NBA Roundup: Bucks can't stop Nets, Doncic scores 50 points for Mavericks

AFP

For their eighth straight win, the Brooklyn Nets beat the Milwaukee Bucks 118-100 on Friday to knock them off the top of the NBA's Eastern Conference while Luka Doncic scored 50 points in the Mavericks' win over the Rockets.

Kevin Durant, with 24 points and five rebounds, and Kyrie Irving, with 18 and nine, led the Nets but this time with huge support from the rest of the team, with up to six players reaching double figures in scoring.

Giannis Antetokounmpo's Bucks, who finished with 26 points and 13 rebounds, trailed the entire game at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Milwaukee made a late surge in the fourth quarter to get to 102-92 with five minutes to play but a three-pointer by Royce O'Neale and a basket plus an extra free throw by Irving ended their comeback hopes.

"We were able to put a lot of bodies around Giannis, we made him commit seven turnovers, and we got more points in transition, which is a very important part of his game," coach Jacque Vaughn noted.

The Nets, who had a stormy start to the season in which they fired coach Steve Nash, now have eight straight wins, matching their best streak since moving to Brooklyn from New Jersey in 2012.

Brooklyn are in fourth place in the East, 1.5 wins behind the Bucks, who lost the lead to the Boston Celtics, who beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 121-109.

Boston star Jayson Tatum hit 30 points and partner Jaylen Brown 36, with 23 of them coming in a fast-paced final quarter.

On a night of great individual displays, the highest scoring came from Slovenian phenom Luka Doncic, who racked up 50 points, eight rebounds and 10 assists in the Dallas Mavericks' 122-106 win over the Houston Rockets.

The Slovenian is the ninth player to reach the half-century point mark this season and joins the retired Dirk Nowitzki as the only members of the Mavericks to record more than one game with at least 50 points.

LeBron loses shoe and game

In the last of the day's 14 games, the Los Angeles Lakers fell 134-130 on their home court to the Charlotte Hornets, second last in the East, and continued their painful journey without the injured Anthony Davis.

The Lakers, who suffered their third straight loss and remain out of the playoffs, trailed by as many as 16 points but forced a tight finish thanks to LeBron James, who scored 18 of his 34 points in the final period.

Trailing 132-130 on their final possession. LeBron James started a drive to the basket but lost his balance when his right shoe went flying.

Before falling to the court, the forward reached to pass the ball to German Dennis Schröder, who missed the three-pointer from the corner which would have given the home side the win.

The Philadelphia 76ers claimed their seventh straight win by beating the Los Angeles Clippers 119-114 with a devastating performance from their two stars.

Centre Joel Embiid had 44 points and seven rebounds and point guard James Harden had a monumental triple double with 20 points, 11 rebounds and 21 assists.

Harden is only the seventh NBA player to post a triple double of at least 20/10/20 and his 21 assists tied the all-time franchise record.

Two other rising NBA stars, point guards Tyrese Haliburton and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, scored career highs on Friday.

Haliburton had 43 points and 10 three-pointers, the last of them with two seconds left to give the Indiana Pacers a 111-108 win over the Miami Heat, while Gilgeous-Alexander had 44 points and 10 rebounds in the Oklahoma City Thunder's 128-125 overtime loss to the New Orleans Pelicans.

Meanwhile, DeMar DeRozan silenced New York's Madison Square Garden with a last-second mid-range shot to give the Chicago Bulls a 118-117 win over the Knicks.