(The Sports Xchange) – – -Robin Lopez returned to the middle for Portland, after having missed 23 games with a broken right hand, and he had 11 points and six rebounds in 25 minutes to help the Blazers defeat the Utah Jazz 103-102.
Lopez suffered a third-quarter cut over his left eye but he came back with a bandage and played most of the final six minutes, and the Blazers raised their season record to 20-6 with him in action.
The Blazers were never able to pull away, but they improved to 33-16 and snapped a three-game losing streak that had come last week on the road.
Utah fell to 17-31, unable to build on their victory against Golden State on Friday.
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Warriors 121, Kings 96
Stephen Curry scored 23 points and the Golden State Warriors needed merely an ordinary performance from guard Klay Thompson to beat the Sacramento Kings.
Thompson scored just 14 points in his first contest against the Kings since scoring 52 points.
Andre Iguodala and Mo Speights each scored 17 points, and Leandro Barbosa added 12 for Golden State (38-8), who beat Sacramento for the eighth straight time.
DeMarcus Cousins scored 19 of his 26 points in the second half for Sacramento and also grabbed 11 rebounds but the Kings (17-30) still lost for the ninth time in 10 contests.
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Pistons 108, Heat 91
D.J. Augustin racked up 25 points and 13 assists and the Detroit Pistons overcame a season-high-tying 34 points from Chris Bosh to pound the Miami Heat.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had 18 points and center Andre Drummond contributed 14 points and 14 rebounds for the Pistons (19-30), who took control with a 25-1 outburst to finish the first quarter and never looked back.
Bosh, Miami’s All-Star power forward, scored 21 of his points in the third quarter.
Center Hassan Whiteside supplied 11 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks for the Heat (21-27), who have lost three of their last four.
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Celtics 108, Knicks 97
Avery Bradley made his first seven shots and scored 26 points, leading the Boston Celtics to a wire-to-wire victory over the New York Knicks.
Bradley made 11-of-14 shots, coming within six of his career high for points and within two of his career best for field goals.
Carmelo Anthony finished with 21 for New York (10-39), which trailed by as many as 16 in the opening half.
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76ers 105, Nuggets 98
Hollis Thompson scored a career-high 23 points off the bench, and the Philadelphia 76ers held on to beat the struggling Denver Nuggets.
Robert Covington added 17 points for the Sixers (11-39), who won a third consecutive home game for the first time since March 2013.
Danilo Gallinari had 22 points to lead Denver (19-30), who fell for the third straight time and the 10th time in their past 11 games.
