MINNEAPOLIS (AP) &mdash; A&nbsp;fight broke out and punches were thrown&nbsp;during the game between the Orlando Magic and Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night.
Five players were ejected following the brawl, which started in front of the Orlando bench late in the third quarter. Minnesota guard Austin Rivers and Magic center Mo Bamba were the initial players involved, and it spilled over to include several others on the court.
Rivers, Jaden McDaniels and Taurean Prince were ejected from the Timberwolves. Jalen Suggs was tossed along with Bamba for Orlando, which went on to win 127-120.
&ldquo;This isn&rsquo;t like a cool moment for me,&rdquo;&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/BallySportsNOR/status/1621726026945396736" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Rivers said after the game.</a>&nbsp;&ldquo;I feel embarrassed. I&rsquo;m the oldest on the team. I consider myself the leader of the team, or one of the leaders of the team. It was a weird game, and I don&rsquo;t think that helped at all. If anything right now, I&rsquo;m just (ticked off) that we lost, and that I had (something) to do with that. It doesn&rsquo;t make me feel good.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
The Target Center Tussle 👀<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RaisedByWolves?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RaisedByWolves</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBA</a> <a href="https://t.co/7DPJwnELgS">pic.twitter.com/7DPJwnELgS</a>
&mdash; Bally Sports North (@BallySportsNOR) <a href="https://twitter.com/BallySportsNOR/status/1621704987012206595?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 4, 2023</a></blockquote>

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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) &mdash; A&nbsp;fight broke out and punches were thrown&nbsp;during the game between the Orlando Magic and Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night.
Five players were ejected following the brawl, which started in front of the Orlando bench late in the third quarter. Minnesota guard Austin Rivers and Magic center Mo Bamba were the initial players involved, and it spilled over to include several others on the court.
Rivers, Jaden McDaniels and Taurean Prince were ejected from the Timberwolves. Jalen Suggs was tossed along with Bamba for Orlando, which went on to win 127-120.
&nbsp;
&ldquo;This isn&rsquo;t like a cool moment for me,&rdquo;&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/BallySportsNOR/status/1621726026945396736" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Rivers said after the game.</a>&nbsp;&ldquo;I feel embarrassed. I&rsquo;m the oldest on the team. I consider myself the leader of the team, or one of the leaders of the team. It was a weird game, and I don&rsquo;t think that helped at all. If anything right now, I&rsquo;m just (ticked off) that we lost, and that I had (something) to do with that. It doesn&rsquo;t make me feel good.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
The Target Center Tussle 👀<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RaisedByWolves?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RaisedByWolves</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBA</a> <a href="https://t.co/7DPJwnELgS">pic.twitter.com/7DPJwnELgS</a>
&mdash; Bally Sports North (@BallySportsNOR) <a href="https://twitter.com/BallySportsNOR/status/1621704987012206595?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 4, 2023</a></blockquote>

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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) &mdash; A&nbsp;fight broke out and punches were thrown&nbsp;during the game between the Orlando Magic and Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night.
Five players were ejected following the brawl, which started in front of the Orlando bench late in the third quarter. Minnesota guard Austin Rivers and Magic center Mo Bamba were the initial players involved, and it spilled over to include several others on the court.
Rivers, Jaden McDaniels and Taurean Prince were ejected from the Timberwolves. Jalen Suggs was tossed along with Bamba for Orlando, which went on to win 127-120.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
The Target Center Tussle 👀<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RaisedByWolves?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RaisedByWolves</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBA</a> <a href="https://t.co/7DPJwnELgS">pic.twitter.com/7DPJwnELgS</a>
&mdash; Bally Sports North (@BallySportsNOR) <a href="https://twitter.com/BallySportsNOR/status/1621704987012206595?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 4, 2023</a></blockquote>

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&ldquo;This isn&rsquo;t like a cool moment for me,&rdquo;&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/BallySportsNOR/status/1621726026945396736" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Rivers said after the game.</a>&nbsp;&ldquo;I feel embarrassed. I&rsquo;m the oldest on the team. I consider myself the leader of the team, or one of the leaders of the team. It was a weird game, and I don&rsquo;t think that helped at all. If anything right now, I&rsquo;m just (ticked off) that we lost, and that I had (something) to do with that. It doesn&rsquo;t make me feel good.&rdquo;
&nbsp;

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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) &mdash; A&nbsp;fight broke out and punches were thrown&nbsp;during the game between the Orlando Magic and Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night.
Five players were ejected following the brawl, which started in front of the Orlando bench late in the third quarter. Minnesota guard Austin Rivers and Magic center Mo Bamba were the initial players involved, and it spilled over to include several others on the court.
Rivers, Jaden McDaniels and Taurean Prince were ejected from the Timberwolves. Jalen Suggs was tossed along with Bamba for Orlando, which went on to win 127-120.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
The Target Center Tussle 👀<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RaisedByWolves?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RaisedByWolves</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBA</a> <a href="https://t.co/7DPJwnELgS">pic.twitter.com/7DPJwnELgS</a>
&mdash; Bally Sports North (@BallySportsNOR) <a href="https://twitter.com/BallySportsNOR/status/1621704987012206595?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 4, 2023</a></blockquote>

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&ldquo;This isn&rsquo;t like a cool moment for me,&rdquo;&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/BallySportsNOR/status/1621726026945396736" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Rivers said after the game.</a>&nbsp;&ldquo;I feel embarrassed. I&rsquo;m the oldest on the team. I consider myself the leader of the team, or one of the leaders of the team. It was a weird game, and I don&rsquo;t think that helped at all. If anything right now, I&rsquo;m just (ticked off) that we lost, and that I had (something) to do with that. It doesn&rsquo;t make me feel good.&rdquo;
Bamba and Suggs were not available for comment after the game.
&ldquo;You obviously want to have your teammate&rsquo;s back and at the same time, you&rsquo;ve got to be a professional,&rdquo; said Orlando center Moritz Wagner, also involved in a skirmish with Detroit in December.
&nbsp;

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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) &mdash; A&nbsp;fight broke out and punches were thrown&nbsp;during the game between the Orlando Magic and Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night.
Five players were ejected following the brawl, which started in front of the Orlando bench late in the third quarter. Minnesota guard Austin Rivers and Magic center Mo Bamba were the initial players involved, and it spilled over to include several others on the court.
Rivers, Jaden McDaniels and Taurean Prince were ejected from the Timberwolves. Jalen Suggs was tossed along with Bamba for Orlando, which went on to win 127-120.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
The Target Center Tussle 👀<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RaisedByWolves?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RaisedByWolves</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBA</a> <a href="https://t.co/7DPJwnELgS">pic.twitter.com/7DPJwnELgS</a>
&mdash; Bally Sports North (@BallySportsNOR) <a href="https://twitter.com/BallySportsNOR/status/1621704987012206595?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 4, 2023</a></blockquote>

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&ldquo;This isn&rsquo;t like a cool moment for me,&rdquo;&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/BallySportsNOR/status/1621726026945396736" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Rivers said after the game.</a>&nbsp;&ldquo;I feel embarrassed. I&rsquo;m the oldest on the team. I consider myself the leader of the team, or one of the leaders of the team. It was a weird game, and I don&rsquo;t think that helped at all. If anything right now, I&rsquo;m just (ticked off) that we lost, and that I had (something) to do with that. It doesn&rsquo;t make me feel good.&rdquo;
Bamba and Suggs were not available for comment after the game.
&ldquo;You obviously want to have your teammate&rsquo;s back and at the same time, you&rsquo;ve got to be a professional,&rdquo; said Orlando center Moritz Wagner, also involved in a skirmish with Detroit in December.
&ldquo;So, that&rsquo;s a challenge for a young team like us. I think this time around we did a good job compared to last time. So, yeah, I don&rsquo;t really know. It&rsquo;s a weird dynamic. You don&rsquo;t really want to be in those situations and it&rsquo;s not really the best look. You want to be professional. At the same time, there is something in me that appreciates the team sticking together like that.&rdquo;
Wagner appeared to get knocked out in that fight with the Pistons in Detroit. Wagner and Detroit&rsquo;s Killian Hayes and Hamadou Diallo were all ejected.
On this night, the fight began with Rivers right in front of the Magic bench as play was ongoing at the far end of the court. Bamba came off the bench and Rivers threw punches at him. Suggs later pulled Rivers away and swung him to the court. McDaniels and Prince joined the scrum.
&ldquo;Their guy came off the bench and threw a punch,&rdquo; Timberwolves coach&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/BallySportsNOR/status/1621722960921772033" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Chris Finch said</a>. &ldquo;Pretty egregious. Then it&rsquo;s a melee, and somehow our guys get punished a lot worse. One guy got sent for not being a peacekeeper. I just looked at the film, and I didn&rsquo;t see any difference between what their guys were doing and what our guys were doing.&rdquo;
&nbsp;

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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) &mdash; A&nbsp;fight broke out and punches were thrown&nbsp;during the game between the Orlando Magic and Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night.
Five players were ejected following the brawl, which started in front of the Orlando bench late in the third quarter. Minnesota guard Austin Rivers and Magic center Mo Bamba were the initial players involved, and it spilled over to include several others on the court.
Rivers, Jaden McDaniels and Taurean Prince were ejected from the Timberwolves. Jalen Suggs was tossed along with Bamba for Orlando, which went on to win 127-120.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
The Target Center Tussle 👀<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RaisedByWolves?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RaisedByWolves</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBA</a> <a href="https://t.co/7DPJwnELgS">pic.twitter.com/7DPJwnELgS</a>
&mdash; Bally Sports North (@BallySportsNOR) <a href="https://twitter.com/BallySportsNOR/status/1621704987012206595?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 4, 2023</a></blockquote>

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&ldquo;This isn&rsquo;t like a cool moment for me,&rdquo;&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/BallySportsNOR/status/1621726026945396736" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Rivers said after the game.</a>&nbsp;&ldquo;I feel embarrassed. I&rsquo;m the oldest on the team. I consider myself the leader of the team, or one of the leaders of the team. It was a weird game, and I don&rsquo;t think that helped at all. If anything right now, I&rsquo;m just (ticked off) that we lost, and that I had (something) to do with that. It doesn&rsquo;t make me feel good.&rdquo;
Bamba and Suggs were not available for comment after the game.
&ldquo;You obviously want to have your teammate&rsquo;s back and at the same time, you&rsquo;ve got to be a professional,&rdquo; said Orlando center Moritz Wagner, also involved in a skirmish with Detroit in December.
&ldquo;So, that&rsquo;s a challenge for a young team like us. I think this time around we did a good job compared to last time. So, yeah, I don&rsquo;t really know. It&rsquo;s a weird dynamic. You don&rsquo;t really want to be in those situations and it&rsquo;s not really the best look. You want to be professional. At the same time, there is something in me that appreciates the team sticking together like that.&rdquo;
Wagner appeared to get knocked out in that fight with the Pistons in Detroit. Wagner and Detroit&rsquo;s Killian Hayes and Hamadou Diallo were all ejected.
On this night, the fight began with Rivers right in front of the Magic bench as play was ongoing at the far end of the court. Bamba came off the bench and Rivers threw punches at him. Suggs later pulled Rivers away and swung him to the court. McDaniels and Prince joined the scrum.
&ldquo;Their guy came off the bench and threw a punch,&rdquo; Timberwolves coach&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/BallySportsNOR/status/1621722960921772033" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Chris Finch said</a>. &ldquo;Pretty egregious. Then it&rsquo;s a melee, and somehow our guys get punished a lot worse. One guy got sent for not being a peacekeeper. I just looked at the film, and I didn&rsquo;t see any difference between what their guys were doing and what our guys were doing.&rdquo;
The altercation seemed to stem from talk from the Magic bench, particularly Bamba. A few moments earlier, Rivers missed a 3-point attempt in front of the Orlando bench, and Bamba and Markelle Fultz could be seen reacting to the miss.
Rivers said he approached the 7-foot, 231-pound Bamba about his comments.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not gonna snitch on the dude or whatever, but I just didn&rsquo;t like the way he was talking to me,&rdquo; said Rivers, listed at 6-4 and 200 pounds. &ldquo;For no reason, too. I don&rsquo;t even know that dude. I don&rsquo;t know anything about him. Obviously, I just know he&rsquo;s a player for the Magic. And he proceeded to talk, so that next possession, when I went down there, I just said, pretty much, &lsquo;Just keep it respectful, bro.&rsquo;&rdquo;
&nbsp;

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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) &mdash; A&nbsp;fight broke out and punches were thrown&nbsp;during the game between the Orlando Magic and Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night.
Five players were ejected following the brawl, which started in front of the Orlando bench late in the third quarter. Minnesota guard Austin Rivers and Magic center Mo Bamba were the initial players involved, and it spilled over to include several others on the court.
Rivers, Jaden McDaniels and Taurean Prince were ejected from the Timberwolves. Jalen Suggs was tossed along with Bamba for Orlando, which went on to win 127-120.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
The Target Center Tussle 👀<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RaisedByWolves?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RaisedByWolves</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBA</a> <a href="https://t.co/7DPJwnELgS">pic.twitter.com/7DPJwnELgS</a>
&mdash; Bally Sports North (@BallySportsNOR) <a href="https://twitter.com/BallySportsNOR/status/1621704987012206595?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 4, 2023</a></blockquote>

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&ldquo;This isn&rsquo;t like a cool moment for me,&rdquo;&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/BallySportsNOR/status/1621726026945396736" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Rivers said after the game.</a>&nbsp;&ldquo;I feel embarrassed. I&rsquo;m the oldest on the team. I consider myself the leader of the team, or one of the leaders of the team. It was a weird game, and I don&rsquo;t think that helped at all. If anything right now, I&rsquo;m just (ticked off) that we lost, and that I had (something) to do with that. It doesn&rsquo;t make me feel good.&rdquo;
Bamba and Suggs were not available for comment after the game.
&ldquo;You obviously want to have your teammate&rsquo;s back and at the same time, you&rsquo;ve got to be a professional,&rdquo; said Orlando center Moritz Wagner, also involved in a skirmish with Detroit in December.
&ldquo;So, that&rsquo;s a challenge for a young team like us. I think this time around we did a good job compared to last time. So, yeah, I don&rsquo;t really know. It&rsquo;s a weird dynamic. You don&rsquo;t really want to be in those situations and it&rsquo;s not really the best look. You want to be professional. At the same time, there is something in me that appreciates the team sticking together like that.&rdquo;
Wagner appeared to get knocked out in that fight with the Pistons in Detroit. Wagner and Detroit&rsquo;s Killian Hayes and Hamadou Diallo were all ejected.
On this night, the fight began with Rivers right in front of the Magic bench as play was ongoing at the far end of the court. Bamba came off the bench and Rivers threw punches at him. Suggs later pulled Rivers away and swung him to the court. McDaniels and Prince joined the scrum.
&ldquo;Their guy came off the bench and threw a punch,&rdquo; Timberwolves coach&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/BallySportsNOR/status/1621722960921772033" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Chris Finch said</a>. &ldquo;Pretty egregious. Then it&rsquo;s a melee, and somehow our guys get punished a lot worse. One guy got sent for not being a peacekeeper. I just looked at the film, and I didn&rsquo;t see any difference between what their guys were doing and what our guys were doing.&rdquo;
The altercation seemed to stem from talk from the Magic bench, particularly Bamba. A few moments earlier, Rivers missed a 3-point attempt in front of the Orlando bench, and Bamba and Markelle Fultz could be seen reacting to the miss.
Rivers said he approached the 7-foot, 231-pound Bamba about his comments.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not gonna snitch on the dude or whatever, but I just didn&rsquo;t like the way he was talking to me,&rdquo; said Rivers, listed at 6-4 and 200 pounds. &ldquo;For no reason, too. I don&rsquo;t even know that dude. I don&rsquo;t know anything about him. Obviously, I just know he&rsquo;s a player for the Magic. And he proceeded to talk, so that next possession, when I went down there, I just said, pretty much, &lsquo;Just keep it respectful, bro.&rsquo;&rdquo;
Rivers later added: &ldquo;I went up to him and I pressed him, and at that point, it can go one of two ways. I didn&rsquo;t think we were going to get in a fight. But when you stand up that fast and put your hands up &mdash; he threw a punch and missed, thankfully. At that point, I&rsquo;ve got to protect myself. Ain&rsquo;t no one worried about him.&rdquo;
The fight came one night after&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/cleveland-cavaliers-memphis-grizzlies-nba-sports-basketball-f28a600c6be964800fc75e3289771f4f">an on-court altercation between Memphis Grizzlies guard Dillon Brooks and Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell.</a>
Brooks swung and struck Mitchell in the groin area during the third quarter Thursday after the Grizzlies guard had fallen to the floor. Mitchell retaliated by throwing the ball at Brooks and then shoving him.
Both players were ejected from Cleveland&rsquo;s 128-113 win. Afterward,&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/cleveland-cavaliers-memphis-grizzlies-nba-sports-dillon-brooks-1e78b03632f3d348a4e72afa649b8846">Mitchell accused Brooks of being a dirty player.</a>
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/cleveland-cavaliers-memphis-grizzlies-nba-sports-dillon-brooks-cc55631632ee456b94cbe923a8365c3f">The NBA announced punishments for both players</a>&nbsp;Friday, with Brooks getting suspended one game without pay and Mitchell fined $20,000.

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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) &mdash; A&nbsp;fight broke out and punches were thrown&nbsp;during the game between the Orlando Magic and Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night.
Five players were ejected following the brawl, which started in front of the Orlando bench late in the third quarter. Minnesota guard Austin Rivers and Magic center Mo Bamba were the initial players involved, and it spilled over to include several others on the court.
Rivers, Jaden McDaniels and Taurean Prince were ejected from the Timberwolves. Jalen Suggs was tossed along with Bamba for Orlando, which went on to win 127-120.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
The Target Center Tussle 👀<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RaisedByWolves?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RaisedByWolves</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBA</a> <a href="https://t.co/7DPJwnELgS">pic.twitter.com/7DPJwnELgS</a>
&mdash; Bally Sports North (@BallySportsNOR) <a href="https://twitter.com/BallySportsNOR/status/1621704987012206595?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 4, 2023</a></blockquote>

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&ldquo;This isn&rsquo;t like a cool moment for me,&rdquo;&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/BallySportsNOR/status/1621726026945396736" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Rivers said after the game.</a>&nbsp;&ldquo;I feel embarrassed. I&rsquo;m the oldest on the team. I consider myself the leader of the team, or one of the leaders of the team. It was a weird game, and I don&rsquo;t think that helped at all. If anything right now, I&rsquo;m just (ticked off) that we lost, and that I had (something) to do with that. It doesn&rsquo;t make me feel good.&rdquo;
Bamba and Suggs were not available for comment after the game.
&ldquo;You obviously want to have your teammate&rsquo;s back and at the same time, you&rsquo;ve got to be a professional,&rdquo; said Orlando center Moritz Wagner, also involved in a skirmish with Detroit in December.
&ldquo;So, that&rsquo;s a challenge for a young team like us. I think this time around we did a good job compared to last time. So, yeah, I don&rsquo;t really know. It&rsquo;s a weird dynamic. You don&rsquo;t really want to be in those situations and it&rsquo;s not really the best look. You want to be professional. At the same time, there is something in me that appreciates the team sticking together like that.&rdquo;
Wagner appeared to get knocked out in that fight with the Pistons in Detroit. Wagner and Detroit&rsquo;s Killian Hayes and Hamadou Diallo were all ejected.
On this night, the fight began with Rivers right in front of the Magic bench as play was ongoing at the far end of the court. Bamba came off the bench and Rivers threw punches at him. Suggs later pulled Rivers away and swung him to the court. McDaniels and Prince joined the scrum.
&ldquo;Their guy came off the bench and threw a punch,&rdquo; Timberwolves coach&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/BallySportsNOR/status/1621722960921772033" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Chris Finch said</a>. &ldquo;Pretty egregious. Then it&rsquo;s a melee, and somehow our guys get punished a lot worse. One guy got sent for not being a peacekeeper. I just looked at the film, and I didn&rsquo;t see any difference between what their guys were doing and what our guys were doing.&rdquo;
The altercation seemed to stem from talk from the Magic bench, particularly Bamba. A few moments earlier, Rivers missed a 3-point attempt in front of the Orlando bench, and Bamba and Markelle Fultz could be seen reacting to the miss.
Rivers said he approached the 7-foot, 231-pound Bamba about his comments.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not gonna snitch on the dude or whatever, but I just didn&rsquo;t like the way he was talking to me,&rdquo; said Rivers, listed at 6-4 and 200 pounds. &ldquo;For no reason, too. I don&rsquo;t even know that dude. I don&rsquo;t know anything about him. Obviously, I just know he&rsquo;s a player for the Magic. And he proceeded to talk, so that next possession, when I went down there, I just said, pretty much, &lsquo;Just keep it respectful, bro.&rsquo;&rdquo;
Rivers later added: &ldquo;I went up to him and I pressed him, and at that point, it can go one of two ways. I didn&rsquo;t think we were going to get in a fight. But when you stand up that fast and put your hands up &mdash; he threw a punch and missed, thankfully. At that point, I&rsquo;ve got to protect myself. Ain&rsquo;t no one worried about him.&rdquo;
The fight came one night after&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-news-donovan-mitchell-dillon-brooks-get-into-scuffle-cleveland-cavaliers-memphis-grizzlies-react-ja-morant-darius-garland-taylor-jenkins-jb-bickerstaff" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an on-court altercation between Memphis Grizzlies guard Dillon Brooks and Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell.</a>
Brooks swung and struck Mitchell in the groin area during the third quarter Thursday after the Grizzlies guard had fallen to the floor. Mitchell retaliated by throwing the ball at Brooks and then shoving him.
Both players were ejected from Cleveland&rsquo;s 128-113 win. Afterward,&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/cleveland-cavaliers-memphis-grizzlies-nba-sports-dillon-brooks-1e78b03632f3d348a4e72afa649b8846">Mitchell accused Brooks of being a dirty player.</a>
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/cleveland-cavaliers-memphis-grizzlies-nba-sports-dillon-brooks-cc55631632ee456b94cbe923a8365c3f">The NBA announced punishments for both players</a>&nbsp;Friday, with Brooks getting suspended one game without pay and Mitchell fined $20,000.

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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) &mdash; A&nbsp;fight broke out and punches were thrown&nbsp;during the game between the Orlando Magic and Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night.
Five players were ejected following the brawl, which started in front of the Orlando bench late in the third quarter. Minnesota guard Austin Rivers and Magic center Mo Bamba were the initial players involved, and it spilled over to include several others on the court.
Rivers, Jaden McDaniels and Taurean Prince were ejected from the Timberwolves. Jalen Suggs was tossed along with Bamba for Orlando, which went on to win 127-120.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
The Target Center Tussle 👀<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RaisedByWolves?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RaisedByWolves</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBA</a> <a href="https://t.co/7DPJwnELgS">pic.twitter.com/7DPJwnELgS</a>
&mdash; Bally Sports North (@BallySportsNOR) <a href="https://twitter.com/BallySportsNOR/status/1621704987012206595?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 4, 2023</a></blockquote>

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&ldquo;This isn&rsquo;t like a cool moment for me,&rdquo;&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/BallySportsNOR/status/1621726026945396736" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Rivers said after the game.</a>&nbsp;&ldquo;I feel embarrassed. I&rsquo;m the oldest on the team. I consider myself the leader of the team, or one of the leaders of the team. It was a weird game, and I don&rsquo;t think that helped at all. If anything right now, I&rsquo;m just (ticked off) that we lost, and that I had (something) to do with that. It doesn&rsquo;t make me feel good.&rdquo;
Bamba and Suggs were not available for comment after the game.
&ldquo;You obviously want to have your teammate&rsquo;s back and at the same time, you&rsquo;ve got to be a professional,&rdquo; said Orlando center Moritz Wagner, also involved in a skirmish with Detroit in December.
&ldquo;So, that&rsquo;s a challenge for a young team like us. I think this time around we did a good job compared to last time. So, yeah, I don&rsquo;t really know. It&rsquo;s a weird dynamic. You don&rsquo;t really want to be in those situations and it&rsquo;s not really the best look. You want to be professional. At the same time, there is something in me that appreciates the team sticking together like that.&rdquo;
Wagner appeared to get knocked out in that fight with the Pistons in Detroit. Wagner and Detroit&rsquo;s Killian Hayes and Hamadou Diallo were all ejected.
On this night, the fight began with Rivers right in front of the Magic bench as play was ongoing at the far end of the court. Bamba came off the bench and Rivers threw punches at him. Suggs later pulled Rivers away and swung him to the court. McDaniels and Prince joined the scrum.
&ldquo;Their guy came off the bench and threw a punch,&rdquo; Timberwolves coach&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/BallySportsNOR/status/1621722960921772033" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Chris Finch said</a>. &ldquo;Pretty egregious. Then it&rsquo;s a melee, and somehow our guys get punished a lot worse. One guy got sent for not being a peacekeeper. I just looked at the film, and I didn&rsquo;t see any difference between what their guys were doing and what our guys were doing.&rdquo;
The altercation seemed to stem from talk from the Magic bench, particularly Bamba. A few moments earlier, Rivers missed a 3-point attempt in front of the Orlando bench, and Bamba and Markelle Fultz could be seen reacting to the miss.
Rivers said he approached the 7-foot, 231-pound Bamba about his comments.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not gonna snitch on the dude or whatever, but I just didn&rsquo;t like the way he was talking to me,&rdquo; said Rivers, listed at 6-4 and 200 pounds. &ldquo;For no reason, too. I don&rsquo;t even know that dude. I don&rsquo;t know anything about him. Obviously, I just know he&rsquo;s a player for the Magic. And he proceeded to talk, so that next possession, when I went down there, I just said, pretty much, &lsquo;Just keep it respectful, bro.&rsquo;&rdquo;
Rivers later added: &ldquo;I went up to him and I pressed him, and at that point, it can go one of two ways. I didn&rsquo;t think we were going to get in a fight. But when you stand up that fast and put your hands up &mdash; he threw a punch and missed, thankfully. At that point, I&rsquo;ve got to protect myself. Ain&rsquo;t no one worried about him.&rdquo;
The fight came one night after&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-news-donovan-mitchell-dillon-brooks-get-into-scuffle-cleveland-cavaliers-memphis-grizzlies-react-ja-morant-darius-garland-taylor-jenkins-jb-bickerstaff" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an on-court altercation between Memphis Grizzlies guard Dillon Brooks and Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell.</a>
Brooks swung and struck Mitchell in the groin area during the third quarter Thursday after the Grizzlies guard had fallen to the floor. Mitchell retaliated by throwing the ball at Brooks and then shoving him.
Both players were ejected from Cleveland&rsquo;s 128-113 win. Afterward,&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-news-donovan-mitchell-dillon-brooks-get-into-scuffle-cleveland-cavaliers-memphis-grizzlies-react-ja-morant-darius-garland-taylor-jenkins-jb-bickerstaff" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mitchell accused Brooks of being a dirty player.</a>
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/cleveland-cavaliers-memphis-grizzlies-nba-sports-dillon-brooks-cc55631632ee456b94cbe923a8365c3f">The NBA announced punishments for both players</a>&nbsp;Friday, with Brooks getting suspended one game without pay and Mitchell fined $20,000.

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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) &mdash; A&nbsp;fight broke out and punches were thrown&nbsp;during the game between the Orlando Magic and Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night.
Five players were ejected following the brawl, which started in front of the Orlando bench late in the third quarter. Minnesota guard Austin Rivers and Magic center Mo Bamba were the initial players involved, and it spilled over to include several others on the court.
Rivers, Jaden McDaniels and Taurean Prince were ejected from the Timberwolves. Jalen Suggs was tossed along with Bamba for Orlando, which went on to win 127-120.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
The Target Center Tussle 👀<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RaisedByWolves?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RaisedByWolves</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBA</a> <a href="https://t.co/7DPJwnELgS">pic.twitter.com/7DPJwnELgS</a>
&mdash; Bally Sports North (@BallySportsNOR) <a href="https://twitter.com/BallySportsNOR/status/1621704987012206595?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 4, 2023</a></blockquote>

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&ldquo;This isn&rsquo;t like a cool moment for me,&rdquo;&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/BallySportsNOR/status/1621726026945396736" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Rivers said after the game.</a>&nbsp;&ldquo;I feel embarrassed. I&rsquo;m the oldest on the team. I consider myself the leader of the team, or one of the leaders of the team. It was a weird game, and I don&rsquo;t think that helped at all. If anything right now, I&rsquo;m just (ticked off) that we lost, and that I had (something) to do with that. It doesn&rsquo;t make me feel good.&rdquo;
Bamba and Suggs were not available for comment after the game.
&ldquo;You obviously want to have your teammate&rsquo;s back and at the same time, you&rsquo;ve got to be a professional,&rdquo; said Orlando center Moritz Wagner, also involved in a skirmish with Detroit in December.
&ldquo;So, that&rsquo;s a challenge for a young team like us. I think this time around we did a good job compared to last time. So, yeah, I don&rsquo;t really know. It&rsquo;s a weird dynamic. You don&rsquo;t really want to be in those situations and it&rsquo;s not really the best look. You want to be professional. At the same time, there is something in me that appreciates the team sticking together like that.&rdquo;
Wagner appeared to get knocked out in that fight with the Pistons in Detroit. Wagner and Detroit&rsquo;s Killian Hayes and Hamadou Diallo were all ejected.
On this night, the fight began with Rivers right in front of the Magic bench as play was ongoing at the far end of the court. Bamba came off the bench and Rivers threw punches at him. Suggs later pulled Rivers away and swung him to the court. McDaniels and Prince joined the scrum.
&ldquo;Their guy came off the bench and threw a punch,&rdquo; Timberwolves coach&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/BallySportsNOR/status/1621722960921772033" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Chris Finch said</a>. &ldquo;Pretty egregious. Then it&rsquo;s a melee, and somehow our guys get punished a lot worse. One guy got sent for not being a peacekeeper. I just looked at the film, and I didn&rsquo;t see any difference between what their guys were doing and what our guys were doing.&rdquo;
The altercation seemed to stem from talk from the Magic bench, particularly Bamba. A few moments earlier, Rivers missed a 3-point attempt in front of the Orlando bench, and Bamba and Markelle Fultz could be seen reacting to the miss.
Rivers said he approached the 7-foot, 231-pound Bamba about his comments.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not gonna snitch on the dude or whatever, but I just didn&rsquo;t like the way he was talking to me,&rdquo; said Rivers, listed at 6-4 and 200 pounds. &ldquo;For no reason, too. I don&rsquo;t even know that dude. I don&rsquo;t know anything about him. Obviously, I just know he&rsquo;s a player for the Magic. And he proceeded to talk, so that next possession, when I went down there, I just said, pretty much, &lsquo;Just keep it respectful, bro.&rsquo;&rdquo;
Rivers later added: &ldquo;I went up to him and I pressed him, and at that point, it can go one of two ways. I didn&rsquo;t think we were going to get in a fight. But when you stand up that fast and put your hands up &mdash; he threw a punch and missed, thankfully. At that point, I&rsquo;ve got to protect myself. Ain&rsquo;t no one worried about him.&rdquo;
The fight came one night after&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-news-donovan-mitchell-dillon-brooks-get-into-scuffle-cleveland-cavaliers-memphis-grizzlies-react-ja-morant-darius-garland-taylor-jenkins-jb-bickerstaff" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an on-court altercation between Memphis Grizzlies guard Dillon Brooks and Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell.</a>
Brooks swung and struck Mitchell in the groin area during the third quarter Thursday after the Grizzlies guard had fallen to the floor. Mitchell retaliated by throwing the ball at Brooks and then shoving him.
Both players were ejected from Cleveland&rsquo;s 128-113 win. Afterward,&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-news-donovan-mitchell-dillon-brooks-get-into-scuffle-cleveland-cavaliers-memphis-grizzlies-react-ja-morant-darius-garland-taylor-jenkins-jb-bickerstaff" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mitchell accused Brooks of being a dirty player.</a>
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/dillon-brooks-suspended-one-game-donovan-mitchell-fined-20000" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The NBA announced punishments for both players</a>&nbsp;Friday, with Brooks getting suspended one game without pay and Mitchell fined $20,000.

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In Orlando's win over Minnesota, Wolves guard Austin Rivers and Magic center Mo Bamba got into a fight that led to five ejections.

Magic top Timberwolves after 5 players ejected for fighting

Pat Riley remembers just about every detail surrounding the events of Dec. 29, 1961. It was a cold night in Schenectady, New York. A little snowy, the roads a little icy. And when the bus carrying the opposing team from New York City arrived, all of Riley&rsquo;s Linton High teammates peered out the window.
They saw a giant.
Long before Riley and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar were winning NBA championships together as coach and player with the Showtime-era Los Angeles Lakers in the 1980s, they were opponents. Riley and Linton beat Power Memorial and Lew Alcindor &mdash; Abdul-Jabbar&rsquo;s name before converting to Islam &mdash; 74-68 that night.
Abdul-Jabbar, then a 6-foot-10 freshman, was held to eight points because he spent virtually the entire game in foul trouble. He has told Riley several times over the years that Linton won because Riley&rsquo;s father &mdash; a lifelong baseball man &mdash; had his umpiring friends refereeing the game.
&ldquo;Which we did,&rdquo; Riley acknowledges.
Riley knew it then and came to appreciate it even more years later &mdash; there were only a few ways to stop the player who would eventually spend nearly four decades as the most prolific scorer in NBA history. Abdul-Jabbar is on the verge of being passed by the Lakers&rsquo; LeBron James, the 38-year-old who was nearly nine months from being born when the unforgettable center made one of his signature sky hooks on April 5, 1984 to overtake Wilt Chamberlain and become the league&rsquo;s scoring leader.
&ldquo;Kareem was a guy that never had any potential. He just had greatness,&rdquo; said Riley, now the president of the Miami Heat and one of the few who has worked with both Abdul-Jabbar and James. &ldquo;You could see that. When you can bypass potential and you move right to greatness as a high school player, and then college and then the pros ... there are very few like him. There&rsquo;s a handful. Two handfuls, at the most.&rdquo;
James is one of them, going from high school straight to the NBA, and now in his 20th season, he is now just 89 points away from passing Abdul-Jabbar&rsquo;s record. The Lakers play Thursday in Indiana, then Saturday at New Orleans.
The most realistic target for the record-breaker is Tuesday in Los Angeles against Oklahoma City or &mdash; perhaps symbolically &mdash; next Thursday in L.A. when the Lakers play host to the Milwaukee Bucks, the team that Abdul-Jabbar started his NBA career with.
This past October, Abdul-Jabbar &mdash; on his Substack page where he discusses and offers opinion on a variety of topics, often nothing to do with sports &mdash; wrote that when James passed Kobe Bryant for No. 3 on the all-time scoring list in 2020, he &ldquo;knew it was just a matter of time before he passed me too.&rdquo;
Abdul-Jabbar added that every time a record is broken, all people are elevated.
&ldquo;When I broke Wilt Chamberlain&rsquo;s scoring record in 1984 -- the year LeBron was born -- it bothered Wilt, who&rsquo;d had a bit of a one-sided rivalry with me since I&rsquo;d started doing so well in the NBA,&rdquo; he wrote. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t feel that way toward LeBron. Not only will I celebrate his accomplishment, I will sing his praises unequivocally.&rdquo;
The relationship between Abdul-Jabbar and James seems complicated. Abdul-Jabbar was outside of the Cleveland locker room during the 2016 Eastern Conference finals as James was jogging by; the two embraced and shared a few kind words, prompting James to discuss the respect he has for Abdul-Jabbar and others who paved the way in his postgame remarks.
Abdul-Jabbar also has lauded James &ldquo;as a community leader and athlete.&rdquo; But he criticized James for not doing more with his platform to encourage people to get vaccinated against COVID-19. And earlier this season, James said he has &ldquo;no relationship&rdquo; with Abdul-Jabbar.
There are ties that bind them, though. Both are champions. Both have worked to promote social justice and spoken out against racial inequality. Abdul-Jabbar played 20 years in the NBA; James is in Year 20. Abdul-Jabbar set the record while playing for the Lakers; James will do the same.
And If nothing else, James&rsquo; pursuit of the record may have exposed a generation or two that never saw Abdul-Jabbar play to how great he was.
&ldquo;We have to always acknowledge those who come before us, those who&rsquo;ve paved the way,&rdquo; Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. &ldquo;You think of all those points Kareem scored and he had, what, one 3-pointer? You think about all of that, and these kids get to learn about a different era. It&rsquo;s high, high-level education in the game of basketball, particularly NBA basketball.&rdquo;
When Abdul-Jabbar broke the record, Riley said Magic Johnson &mdash; then the Lakers&rsquo; point guard &mdash; made sure he was the one who got the assist on the play. Johnson nearly put himself back into the game against Utah in Las Vegas that night when Abdul-Jabbar was two points away.
Years later, when the Lakers from those championship teams of that era gathered in Hawaii last summer for a reunion, Abdul-Jabbar was a day late because of personal matters. The Lakers in 2022 celebrated his arrival the same way they did the record-setter in 1984.
&ldquo;He felt special because he was special, because he is special,&rdquo; Riley said of the man who once stood shoulder-to-shoulder alongside an embattled Muhammad Ali during the boxing champ&rsquo;s legal troubles in the late 1960s, and counted Bill Russell &mdash; another basketball giant and social-change champion &mdash; as a mentor. &ldquo;He was treated as the patriarch by all the players. It was a great week for him. He was engaged, came to everything we did, gave some spontaneous talks. And he&rsquo;s a shy guy, but he felt very comfortable in his group.&rdquo;
Riley coached Abdul-Jabbar in Los Angeles and later lured James to Miami for a four-year run starting in 2010. He sees in James much of what he saw in Alcindor when that bus pulled into Schenectady in 1961.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s all about LeBron right now, and it should be, with his unique career and unique opportunity to do this,&rdquo; Riley said. &ldquo;Training, travel, personal chefs, personal trainers, all that stuff has come into play since Kareem. I hope people realize Kareem&rsquo;s story as well and how different it was. He went to college for four years; LeBron came out of high school. But they both dominated from Day 1. They both turned potential into greatness from Day 1.&rdquo;

Pat Riley remembers just about every detail surrounding the events of Dec. 29, 1961. It was a cold night in Schenectady, New York. A little snowy, the roads a little icy. And when the bus carrying the opposing team from New York City arrived, all of Riley&rsquo;s Linton High teammates peered out the window.
They saw a giant.
Long before Riley and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar were winning NBA championships together as coach and player with the Showtime-era Los Angeles Lakers in the 1980s, they were opponents. Riley and Linton beat Power Memorial and Lew Alcindor &mdash; Abdul-Jabbar&rsquo;s name before converting to Islam &mdash; 74-68 that night.
Abdul-Jabbar, then a 6-foot-10 freshman, was held to eight points because he spent virtually the entire game in foul trouble. He has told Riley several times over the years that Linton won because Riley&rsquo;s father &mdash; a lifelong baseball man &mdash; had his umpiring friends refereeing the game.
&ldquo;Which we did,&rdquo; Riley acknowledges.
Riley knew it then and came to appreciate it even more years later &mdash; there were only a few ways to stop the player who would eventually spend nearly four decades as the most prolific scorer in NBA history. Abdul-Jabbar is on the verge of being passed by the Lakers&rsquo; LeBron James, the 38-year-old who was nearly nine months from being born when the unforgettable center made one of his signature sky hooks on April 5, 1984 to overtake Wilt Chamberlain and become the league&rsquo;s scoring leader.
&ldquo;Kareem was a guy that never had any potential. He just had greatness,&rdquo; said Riley, now the president of the Miami Heat and one of the few who has worked with both Abdul-Jabbar and James. &ldquo;You could see that. When you can bypass potential and you move right to greatness as a high school player, and then college and then the pros ... there are very few like him. There&rsquo;s a handful. Two handfuls, at the most.&rdquo;
James is one of them, going from high school straight to the NBA, and now in his 20th season, he is now just 63points away from passing Abdul-Jabbar&rsquo;s record. The Lakers play Thursday in Indiana, then Saturday at New Orleans.
The most realistic target for the record-breaker is Tuesday in Los Angeles against Oklahoma City or &mdash; perhaps symbolically &mdash; next Thursday in L.A. when the Lakers play host to the Milwaukee Bucks, the team that Abdul-Jabbar started his NBA career with.
This past October, Abdul-Jabbar &mdash; on his Substack page where he discusses and offers opinion on a variety of topics, often nothing to do with sports &mdash; wrote that when James passed Kobe Bryant for No. 3 on the all-time scoring list in 2020, he &ldquo;knew it was just a matter of time before he passed me too.&rdquo;
Abdul-Jabbar added that every time a record is broken, all people are elevated.
&ldquo;When I broke Wilt Chamberlain&rsquo;s scoring record in 1984 -- the year LeBron was born -- it bothered Wilt, who&rsquo;d had a bit of a one-sided rivalry with me since I&rsquo;d started doing so well in the NBA,&rdquo; he wrote. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t feel that way toward LeBron. Not only will I celebrate his accomplishment, I will sing his praises unequivocally.&rdquo;
The relationship between Abdul-Jabbar and James seems complicated. Abdul-Jabbar was outside of the Cleveland locker room during the 2016 Eastern Conference finals as James was jogging by; the two embraced and shared a few kind words, prompting James to discuss the respect he has for Abdul-Jabbar and others who paved the way in his postgame remarks.
Abdul-Jabbar also has lauded James &ldquo;as a community leader and athlete.&rdquo; But he criticized James for not doing more with his platform to encourage people to get vaccinated against COVID-19. And earlier this season, James said he has &ldquo;no relationship&rdquo; with Abdul-Jabbar.
There are ties that bind them, though. Both are champions. Both have worked to promote social justice and spoken out against racial inequality. Abdul-Jabbar played 20 years in the NBA; James is in Year 20. Abdul-Jabbar set the record while playing for the Lakers; James will do the same.
And If nothing else, James&rsquo; pursuit of the record may have exposed a generation or two that never saw Abdul-Jabbar play to how great he was.
&ldquo;We have to always acknowledge those who come before us, those who&rsquo;ve paved the way,&rdquo; Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. &ldquo;You think of all those points Kareem scored and he had, what, one 3-pointer? You think about all of that, and these kids get to learn about a different era. It&rsquo;s high, high-level education in the game of basketball, particularly NBA basketball.&rdquo;
When Abdul-Jabbar broke the record, Riley said Magic Johnson &mdash; then the Lakers&rsquo; point guard &mdash; made sure he was the one who got the assist on the play. Johnson nearly put himself back into the game against Utah in Las Vegas that night when Abdul-Jabbar was two points away.
Years later, when the Lakers from those championship teams of that era gathered in Hawaii last summer for a reunion, Abdul-Jabbar was a day late because of personal matters. The Lakers in 2022 celebrated his arrival the same way they did the record-setter in 1984.
&ldquo;He felt special because he was special, because he is special,&rdquo; Riley said of the man who once stood shoulder-to-shoulder alongside an embattled Muhammad Ali during the boxing champ&rsquo;s legal troubles in the late 1960s, and counted Bill Russell &mdash; another basketball giant and social-change champion &mdash; as a mentor. &ldquo;He was treated as the patriarch by all the players. It was a great week for him. He was engaged, came to everything we did, gave some spontaneous talks. And he&rsquo;s a shy guy, but he felt very comfortable in his group.&rdquo;
Riley coached Abdul-Jabbar in Los Angeles and later lured James to Miami for a four-year run starting in 2010. He sees in James much of what he saw in Alcindor when that bus pulled into Schenectady in 1961.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s all about LeBron right now, and it should be, with his unique career and unique opportunity to do this,&rdquo; Riley said. &ldquo;Training, travel, personal chefs, personal trainers, all that stuff has come into play since Kareem. I hope people realize Kareem&rsquo;s story as well and how different it was. He went to college for four years; LeBron came out of high school. But they both dominated from Day 1. They both turned potential into greatness from Day 1.&rdquo;

Pat Riley remembers just about every detail surrounding the events of Dec. 29, 1961. It was a cold night in Schenectady, New York. A little snowy, the roads a little icy. And when the bus carrying the opposing team from New York City arrived, all of Riley&rsquo;s Linton High teammates peered out the window.
They saw a giant.
Long before Riley and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar were winning NBA championships together as coach and player with the Showtime-era Los Angeles Lakers in the 1980s, they were opponents. Riley and Linton beat Power Memorial and Lew Alcindor &mdash; Abdul-Jabbar&rsquo;s name before converting to Islam &mdash; 74-68 that night.
Abdul-Jabbar, then a 6-foot-10 freshman, was held to eight points because he spent virtually the entire game in foul trouble. He has told Riley several times over the years that Linton won because Riley&rsquo;s father &mdash; a lifelong baseball man &mdash; had his umpiring friends refereeing the game.
&ldquo;Which we did,&rdquo; Riley acknowledges.
Riley knew it then and came to appreciate it even more years later &mdash; there were only a few ways to stop the player who would eventually spend nearly four decades as the most prolific scorer in NBA history. Abdul-Jabbar is on the verge of being passed by the Lakers&rsquo; LeBron James, the 38-year-old who was nearly nine months from being born when the unforgettable center made one of his signature sky hooks on April 5, 1984 to overtake Wilt Chamberlain and become the league&rsquo;s scoring leader.
&ldquo;Kareem was a guy that never had any potential. He just had greatness,&rdquo; said Riley, now the president of the Miami Heat and one of the few who has worked with both Abdul-Jabbar and James. &ldquo;You could see that. When you can bypass potential and you move right to greatness as a high school player, and then college and then the pros ... there are very few like him. There&rsquo;s a handful. Two handfuls, at the most.&rdquo;
James is one of them, going from high school straight to the NBA, and now in his 20th season, he is now just 63points away from passing Abdul-Jabbar&rsquo;s record. The Lakers play Saturday at New Orleans.
The most realistic target for the record-breaker is Tuesday in Los Angeles against Oklahoma City or &mdash; perhaps symbolically &mdash; next Thursday in L.A. when the Lakers play host to the Milwaukee Bucks, the team that Abdul-Jabbar started his NBA career with.
This past October, Abdul-Jabbar &mdash; on his Substack page where he discusses and offers opinion on a variety of topics, often nothing to do with sports &mdash; wrote that when James passed Kobe Bryant for No. 3 on the all-time scoring list in 2020, he &ldquo;knew it was just a matter of time before he passed me too.&rdquo;
Abdul-Jabbar added that every time a record is broken, all people are elevated.
&ldquo;When I broke Wilt Chamberlain&rsquo;s scoring record in 1984 -- the year LeBron was born -- it bothered Wilt, who&rsquo;d had a bit of a one-sided rivalry with me since I&rsquo;d started doing so well in the NBA,&rdquo; he wrote. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t feel that way toward LeBron. Not only will I celebrate his accomplishment, I will sing his praises unequivocally.&rdquo;
The relationship between Abdul-Jabbar and James seems complicated. Abdul-Jabbar was outside of the Cleveland locker room during the 2016 Eastern Conference finals as James was jogging by; the two embraced and shared a few kind words, prompting James to discuss the respect he has for Abdul-Jabbar and others who paved the way in his postgame remarks.
Abdul-Jabbar also has lauded James &ldquo;as a community leader and athlete.&rdquo; But he criticized James for not doing more with his platform to encourage people to get vaccinated against COVID-19. And earlier this season, James said he has &ldquo;no relationship&rdquo; with Abdul-Jabbar.
There are ties that bind them, though. Both are champions. Both have worked to promote social justice and spoken out against racial inequality. Abdul-Jabbar played 20 years in the NBA; James is in Year 20. Abdul-Jabbar set the record while playing for the Lakers; James will do the same.
And If nothing else, James&rsquo; pursuit of the record may have exposed a generation or two that never saw Abdul-Jabbar play to how great he was.
&ldquo;We have to always acknowledge those who come before us, those who&rsquo;ve paved the way,&rdquo; Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. &ldquo;You think of all those points Kareem scored and he had, what, one 3-pointer? You think about all of that, and these kids get to learn about a different era. It&rsquo;s high, high-level education in the game of basketball, particularly NBA basketball.&rdquo;
When Abdul-Jabbar broke the record, Riley said Magic Johnson &mdash; then the Lakers&rsquo; point guard &mdash; made sure he was the one who got the assist on the play. Johnson nearly put himself back into the game against Utah in Las Vegas that night when Abdul-Jabbar was two points away.
Years later, when the Lakers from those championship teams of that era gathered in Hawaii last summer for a reunion, Abdul-Jabbar was a day late because of personal matters. The Lakers in 2022 celebrated his arrival the same way they did the record-setter in 1984.
&ldquo;He felt special because he was special, because he is special,&rdquo; Riley said of the man who once stood shoulder-to-shoulder alongside an embattled Muhammad Ali during the boxing champ&rsquo;s legal troubles in the late 1960s, and counted Bill Russell &mdash; another basketball giant and social-change champion &mdash; as a mentor. &ldquo;He was treated as the patriarch by all the players. It was a great week for him. He was engaged, came to everything we did, gave some spontaneous talks. And he&rsquo;s a shy guy, but he felt very comfortable in his group.&rdquo;
Riley coached Abdul-Jabbar in Los Angeles and later lured James to Miami for a four-year run starting in 2010. He sees in James much of what he saw in Alcindor when that bus pulled into Schenectady in 1961.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s all about LeBron right now, and it should be, with his unique career and unique opportunity to do this,&rdquo; Riley said. &ldquo;Training, travel, personal chefs, personal trainers, all that stuff has come into play since Kareem. I hope people realize Kareem&rsquo;s story as well and how different it was. He went to college for four years; LeBron came out of high school. But they both dominated from Day 1. They both turned potential into greatness from Day 1.&rdquo;

Pat Riley remembers just about every detail surrounding the events of Dec. 29, 1961. It was a cold night in Schenectady, New York. A little snowy, the roads a little icy. And when the bus carrying the opposing team from New York City arrived, all of Riley&rsquo;s Linton High teammates peered out the window.
They saw a giant.
Long before Riley and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar were winning NBA championships together as coach and player with the Showtime-era Los Angeles Lakers in the 1980s, they were opponents. Riley and Linton beat Power Memorial and Lew Alcindor &mdash; Abdul-Jabbar&rsquo;s name before converting to Islam &mdash; 74-68 that night.
Abdul-Jabbar, then a 6-foot-10 freshman, was held to eight points because he spent virtually the entire game in foul trouble. He has told Riley several times over the years that Linton won because Riley&rsquo;s father &mdash; a lifelong baseball man &mdash; had his umpiring friends refereeing the game.
&ldquo;Which we did,&rdquo; Riley acknowledges.
Riley knew it then and came to appreciate it even more years later &mdash; there were only a few ways to stop the player who would eventually spend nearly four decades as the most prolific scorer in NBA history. Abdul-Jabbar is on the verge of being passed by the Lakers&rsquo; LeBron James, the 38-year-old who was nearly nine months from being born when the unforgettable center made one of his signature sky hooks on April 5, 1984 to overtake Wilt Chamberlain and become the league&rsquo;s scoring leader.
&ldquo;Kareem was a guy that never had any potential. He just had greatness,&rdquo; said Riley, now the president of the Miami Heat and one of the few who has worked with both Abdul-Jabbar and James. &ldquo;You could see that. When you can bypass potential and you move right to greatness as a high school player, and then college and then the pros ... there are very few like him. There&rsquo;s a handful. Two handfuls, at the most.&rdquo;
James is one of them, going from high school straight to the NBA, and now in his 20th season, he is now just 63 points away from passing Abdul-Jabbar&rsquo;s record. The Lakers play Saturday at New Orleans.
The most realistic target for the record-breaker is Tuesday in Los Angeles against Oklahoma City or &mdash; perhaps symbolically &mdash; next Thursday in L.A. when the Lakers play host to the Milwaukee Bucks, the team that Abdul-Jabbar started his NBA career with.
This past October, Abdul-Jabbar &mdash; on his Substack page where he discusses and offers opinion on a variety of topics, often nothing to do with sports &mdash; wrote that when James passed Kobe Bryant for No. 3 on the all-time scoring list in 2020, he &ldquo;knew it was just a matter of time before he passed me too.&rdquo;
Abdul-Jabbar added that every time a record is broken, all people are elevated.
&ldquo;When I broke Wilt Chamberlain&rsquo;s scoring record in 1984 -- the year LeBron was born -- it bothered Wilt, who&rsquo;d had a bit of a one-sided rivalry with me since I&rsquo;d started doing so well in the NBA,&rdquo; he wrote. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t feel that way toward LeBron. Not only will I celebrate his accomplishment, I will sing his praises unequivocally.&rdquo;
The relationship between Abdul-Jabbar and James seems complicated. Abdul-Jabbar was outside of the Cleveland locker room during the 2016 Eastern Conference finals as James was jogging by; the two embraced and shared a few kind words, prompting James to discuss the respect he has for Abdul-Jabbar and others who paved the way in his postgame remarks.
Abdul-Jabbar also has lauded James &ldquo;as a community leader and athlete.&rdquo; But he criticized James for not doing more with his platform to encourage people to get vaccinated against COVID-19. And earlier this season, James said he has &ldquo;no relationship&rdquo; with Abdul-Jabbar.
There are ties that bind them, though. Both are champions. Both have worked to promote social justice and spoken out against racial inequality. Abdul-Jabbar played 20 years in the NBA; James is in Year 20. Abdul-Jabbar set the record while playing for the Lakers; James will do the same.
And If nothing else, James&rsquo; pursuit of the record may have exposed a generation or two that never saw Abdul-Jabbar play to how great he was.
&ldquo;We have to always acknowledge those who come before us, those who&rsquo;ve paved the way,&rdquo; Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. &ldquo;You think of all those points Kareem scored and he had, what, one 3-pointer? You think about all of that, and these kids get to learn about a different era. It&rsquo;s high, high-level education in the game of basketball, particularly NBA basketball.&rdquo;
When Abdul-Jabbar broke the record, Riley said Magic Johnson &mdash; then the Lakers&rsquo; point guard &mdash; made sure he was the one who got the assist on the play. Johnson nearly put himself back into the game against Utah in Las Vegas that night when Abdul-Jabbar was two points away.
Years later, when the Lakers from those championship teams of that era gathered in Hawaii last summer for a reunion, Abdul-Jabbar was a day late because of personal matters. The Lakers in 2022 celebrated his arrival the same way they did the record-setter in 1984.
&ldquo;He felt special because he was special, because he is special,&rdquo; Riley said of the man who once stood shoulder-to-shoulder alongside an embattled Muhammad Ali during the boxing champ&rsquo;s legal troubles in the late 1960s, and counted Bill Russell &mdash; another basketball giant and social-change champion &mdash; as a mentor. &ldquo;He was treated as the patriarch by all the players. It was a great week for him. He was engaged, came to everything we did, gave some spontaneous talks. And he&rsquo;s a shy guy, but he felt very comfortable in his group.&rdquo;
Riley coached Abdul-Jabbar in Los Angeles and later lured James to Miami for a four-year run starting in 2010. He sees in James much of what he saw in Alcindor when that bus pulled into Schenectady in 1961.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s all about LeBron right now, and it should be, with his unique career and unique opportunity to do this,&rdquo; Riley said. &ldquo;Training, travel, personal chefs, personal trainers, all that stuff has come into play since Kareem. I hope people realize Kareem&rsquo;s story as well and how different it was. He went to college for four years; LeBron came out of high school. But they both dominated from Day 1. They both turned potential into greatness from Day 1.&rdquo;

Pat Riley remembers just about every detail surrounding the events of Dec. 29, 1961. It was a cold night in Schenectady, New York. A little snowy, the roads a little icy. And when the bus carrying the opposing team from New York City arrived, all of Riley&rsquo;s Linton High teammates peered out the window.
They saw a giant.
Long before Riley and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar were winning NBA championships together as coach and player with the Showtime-era Los Angeles Lakers in the 1980s, they were opponents. Riley and Linton beat Power Memorial and Lew Alcindor &mdash; Abdul-Jabbar&rsquo;s name before converting to Islam &mdash; 74-68 that night.
Abdul-Jabbar, then a 6-foot-10 freshman, was held to eight points because he spent virtually the entire game in foul trouble. He has told Riley several times over the years that Linton won because Riley&rsquo;s father &mdash; a lifelong baseball man &mdash; had his umpiring friends refereeing the game.
&ldquo;Which we did,&rdquo; Riley acknowledges.
Riley knew it then and came to appreciate it even more years later &mdash; there were only a few ways to stop the player who would eventually spend nearly four decades as the most prolific scorer in NBA history. Abdul-Jabbar is on the verge of being passed by the Lakers&rsquo; LeBron James, the 38-year-old who was nearly nine months from being born when the unforgettable center made one of his signature sky hooks on April 5, 1984 to overtake Wilt Chamberlain and become the league&rsquo;s scoring leader.
&ldquo;Kareem was a guy that never had any potential. He just had greatness,&rdquo; said Riley, now the president of the Miami Heat and one of the few who has worked with both Abdul-Jabbar and James. &ldquo;You could see that. When you can bypass potential and you move right to greatness as a high school player, and then college and then the pros ... there are very few like him. There&rsquo;s a handful. Two handfuls, at the most.&rdquo;
James is one of them, going from high school straight to the NBA, and now in his 20th season, he is now just 63 points away from passing Abdul-Jabbar&rsquo;s record. The Lakers play Saturday at New Orleans.
The most realistic target for the record-breaker is Tuesday in Los Angeles against Oklahoma City or &mdash; perhaps symbolically &mdash; next Thursday in L.A. when the Lakers play host to the Milwaukee Bucks, the team that Abdul-Jabbar started his NBA career with.
This past October, Abdul-Jabbar &mdash; on his Substack page where he discusses and offers opinion on a variety of topics, often nothing to do with sports &mdash; wrote that when James passed Kobe Bryant for No. 3 on the all-time scoring list in 2020, he &ldquo;knew it was just a matter of time before he passed me too.&rdquo;
Abdul-Jabbar added that every time a record is broken, all people are elevated.
&ldquo;When I broke Wilt Chamberlain&rsquo;s scoring record in 1984 &mdash; the year LeBron was born &mdash; it bothered Wilt, who&rsquo;d had a bit of a one-sided rivalry with me since I&rsquo;d started doing so well in the NBA,&rdquo; he wrote. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t feel that way toward LeBron. Not only will I celebrate his accomplishment, I will sing his praises unequivocally.&rdquo;
The relationship between Abdul-Jabbar and James seems complicated. Abdul-Jabbar was outside of the Cleveland locker room during the 2016 Eastern Conference finals as James was jogging by; the two embraced and shared a few kind words, prompting James to discuss the respect he has for Abdul-Jabbar and others who paved the way in his postgame remarks.
Abdul-Jabbar also has lauded James &ldquo;as a community leader and athlete.&rdquo; But he criticized James for not doing more with his platform to encourage people to get vaccinated against COVID-19. And earlier this season, James said he has &ldquo;no relationship&rdquo; with Abdul-Jabbar.
There are ties that bind them, though. Both are champions. Both have worked to promote social justice and spoken out against racial inequality. Abdul-Jabbar played 20 years in the NBA; James is in Year 20. Abdul-Jabbar set the record while playing for the Lakers; James will do the same.
And If nothing else, James&rsquo; pursuit of the record may have exposed a generation or two that never saw Abdul-Jabbar play to how great he was.
&ldquo;We have to always acknowledge those who come before us, those who&rsquo;ve paved the way,&rdquo; Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. &ldquo;You think of all those points Kareem scored and he had, what, one 3-pointer? You think about all of that, and these kids get to learn about a different era. It&rsquo;s high, high-level education in the game of basketball, particularly NBA basketball.&rdquo;
When Abdul-Jabbar broke the record, Riley said Magic Johnson &mdash; then the Lakers&rsquo; point guard &mdash; made sure he was the one who got the assist on the play. Johnson nearly put himself back into the game against Utah in Las Vegas that night when Abdul-Jabbar was two points away.
Years later, when the Lakers from those championship teams of that era gathered in Hawaii last summer for a reunion, Abdul-Jabbar was a day late because of personal matters. The Lakers in 2022 celebrated his arrival the same way they did the record-setter in 1984.
&ldquo;He felt special because he was special, because he is special,&rdquo; Riley said of the man who once stood shoulder-to-shoulder alongside an embattled Muhammad Ali during the boxing champ&rsquo;s legal troubles in the late 1960s, and counted Bill Russell &mdash; another basketball giant and social-change champion &mdash; as a mentor. &ldquo;He was treated as the patriarch by all the players. It was a great week for him. He was engaged, came to everything we did, gave some spontaneous talks. And he&rsquo;s a shy guy, but he felt very comfortable in his group.&rdquo;
Riley coached Abdul-Jabbar in Los Angeles and later lured James to Miami for a four-year run starting in 2010. He sees in James much of what he saw in Alcindor when that bus pulled into Schenectady in 1961.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s all about LeBron right now, and it should be, with his unique career and unique opportunity to do this,&rdquo; Riley said. &ldquo;Training, travel, personal chefs, personal trainers, all that stuff has come into play since Kareem. I hope people realize Kareem&rsquo;s story as well and how different it was. He went to college for four years; LeBron came out of high school. But they both dominated from Day 1. They both turned potential into greatness from Day 1.&rdquo;

After LeBron passed Kobe in all-time scoring, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar "knew it was just a matter of time before [LeBron] passed me too.”

Pat Riley: Kareem never had potential, ‘only greatness’

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) &mdash; Jarace Walker had 15 points, including the tiebreaking 3-pointer with 4:27 left, and No. 3 Houston rallied to beat Wichita State 70-61 on Thursday night.
Marcus Sasser also scored 15 for the Cougars (21-2, 9-1 American Athletic Conference), who trailed by six midway through the second half. Jamal Shead added 13 points and seven assists.
&ldquo;We are showing signs of maturity, not getting too high or too low,&rdquo; Shead said. &ldquo;We are following our leader, Marcus. When he came in and started to do his thing, we rallied behind him.&rdquo;
All five starters scored in double digits to help Houston win its third straight since a one-point loss to Temple.
Jaykwon Walton equaled his career high with 24 points for the Shockers (11-11, 4-6), who went 3 for 20 from 3-point range and shot 39% from the field overall.
&ldquo;I thought the difference in the game was the 3-point line,&rdquo; Wichita State coach Isaac Brown said. &ldquo;We went 3 for 20 and, down the stretch, their big man, Walker, was 3 for 6 from the 3-point line and I thought that was the difference in the game.&rdquo;
James Rojas added 15 points and seven rebounds for the Shockers. Kenny Pohto pulled down 12 boards to go with eight points.
Coming off a career-best 25 points against Cincinnati, Walker shot just 3 for 9 in the first half. But he drained a 3-pointer to trim Houston&rsquo;s deficit to 50-47 with 10:17 remaining, then tied it 54-all with another 3 at the 6:15 mark.
Walker followed with his 3 from the corner that put the Cougars ahead 57-54, and they opened a seven-point cushion with under three minutes left after a layup by Shead and a 3 from Tramon Mark.
&ldquo;We made some bad mistakes, but when it came winning time, I think our DNA kicked in,&rdquo; Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. &ldquo;We know how to win and there is a lot to be said about that.&rdquo;
In a matchup between the top two scoring defenses in the AAC, the Cougars held a 30-29 lead at halftime.
Wichita State built a seven-point advantage early in the second half as foul trouble began to pile up for Houston.
BIG PICTURE
Houston: Improved to 9-2 against the Shockers in the AAC era. Houston evened the all-time series at 18 apiece dating to 1949.
Wichita State: Fell to 1-4 in conference home games this season.
UP NEXT
Houston visits Temple on Sunday looking to avenge its only conference loss.
Wichita State plays at Tulsa on Sunday.

All five starters scored in double digits to help Houston win its third straight since a one-point loss to Temple.

Walker rallies No. 3 Houston past Wichita State, 70-61

LOS ANGELES (AP) &mdash; Jaime Jaquez Jr. had 15 points and 10 rebounds, Amari Bailey scored 13 points and No. 9 UCLA beat Washington 70-61 on Thursday night.
UCLA completed a season sweep of Washington and stopped a two-game skid that had followed a 14-game winning streak. The Bruins (18-4, 9-2 Pac-12) won their 20th straight home game dating to last season and remained in first place in the conference standings.
UCLA dominated inside and defensively in the first half, scoring 26 of its first 30 points in the paint. However, the Bruins were sloppy, finishing with 18 turnovers. Tyger Campbell and Bailey each had five giveaways and Jaquez had four.
&ldquo;Eighteen turnovers to me, would be like to other coaches what is 25,&rdquo; UCLA coach Mick Cronin said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s beyond unacceptable. Our supposed best two players had nine turnovers. ... Those two single-handedly let the other team back in the game with their carelessness with the ball.&rdquo;
Keion Brooks Jr. led Washington (13-11, 5-8) with 23 points.
The Huskies &mdash; who finished with 20 turnovers of their own &mdash; cut the lead to seven points several times in the second half but never got closer.
&ldquo;If you turn the ball over they get out in transition and you don&rsquo;t have a chance to get back and get your defense set up,&rdquo; Jacquez said. &ldquo;Ball security dictates a lot of your offense and defense in the second half. We just didn&rsquo;t have that.&rdquo;
Washington fell behind early and didn&rsquo;t score for a six-minute stretch. Braxton Meah dunked to end that drought and pull his team within 26-10 with 6:44 left in the first half.
&ldquo;In the second half I thought we shared the ball, and Keion Brooks did a great job on isolations and moving the ball,&rdquo; Washington coach Mike Hopkins said. &ldquo;You have to make shots. In the first half, we were 2 for 14 from the 3-point line. You&rsquo;re not going to win too many games shooting that percentage.&rdquo;
UCLA&rsquo;s Jaylen Clark caught the opening tip between two defenders and scoring on an uncontested layup 5 seconds into the game.
UCLA beat Washington 79-49 last month and has won eight straight in the series.
STARS IN THE SEATS
Singer Lance Bass, actor Jaleel White and former UCLA and NBA star Trevor Ariza were all in attendance. ... Former NFL defensive back Carnell Lake, who played at UCLA from 1985-88, was honored during the game.
HE SAID IT
&ldquo;They do happen in the course of the game, but when you&rsquo;re throwing passes at people&rsquo;s feet and Nolan Ryan fastballs off the glass, you think you&rsquo;re going to win anyway, in my opinion, tonight, you&rsquo;re screwing around. And in doing that, all you do is make yourself look bad. Really bad.&rdquo; &mdash; Cronin on UCLA&rsquo;s turnovers.
BIG PICTURE
Washington: The Huskies will need to figure out how to run their offense more effectively against tough defenses if they want to make a run in the Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas.
UCLA: The Bruins held the Huskies to 22 first-half points.
UP NEXT
Washington: At USC on Saturday.
UCLA: Hosts Washington State on Saturday.

UCLA completed a season sweep of Washington and stopped a two-game skid that had followed a 14-game winning streak.

Jaquez leads No. 9 UCLA past Washington to end 2-game skid

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) &mdash; Drew Timme scored 15 points and surpassed 2,000 for his career, leading No. 12 Gonzaga past Santa Clara 88-70 on Thursday night.
Timme, who also had 10 rebounds, became the third player in school history to reach the scoring milestone on a dunk with 16:02 remaining. He needs eight points to pass Jim McPhee for second on Gonzaga&rsquo;s career scoring list. Timme also needs to average 18.9 points during the next 10 games to surpass Frank Burgess for the top spot.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of crazy, to be honest,&rdquo; Timme said. &ldquo;I hit that number in high school and it&rsquo;s pretty cool. It&rsquo;s a lot of points. Like I&rsquo;ve been saying all year, it&rsquo;s super cool, but as long as we win that puts a smile on my face.
&ldquo;We can enjoy the milestones when I&rsquo;m done here.&rdquo;
After having its 75-game home win streak snapped against Loyola Marymount, the Bulldogs (19-4, 8-1 West Coast Conference) relied on scoring in the paint and efficient shooting to extend their home winning streak over Santa Clara to 15.
Rasir Bolton scored 16 points and Julian Strawther added 12 for Gonzaga.
Carlos Stewart had 22 points for Santa Clara (16-8, 4-5). Brandin Podziemski was held to 14 points after scoring 38 against Pacific in the Broncos&rsquo; last game.
Santa Clara challenged early after Stewart&rsquo;s 3-pointer opened the game &mdash; but that basket gave Santa Clara its only lead of the night.
The Bulldogs outscored the Broncos 28-4 in the paint and held an eight-rebound advantage in the first half. A 13-1 run midway through the first gave Gonzaga a 16-point lead it wouldn&rsquo;t relinquish. Anton Watson scored 11 points to pace the Zags in the first, finishing with 18.
&ldquo;To be able to do that defensively to such a good offensive team, they showed in the second half what they were capable of doing,&rdquo; Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. &ldquo;I would definitely say it was up there with some of our better halves.&rdquo;
Bolton&rsquo;s corner 3-pointer in the second half gave the Zags a 22-point lead &ndash; their largest of the night.
&ldquo;We had a really hard time throughout the game getting stops,&rdquo; Santa Clara coach Herb Sendek said. &ldquo;They were really executing and scoring at a high level in a variety of ways. ... Our offense got a little better in the second half, but in the first half, their defense made it really tough on us.&rdquo;
BIG PICTURE
Santa Clara: The Broncos have lost three straight and are tied for fourth in the WCC with Pacific with eight regular-season games remaining. Santa Clara hasn&rsquo;t beaten Gonzaga in Spokane since 2007 and the Zags have won 49 of the last 51 meetings.
Gonzaga: The Zags have won three straight games ahead of a Saturday matchup with No. 18 Saint Mary&rsquo;s. The Gaels hold a one-game lead in the WCC and beat the Zags 67-57 last time they played in Moraga, but are 2-8 in the last 10 games against Gonzaga.
UP NEXT
Santa Clara: At San Francisco.
Gonzaga: On the road at Saint Mary&rsquo;s.

Drew Timme is climbing Gonzaga's history books with more accolades to come.

Timme reaches 2,000 points, No. 12 Gonzaga tops Santa Clara

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) &mdash; Angel Reese showed little interest in celebrating after extending her LSU-record double-double streak to help the third-ranked Tigers maintain their unblemished record.
She wasn&rsquo;t all that pleased with how she or her team played.
Reese had 23 points and 14 rebounds to extend her streak of double-doubles to 22 games, and No. 3 LSU narrowly remained unbeaten with an 82-77 victory over Georgia in overtime Thursday night.
&ldquo;Honestly, it&rsquo;s a wake-up call,&rdquo; Reese said. &ldquo;We beat Tennessee (on Monday) and then we came into Georgia thinking they were going to lay down.
&ldquo;They didn&rsquo;t lay down,&rdquo; Reese continued. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re definitely the hunted and I think they did a great job scouting us, they did a great job playing against us.&rdquo;
Alexis Morris highlighted her 15-point night with a 3 from the right corner in the final minute of the extra period to give LSU (22-0, 10-0 SEC) a 77-74 lead, and the Tigers held on from there.
&ldquo;Lex has hit a few of those big shots this year,&rdquo; LSU coach Kim Mulkey said. &ldquo;It was big.&rdquo;
Morris was coming off a career-high 31 points against Tennessee, but didn&rsquo;t score in the first half against Georgia. She hit one 3 in the third quarter and scored 12 of her points in the fourth period and overtime.
&ldquo;I was clutch when I needed to be,&rdquo; Morris said. &ldquo;Of course, it&rsquo;s frustrating because everybody&rsquo;s expecting me to have another 30-ball right? But I showed up in a way I needed to.&rdquo;
Diamond Battles scored 22 points for Georgia (15-9, 4-6), which had a chance to pull within a point when De&rsquo;Mauri Flournoy was fouled behind the 3-point line with 8 seconds left. But Flournoy made just one free throw.
Morris rebounded Flournoy&rsquo;s last miss and then hit two free throws for the final margin.
Reese grabbed 11 of her rebounds on the offensive end, helping LSU score 20 vital second-chance points.
&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t shoot well tonight, so I just tried to get as many rebounds as I could get to get second-chance opportunities,&rdquo; said Reese, whose point total could have been higher had she not missed six of her 15 free throws.
Sa&rsquo;Myah Smith and LaDazhia Williams each scored 10 points for LSU, which rallied from a nine-point deficit in the fourth quarter.
Brittney Smith scored 13 points, Javyn Nicholson 12 and Alisha Lewis 11 for Georgia, which held the Tigers to their second-lowest regulation point total this season.
The Lady Bulldogs &ldquo;fought, they stayed together, they stayed focused, they stuck to the game plan,&rdquo; Georgia coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson said. &ldquo;Maybe the only thing we didn&rsquo;t do really well is box out.&rdquo;
Georgia led 59-50 after Battles converted her steal of Flau&rsquo;Jae Johnson&rsquo;s pass into a fast-break layup with 7:53 left.
But the Tigers quickly cut it to 59-55 on Reese&rsquo;s basket inside and Morris&rsquo; 3.
Reese hit four straight free throws over multiple possessions to pull LSU back into a tie at 63. After Battles&rsquo; free throws put Georgia back in front, Morris again tied it with a fast-break layup.
Smith and LSU&rsquo;s Kateri Poole each made one of two free throws, and regulation ended tied at 66 after both teams failed to score on their final possessions of the period.
The Lady Bulldogs never trailed by more than four points until the final seconds of overtime. LSU held a 30-29 lead at halftime, but Georgia led for the last 5:07 of the third quarter, going up 55-48 after Battles&rsquo; fast-break layup.
&ldquo;We can&rsquo;t get lax,&rdquo; Reese said. &ldquo;Just getting back in the gym and being able to get better, I think that&rsquo;s going to be important for us.&rdquo;
BIG PICTURE
Georgia: The Lady Bulldogs looked formidable defensively in recent victories over Missouri (62-51) and Mississippi State (62-34) and maintained that form at LSU, holding the Tigers to 36% shooting (24 of 67). Nicholson scored at least 10 points for the 10th time this season, and for the seventh time in a reserve role.
LSU: This marked just the fourth time this season the Tigers were held below 70 points in regulation and the first time they were pushed to overtime. Georgia&rsquo;s defense had a lot to do with that, but LSU missed a number of open shots. The Tigers&rsquo; 18 turnovers were relatively few against a Georgia squad that has forced 20 or more opponent turnovers in 15 games this season, but Georgia was efficient in scoring 21 points off turnovers. LSU outscored Georgia at the foul line 28-15.
UP NEXT
Georgia: Visits Vanderbilt on Sunday afternoon.
LSU: Visits Texas A&amp;M on Sunday afternoon.

Angel Reese had 23 points and 14 rebounds to extend her streak of double-doubles to 22 games.

Reese rescues No. 3 LSU in 82-77 OT win over Georgia

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) &mdash; Colin Castleton is accustomed to being double-teamed every time he touches the ball, so he was pleasantly surprised &mdash; maybe even downright stunned &mdash; when Tennessee opted to guard him with a single defender in the second half.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got to take advantage of that,&rdquo; Castleton said.
He did. Castleton scored 20 points, including 16 in the second half, and Florida upended the second-ranked Volunteers 67-54 on Wednesday night.
Kyle Lofton added 14 points for the Gators, who delivered coach Todd Golden his most significant victory in his first season in Gainesville. It was Florida&rsquo;s second Quad 1 win in the last two weeks.
The Volunteers, playing with their highest ranking in four years, lost for the first time in five games. They had won nine of 10.
&ldquo;Our guys are disappointed,&rdquo; Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re better than this, but tonight we weren&rsquo;t.&rdquo;
Tennessee (18-4, 7-2 Southeastern Conference) looked like it had taken control midway through the second half. They outscored Florida by 10 points in the early going to take a six-point lead.
But the Gators (13-9, 6-3) stormed back behind Castleton, who scored 11 of 14 points as Florida rallied. The senior had a dunk, two free throws, a three-point play, a layup and a short jumper &mdash; essentially putting the team on his back down the stretch.
&ldquo;They went small, and I felt like I had a mismatch,&rdquo; Castleton said.
Myreon Jones and Will Richard chipped in nine points apiece for the Gators.
Zakai Ziegler led the Vols with 15 points on 6-of-19 shooting. Olivier Nkamhoua added 11 points and nine rebounds for the visitors, who also got 11 points and eight boards from Vescovi Santiago.
The Gators were red hot to start the game, making six of their first eight shots &mdash; including all three from 3-point range &mdash; while building a 17-4 advantage. But they quickly cooled against the nation&rsquo;s best defense, missing nine of their next 11 as Tennessee made cut it to 22-21.
The Vols had it going coming out of the locker room, with Ziegler getting into the paint and making things happen. But it was short-lived &mdash; thanks mostly to Castleton.
&ldquo;We gave them a chance to start believing in what they&rsquo;re doing, and they took it,&rdquo; Barnes said.
POLL IMPLICATIONS
Tennessee surely will drop a few spots in next week&rsquo;s AP Top 25 college basketball poll.
BIG PICTURE
Tennessee: The Volunteers gave up 10 points in the opening four minutes of the games, a rare sluggish start for the nation&rsquo;s best defense. Tennessee had held four of its first eight SEC opponents scoreless at the first media timeout, roughly the first four minutes of games. It was a sign of things to come.
&ldquo;We kept fighting uphill all night long,&rdquo; Barnes said.
Florida: The Gators are two games into the toughest stretch of their season. Coming off a loss at Kansas State, they have road games against Kentucky and Alabama up next. So to say they needed this one would be an understatement.
&ldquo;It was a desperation game,&rdquo; Castleton said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a tough schedule here and we&rsquo;ve got to win games. We were able to claw and fight.&rdquo;
IN THE HOUSE
Football coach Billy Napier watched the game from a few rows behind Florida&rsquo;s bench alongside his two sons and receiver Ricky Pearsall. Former Florida tennis star Ben Shelton, the NCAA singles champion in 2022, also was in attendance. So was former Gators and NFL quarterback Doug Johnson.
UP NEXT
Tennessee hosts No. 25 Auburn and former coach Bruce Pearl on Saturday.
Florida plays at Kentucky on Saturday. The Gators have lost seven of eight in the series.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) &mdash; Colin Castleton is accustomed to being double-teamed every time he touches the ball, so he was pleasantly surprised &mdash; maybe even downright stunned &mdash; when Tennessee opted to guard him with a single defender in the second half.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got to take advantage of that,&rdquo; Castleton said.
He did. Castleton scored 20 points, including 16 in the second half, and Florida upended the second-ranked Volunteers 67-54 on Wednesday night.
Kyle Lofton added 14 points for the Gators, who delivered coach Todd Golden his most significant victory in his first season in Gainesville. It was Florida&rsquo;s second Quad 1 win in the last two weeks.
The Volunteers, playing with their highest ranking in four years, lost for the first time in five games. They had won nine of 10.
&ldquo;Our guys are disappointed,&rdquo; Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re better than this, but tonight we weren&rsquo;t.&rdquo;
Tennessee (18-4, 7-2 Southeastern Conference) looked like it had taken control midway through the second half. They outscored Florida by 10 points in the early going to take a six-point lead.
But the Gators (13-9, 6-3) stormed back behind Castleton, who scored 11 of 14 points as Florida rallied. The senior had a dunk, two free throws, a three-point play, a layup and a short jumper &mdash; essentially putting the team on his back down the stretch.
&ldquo;They went small, and I felt like I had a mismatch,&rdquo; Castleton said.
Myreon Jones and Will Richard chipped in nine points apiece for the Gators.
Zakai Ziegler led the Vols with 15 points on 6-of-19 shooting. Olivier Nkamhoua added 11 points and nine rebounds for the visitors, who also got 11 points and eight boards from Vescovi Santiago.
The Gators were red hot to start the game, making six of their first eight shots &mdash; including all three from 3-point range &mdash; while building a 17-4 advantage. But they quickly cooled against the nation&rsquo;s best defense, missing nine of their next 11 as Tennessee made cut it to 22-21.
The Vols had it going coming out of the locker room, with Ziegler getting into the paint and making things happen. But it was short-lived &mdash; thanks mostly to Castleton.
&ldquo;We gave them a chance to start believing in what they&rsquo;re doing, and they took it,&rdquo; Barnes said.
POLL IMPLICATIONS
Tennessee surely will drop a few spots in next week&rsquo;s AP Top 25 college basketball poll.
BIG PICTURE
Tennessee: The Volunteers gave up 10 points in the opening four minutes of the games, a rare sluggish start for the nation&rsquo;s best defense. Tennessee had held four of its first eight SEC opponents scoreless at the first media timeout, roughly the first four minutes of games. It was a sign of things to come.
&ldquo;We kept fighting uphill all night long,&rdquo; Barnes said.
Florida: The Gators are two games into the toughest stretch of their season. Coming off a loss at Kansas State, they have road games against Kentucky and Alabama up next. So to say they needed this one would be an understatement.
&ldquo;It was a desperation game,&rdquo; Castleton said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a tough schedule here and we&rsquo;ve got to win games. We were able to claw and fight.&rdquo;
IN THE HOUSE
Football coach Billy Napier watched the game from a few rows behind Florida&rsquo;s bench alongside his two sons and receiver Ricky Pearsall. Former Florida tennis star Ben Shelton, the NCAA singles champion in 2022, also was in attendance. So was former Gators and NFL quarterback Doug Johnson.
UP NEXT
Tennessee hosts No. 25 Auburn and former coach Bruce Pearl on Saturday.
Florida plays at Kentucky on Saturday. The Gators have lost seven of eight in the series.
&nbsp;

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) &mdash; Colin Castleton is accustomed to being double-teamed every time he touches the ball, so he was pleasantly surprised &mdash; maybe even downright stunned &mdash; when Tennessee opted to guard him with a single defender in the second half.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got to take advantage of that,&rdquo; Castleton said.
He did. Castleton scored 20 points, including 16 in the second half, and Florida upended the second-ranked Volunteers 67-54 on Wednesday night.
Kyle Lofton added 14 points for the Gators, who delivered coach Todd Golden his most significant victory in his first season in Gainesville. It was Florida&rsquo;s second Quad 1 win in the last two weeks.
The Volunteers, playing with their highest ranking in four years, lost for the first time in five games. They had won nine of 10.
&ldquo;Our guys are disappointed,&rdquo; Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re better than this, but tonight we weren&rsquo;t.&rdquo;
Tennessee (18-4, 7-2 Southeastern Conference) looked like it had taken control midway through the second half. They outscored Florida by 10 points in the early going to take a six-point lead.
But the Gators (13-9, 6-3) stormed back behind Castleton, who scored 11 of 14 points as Florida rallied. The senior had a dunk, two free throws, a three-point play, a layup and a short jumper &mdash; essentially putting the team on his back down the stretch.
&ldquo;They went small, and I felt like I had a mismatch,&rdquo; Castleton said.
Myreon Jones and Will Richard chipped in nine points apiece for the Gators.
Zakai Ziegler led the Vols with 15 points on 6-of-19 shooting. Olivier Nkamhoua added 11 points and nine rebounds for the visitors, who also got 11 points and eight boards from Vescovi Santiago.
The Gators were red hot to start the game, making six of their first eight shots &mdash; including all three from 3-point range &mdash; while building a 17-4 advantage. But they quickly cooled against the nation&rsquo;s best defense, missing nine of their next 11 as Tennessee made cut it to 22-21.
The Vols had it going coming out of the locker room, with Ziegler getting into the paint and making things happen. But it was short-lived &mdash; thanks mostly to Castleton.
&ldquo;We gave them a chance to start believing in what they&rsquo;re doing, and they took it,&rdquo; Barnes said.
POLL IMPLICATIONS
Tennessee surely will drop a few spots in next week&rsquo;s AP Top 25 college basketball poll.
BIG PICTURE
Tennessee: The Volunteers gave up 10 points in the opening four minutes of the games, a rare sluggish start for the nation&rsquo;s best defense. Tennessee had held four of its first eight SEC opponents scoreless at the first media timeout, roughly the first four minutes of games. It was a sign of things to come.
&ldquo;We kept fighting uphill all night long,&rdquo; Barnes said.
Florida: The Gators are two games into the toughest stretch of their season. Coming off a loss at Kansas State, they have road games against Kentucky and Alabama up next. So to say they needed this one would be an understatement.
&ldquo;It was a desperation game,&rdquo; Castleton said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a tough schedule here and we&rsquo;ve got to win games. We were able to claw and fight.&rdquo;
IN THE HOUSE
Football coach Billy Napier watched the game from a few rows behind Florida&rsquo;s bench alongside his two sons and receiver Ricky Pearsall. Former Florida tennis star Ben Shelton, the NCAA singles champion in 2022, also was in attendance. So was former Gators and NFL quarterback Doug Johnson.
UP NEXT
Tennessee hosts No. 25 Auburn and former coach Bruce Pearl on Saturday.
Florida plays at Kentucky on Saturday. The Gators have lost seven of eight in the series.
NO. 1 PURDUE 80, PENN STATE 60
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) &mdash; Mason Gillis broke the Mackey Arena record by making nine 3-pointers and finished with a career-high 29 points as Purdue beat Penn State.
Gillis went 10 of 14 from the field and 9 of 12 from beyond the arc. Zach Edey added his 18th double-double of the season with 18 points and 13 rebounds.
The Big Ten-leading Boilermakers (22-1, 11-1) have won nine straight overall, six straight in the series and are the only Power Five team with fewer than two losses this season.
Seth Lundy had 18 points to lead the Nittany Lions (14-8, 5-6).
NO. 14 MARQUETTE 73, VILLANOVA 64
&nbsp;

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) &mdash; Colin Castleton is accustomed to being double-teamed every time he touches the ball, so he was pleasantly surprised &mdash; maybe even downright stunned &mdash; when Tennessee opted to guard him with a single defender in the second half.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got to take advantage of that,&rdquo; Castleton said.
He did. Castleton scored 20 points, including 16 in the second half, and Florida upended the second-ranked Volunteers 67-54 on Wednesday night.
Kyle Lofton added 14 points for the Gators, who delivered coach Todd Golden his most significant victory in his first season in Gainesville. It was Florida&rsquo;s second Quad 1 win in the last two weeks.
The Volunteers, playing with their highest ranking in four years, lost for the first time in five games. They had won nine of 10.
&ldquo;Our guys are disappointed,&rdquo; Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re better than this, but tonight we weren&rsquo;t.&rdquo;
Tennessee (18-4, 7-2 Southeastern Conference) looked like it had taken control midway through the second half. They outscored Florida by 10 points in the early going to take a six-point lead.
But the Gators (13-9, 6-3) stormed back behind Castleton, who scored 11 of 14 points as Florida rallied. The senior had a dunk, two free throws, a three-point play, a layup and a short jumper &mdash; essentially putting the team on his back down the stretch.
&ldquo;They went small, and I felt like I had a mismatch,&rdquo; Castleton said.
Myreon Jones and Will Richard chipped in nine points apiece for the Gators.
Zakai Ziegler led the Vols with 15 points on 6-of-19 shooting. Olivier Nkamhoua added 11 points and nine rebounds for the visitors, who also got 11 points and eight boards from Vescovi Santiago.
The Gators were red hot to start the game, making six of their first eight shots &mdash; including all three from 3-point range &mdash; while building a 17-4 advantage. But they quickly cooled against the nation&rsquo;s best defense, missing nine of their next 11 as Tennessee made cut it to 22-21.
The Vols had it going coming out of the locker room, with Ziegler getting into the paint and making things happen. But it was short-lived &mdash; thanks mostly to Castleton.
&ldquo;We gave them a chance to start believing in what they&rsquo;re doing, and they took it,&rdquo; Barnes said.
POLL IMPLICATIONS
Tennessee surely will drop a few spots in next week&rsquo;s AP Top 25 college basketball poll.
BIG PICTURE
Tennessee: The Volunteers gave up 10 points in the opening four minutes of the games, a rare sluggish start for the nation&rsquo;s best defense. Tennessee had held four of its first eight SEC opponents scoreless at the first media timeout, roughly the first four minutes of games. It was a sign of things to come.
&ldquo;We kept fighting uphill all night long,&rdquo; Barnes said.
Florida: The Gators are two games into the toughest stretch of their season. Coming off a loss at Kansas State, they have road games against Kentucky and Alabama up next. So to say they needed this one would be an understatement.
&ldquo;It was a desperation game,&rdquo; Castleton said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a tough schedule here and we&rsquo;ve got to win games. We were able to claw and fight.&rdquo;
IN THE HOUSE
Football coach Billy Napier watched the game from a few rows behind Florida&rsquo;s bench alongside his two sons and receiver Ricky Pearsall. Former Florida tennis star Ben Shelton, the NCAA singles champion in 2022, also was in attendance. So was former Gators and NFL quarterback Doug Johnson.
UP NEXT
Tennessee hosts No. 25 Auburn and former coach Bruce Pearl on Saturday.
Florida plays at Kentucky on Saturday. The Gators have lost seven of eight in the series.
NO. 1 PURDUE 80, PENN STATE 60
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) &mdash; Mason Gillis broke the Mackey Arena record by making nine 3-pointers and finished with a career-high 29 points as Purdue beat Penn State.
Gillis went 10 of 14 from the field and 9 of 12 from beyond the arc. Zach Edey added his 18th double-double of the season with 18 points and 13 rebounds.
The Big Ten-leading Boilermakers (22-1, 11-1) have won nine straight overall, six straight in the series and are the only Power Five team with fewer than two losses this season.
Seth Lundy had 18 points to lead the Nittany Lions (14-8, 5-6).
NO. 14 MARQUETTE 73, VILLANOVA 64
MILWAUKEE, Wis. (AP) &mdash; Tyler Kolek scored 20 points and Marquette rallied down the stretch to beat Villanova and maintain a share of the Big East lead.
Kam Jones added 18 points for Marquette (18-5, 10-2), which has won four straight games and nine of 10.
Eric Dixon and Caleb Daniels scored 14 each for Villanova (10-12, 4-7), which committed a season-high 19 turnovers. Brendan Hausen added 12 points.
In a game neither team led by more than six until the final minute, Kolek put Marquette ahead for good at 63-62 by sinking two free throws with 4:32 remaining, starting a 10-0 spurt.
NO. 16 XAVIER 85, NO. 17 PROVIDENCE 83, OT
CINCINNATI (AP) &mdash; Jack Nunge had 23 points and 14 rebounds as Xavier held off Providence in overtime.
Colby Jones and Souley Boum each scored 20 for the Musketeers, who won a first-place showdown in the Big East without injured forward Zach Freemantle.
Noah Locke had 22 points and Ed Croswell added 21 for Providence (17-6, 9-3), which had beaten Xavier three straight times.
A layup by Boum put the Musketeers (18-5, 10-2) ahead 82-79 with 51 seconds remaining in overtime. A layup by Devin Carter cut Xavier&rsquo;s lead to one with 24 seconds left. Boum hit one of two free throws, and Jared Bynum&rsquo;s 3-point attempt from the left corner rimmed out at the buzzer.
NO. 25 AUBURN 94, GEORGIA 73
AUBURN, Ala. (AP) &mdash; Johni Broome scored 19 points and matched a career high with 18 rebounds, Allen Flanigan scored a season-high 22 points, and Auburn beat Georgia.
Wendell Green Jr. added 18 points and six assists and made two 3-pointers during a 17-0 first-half run for the Tigers (17-5, 7-2 Southeastern Conference).
Broome secured his seventh double-double of the season with 2:54 remaining in the first half, then added six points and six rebounds in the second half.
Mardrez McBride led the Bulldogs (14-8, 4-5) with 20 points.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) &mdash; Colin Castleton is accustomed to being double-teamed every time he touches the ball, so he was pleasantly surprised &mdash; maybe even downright stunned &mdash; when Tennessee opted to guard him with a single defender in the second half.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got to take advantage of that,&rdquo; Castleton said.
He did. Castleton scored 20 points, including 16 in the second half, and Florida upended the second-ranked Volunteers 67-54 on Wednesday night.
Kyle Lofton added 14 points for the Gators, who delivered coach Todd Golden his most significant victory in his first season in Gainesville. It was Florida&rsquo;s second Quad 1 win in the last two weeks.
The Volunteers, playing with their highest ranking in four years, lost for the first time in five games. They had won nine of 10.
&ldquo;Our guys are disappointed,&rdquo; Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re better than this, but tonight we weren&rsquo;t.&rdquo;
Tennessee (18-4, 7-2 Southeastern Conference) looked like it had taken control midway through the second half. They outscored Florida by 10 points in the early going to take a six-point lead.
But the Gators (13-9, 6-3) stormed back behind Castleton, who scored 11 of 14 points as Florida rallied. The senior had a dunk, two free throws, a three-point play, a layup and a short jumper &mdash; essentially putting the team on his back down the stretch.
&ldquo;They went small, and I felt like I had a mismatch,&rdquo; Castleton said.
Myreon Jones and Will Richard chipped in nine points apiece for the Gators.
Zakai Ziegler led the Vols with 15 points on 6-of-19 shooting. Olivier Nkamhoua added 11 points and nine rebounds for the visitors, who also got 11 points and eight boards from Vescovi Santiago.
The Gators were red hot to start the game, making six of their first eight shots &mdash; including all three from 3-point range &mdash; while building a 17-4 advantage. But they quickly cooled against the nation&rsquo;s best defense, missing nine of their next 11 as Tennessee made cut it to 22-21.
The Vols had it going coming out of the locker room, with Ziegler getting into the paint and making things happen. But it was short-lived &mdash; thanks mostly to Castleton.
&ldquo;We gave them a chance to start believing in what they&rsquo;re doing, and they took it,&rdquo; Barnes said.
POLL IMPLICATIONS
Tennessee surely will drop a few spots in next week&rsquo;s AP Top 25 college basketball poll.
BIG PICTURE
Tennessee: The Volunteers gave up 10 points in the opening four minutes of the games, a rare sluggish start for the nation&rsquo;s best defense. Tennessee had held four of its first eight SEC opponents scoreless at the first media timeout, roughly the first four minutes of games. It was a sign of things to come.
&ldquo;We kept fighting uphill all night long,&rdquo; Barnes said.
Florida: The Gators are two games into the toughest stretch of their season. Coming off a loss at Kansas State, they have road games against Kentucky and Alabama up next. So to say they needed this one would be an understatement.
&ldquo;It was a desperation game,&rdquo; Castleton said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a tough schedule here and we&rsquo;ve got to win games. We were able to claw and fight.&rdquo;
IN THE HOUSE
Football coach Billy Napier watched the game from a few rows behind Florida&rsquo;s bench alongside his two sons and receiver Ricky Pearsall. Former Florida tennis star Ben Shelton, the NCAA singles champion in 2022, also was in attendance. So was former Gators and NFL quarterback Doug Johnson.
UP NEXT
Tennessee hosts No. 25 Auburn and former coach Bruce Pearl on Saturday.
Florida plays at Kentucky on Saturday. The Gators have lost seven of eight in the series.
NO. 1 PURDUE 80, PENN STATE 60
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) &mdash; Mason Gillis broke the Mackey Arena record by making nine 3-pointers and finished with a career-high 29 points as Purdue beat Penn State.
Gillis went 10 of 14 from the field and 9 of 12 from beyond the arc. Zach Edey added his 18th double-double of the season with 18 points and 13 rebounds.
The Big Ten-leading Boilermakers (22-1, 11-1) have won nine straight overall, six straight in the series and are the only Power Five team with fewer than two losses this season.
Seth Lundy had 18 points to lead the Nittany Lions (14-8, 5-6).
NO. 14 MARQUETTE 73, VILLANOVA 64
MILWAUKEE, Wis. (AP) &mdash; Tyler Kolek scored 20 points and Marquette rallied down the stretch to beat Villanova and maintain a share of the Big East lead.
Kam Jones added 18 points for Marquette (18-5, 10-2), which has won four straight games and nine of 10.
Eric Dixon and Caleb Daniels scored 14 each for Villanova (10-12, 4-7), which committed a season-high 19 turnovers. Brendan Hausen added 12 points.
In a game neither team led by more than six until the final minute, Kolek put Marquette ahead for good at 63-62 by sinking two free throws with 4:32 remaining, starting a 10-0 spurt.
NO. 16 XAVIER 85, NO. 17 PROVIDENCE 83, OT
CINCINNATI (AP) &mdash; Jack Nunge had 23 points and 14 rebounds as Xavier held off Providence in overtime.
Colby Jones and Souley Boum each scored 20 for the Musketeers, who won a first-place showdown in the Big East without injured forward Zach Freemantle.
Noah Locke had 22 points and Ed Croswell added 21 for Providence (17-6, 9-3), which had beaten Xavier three straight times.
A layup by Boum put the Musketeers (18-5, 10-2) ahead 82-79 with 51 seconds remaining in overtime. A layup by Devin Carter cut Xavier&rsquo;s lead to one with 24 seconds left. Boum hit one of two free throws, and Jared Bynum&rsquo;s 3-point attempt from the left corner rimmed out at the buzzer.
NO. 25 AUBURN 94, GEORGIA 73
AUBURN, Ala. (AP) &mdash; Johni Broome scored 19 points and matched a career high with 18 rebounds, Allen Flanigan scored a season-high 22 points, and Auburn beat Georgia.
Wendell Green Jr. added 18 points and six assists and made two 3-pointers during a 17-0 first-half run for the Tigers (17-5, 7-2 Southeastern Conference).
Broome secured his seventh double-double of the season with 2:54 remaining in the first half, then added six points and six rebounds in the second half.
Mardrez McBride led the Bulldogs (14-8, 4-5) with 20 points.

A recap of Wednesday night's action in men's college basketball includes an impressive upset in SEC play from the Gators.

Florida upends No. 2 Tennessee 67-54 behind Colin Castleton

HOUSTON (AP) &mdash; Eric Gordon had a season-high 25 points and rookie Tari Eason added career-high 20 to lead the Houston Rockets to a 112-106 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night.
The Rockets (13-38), who have the worst record in the Western Conference, have won three of their last five games after dropping 18 of the previous 19.
Eason, the 17th overall pick in the 2022 draft, also had 13 rebounds off the bench, matching a career best on a night Jalen Green sat out with an injury.
Coach Stephen Silas credited Gordon for keeping this young team focused when the game was close down the stretch.
&ldquo;Eric tonight was so steady and when we went down five or six he was the one settling the guys down, and that&rsquo;s important,&rdquo; Silas said. &ldquo;That veteran presence &hellip; was huge tonight.&rdquo;
Gordon, who is in his 15th NBA season, takes pride in helping his inexperienced teammates.
&ldquo;My mentality is all about winning,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And for me it&rsquo;s all about just giving these young guys confidence.&rdquo;
Houston was up by five after consecutive baskets by Josh Christopher before the Thunder got a free throw from Darius Bazley and a jump shot from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to get within 100-98 with about four minutes left.
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But the Rockets scored the next five points, with a 3 from Kenyon Martin Jr., to push the lead to seven about a minute later. Gordon missed two free throws after that, and Gilgeous-Alexander made two for Oklahoma City, cutting the lead to 105-100.
But Daishen Nix made a layup before Martin had a two-handed dunk seconds later to extend Houston&rsquo;s lead to 109-100 with less than a minute to go.
Gilgeous-Alexander had 24 points to lead the Thunder and Josh Giddey scored 20 with eight rebounds and eight assists.
&ldquo;The best thing Houston did tonight was the way they were ready to play from the jump.&rdquo; Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said.
Silas was impressed with his team&rsquo;s defense on Gilgeous-Alexander, who entered the game ranked fifth in the NBA by averaging 30.9 points.
&ldquo;It was a team effort,&rdquo; Silas said.
Tre Mann opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer to extend Oklahoma City&rsquo;s lead to five points. But Houston got consecutive 3s from Garrison Mathews and Eason after that to go on top 90-89.
&nbsp;
</div>
</div>
</div>

HOUSTON (AP) &mdash; Eric Gordon had a season-high 25 points and rookie Tari Eason added career-high 20 to lead the Houston Rockets to a 112-106 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night.
The Rockets (13-38), who have the worst record in the Western Conference, have won three of their last five games after dropping 18 of the previous 19.
Eason, the 17th overall pick in the 2022 draft, also had 13 rebounds off the bench, matching a career best on a night Jalen Green sat out with an injury.
Coach Stephen Silas credited Gordon for keeping this young team focused when the game was close down the stretch.
&ldquo;Eric tonight was so steady and when we went down five or six he was the one settling the guys down, and that&rsquo;s important,&rdquo; Silas said. &ldquo;That veteran presence &hellip; was huge tonight.&rdquo;
Gordon, who is in his 15th NBA season, takes pride in helping his inexperienced teammates.
&ldquo;My mentality is all about winning,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And for me it&rsquo;s all about just giving these young guys confidence.&rdquo;
Houston was up by five after consecutive baskets by Josh Christopher before the Thunder got a free throw from Darius Bazley and a jump shot from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to get within 100-98 with about four minutes left.
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But the Rockets scored the next five points, with a 3 from Kenyon Martin Jr., to push the lead to seven about a minute later. Gordon missed two free throws after that, and Gilgeous-Alexander made two for Oklahoma City, cutting the lead to 105-100.But Daishen Nix made a layup before Martin had a two-handed dunk seconds later to extend Houston&rsquo;s lead to 109-100 with less than a minute to go.
Gilgeous-Alexander had 24 points to lead the Thunder and Josh Giddey scored 20 with eight rebounds and eight assists.
&ldquo;The best thing Houston did tonight was the way they were ready to play from the jump.&rdquo; Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said.
Silas was impressed with his team&rsquo;s defense on Gilgeous-Alexander, who entered the game ranked fifth in the NBA by averaging 30.9 points.
&ldquo;It was a team effort,&rdquo; Silas said.
Tre Mann opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer to extend Oklahoma City&rsquo;s lead to five points. But Houston got consecutive 3s from Garrison Mathews and Eason after that to go on top 90-89.
&nbsp;
</div>
</div>
</div>

HOUSTON (AP) &mdash; Eric Gordon had a season-high 25 points and rookie Tari Eason added career-high 20 to lead the Houston Rockets to a 112-106 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night.
The Rockets (13-38), who have the worst record in the Western Conference, have won three of their last five games after dropping 18 of the previous 19.
Eason, the 17th overall pick in the 2022 draft, also had 13 rebounds off the bench, matching a career best on a night Jalen Green sat out with an injury.
Coach Stephen Silas credited Gordon for keeping this young team focused when the game was close down the stretch.
&ldquo;Eric tonight was so steady and when we went down five or six he was the one settling the guys down, and that&rsquo;s important,&rdquo; Silas said. &ldquo;That veteran presence &hellip; was huge tonight.&rdquo;
Gordon, who is in his 15th NBA season, takes pride in helping his inexperienced teammates.
&ldquo;My mentality is all about winning,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And for me it&rsquo;s all about just giving these young guys confidence.&rdquo;
Houston was up by five after consecutive baskets by Josh Christopher before the Thunder got a free throw from Darius Bazley and a jump shot from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to get within 100-98 with about four minutes left.
<div class="Component-hubPeekEmbed-0-2-66 HubPeek noBorderBottom-0-2-75 compressedEmbed-0-2-76 hubPeekMain" data-card-id="afs:Card:522820401280">
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But the Rockets scored the next five points, with a 3 from Kenyon Martin Jr., to push the lead to seven about a minute later. Gordon missed two free throws after that, and Gilgeous-Alexander made two for Oklahoma City, cutting the lead to 105-100
</div>
</div>
</div>

HOUSTON (AP) &mdash; Eric Gordon had a season-high 25 points and rookie Tari Eason added career-high 20 to lead the Houston Rockets to a 112-106 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night.
The Rockets (13-38), who have the worst record in the Western Conference, have won three of their last five games after dropping 18 of the previous 19.
Eason, the 17th overall pick in the 2022 draft, also had 13 rebounds off the bench, matching a career best on a night Jalen Green sat out with an injury.
Coach Stephen Silas credited Gordon for keeping this young team focused when the game was close down the stretch.
&ldquo;Eric tonight was so steady and when we went down five or six he was the one settling the guys down, and that&rsquo;s important,&rdquo; Silas said. &ldquo;That veteran presence &hellip; was huge tonight.&rdquo;
Gordon, who is in his 15th NBA season, takes pride in helping his inexperienced teammates.
&ldquo;My mentality is all about winning,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And for me it&rsquo;s all about just giving these young guys confidence.&rdquo;
Houston was up by five after consecutive baskets by Josh Christopher before the Thunder got a free throw from Darius Bazley and a jump shot from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to get within 100-98 with about four minutes left.
&nbsp;

HOUSTON (AP) &mdash; Eric Gordon had a season-high 25 points and rookie Tari Eason added career-high 20 to lead the Houston Rockets to a 112-106 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night.
The Rockets (13-38), who have the worst record in the Western Conference, have won three of their last five games after dropping 18 of the previous 19.
Eason, the 17th overall pick in the 2022 draft, also had 13 rebounds off the bench, matching a career best on a night Jalen Green sat out with an injury.
Coach Stephen Silas credited Gordon for keeping this young team focused when the game was close down the stretch.
&ldquo;Eric tonight was so steady and when we went down five or six he was the one settling the guys down, and that&rsquo;s important,&rdquo; Silas said. &ldquo;That veteran presence &hellip; was huge tonight.&rdquo;
Gordon, who is in his 15th NBA season, takes pride in helping his inexperienced teammates.
&ldquo;My mentality is all about winning,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And for me it&rsquo;s all about just giving these young guys confidence.&rdquo;
&nbsp;
&nbsp;

HOUSTON (AP) &mdash; Eric Gordon had a season-high 25 points and rookie Tari Eason added career-high 20 to lead the Houston Rockets to a 112-106 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night.
The Rockets (13-38), who have the worst record in the Western Conference, have won three of their last five games after dropping 18 of the previous 19.
Eason, the 17th overall pick in the 2022 draft, also had 13 rebounds off the bench, matching a career best on a night Jalen Green sat out with an injury.
Coach Stephen Silas credited Gordon for keeping this young team focused when the game was close down the stretch.
&ldquo;Eric tonight was so steady and when we went down five or six he was the one settling the guys down, and that&rsquo;s important,&rdquo; Silas said. &ldquo;That veteran presence &hellip; was huge tonight.&rdquo;
Gordon, who is in his 15th NBA season, takes pride in helping his inexperienced teammates.
&ldquo;My mentality is all about winning,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And for me it&rsquo;s all about just giving these young guys confidence.&rdquo;
Houston was up by five after consecutive baskets by Josh Christopher before the Thunder got a free throw from Darius Bazley and a jump shot from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to get within 100-98 with about four minutes left.
&nbsp;
&nbsp;

HOUSTON (AP) &mdash; Eric Gordon had a season-high 25 points and rookie Tari Eason added career-high 20 to lead the Houston Rockets to a 112-106 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night.
The Rockets (13-38), who have the worst record in the Western Conference, have won three of their last five games after dropping 18 of the previous 19.
Eason, the 17th overall pick in the 2022 draft, also had 13 rebounds off the bench, matching a career best on a night Jalen Green sat out with an injury.
Coach Stephen Silas credited Gordon for keeping this young team focused when the game was close down the stretch.
&ldquo;Eric tonight was so steady and when we went down five or six he was the one settling the guys down, and that&rsquo;s important,&rdquo; Silas said. &ldquo;That veteran presence &hellip; was huge tonight.&rdquo;
Gordon, who is in his 15th NBA season, takes pride in helping his inexperienced teammates.
&ldquo;My mentality is all about winning,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And for me it&rsquo;s all about just giving these young guys confidence.&rdquo;
Houston was up by five after consecutive baskets by Josh Christopher before the Thunder got a free throw from Darius Bazley and a jump shot from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to get within 100-98 with about four minutes left.
But the Rockets scored the next five points, with a 3 from Kenyon Martin Jr., to push the lead to seven about a minute later. Gordon missed two free throws after that, and Gilgeous-Alexander made two for Oklahoma City, cutting the lead to 105-100.
But Daishen Nix made a layup before Martin had a two-handed dunk seconds later to extend Houston&rsquo;s lead to 109-100 with less than a minute to go.
Gilgeous-Alexander had 24 points to lead the Thunder and Josh Giddey scored 20 with eight rebounds and eight assists.
&ldquo;The best thing Houston did tonight was the way they were ready to play from the jump.&rdquo; Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said.
Silas was impressed with his team&rsquo;s defense on Gilgeous-Alexander, who entered the game ranked fifth in the NBA by averaging 30.9 points.
&ldquo;It was a team effort,&rdquo; Silas said.
Tre Mann opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer to extend Oklahoma City&rsquo;s lead to five points. But Houston got consecutive 3s from Garrison Mathews and Eason after that to go on top 90-89.
&nbsp;
&nbsp;

HOUSTON (AP) &mdash; Eric Gordon had a season-high 25 points and rookie Tari Eason added career-high 20 to lead the Houston Rockets to a 112-106 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night.
The Rockets (13-38), who have the worst record in the Western Conference, have won three of their last five games after dropping 18 of the previous 19.
Eason, the 17th overall pick in the 2022 draft, also had 13 rebounds off the bench, matching a career best on a night Jalen Green sat out with an injury.
Coach Stephen Silas credited Gordon for keeping this young team focused when the game was close down the stretch.
&ldquo;Eric tonight was so steady and when we went down five or six he was the one settling the guys down, and that&rsquo;s important,&rdquo; Silas said. &ldquo;That veteran presence &hellip; was huge tonight.&rdquo;
Gordon, who is in his 15th NBA season, takes pride in helping his inexperienced teammates.
&ldquo;My mentality is all about winning,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And for me it&rsquo;s all about just giving these young guys confidence.&rdquo;
Houston was up by five after consecutive baskets by Josh Christopher before the Thunder got a free throw from Darius Bazley and a jump shot from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to get within 100-98 with about four minutes left.
But the Rockets scored the next five points, with a 3 from Kenyon Martin Jr., to push the lead to seven about a minute later. Gordon missed two free throws after that, and Gilgeous-Alexander made two for Oklahoma City, cutting the lead to 105-100.
But Daishen Nix made a layup before Martin had a two-handed dunk seconds later to extend Houston&rsquo;s lead to 109-100 with less than a minute to go.
Gilgeous-Alexander had 24 points to lead the Thunder and Josh Giddey scored 20 with eight rebounds and eight assists.
&ldquo;The best thing Houston did tonight was the way they were ready to play from the jump.&rdquo; Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said.
Silas was impressed with his team&rsquo;s defense on Gilgeous-Alexander, who entered the game ranked fifth in the NBA by averaging 30.9 points.
&ldquo;It was a team effort,&rdquo; Silas said.
Tre Mann opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer to extend Oklahoma City&rsquo;s lead to five points. But Houston got consecutive 3s from Garrison Mathews and Eason after that to go on top 90-89.
Eason got a steal a couple of minutes later and drove in for a layup, but missed. It was the first of four straight misses &mdash; and four rebounds &mdash; by Eason on that possession as he kept grabbing rebounds and missing shots at the rim until finally making a fifth shot that he was fouled on. He made the free throw to put Houston up 93-89.
&ldquo;That just shows the fight that we had at that moment of the game,&rdquo; Silas said.
Eason said the moment was both fun and exhausting.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a little bit of both,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Any time I step on the court, I want to bring a lot of energy, a lot of hustle and that&rsquo;s just what I do.&rdquo;
Houston was up by eight after baskets by Gordon and Martin early in the third quarter before the Thunder used a 9-0 run, with seven points from Jaylin Williams, to take a 72-71 lead.
&nbsp;
&nbsp;

HOUSTON (AP) &mdash; Eric Gordon had a season-high 25 points and rookie Tari Eason added career-high 20 to lead the Houston Rockets to a 112-106 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night.
The Rockets (13-38), who have the worst record in the Western Conference, have won three of their last five games after dropping 18 of the previous 19.
Eason, the 17th overall pick in the 2022 draft, also had 13 rebounds off the bench, matching a career best on a night Jalen Green sat out with an injury.
Coach Stephen Silas credited Gordon for keeping this young team focused when the game was close down the stretch.
&ldquo;Eric tonight was so steady and when we went down five or six he was the one settling the guys down, and that&rsquo;s important,&rdquo; Silas said. &ldquo;That veteran presence &hellip; was huge tonight.&rdquo;
Gordon, who is in his 15th NBA season, takes pride in helping his inexperienced teammates.
&ldquo;My mentality is all about winning,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And for me it&rsquo;s all about just giving these young guys confidence.&rdquo;
Houston was up by five after consecutive baskets by Josh Christopher before the Thunder got a free throw from Darius Bazley and a jump shot from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to get within 100-98 with about four minutes left.
But the Rockets scored the next five points, with a 3 from Kenyon Martin Jr., to push the lead to seven about a minute later. Gordon missed two free throws after that, and Gilgeous-Alexander made two for Oklahoma City, cutting the lead to 105-100.
But Daishen Nix made a layup before Martin had a two-handed dunk seconds later to extend Houston&rsquo;s lead to 109-100 with less than a minute to go.
Gilgeous-Alexander had 24 points to lead the Thunder and Josh Giddey scored 20 with eight rebounds and eight assists.
&ldquo;The best thing Houston did tonight was the way they were ready to play from the jump.&rdquo; Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said.
Silas was impressed with his team&rsquo;s defense on Gilgeous-Alexander, who entered the game ranked fifth in the NBA by averaging 30.9 points.
&ldquo;It was a team effort,&rdquo; Silas said.
Tre Mann opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer to extend Oklahoma City&rsquo;s lead to five points. But Houston got consecutive 3s from Garrison Mathews and Eason after that to go on top 90-89.
Eason got a steal a couple of minutes later and drove in for a layup, but missed. It was the first of four straight misses &mdash; and four rebounds &mdash; by Eason on that possession as he kept grabbing rebounds and missing shots at the rim until finally making a fifth shot that he was fouled on. He made the free throw to put Houston up 93-89.
&ldquo;That just shows the fight that we had at that moment of the game,&rdquo; Silas said.
Eason said the moment was both fun and exhausting.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a little bit of both,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Any time I step on the court, I want to bring a lot of energy, a lot of hustle and that&rsquo;s just what I do.&rdquo;
Houston was up by eight after baskets by Gordon and Martin early in the third quarter before the Thunder used a 9-0 run, with seven points from Jaylin Williams, to take a 72-71 lead.
Their lead was short-lived as the Rockets made the next four points to go back on top 75-72 midway through the quarter.
Oklahoma City used a 7-0 run after that, with a 3 from Isaiah Joe, to take a 79-75 lead with about four minutes left in the third.
The game was tied later in the third before Gilgeous-Alexander made all the Thunder&rsquo;s points in a 7-1 spurt, capped by a three-point play, to put them up 86-80.
The Rockets scored the last four points of the quarter to cut the lead to two entering the fourth.
TIP-INS
Thunder: Luguentz Dort sat out for a third straight game with a strained right hamstring. &hellip; Mann had 18 points off the bench. &hellip; Oklahoma City made 12 of 43 3-pointers.
Rockets: Green missed a second straight game with a bruised right calf. Coach Stephen Silas said he&rsquo;s getting better and should return this weekend. &hellip; Kevin Porter Jr. was out for a 10th consecutive game with a bruised left foot. &hellip; Martin had 18 points and seven rebounds. &hellip; Sengun had 10 points and 12 rebounds.
&nbsp;
&nbsp;

HOUSTON (AP) &mdash; Eric Gordon had a season-high 25 points and rookie Tari Eason added career-high 20 to lead the Houston Rockets to a 112-106 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night.
The Rockets (13-38), who have the worst record in the Western Conference, have won three of their last five games after dropping 18 of the previous 19.
Eason, the 17th overall pick in the 2022 draft, also had 13 rebounds off the bench, matching a career best on a night Jalen Green sat out with an injury.
Coach Stephen Silas credited Gordon for keeping this young team focused when the game was close down the stretch.
&ldquo;Eric tonight was so steady and when we went down five or six he was the one settling the guys down, and that&rsquo;s important,&rdquo; Silas said. &ldquo;That veteran presence &hellip; was huge tonight.&rdquo;
Gordon, who is in his 15th NBA season, takes pride in helping his inexperienced teammates.
&ldquo;My mentality is all about winning,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And for me it&rsquo;s all about just giving these young guys confidence.&rdquo;
Houston was up by five after consecutive baskets by Josh Christopher before the Thunder got a free throw from Darius Bazley and a jump shot from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to get within 100-98 with about four minutes left.
But the Rockets scored the next five points, with a 3 from Kenyon Martin Jr., to push the lead to seven about a minute later. Gordon missed two free throws after that, and Gilgeous-Alexander made two for Oklahoma City, cutting the lead to 105-100.
But Daishen Nix made a layup before Martin had a two-handed dunk seconds later to extend Houston&rsquo;s lead to 109-100 with less than a minute to go.
Gilgeous-Alexander had 24 points to lead the Thunder and Josh Giddey scored 20 with eight rebounds and eight assists.
&ldquo;The best thing Houston did tonight was the way they were ready to play from the jump.&rdquo; Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said.
Silas was impressed with his team&rsquo;s defense on Gilgeous-Alexander, who entered the game ranked fifth in the NBA by averaging 30.9 points.
&ldquo;It was a team effort,&rdquo; Silas said.
Tre Mann opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer to extend Oklahoma City&rsquo;s lead to five points. But Houston got consecutive 3s from Garrison Mathews and Eason after that to go on top 90-89.
Eason got a steal a couple of minutes later and drove in for a layup, but missed. It was the first of four straight misses &mdash; and four rebounds &mdash; by Eason on that possession as he kept grabbing rebounds and missing shots at the rim until finally making a fifth shot that he was fouled on. He made the free throw to put Houston up 93-89.
&ldquo;That just shows the fight that we had at that moment of the game,&rdquo; Silas said.
Eason said the moment was both fun and exhausting.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a little bit of both,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Any time I step on the court, I want to bring a lot of energy, a lot of hustle and that&rsquo;s just what I do.&rdquo;
Houston was up by eight after baskets by Gordon and Martin early in the third quarter before the Thunder used a 9-0 run, with seven points from Jaylin Williams, to take a 72-71 lead.
Their lead was short-lived as the Rockets made the next four points to go back on top 75-72 midway through the quarter.
Oklahoma City used a 7-0 run after that, with a 3 from Isaiah Joe, to take a 79-75 lead with about four minutes left in the third.
The game was tied later in the third before Gilgeous-Alexander made all the Thunder&rsquo;s points in a 7-1 spurt, capped by a three-point play, to put them up 86-80.
The Rockets scored the last four points of the quarter to cut the lead to two entering the fourth.
TIP-INS
Thunder: Luguentz Dort sat out for a third straight game with a strained right hamstring. &hellip; Mann had 18 points off the bench. &hellip; Oklahoma City made 12 of 43 3-pointers.
Rockets: Green missed a second straight game with a bruised right calf. Coach Stephen Silas said he&rsquo;s getting better and should return this weekend. &hellip; Kevin Porter Jr. was out for a 10th consecutive game with a bruised left foot. &hellip; Martin had 18 points and seven rebounds. &hellip; Sengun had 10 points and 12 rebounds.
BOARDS
The Rockets outrebounded Oklahoma City 65-52 Wednesday. They&rsquo;ve won the rebounding battle in each of their three recent wins, with Sengun and Eason leading the way.
&ldquo;With those guys rebounding the way they are, they&rsquo;re always going to give us a chance,&rdquo; Gordon said.
UP NEXT
Thunder: Face the Rockets again on Saturday night.
Rockets: Host Toronto on Friday night.

Eric Gordon had a season-high 25 points and Tari Eason added a career-high 20 to lead the Rockets to a 112-106 win over OKC.

Eric Gordon, Tari Eason help Rockets defeat Thunder 112-106

SAN ANTONIO (AP) &mdash; Domantas Sabonis scored a season-high 34 points and had 11 rebounds and the Sacramento Kings beat San Antonio 119-109 on Wednesday night, handing the beleaguered Spurs their seventh straight loss.
&ldquo;If they are going to be down there trying to guard him one-on-one, &lsquo;Hey, yo, go score,&rsquo;&rdquo; Kings guard De&rsquo;Aaron Fox said. &ldquo;If you have to shoot the ball 10, 15 times in a row, do it.&rdquo;
Sabonis finished 15 for 20 from the field.
Fox added 31 points, 10 assists and had just one turnover for Sacramento, which has won two straight and nine of 12 to remain atop the Pacific Division.
The Spurs, who have lost 12 of 13, were led by a season-high 22 points from rookie Malaki Branham. But already without Devin Vassell, the Spurs lost starters Tre Jones and Jeremy Sochan to injury in the first quarter.
Even without three of its top six scorers, San Antonio kept pace with Sacramento&rsquo;s league-leading offense for most of the game. Josh Richardson added 19 points for the Spurs in his return after missing three games with a sore left knee.
&nbsp;

SAN ANTONIO (AP) &mdash; Domantas Sabonis scored a season-high 34 points and had 11 rebounds and the Sacramento Kings beat San Antonio 119-109 on Wednesday night, handing the beleaguered Spurs their seventh straight loss.
&ldquo;If they are going to be down there trying to guard him one-on-one, &lsquo;Hey, yo, go score,&rsquo;&rdquo; Kings guard De&rsquo;Aaron Fox said. &ldquo;If you have to shoot the ball 10, 15 times in a row, do it.&rdquo;
Sabonis finished 15 for 20 from the field.
Fox added 31 points, 10 assists and had just one turnover for Sacramento, which has won two straight and nine of 12 to remain atop the Pacific Division.
The Spurs, who have lost 12 of 13, were led by a season-high 22 points from rookie Malaki Branham. But already without Devin Vassell, the Spurs lost starters Tre Jones and Jeremy Sochan to injury in the first quarter.
Even without three of its top six scorers, San Antonio kept pace with Sacramento&rsquo;s league-leading offense for most of the game. Josh Richardson added 19 points for the Spurs in his return after missing three games with a sore left knee.
&ldquo;They do it every game,&rdquo; San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. &ldquo;They stick with it and they play hard every game. One out of every 10 or so, we might lay and egg, but everybody else does the same thing. I have always been pleased with their effort and their stick-to-itiveness.&rdquo;
&nbsp;

SAN ANTONIO (AP) &mdash; Domantas Sabonis scored a season-high 34 points and had 11 rebounds and the Sacramento Kings beat San Antonio 119-109 on Wednesday night, handing the beleaguered Spurs their seventh straight loss.
&ldquo;If they are going to be down there trying to guard him one-on-one, &lsquo;Hey, yo, go score,&rsquo;&rdquo; Kings guard De&rsquo;Aaron Fox said. &ldquo;If you have to shoot the ball 10, 15 times in a row, do it.&rdquo;
Sabonis finished 15 for 20 from the field.
Fox added 31 points, 10 assists and had just one turnover for Sacramento, which has won two straight and nine of 12 to remain atop the Pacific Division.
The Spurs, who have lost 12 of 13, were led by a season-high 22 points from rookie Malaki Branham. But already without Devin Vassell, the Spurs lost starters Tre Jones and Jeremy Sochan to injury in the first quarter.
Even without three of its top six scorers, San Antonio kept pace with Sacramento&rsquo;s league-leading offense for most of the game. Josh Richardson added 19 points for the Spurs in his return after missing three games with a sore left knee.
&ldquo;They do it every game,&rdquo; San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. &ldquo;They stick with it and they play hard every game. One out of every 10 or so, we might lay and egg, but everybody else does the same thing. I have always been pleased with their effort and their stick-to-itiveness.&rdquo;
Sacramento, which matched its season average of 119.5 points per game, went on a 14-2 run in taking a 49-37 lead midway through the second quarter.
The Kings were 8 for 27 on 3-pointers, but compensated for the poor outside shooting with a season-high 74 points in the paint.
Sabonis ignited the inside dominance, scoring 17 points primarily in the paint in the first quarter while shooting 7 for 9.
&ldquo;In the first quarter, they were trying to play him one-on-one and not allow him to spread the ball,&rdquo; Fox said. &ldquo;Obviously, he&rsquo;s a super unselfish guy, but if they are going to guard him like that, we all tell him, go score the ball because at some point they are going to have to start helping.&rdquo;
The Spurs pulled within three points twice in the third quarter and cut the deficit to 89-88 two minutes into the fourth on Doug McDermott&rsquo;s cutting layup. But the Kings responded each time with a short run to maintain their advantage.
&nbsp;

SAN ANTONIO (AP) &mdash; Domantas Sabonis scored a season-high 34 points and had 11 rebounds and the Sacramento Kings beat San Antonio 119-109 on Wednesday night, handing the beleaguered Spurs their seventh straight loss.
&ldquo;If they are going to be down there trying to guard him one-on-one, &lsquo;Hey, yo, go score,&rsquo;&rdquo; Kings guard De&rsquo;Aaron Fox said. &ldquo;If you have to shoot the ball 10, 15 times in a row, do it.&rdquo;
Sabonis finished 15 for 20 from the field.
Fox added 31 points, 10 assists and had just one turnover for Sacramento, which has won two straight and nine of 12 to remain atop the Pacific Division.
The Spurs, who have lost 12 of 13, were led by a season-high 22 points from rookie Malaki Branham. But already without Devin Vassell, the Spurs lost starters Tre Jones and Jeremy Sochan to injury in the first quarter.
Even without three of its top six scorers, San Antonio kept pace with Sacramento&rsquo;s league-leading offense for most of the game. Josh Richardson added 19 points for the Spurs in his return after missing three games with a sore left knee.
&ldquo;They do it every game,&rdquo; San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. &ldquo;They stick with it and they play hard every game. One out of every 10 or so, we might lay and egg, but everybody else does the same thing. I have always been pleased with their effort and their stick-to-itiveness.&rdquo;
Sacramento, which matched its season average of 119.5 points per game, went on a 14-2 run in taking a 49-37 lead midway through the second quarter.
The Kings were 8 for 27 on 3-pointers, but compensated for the poor outside shooting with a season-high 74 points in the paint.
Sabonis ignited the inside dominance, scoring 17 points primarily in the paint in the first quarter while shooting 7 for 9.
&ldquo;In the first quarter, they were trying to play him one-on-one and not allow him to spread the ball,&rdquo; Fox said. &ldquo;Obviously, he&rsquo;s a super unselfish guy, but if they are going to guard him like that, we all tell him, go score the ball because at some point they are going to have to start helping.&rdquo;
The Spurs pulled within three points twice in the third quarter and cut the deficit to 89-88 two minutes into the fourth on Doug McDermott&rsquo;s cutting layup. But the Kings responded each time with a short run to maintain their advantage.
&ldquo;Stopping them from getting in the paint,&rdquo; Sacramento guard Malik Monk said. &ldquo;After they made a little run, we locked in. Went to the timeout, said, &lsquo;We can&rsquo;t let them in the paint,&rsquo; and we did that. That&rsquo;s how we held the lead.&rdquo;
Monk added 22 points while playing 33 minutes off the bench.
TIP-INS
Kings: Sabonis&rsquo; previous high was 31 points against Denver on Dec. 28. ... Sacramento did not have a single player listed on its injury report. ... The Kings clinched the season series with their third victory over The Spurs. The series finale is April 2 in Sacramento. The Kings&rsquo; last loss to the Spurs was 136-117 on Nov. 10, 2021, in San Antonio.
Spurs: Popovich said there was no update on Sochan and Jones&rsquo; status after the game. Sochan exited with 5:11 remaining in the first quarter after clutching at his lower back. Sochan was fouled while fighting for position under the rim against Fox. Jones left with 2:58 remaining in the first after injuring his left foot. ... G Romeo Langford missed his fifth straight game with left adductor tightness. &hellip; C Zach Collins had 14 points on 7-for-9 shooting.
&nbsp;

SAN ANTONIO (AP) &mdash; Domantas Sabonis scored a season-high 34 points and had 11 rebounds and the Sacramento Kings beat San Antonio 119-109 on Wednesday night, handing the beleaguered Spurs their seventh straight loss.
&ldquo;If they are going to be down there trying to guard him one-on-one, &lsquo;Hey, yo, go score,&rsquo;&rdquo; Kings guard De&rsquo;Aaron Fox said. &ldquo;If you have to shoot the ball 10, 15 times in a row, do it.&rdquo;
Sabonis finished 15 for 20 from the field.
Fox added 31 points, 10 assists and had just one turnover for Sacramento, which has won two straight and nine of 12 to remain atop the Pacific Division.
The Spurs, who have lost 12 of 13, were led by a season-high 22 points from rookie Malaki Branham. But already without Devin Vassell, the Spurs lost starters Tre Jones and Jeremy Sochan to injury in the first quarter.
Even without three of its top six scorers, San Antonio kept pace with Sacramento&rsquo;s league-leading offense for most of the game. Josh Richardson added 19 points for the Spurs in his return after missing three games with a sore left knee.
&ldquo;They do it every game,&rdquo; San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. &ldquo;They stick with it and they play hard every game. One out of every 10 or so, we might lay and egg, but everybody else does the same thing. I have always been pleased with their effort and their stick-to-itiveness.&rdquo;
Sacramento, which matched its season average of 119.5 points per game, went on a 14-2 run in taking a 49-37 lead midway through the second quarter.
The Kings were 8 for 27 on 3-pointers, but compensated for the poor outside shooting with a season-high 74 points in the paint.
Sabonis ignited the inside dominance, scoring 17 points primarily in the paint in the first quarter while shooting 7 for 9.
&ldquo;In the first quarter, they were trying to play him one-on-one and not allow him to spread the ball,&rdquo; Fox said. &ldquo;Obviously, he&rsquo;s a super unselfish guy, but if they are going to guard him like that, we all tell him, go score the ball because at some point they are going to have to start helping.&rdquo;
The Spurs pulled within three points twice in the third quarter and cut the deficit to 89-88 two minutes into the fourth on Doug McDermott&rsquo;s cutting layup. But the Kings responded each time with a short run to maintain their advantage.
&ldquo;Stopping them from getting in the paint,&rdquo; Sacramento guard Malik Monk said. &ldquo;After they made a little run, we locked in. Went to the timeout, said, &lsquo;We can&rsquo;t let them in the paint,&rsquo; and we did that. That&rsquo;s how we held the lead.&rdquo;
Monk added 22 points while playing 33 minutes off the bench.
TIP-INS
Kings: Sabonis&rsquo; previous high was 31 points against Denver on Dec. 28. ... Sacramento did not have a single player listed on its injury report. ... The Kings clinched the season series with their third victory over The Spurs. The series finale is April 2 in Sacramento. The Kings&rsquo; last loss to the Spurs was 136-117 on Nov. 10, 2021, in San Antonio.
Spurs: Popovich said there was no update on Sochan and Jones&rsquo; status after the game. Sochan exited with 5:11 remaining in the first quarter after clutching at his lower back. Sochan was fouled while fighting for position under the rim against Fox. Jones left with 2:58 remaining in the first after injuring his left foot. ... G Romeo Langford missed his fifth straight game with left adductor tightness. &hellip; C Zach Collins had 14 points on 7-for-9 shooting.
ALL-STAR NODS
Sabonis and Fox put up double-doubles in their final game before All-Star reserves are announced Thursday.
Sacramento coach Mike Brown hopes their outings serve as a punctuation to their selections given how well both have played for the surprising Kings this season.
&ldquo;I hope so,&rdquo; Brown said. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got to think people would take into consideration your record. To me, Fox and Domas are clear All-Stars, but at the end of the day, it&rsquo;s not just my decision.&rdquo;
UP NEXT
Kings: At Indiana on Friday.
Spurs: Host Philadelphia on Friday.

Domantas Sabonis scored a season-high 34 points and had 11 rebounds and the Kings beat the Spurs 119-109 on Wednesday.

Sabonis’ double-double helps Kings power past Spurs 119-109

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) &mdash; Damian Lillard had 42 points and 10 assists, Anfernee Simons added 26 points and the Portland Trail Blazers rallied to beat the Memphis Grizzlies 122-112 on Wednesday night.
Jerami Grant had 18 points in the first half, before leaving because of concussion symptoms. Portland outscored Memphis 38-22 in the fourth quarter to win for the fourth time in five games.
&ldquo;I think we&rsquo;ve had a couple of quality wins,&rdquo; Lillard said. &ldquo;This was the best team we&rsquo;ve come up with a win against, especially as of late.&rdquo;
Portland was able to rally late despite losing two starters &mdash; Jusuf Nurkic and Grant &mdash; to injuries in the first half. There were key stops down the stretch, and the Trail Blazers defense kept the Memphis shooting at 39%, including converting only 1 of 7 shots in from 3-point range in the fourth quarter.
&ldquo;I knew I needed to be a little more aggressive just to give ourselves a chance,&rdquo; Simons said. &ldquo;Everybody else played well and everybody was ready to play.&rdquo;
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MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) &mdash; Damian Lillard had 42 points and 10 assists, Anfernee Simons added 26 points and the Portland Trail Blazers rallied to beat the Memphis Grizzlies 122-112 on Wednesday night.
Jerami Grant had 18 points in the first half, before leaving because of concussion symptoms. Portland outscored Memphis 38-22 in the fourth quarter to win for the fourth time in five games.
&ldquo;I think we&rsquo;ve had a couple of quality wins,&rdquo; Lillard said. &ldquo;This was the best team we&rsquo;ve come up with a win against, especially as of late.&rdquo;
Portland was able to rally late despite losing two starters &mdash; Jusuf Nurkic and Grant &mdash; to injuries in the first half. There were key stops down the stretch, and the Trail Blazers defense kept the Memphis shooting at 39%, including converting only 1 of 7 shots in from 3-point range in the fourth quarter.
&ldquo;I knew I needed to be a little more aggressive just to give ourselves a chance,&rdquo; Simons said. &ldquo;Everybody else played well and everybody was ready to play.&rdquo;
Ja Morant had 32 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds for Memphis. Jaren Jackson Jr. added 18 points and six blocks, and Desmond Bane had 17 points.
Lillard, who had five games of at least 40 points in January, continued the trend, converting 11 of 22 shots and 5 of 13 3-pointers. He also missed only one of his 16 free throws.
&nbsp;

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) &mdash; Damian Lillard had 42 points and 10 assists, Anfernee Simons added 26 points and the Portland Trail Blazers rallied to beat the Memphis Grizzlies 122-112 on Wednesday night.
Jerami Grant had 18 points in the first half, before leaving because of concussion symptoms. Portland outscored Memphis 38-22 in the fourth quarter to win for the fourth time in five games.
&ldquo;I think we&rsquo;ve had a couple of quality wins,&rdquo; Lillard said. &ldquo;This was the best team we&rsquo;ve come up with a win against, especially as of late.&rdquo;
Portland was able to rally late despite losing two starters &mdash; Jusuf Nurkic and Grant &mdash; to injuries in the first half. There were key stops down the stretch, and the Trail Blazers defense kept the Memphis shooting at 39%, including converting only 1 of 7 shots in from 3-point range in the fourth quarter.
&ldquo;I knew I needed to be a little more aggressive just to give ourselves a chance,&rdquo; Simons said. &ldquo;Everybody else played well and everybody was ready to play.&rdquo;
Ja Morant had 32 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds for Memphis. Jaren Jackson Jr. added 18 points and six blocks, and Desmond Bane had 17 points.
Lillard, who had five games of at least 40 points in January, continued the trend, converting 11 of 22 shots and 5 of 13 3-pointers. He also missed only one of his 16 free throws.
&ldquo;They just found a way to get open shots,&rdquo; Memphis coach Taylor Jenkins said. &ldquo;... I thought our guys competed. You&rsquo;ve just got to tip your hat. Lillard&rsquo;s on a roll right now, and we were on the wrong end of that.&rdquo;
The teams were tied at 109 with two minutes to play, but Lillard&rsquo;s 3-pointer and Simons&rsquo; layup was good on Morant&rsquo;s goaltending. When Drew Eubanks converted a three-point play on a dunk, Portland led 117-109 with just under a minute left.
Lillard scored 17 points in the third quarter, but Morant countered with 16 points in the period and Memphis took a 90-84 lead into fourth before the Portland rally completed the comeback.
&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t play good enough defense on Lillard,&rdquo; said Memphis forward Dillon Brooks, who had the defensive assignment most of the night on Portland&rsquo;s top scorer. &ldquo;He started hitting shots. Even though they were tough shots, I&rsquo;ve got to do something to contest. Do something to discourage him from shooting when he started getting hot.&rdquo;
&nbsp;

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) &mdash; Damian Lillard had 42 points and 10 assists, Anfernee Simons added 26 points and the Portland Trail Blazers rallied to beat the Memphis Grizzlies 122-112 on Wednesday night.
Jerami Grant had 18 points in the first half, before leaving because of concussion symptoms. Portland outscored Memphis 38-22 in the fourth quarter to win for the fourth time in five games.
&ldquo;I think we&rsquo;ve had a couple of quality wins,&rdquo; Lillard said. &ldquo;This was the best team we&rsquo;ve come up with a win against, especially as of late.&rdquo;
Portland was able to rally late despite losing two starters &mdash; Jusuf Nurkic and Grant &mdash; to injuries in the first half. There were key stops down the stretch, and the Trail Blazers defense kept the Memphis shooting at 39%, including converting only 1 of 7 shots in from 3-point range in the fourth quarter.
&ldquo;I knew I needed to be a little more aggressive just to give ourselves a chance,&rdquo; Simons said. &ldquo;Everybody else played well and everybody was ready to play.&rdquo;
Ja Morant had 32 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds for Memphis. Jaren Jackson Jr. added 18 points and six blocks, and Desmond Bane had 17 points.
Lillard, who had five games of at least 40 points in January, continued the trend, converting 11 of 22 shots and 5 of 13 3-pointers. He also missed only one of his 16 free throws.
&ldquo;They just found a way to get open shots,&rdquo; Memphis coach Taylor Jenkins said. &ldquo;... I thought our guys competed. You&rsquo;ve just got to tip your hat. Lillard&rsquo;s on a roll right now, and we were on the wrong end of that.&rdquo;
The teams were tied at 109 with two minutes to play, but Lillard&rsquo;s 3-pointer and Simons&rsquo; layup was good on Morant&rsquo;s goaltending. When Drew Eubanks converted a three-point play on a dunk, Portland led 117-109 with just under a minute left.
Lillard scored 17 points in the third quarter, but Morant countered with 16 points in the period and Memphis took a 90-84 lead into fourth before the Portland rally completed the comeback.
&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t play good enough defense on Lillard,&rdquo; said Memphis forward Dillon Brooks, who had the defensive assignment most of the night on Portland&rsquo;s top scorer. &ldquo;He started hitting shots. Even though they were tough shots, I&rsquo;ve got to do something to contest. Do something to discourage him from shooting when he started getting hot.&rdquo;
TIP-INS
Trail Blazers: Nurkic left early in the first quarter with left calf soreness and did not return. Nurkic was listed on the pregame injury report with the same injury. ... Lillard has at least 25 points in 12 of his last 13 games.
Grizzlies: C Brandon Clarke was 3 of 6 from the field and has made 24 of his last 35 shots.
ALL-STAR LOBBYING
Portland coach Chauncey Billups said he has filled out his All-Star ballot and acknowledged that he received some calls from other coaches lobbying for their teams. And maybe a bit more. &ldquo;Definitely, there&rsquo;s some bribery going on,&rdquo; Billups said with a smile.
GREEN&rsquo;S RETURN
Memphis guard/forward Danny Green, who missed the first 50 games of the season, saw his first action, playing 10 minutes and scoring three points, hitting one of his four 3-pointers. Green, acquired by Memphis in a draft night trade, spent the first part of the season rehabbing a knee injury he suffered in last year&rsquo;s playoff when he was with the Philadelphia 76ers.
&nbsp;

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) &mdash; Damian Lillard had 42 points and 10 assists, Anfernee Simons added 26 points and the Portland Trail Blazers rallied to beat the Memphis Grizzlies 122-112 on Wednesday night.
Jerami Grant had 18 points in the first half, before leaving because of concussion symptoms. Portland outscored Memphis 38-22 in the fourth quarter to win for the fourth time in five games.
&ldquo;I think we&rsquo;ve had a couple of quality wins,&rdquo; Lillard said. &ldquo;This was the best team we&rsquo;ve come up with a win against, especially as of late.&rdquo;
Portland was able to rally late despite losing two starters &mdash; Jusuf Nurkic and Grant &mdash; to injuries in the first half. There were key stops down the stretch, and the Trail Blazers defense kept the Memphis shooting at 39%, including converting only 1 of 7 shots in from 3-point range in the fourth quarter.
&ldquo;I knew I needed to be a little more aggressive just to give ourselves a chance,&rdquo; Simons said. &ldquo;Everybody else played well and everybody was ready to play.&rdquo;
Ja Morant had 32 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds for Memphis. Jaren Jackson Jr. added 18 points and six blocks, and Desmond Bane had 17 points.
Lillard, who had five games of at least 40 points in January, continued the trend, converting 11 of 22 shots and 5 of 13 3-pointers. He also missed only one of his 16 free throws.
&ldquo;They just found a way to get open shots,&rdquo; Memphis coach Taylor Jenkins said. &ldquo;... I thought our guys competed. You&rsquo;ve just got to tip your hat. Lillard&rsquo;s on a roll right now, and we were on the wrong end of that.&rdquo;
The teams were tied at 109 with two minutes to play, but Lillard&rsquo;s 3-pointer and Simons&rsquo; layup was good on Morant&rsquo;s goaltending. When Drew Eubanks converted a three-point play on a dunk, Portland led 117-109 with just under a minute left.
Lillard scored 17 points in the third quarter, but Morant countered with 16 points in the period and Memphis took a 90-84 lead into fourth before the Portland rally completed the comeback.
&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t play good enough defense on Lillard,&rdquo; said Memphis forward Dillon Brooks, who had the defensive assignment most of the night on Portland&rsquo;s top scorer. &ldquo;He started hitting shots. Even though they were tough shots, I&rsquo;ve got to do something to contest. Do something to discourage him from shooting when he started getting hot.&rdquo;
TIP-INS
Trail Blazers: Nurkic left early in the first quarter with left calf soreness and did not return. Nurkic was listed on the pregame injury report with the same injury. ... Lillard has at least 25 points in 12 of his last 13 games.
Grizzlies: C Brandon Clarke was 3 of 6 from the field and has made 24 of his last 35 shots.
ALL-STAR LOBBYING
Portland coach Chauncey Billups said he has filled out his All-Star ballot and acknowledged that he received some calls from other coaches lobbying for their teams. And maybe a bit more. &ldquo;Definitely, there&rsquo;s some bribery going on,&rdquo; Billups said with a smile.
GREEN&rsquo;S RETURN
Memphis guard/forward Danny Green, who missed the first 50 games of the season, saw his first action, playing 10 minutes and scoring three points, hitting one of his four 3-pointers. Green, acquired by Memphis in a draft night trade, spent the first part of the season rehabbing a knee injury he suffered in last year&rsquo;s playoff when he was with the Philadelphia 76ers.
&ldquo;It felt good,&rdquo; Green said. &ldquo;Game obviously moved fast, so I had to slow it down a little, but it was good to get out there.&rdquo;
UP NEXT
Trail Blazers: At Washington on Friday night.
Grizzlies: At Cleveland on Thursday night.

Damian Lillard had 42 points and 10 assists, and the Portland Trail Blazers rallied to beat the Memphis Grizzlies 122-112 on Wednesday

Damian Lillard, Anfernee Simons lead Blazers past Grizzlies, 122-112

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) &mdash; D&rsquo;Angelo Russell scored 14 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter, Anthony Edwards took over in overtime after Russell fouled out and the Minnesota Timberwolves outlasted the Golden State Warriors 119-114 on Wednesday night.
Russell fouled out after two quick whistles in the first minute of overtime. That set the stage for Edwards.
After a scoreless fourth quarter, Edwards was aggressive in overtime, driving to the basket and scoring in traffic on multiple possessions. Edwards helped the Timberwolves &mdash; who trailed by 11 after three &mdash; complete the comeback. He scored just four of his 27 points in overtime but was the catalyst on offense in the extra session.
&ldquo;We needed it,&rdquo; Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said about Edwards. &ldquo;It was good to see him get to the paint.&rdquo;
Minnesota moved half-game ahead of the Warriors in the Western Conference standings.
Stephen Curry had 29 points and 10 rebounds for Golden State. Jordan Poole added 18 points, Klay Thompson had 14, and Draymond Green had 10 points and 12 rebounds. The Warriors had won three in a row.
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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) &mdash; D&rsquo;Angelo Russell scored 14 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter, Anthony Edwards took over in overtime after Russell fouled out and the Minnesota Timberwolves outlasted the Golden State Warriors 119-114 on Wednesday night.
Russell fouled out after two quick whistles in the first minute of overtime. That set the stage for Edwards.
After a scoreless fourth quarter, Edwards was aggressive in overtime, driving to the basket and scoring in traffic on multiple possessions. Edwards helped the Timberwolves &mdash; who trailed by 11 after three &mdash; complete the comeback. He scored just four of his 27 points in overtime but was the catalyst on offense in the extra session.
&ldquo;We needed it,&rdquo; Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said about Edwards. &ldquo;It was good to see him get to the paint.&rdquo;
Minnesota moved half-game ahead of the Warriors in the Western Conference standings.
Stephen Curry had 29 points and 10 rebounds for Golden State. Jordan Poole added 18 points, Klay Thompson had 14, and Draymond Green had 10 points and 12 rebounds. The Warriors had won three in a row.
Golden State committed nine total turnovers between the fourth quarter and overtime after turning the ball over eight times through the first three quarters.
&nbsp;
&nbsp;

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) &mdash; D&rsquo;Angelo Russell scored 14 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter, Anthony Edwards took over in overtime after Russell fouled out and the Minnesota Timberwolves outlasted the Golden State Warriors 119-114 on Wednesday night.
Russell fouled out after two quick whistles in the first minute of overtime. That set the stage for Edwards.
After a scoreless fourth quarter, Edwards was aggressive in overtime, driving to the basket and scoring in traffic on multiple possessions. Edwards helped the Timberwolves &mdash; who trailed by 11 after three &mdash; complete the comeback. He scored just four of his 27 points in overtime but was the catalyst on offense in the extra session.
&ldquo;We needed it,&rdquo; Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said about Edwards. &ldquo;It was good to see him get to the paint.&rdquo;
Minnesota moved half-game ahead of the Warriors in the Western Conference standings.
Stephen Curry had 29 points and 10 rebounds for Golden State. Jordan Poole added 18 points, Klay Thompson had 14, and Draymond Green had 10 points and 12 rebounds. The Warriors had won three in a row.
Golden State committed nine total turnovers between the fourth quarter and overtime after turning the ball over eight times through the first three quarters.
&ldquo;We had control of the game, and I thought we just kind of gift wrapped it,&rdquo; Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. &ldquo;They took advantage of our mistakes and our lack of execution. ... Everything we had done to that point to have control of the game, we stopped doing, so we got what we deserved.&rdquo;
Russell hit three 3-pointers early in the fourth to help the Wolves claw back. After Russell got Minnesota back in it, Naz Reid hit multiple go-ahead shots, including a 3-pointer that made it a 110-108 game with 1:50 to play in regulation.
&ldquo;I just think as a group, we did it collectively,&rdquo; Russell said. &ldquo;It was just a balanced game from our group. Everybody pitched in.&rdquo;
Curry tied it at 110 on a driving layup and had a good look with five seconds to play in regulation, but missed. Minnesota couldn&rsquo;t get a good shot off at the buzzer, sending the game to overtime.
With Russell watching from the bench, Edwards hit a big shot in the lane to put Minnesota up 115-112 with 1:43 left. Reid, who had 24 points and 13 rebounds for Minnesota, closed out the victory with an emphatic dunk after rebounding his own miss in the final seconds.
&nbsp;

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) &mdash; D&rsquo;Angelo Russell scored 14 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter, Anthony Edwards took over in overtime after Russell fouled out and the Minnesota Timberwolves outlasted the Golden State Warriors 119-114 on Wednesday night.
Russell fouled out after two quick whistles in the first minute of overtime. That set the stage for Edwards.
After a scoreless fourth quarter, Edwards was aggressive in overtime, driving to the basket and scoring in traffic on multiple possessions. Edwards helped the Timberwolves &mdash; who trailed by 11 after three &mdash; complete the comeback. He scored just four of his 27 points in overtime but was the catalyst on offense in the extra session.
&ldquo;We needed it,&rdquo; Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said about Edwards. &ldquo;It was good to see him get to the paint.&rdquo;
Minnesota moved half-game ahead of the Warriors in the Western Conference standings.
Stephen Curry had 29 points and 10 rebounds for Golden State. Jordan Poole added 18 points, Klay Thompson had 14, and Draymond Green had 10 points and 12 rebounds. The Warriors had won three in a row.
Golden State committed nine total turnovers between the fourth quarter and overtime after turning the ball over eight times through the first three quarters.
&ldquo;We had control of the game, and I thought we just kind of gift wrapped it,&rdquo; Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. &ldquo;They took advantage of our mistakes and our lack of execution. ... Everything we had done to that point to have control of the game, we stopped doing, so we got what we deserved.&rdquo;
Russell hit three 3-pointers early in the fourth to help the Wolves claw back. After Russell got Minnesota back in it, Naz Reid hit multiple go-ahead shots, including a 3-pointer that made it a 110-108 game with 1:50 to play in regulation.
&ldquo;I just think as a group, we did it collectively,&rdquo; Russell said. &ldquo;It was just a balanced game from our group. Everybody pitched in.&rdquo;
Curry tied it at 110 on a driving layup and had a good look with five seconds to play in regulation, but missed. Minnesota couldn&rsquo;t get a good shot off at the buzzer, sending the game to overtime.
With Russell watching from the bench, Edwards hit a big shot in the lane to put Minnesota up 115-112 with 1:43 left. Reid, who had 24 points and 13 rebounds for Minnesota, closed out the victory with an emphatic dunk after rebounding his own miss in the final seconds.
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a team that&rsquo;s not going to back down,&rdquo; Reid said about the Warriors. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re accustomed to winning, so when we bring it to them early, it just shows that we&rsquo;re not here to back down. We&rsquo;re really here to fight.&rdquo;
Curry was held to six points in the fourth and didn&rsquo;t score in overtime for Golden State.
The Timberwolves struggled from the free-throw line from the second straight game. Minnesota finished 13 of 24 after going 15 of 22 on Monday night against Sacramento.
Wednesday was Minnesota&rsquo;s second overtime game in a row. The Wolves were outscored 15-8 on Monday night in overtime.
TIP-INS
Warriors: Andrew Wiggins scored 16 points against his former team.
Timberwolves: Minnesota was without center Rudy Gobert because of soreness in his right groin.
UP NEXT
Warriors: At Denver on Thursday night.
Timberwolves: Host Orlando on Friday night.

The Minnesota Timberwolves outlasted the Golden State Warriors and got a 119-114 overtime win on Wednesday night.

D'Angelo Russell, Anthony Edwards help Wolves beat Warriors in OT

PHOENIX (AP) &mdash; Trae Young rose up for a 3-pointer in the second half that left his hands way too hard, hurtling toward the basket before slamming off the backboard and through the hoop.
Atlanta&rsquo;s star guard shrugged and ran back down the court with a sheepish grin.
Things were going the Hawks way Wednesday night, leading to a blowout victory. Dejounte Murray scored 21 points, Young added 20 points and 12 assists and Atlanta rolled past the Phoenix Suns 132-100.
The Hawks had lost four of five games coming into Wednesday&rsquo;s game, but played much better on both ends of the floor.
&ldquo;We wanted to win really bad and knew it had to start on the defensive end,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;The defense took care of the offense.&rdquo;
The Hawks never trailed, jumping to a 9-4 lead with three 3-pointers. Atlanta never let up, pushing to a 102-67 advantage by the end of the third quarter and leading by 43 points in the fourth.
Just about everyone was hitting shots for the Hawks, who made 52 of 91 shots (57.1%), including 19 of 33 (57.6%) on 3-pointers. Bogdan Bogdanovic added 18 points off the bench.
&ldquo;When you&rsquo;re getting downhill, moving the ball, sharing the ball, things like that can happen,&rdquo; Hawks coach Nate McMillan said. &ldquo;I thought tonight we did a good job moving the ball and getting it to the open man.&rdquo;
Phoenix &mdash; with star guard Devin Booker close to returning from a groin injury &mdash; lost for just the second time in eight games. The Suns were sloppy with 16 turnovers that turned into 31 points for the Hawks and had a dismal shooting night, hitting just 4 of 28 (14.3%) shots from 3-point range.
&ldquo;They were a lot faster then us especially in transition and we just couldn&rsquo;t make a shot for whatever reason,&rdquo; Suns coach Monty Williams said.
Mikal Bridges led the Suns with 23 points but shot just 6 of 18 from the field, including 1 of 7 on 3s. Deandre Ayton added 20 points and nine rebounds.
&ldquo;It felt like we were on a treadmill,&rdquo; Ayton said. &ldquo;It felt like we were hamsters running in one spot. The game was going too fast and we were making some points but not putting a dent into the lead.&rdquo;
The Hawks used a 13-0 run early in the second quarter to take a 66-47 lead into halftime. Murray led Atlanta with 15 points before the break while Bridges had 17 for the Suns.
Phoenix shot just 18 of 47 (38.5%) in the first half, including 2 of 16 (12.5%) from 3-point range.
SUNS SIGN LEE
The Suns announced Wednesday that they&rsquo;ve signed guard Saben Lee for the rest of the season.
Lee has emerged as the team&rsquo;s backup point guard over the last three weeks after being signed to back-to-back 10-day contracts. He&rsquo;s filling in for Cam Payne, who remains out with a foot injury.
To make room for Lee on the roster, the Suns released Duane Washington Jr., who played in 31 games this season, starting three. He averaged 7.9 points, but shot just 36.7% from the field.
Lee had six points, three assists, three steaks and three rebounds in 21 minutes against the Hawks.
TIP-INS
Hawks: Onyeka Okongwu made all seven of his shots. He finished with 17 points. ... Former Suns center Frank Kaminsky got a technical foul in the fourth quarter. ... Young reached 3,000 career assists.
Suns: Booker, Payne and G Landry Shamet (foot) were out. ... Hosted a 54th straight sellout crowd.
UP NEXT
Hawks: At Utah on Friday night.
Suns: At Boston on Friday night.

Dejounte Murray scored 21 points, Trae Young added 20 points and 12 assists and the Hawks rolled past the Suns 132-100.