Warriors beat slumping Rockets 105-98 with Curry scoring 27

HOUSTON (AP) — Stephen Curry scored 27 points and the Golden State Warriors withstood a late surge by the Houston Rockets for a 105-98 victory Thursday night.

The Warriors were clinging to a two-point lead before using a 11-2 run to make it 102-91 with about two minutes remaining. A highlight of that spurt came when Curry juked Jeff Green before swishing a 3-pointer and Jimmy Butler wowed the visitor’s bench with a two-handed dunk about a minute later.

Golden State led by as many as 24, and frustrated with the poor performance of his starters, Houston coach Ime Udoka benched Jalen Green, Alperen Sengun and Dillon Brooks to start the fourth quarter. The team’s backups keyed a 16-6 run that cut the lead to 88-86 with seven minutes left.

Nate Williams, who was playing in just his sixth game this season, had seven points in that stretch.

Udoka never re-inserted the three starters. Aaron Holiday led the Rockets by tying a career high with 25 points as Houston lost for the seventh time in nine games.

TIMBERWOLVES 116, THUNDER 101

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Naz Reid had 27 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists for short-handed Minnesota in a victory over Oklahoma City that stopped their seven-game winning streak.

Anthony Edwards scored 23 points and Jaden McDaniels added 21 points to propel the Wolves (31-25) into the All-Star break with an inspired performance against the West-leading Thunder (44-10) behind a small-ball strategy necessitated by the absence of their usual starting frontcourt.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 24 points, nine assists and eight rebounds to lead the Thunder after shooting 2 for 13 in the first half.

PELICANS 140, KINGS 133, OT

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — CJ McCollum scored 37 of his 43 points after halftime — including 11 points in overtime — and New Orleans snapped a 10-game losing streak with a victory over Sacramento.

Jose Alvarado and Trey Murphy III each scored 18 points for New Orleans, which beat Sacramento for the first time in four meetings. Reserves Jordan Hawkins and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl each scored 16 points, while Karlo Matkovic added a career-high 13 points and blocked three shots.

New Orleans played without Zion Williamson, who scored 33 points on Wednesday and got Thursday off as he continues to work his way back into form from a left hamstring injury.

Zach LaVine had 32 points and 10 assists for Sacramento, while Domantas Sabonis had 22 points and tied a career high with 28 rebounds. Malik Monk scored 24 points and DeMar DeRozan added 20.

The Pelicans were trying protect a three-point lead late in regulation when they purposely fouled Sabonis with 8 seconds left. Sabonis missed his second free throw, but Monk rebounded, was fouled by Bruce Brown, and hit two free throws to force overtime.

MAVERICKS 118, HEAT 113

DALLAS (AP) — Dante Exum scored a season-high 27 points, one short of his career high, and Dallas beat Miami.

Max Christie added 19 points, Spencer Dinwiddie had 17 and Kessler Edwards finished with season highs of 15 points and nine rebounds as the undermanned, undersized Mavericks swept a home back-to-back and won for the fourth time in five games.

Tyler Herro scored 40 points for the Heat, who were swept in a road back-to-back and have lost four consecutive games. Rookie Kel’el Ware had 17 points and Kyle Anderson added 15 points and 10 rebounds

The Mavericks had eight players listed on the injury report, with Kyrie Irving (shoulder strain) and Klay Thompson (sprained foot) added after playing extensive minutes Wednesday night.

Dallas’ tallest regulars were Edwards and Olivier-Maxence Prosper, each 6-foot-8.

CLIPPERS 120, JAZZ 116, OT

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Norman Powell scored a season-high 41 points and James Harden added 32 to lift Los Angeles to an overtime victory over Utah.

Harden also had 10 rebounds, seven assists and three steals. Los Angeles clawed back from a 20-point deficit and beat Utah for the second time in three games.

The Clippers never trailed in overtime of Ben Simmons’ debut, but did not pull away from the Jazz until Powell made back-to-back baskets to put them up 119-114 with 59 seconds remaining.

Kyle Filipowski led Utah with a career-high 20 points and 10 rebounds. Lauri Markkanen also scored 20 points and John Collins chipped in 17.