LOS ANGELES – The Houston Rockets are enjoying their “accomplishment” after knocking National Basketball Association (NBA) champions Denver Nuggets out of the new in-season tournament on Nov 24.
The Orlando Magic also dealt the Boston Celtics’ hopes a blow.
Houston’s Jalen Green scored 25 points and Alperen Sengun added 21 points and 15 rebounds for the Rockets, who withstood another monster game from Denver’s two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic to win 105-86 at Toyota Centre.
Jokic scored a season-high 38 points to go with 19 rebounds and eight assists.
But the reeling Nuggets, still feeling the absence of the injured Jamal Murray, shot just 34 per cent from the floor and slumped to their fifth defeat in seven games.
Aaron Gordon embodied their offensive woes, going 0-for-12 from the field and putting up just two points.
They finished group play at 2-2, but the point differential maths meant an end to their chances of advancing.
The Rockets have now won three in a row over the Nuggets.
“It’s an accomplishment. We’ll take it and learn from it and grow. It’s another win against the defending champions, so that’s good,” coach Ime Udoka said.
The Nuggets are 1-4 on this road trip and their coach Michael Malone has called their recent results “disappointing”.
“We need to get a win. We got off to a 9-2 start, everything was great, now we can’t win a game on the road. We’re kind of getting away from who we are at our core in terms of defence and toughness,” he added.
The Magic, who beat the Nuggets on Nov 22, bullied the league-leading Celtics in the second half in a 113-96 victory that pushed Orlando’s winning streak to six games.
Moritz Wagner scored 27 points off the bench to lead the Magic and Paolo Banchero added 23 with seven rebounds.
Jayson Tatum led the Celtics with 26 points and Jaylen Brown chipped in 18 – 12 of them in the first quarter.
Brown connected on just two of 17 shots in the last three quarters, as the Magic clamped down defensively to hand the Celtics their biggest defeat of the season.
“That’s what we take pride in. We come into every game focused on what we’ve got to do to stop the team in front of us (and) we did a good job tonight,” Banchero said of the Magic’s defensive effort.
The Celtics led by 12 early in the third quarter, before Orlando unleashed a 17-0 scoring run. The Magic opened the fourth period on a 10-0 run and rolled from there.
Boston centre Kristaps Porzingis left the game in the third quarter with tightness in his calf, while they also played without the injured Jrue Holiday.
“Obviously we’re a much better team when everybody’s healthy. But we can’t use that as an excuse for why we didn’t win the game,” Tatum said.
The result saw the Magic conclude group play in the tournament at 3-1.
The Celtics, who could have secured their berth in the knockout stages, fell to 2-1, level with the Brooklyn Nets and each with a game remaining when group play ends on Nov 28.
The six group winners and two wild-card teams advance to the quarter-finals of the tournament. It concludes with semi-finals and the final in Las Vegas in December.
In New York, the Knicks roared back from a 21-point third-quarter deficit to stun the Miami Heat 100-98 in a must-win tournament game.
The Heat will now be fighting for a wild-card spot on Nov 28 when they take on the Milwaukee Bucks, who were fuelled by a career-high 39 points from Brook Lopez in a 131-128 victory over the Washington Wizards.
Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard scored 31 points apiece for Milwaukee, who at 3-0 are closing in on a quarter-final berth.
It marked the first time in history that three Bucks players scored 30 points in the same game.
The Phoenix Suns kept alive their bid to advance as a wild card in the West with a 110-89 victory over the Grizzlies. AFP
