HOUSTON — The Houston Rockets lost their team-record 20th straight game, falling 114-112 to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday when John Wall missed two shots in the final 10 seconds.
The skid is tied for the ninth-worst in NBA history and the longest since Philadelphia’s record-setting 28-game losing streak across the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons.
Houston took a 110-109 lead with less than three minutes remaining. After the Rockets went ahead, Lu Dort blocked Wall’s layup from behind to protect a 113-112 edge. Wall then missed a deep 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Dort scored 23 points and Isaiah Roby had 18 for the Thunder.
Christian Wood had 27 points, eight rebounds and two blocks for Houston, Wall had 24 points and seven assists, and Victor Oladipo had 23 points.
SUNS 111, LAKERS 94
PHOENIX — Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton each had 26 points, Chris Paul had a triple-double with 11 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds and Phoenix beat LeBron-less Los Angeles.
The Lakers were playing without 17-time All-Star LeBron James for just the second time this season and fell to 0-2 in his absence. James suffered a high ankle sprain in a 99-94 loss to Atlanta on Saturday and is expected to miss significant time.
Montrezl Harrell led the Lakers with 23 points.
Paul became the sixth player in NBA history with 10,000 assists when he threw an alley-oop pass to Ayton for a dunk in the third quarter. The Suns have won 17 of 21.
NETS 113, WIZARDS 106
NEW YORK — Kyrie Irving scored 28 points and James Harden had 26 to lead Brooklyn past Washington.
Blake Griffin dunked for the first time since December 2019 in his Nets debut and Nicolas Claxton added 16 points, including two three-point plays down the stretch.
Russell Westbrook had 29 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists for Washington.
MAVERICKS 132,
TRAIL BLAZERS 92
PORTLAND, Ore. — Luka Doncic scored 37 points in three quarters, leading to an easy victory over Portland.
Doncic made his first eight 3-point shots and finished 8 of 9. Overall, he shot 13 of 19 from the field and added seven rebounds and four assists.
Josh Richardson added 21 points.
Damian Lillard led Portland with 19 points.
CELTICS 112, MAGIC 96
BOSTON — Jaylen Brown hit a career-high 10 3-pointers and scored 34 points, Jayson Tatum added 23 and Boston beat Orlando to snap a three-game losing streak.
The Celtics made 23 3-pointers, one short of the franchise record. Brown was 10 for 18 from the distance.
Nikola Vucevic had 22 points and 13 rebounds for Orlando. The Magic beat Brooklyn on Friday night to snap a nine-game losing streak.
CAVALIERS 116, RAPTORS 105
CLEVELAND — Collin Sexton scored 23 of his 36 points in the second half, Jarrett Allen had 17 points and 15 rebounds and Cleveland handed Toronto its eighth straight loss.
Dean Wade scored 16 points, and Darius Garland had 15 points and six assists for Cleveland.. The Cavaliers had dropped five of six.
Fred VanVleet had 23 points and seven assists for Toronto.
76ERS 101, KNICKS 101, OT
NEW YORK — Tobias Harris made two free throws with 5.3 seconds left in overtime and Philadelphia ran its winning streak against New York to 15 games.
Philadelphia improved to 30-13 with its eighth win in its last 10 games.
Julius Randle scored 24 points, but his last shot rimmed out just before the buzzer as New York dropped to 21-22.
PELICANS 113, NUGGETS 108
DENVER — Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson each scored 30 points and New Orleans’ overcame another triple-double by Nikola Jokic to beat Denver.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker added 20 points for the Pelicans.
PACERS 109, HEAT 106, OT
MIAMI — Justin Holiday scored 15 points and hit consecutive 3-pointers in overtime to lead Indiana past Miami for a series sweep.
Myles Turner had with 16 points and five blocks, Doug McDermott scored 15 points and Domantas Sabonis had 17 points and 11 rebounds for the Pacers.
BULLS 100, PISTONS 86
DETROIT — Laurie Markkanen had 16 points and eight rebounds and Chicago used a strong defensive performance to beat Detroit.
Zach LaVine scored 18 points for the Bulls.
