and rolled out. Dwight Howard grabbed the board, got fouled and buried both free throws to provide the three-point cushion.
Howard overcame early foul trouble to post 18 points and 12 boards, while Rashard Lewis led the Magic with 22 points.
MIAMI 106, NEW JERSEY 103
EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey Dwyane Wade matched a season high with 43 points as the Miami Heat completed a successful back-to-back set with a 106-103 victory.
Wade first posted his season-best total in a win against the Phoenix Suns on November 29 for the Heat, who held off the Los Angeles Lakers for an 89-87 victory on Friday night.
The leagues leading scorer, Wade netted 35 points against the Lakers and followed that up by shooting 13-of-22 from the field and 16-of-18 from the free-throw line - a place where the hard-charging Wade makes his living.
Devin Harris, who scored 41 points in a win over the Dallas Mavericks - his former team - on Friday, scored 21 points for the Nets. Rookie Brook Lopez collected 22 points, 13 boards and five blocks while Vince Carter also scored 21 points.
CHICAGO 106, UTAH 98
CHICAGO For the first time since the 2004-05 campaign, the Chicago Bulls have swept the season series with the Utah Jazz.
The Bulls backcourt duo of Derrick Rose and Ben Gordon combined for 50 points and the Bulls defense clamped down over the final 3 1/2 minutes of play en route to a 106-98 triumph over the Jazz on Saturday night.
After cutting the Bulls lead to three on Mehmet Okurs three-point play with 3:43 on the clock, the Jazz missed their last six field-goal attempts and committed a pair of costly turnovers as Chicago hung on.
With less than a minute to play and the Bulls leading by five, Rose - the rookie point guard who has already shown regular flashes of veteran savvy - wore some time off the clock, took Deron Williams off the dribble and dropped in a layup off the glass to extend the lead to seven.
That essentially sealed it up for Chicago, which improved to 10-3 at home. The Bulls also defeated the Jazz in Salt Lake City last month on Larry Hughes buzzer-beater.
Okur led Utah with 23 points and 13 boards, while Paul Millsap registered his 15th consecutive double-double with 22 and 10. Williams added 19 points and six assists.
PHOENIX 108, DENVER 101
PHOENIX Steve Nash hit two late 3-pointers to give the Phoenix Suns a 108-101 victory over the Denver Nuggets.
The teams battled back and forth in the final quarter. After Chauncey Billups hit a 3-point shot to tie the game at 101-101. Nash countered from long range to give the Suns a 104-101 advantage.
Billups then missed from behind the arc and the Suns had numerous chances at the hoop before Nash connected from long range to make it 107-101 with 59 seconds left.
Nash had 16 points and 11 assists in his battle with Billups, who went for 18 and eight. Billups also had seven turnovers.
Amare Stoudemire scored 27 points for the Suns, who put all five starters in double figures.
J.R. Smith led the Nuggets with 23 points off the bench.
HOUSTON 109, MINNESOTA 102
MINNEAPOLIS Despite an admirable rally in the final minutes, the Minnesota Timberwolves misery continued - this time courtesy of the Houston Rockets.
Tracy McGrady scored 23 points and Yao Ming added 18 - including a clutch jumper with 22 seconds left that essentially sealed the game - as the Rockets survived Minnesotas late surge for a 109-102 triumph.
The Timberwolves pulled to within three as Randy Foye - who has struggled all season - staged an 8-0 run by himself, sandwiching a layup around a pair of 3-pointers to cut the deficit to 105-102. But Yao answered on the other end, connecting from 10 feet to provide a five-point cushion.
Foye misfired from the arc on the other end and a pair of free throws from Shane Battier sealed it.
Foye finished with 24 points, while Al Jefferson registered 34 and 13 boards.
NEW ORLEANS 99, SACRAMENTO 90
NEW ORLEANS Another vintage Chris Paul performance propelled the New Orleans Hornets to their fourth victory in a row.
The superstar point guard registered 34 points, nine assists and eight steals to lead the Hornets to a 99-90 triumph over the Sacramento Kings.
Paul - who leads the NBA in assists and steals - had to put the offensive load on himself this time as many of his teammates went cold from the floor. Thankfully for the Hornets, he had the hot hand, hitting 10-of-15 from the floor and 12-of-15 from the free-throw line.
The Hornets were able to take advantage of 21 turnovers by Sacramento, while committing just six of their own. James Posey provided a spark off the bench, collecting 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting. However, starters David West, Rasual Butler and Devin Brown were a combined 7-of-27.
INDIANA 95, PHILADELPHIA 94
PHILADELPHIA T.J. Ford buried a game-winning jumper with 3.8 seconds to play to lift the Indiana Pacers to a 95-94 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.
Ford was able to get Andre Iguodala backing up and then pulled up and connected from 17 feet. Iguodala got into the lane with a spin move on Philadelphias ensuing possession but was unable to nail his a floater over Jeff Foster.
Indiana was playing the second game of a back-to-back and was doing it with only nine players.
Danny Granger, Marquis Daniels and Troy Murphy all sat out Saturday as they did in Indianas 117-109 double-overtime loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday night because they were all hospitalized with flu-like symptoms.
Andre Miller had 14 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists for the 76ers, who had a three-game win streak snapped.
GOLDEN STATE 110, CHARLOTTE 103
CHARLOTTE, North Carolina Jamal Crawford scored a season-high 50 points, helping the Golden State Warriors snap a five-game skid with a 110-103 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats.
Crawford, who was traded from the New York Knicks last month, was 14-of-26 from the field, including 5-of-8 from the arc, and 17-of-18 from the free-throw line.
Primarily a 1-on-1 scorer, Crawford has been inconsistent with the Warriors, netting just four points on back-to-back nights earlier this month after going for 40 against the Miami Heat on December 1.
He also victimized the Heat for a career-best 52 points on January 26, 2007, while with the Knicks.
Gerald Wallace scored 26 points for the Bobcats, who could not build upon a 112-83 triumph over the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night.
MILWAUKEE 119, LA CLIPPERS 85
MILWAUKEE The Milwaukee Bucks got healthy in time to take advantage of the exhausted Los Angeles Clippers.
Richard Jefferson scored 22 points and Luke Ridnour chipped in 18 and seven assists to lead the Bucks to an easy 119-85 win over the road-weary Clippers.
Playing in their fourth road game in five nights, including Fridays double-overtime win over the Indiana Pacers and Wednesdays overtime loss in Chicago, the Clippers looked sluggish from the opening tip.
The Bucks jumped to an 8-0 lead while the Clippers went scoreless until the 8:50 mark in the first. The Bucks took advantage of the Clippers fatigue, shooting 75 percent in the quarter (15-of-20), collecting 18 points in the paint en route to a 37-15 lead at the end of one.
Los Angeles shooting woes continued in the second as it shot 6-of-17 in the quarter and scored just 17 points, trailing, 62-32, at the half.
