NBA: Celtics pull away from Jazz

Marcus Smart and Enes Kanter combined for all of Boston's scoring in a 15-5 burst to start the fourth quarter Wednesday night as the Celtics, on the second night of a back-to-back set, had enough depth and energy to outfinish the Utah Jazz, 114-103, in Salt Lake City.

Jayson Tatum had 33 points and a game-high 11 rebounds to pace the Celtics, who won three of four on their Western swing, losing only a two-point decision Sunday against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Donovan Mitchell poured in a game-high 37 points for the Jazz, who lost their fourth straight, all at home.

In the first meeting of the season between teams solidly entrenched in their respective playoff races, the Celtics and Jazz played on even terms for 35 1/2 minutes before Gordon Hayward buried a 3-pointer to give the visitors an 85-82 lead after three quarters.

Boston never trailed again.

Kanter opened the fourth period with two hoops, including the tip-in of a Brad Wanamaker miss, before Smart nailed three consecutive 3-pointers, sandwiching a pair of hoops by Utah's Jordan Clarkson, to help the Celtics take command.

When Kanter turned a Smart assist into a basket with 7:22 remaining in the game, the Celtics suddenly held a 100-87 advantage.

Utah got no closer than eight after that.

Tatum was the Celtics' driving force for the better part of three periods. He shot 13-for-20 overall and 3-for-5 on 3-point attempts to cap a remarkable trip on which he scored 28, 41, 36 and 33 points.

Jaylen Brown added 20 points, Smart finished with a game-high nine assists to complement 17 points, and Daniel Theis chipped in with 16 points and seven rebounds for the Celtics, who were swept by the Jazz in the season series last year.

In his second return to Utah after playing his first seven seasons for the Jazz, Hayward contributed 12 points and five rebounds to the win.

The Celtics, who won 118-106 at Portland on Tuesday, outshot the Jazz 53.6 percent to 44.9 percent.

Mitchell's point total came on 15-of-32 shooting. He made just two of his 10 3-point attempts.

Mike Conley went for 15 points and Royce O'Neale 14 for Utah, which is now 1-4 on a six-game homestand that ends Friday against the Washington Wizards.

Jazz center Rudy Gobert grabbed a team-high nine rebounds to go with nine points.

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NBA: Mitchell, Bogdanovic come up big for Jazz in win over Magic

Donovan Mitchell and Bojan Bogdanovic scored 30 points apiece to lead the Utah Jazz to a 109-102 victory over the visiting Orlando Magic on Tuesday night in Salt Lake City.

Joe Ingles added 16 points and 12 rebounds and Rudy Gobert recorded 12 points and 19 boards as Utah beat Orlando for the 14th time in the past 18 meetings. Royce O'Neale added 11 points for the Jazz, who have won three straight games and four of the past five.

D.J. Augustin scored 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting and Evan Fournier added 19 points for the Magic, who have lost four of their past five games. Markelle Fultz tallied 14 points, Nikola Vucevic had 12 points and 11 rebounds and Michael Carter-Williams scored 10 points.

The Jazz shot 46.7 percent from the field, including 15 of 36 from 3-point range with Bogdanovic making six. Utah committed 14 turnovers but held a 58-41 rebounding edge.

Orlando connected on 45.2 percent from the field but was a porous 7 of 35 from behind the arc. The Magic committed just three turnovers.

The Jazz trailed by six with under four minutes left before rattling off nine straight points. Bogdanovic scored seven of the points as Utah took a 101-98 lead with 1:53 remaining.

Fournier knocked down a jumper eight seconds later to get Orlando within one before Mitchell made back-to-back shots to give the Jazz a 105-100 lead with 29.1 seconds to play.

Ingles made two free throws with 20.2 seconds left to increase the lead to seven and the Jazz closed it out.

Earlier, Utah connected on four 3-pointers during a 14-2 dash to open up a 74-56 advantage with 5:10 left in the third quarter.

The Jazz led, 82-65, before Orlando scored the final six points of the third quarter and the first six of the fourth to pull within 82-77 with 10:28 remaining.

The Magic later ran off 15 consecutive points to take a seven-point lead with 4:44 remaining.

Orlando moved ahead, 91-90, on a 3-pointer by Vucevic with 6:27 left. Augustin added two baskets and Vucevic finished the run with a layup to give the Magic a 97-90 lead.

Mitchell and Bogdanovic scored 13 points apiece as the Jazz held a 58-47 lead at the break.

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NBA: Davis, LeBron carry Lakers past Jazz

Anthony Davis scored 26 points, and LeBron James added 20 points as the visiting Los Angeles Lakers got off to a fast start and held off the Utah Jazz, 121-96, on Wednesday.

The Lakers won a game for the second consecutive night, a back-to-back feat made even more impressive by the fact that they played at altitude in Denver on Tuesday and did it again at Salt Lake City.

The Lakers improved to 10-0 away from Staples Center. The do have a road defeat to the Los Angeles Clippers in their shared building.

James, who leads the NBA in assists, added 12 more to his season total. He played 29 minutes while Davis played 26 after they each saw 37 minutes of action at Denver.

Rajon Rondo contributed 14 points and 12 assists for Los Angeles.

Donovan Mitchell had 29 points, and Rudy Gobert added 13 points and 10 rebounds as the Jazz lost at home for just the second time in 10 games. Bojan Bogdanovic had 23 points for Utah.

The Lakers trailed by eight points early in the first quarter, but they refused to let the hole get any deeper. They turned the game around quickly to lead by as many as 10 in the opening quarter before pushing their margin to 65-47 at halftime.

Instead of retreating in the second half, the Lakers led by as many as 25 midway through the fourth quarter before coach Frank Vogel started to unload his bench with 4:44 remaining.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 14 for the Lakers, while Kyle Kuzma scored 13 in his return to Utah, where he played in college. The Lakers had a 46-40 rebounding advantage one night after setting a season high with 56 boards against the Nuggets.

The Jazz lost at home for the first time since Nov. 18 to the Minnesota Timberwolves, a defeat they avenged two days later at Minneapolis.

The Lakers have won all three of their back-to-back sets of games this season. They won a home-road back-to-back against the Suns and Warriors Nov. 12-13 before taking down the Thunder and Grizzlies on consecutive nights on the road Nov. 22-23.

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NBA: 76ers fall to Jazz as Simmons injures shoulder

Donovan Mitchell recorded 24 points, eight assists and five rebounds to lead the Utah Jazz to a 106-104 victory over visiting Philadelphia on Wednesday night at Salt Lake City, on a night the 76ers lost guard Ben Simmons to a shoulder injury.

Bojan Bogdanovic added 20 points, six rebounds and five assists, and Joe Ingles scored a season-best 16 points off the bench as Utah halted a two-game slide. 

Mike Conley scored 15 points and Rudy Gobert contributed 14 points, 16 rebounds and three steals.

Joel Embiid registered 27 points and 16 rebounds but was just 5 of 16 from the field as Philadelphia lost its second straight game. Josh Richardson scored 24 points, Tobias Harris added 16 and Raul Neto had 11 for the 76ers.

Simmons had just two points in 10 minutes before departing with 5:20 left in the second quarter with right shoulder soreness. He appeared to initially hurt the shoulder early in the first quarter when he banged it against the body of Utah defender Royce O'Neale.

According to reports, Simmons sustained a sprained AC joint and will be re-evaluated Thursday.

Embiid was back in the 76ers lineup after serving a two-game suspension for his tussle with Minnesota's Karl-Anthony Towns on Oct. 30.

The 76ers made 41.2 percent from the field and were 8 of 25 from behind the arc.

Philadelphia made 30 of 34 free-throw attempts, while the Jazz hit 16 of 24.

Utah shot 46.1 percent from the field and made 8 of 22 from 3-point range.

Harris scored all the points during Philadelphia's 8-2 run to open the fourth quarter and bring his team within 86-81 with 9:37 remaining.

Conley's three-point play pushed Utah's advantage to 97-87 with 5:59 remaining before the 76ers scored seven of the next eight points to pull within four with 4:35 left.

Philadelphia later crept within 102-100 on two free throws by Embiid with 2:17 remaining.

A short time later, Bogdanovic buried a 3-pointer to give the Jazz a 106-101 lead with 1:39 left and the 76ers didn't convert another basket until Richardson scored just before time expired.

Bogdanovic had 15 first-half points as the Jazz held a 58-56 halftime edge. Embiid had 18 points and eight rebounds for Philadelphia.

Mitchell scored straight five points and Conley followed with a 3-pointer as the Jazz opened up a 74-63 lead with 5:57 left in the third quarter.

The lead reached 13 two minutes later on two free throws by O'Neale and Utah settled for an 84-73 advantage entering the final stanza.

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Warrior Jerebko aims to rock the Jazz once more

STOCKHOLM - Jonas Jerebko's move to NBA title favorites the Golden State Warriors is paying off handsomely for the Swedish power forward who suffered the indignity of being cut by the Utah Jazz.

The 31-year-old capped his revenge by rocking the Jazz with a late basket to give the Warriors a memorable 124-123 victory on his return to Salt Lake City on Oct. 19, celebrating wildly in front of the Utah bench for good measure.

"I know that I have a lot to give, I want to play and I can play," he told Reuters in an interview.

Since then Jerebko, who played for the Detroit Pistons (2009-15) before joining the Boston Celtics (2015-17), has not looked back, posting his best averages for scoring (7.6 points per game) and minutes played (20.7) for several years.

Jerebko had just finished a workout on the full-size basketball court at his Detroit home last July when the call came to tell him that he was no longer in Utah coach Quin Snyder's plans, but things moved quickly.

"I promise you it was like two hours, maybe one hour, before my agent called and said that Golden State were interested, so I didn't even have the time to worry," he said.

"I asked if I could talk to (Warriors) coach (Steve) Kerr, and I got to talk to him soon after, so I barely had time to be worried about my situation."

PURE JOY

Jerebko was limited to six minutes against Oklahoma City on the opening night of the season, but in the following game against Utah Kerr threw him into the fray for 24 minutes and he scored 10 points, including the game-winning basket.

"When I tipped the ball I just checked to see if it went in and when it did, you're just so happy. It probably wouldn't have made any difference if it was Utah or the Lakers or Oklahoma, it was just pure joy about winning the game," he said.

"But ten minutes after, I thought to myself, 'Damn, it was nice to do that against Utah!' Really, though, in the moment it was about winning the game with my new team, and tipping the ball in myself was the icing on the cake."

The game-winning basket may have helped cement Jerebko's reputation in a team of big names, such as Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Kevin Durant, but the Swede said he had felt at home since day one in Oakland.

"I've played against these guys before, I knew Draymond, I knew Steph, I knew KD from before. I haven't had this kind of confidence from the team since my Detroit Pistons days, I just have to thank the coach for his confidence," he said.

A bust-up between Green and Durant during a loss to the LA Clippers dominated some of the early-season headlines around the champions, but Jerebko said the conflict was blown out of proportion by the media.

"I've played in this league for ten years, and every year I've seen things ten times worse - this is nothing. It's just because we play with the Warriors, everything gets hyped up," he said.

Jerebko's focus is on winning an NBA championship, but when the Warriors meet the Jazz again on Dec. 19 he wants to give his old team another reminder of what they lost when he was waived.

"It's going to be fun to go back - I want to beat them again, and I want to show them that it was a big mistake to let me go," he said laughing. 

(Reporting by Philip O'Connor; Editing by Ken Ferris)

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NBA: Ingles spoils Hayward's return as Jazz top Celtics

Joe Ingles tied a career high with 27 points and Rudy Gobert added 17 points and 15 rebounds as the Jazz spoiled the return of Gordon Hayward to Utah with an energetic 123-115 victory Friday over the visiting Boston Celtics in Salt Lake City.

Jazz fans booed every move of Hayward, who left Utah for Boston via free agency before the start of last season. 

Hayward then suffered a fractured ankle injury in the Celtics' season opener last year and did not play the remainder of the season.

In limited minutes, as he continues to work his way back from his injury, Hayward scored 13 points on 3-for-9 shooting from the field. 

He had just four points in the first half, earning a cheer from Jazz fans when he airballed a shot from five feet with 9:12 remaining in the second quarter.

Donovan Mitchell had 21 points while former Celtic Jae Crowder scored 20 points, and Ricky Rubio added 17 as the Jazz won consecutive games after losing four in a row. 

Ingles added five rebounds and seven assists while going 10 of 14 from the field, including 5-for-9 from 3-point range.

Terry Rozier scored 22 points and Jayson Tatum added 21 for the Celtics, who have now lost three of the four games they have played on their current five-game road trip. 

Friday's defeat came a day after they needed overtime to defeat the Phoenix Suns.

The Celtics looked poised to pull off a huge rally just as they did in Phoenix. They cut a 20-point deficit in the third quarter to just four points on four different occasions in the fourth quarter. 

But the Jazz had enough energy to finish off the victory.

Burned for 48 points by Denver guard Jamal Murray on Tuesday, the Celtics were intent on not letting the same thing happen again. 

They held the dynamic Mitchell to just six shots until one minute remaining in the third quarter.

Mitchell asserted himself from there, taking three shots and scoring four points in the final 42 seconds of the third quarter, although he was just 5-for-14 from the field and 1-for-6 from 3-point range.

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NBA: Conley, Mack rally Grizzlies past Jazz

Mike Conley scored 28 points, and Shelvin Mack added 19 off the bench to rally the Memphis Grizzlies to a 110-100 victory over the host Utah Jazz on Friday night.

Marc Gasol added 17 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists to help the Grizzlies notch their second road win over the Jazz. Memphis has won three straight and five of six overall.

Ricky Rubio scored 22 points to lead Utah. Joe Ingles added 19 points, and Jae Crowder chipped in 18. Rudy Gobert collected 16 rebounds. The Jazz remain winless at home, dropping to 0-3 in Salt Lake City.

Utah played without guard Donovan Mitchell. He was sidelined with right hamstring tightness after injuring his hamstring late in the fourth quarter of Wednesday's 128-125 loss to Minnesota.

With Mitchell out, Ingles and Rubio gave the Jazz offense an early boost. They combined for eight baskets and 20 points in the first quarter. Utah twice led by eight in the quarter, the second time going up 25-17 on Ingles' second 3-pointer of the contest.

Memphis didn't take its first lead of the game until the second quarter. 

The Grizzlies went up 39-35 when Marc Gasol buried a 3-pointer and Conley then converted a three-point play on back-to-back possessions. 

Utah answered with a 9-0 run, getting baskets on four straight possessions to take a 44-39 lead. Gobert punctuated the run with a dunk -- his first basket of the game.

The Jazz led by as many as 12 points in the second quarter. Utah took a 59-47 lead when Rubio dished to Royce O'Neale and he cut to the rim for a dunk.

Memphis rallied in the second half behind hot perimeter shooting. The Grizzlies overtook the Jazz in the third quarter behind a trio of 3-pointers from Mack. 

Back-to-back 3-pointers from MarShon Brooks and Gasol then helped put Memphis up 91-81 early in the fourth quarter.

Garrett Temple finished off a 19-6 Grizzlies run with a layup that extended their lead to 94-81 with 8:30 remaining.

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NBA: Warriors complete rally over Jazz on Jonas Jerebko's tip-in

Jonas Jerebko tipped in a missed basket by Kevin Durant with 0.3 seconds left to help the visiting Golden State Warriors escape with a 124-123 victory over the Utah Jazz on Friday night.

Jerebko's basket capped a rally from a 16-point third-quarter deficit for the Warriors. 

Durant scored 38 points, collected nine rebounds and dished out seven assists to lead the way. Stephen Curry added 31 points and eight assists.

The Warriors' duo combined for 27-of-49 from the floor.

Joe Ingles scored 27 points, Donovan Mitchell added 19 and Jae Crowder chipped in 17 off the bench for the Jazz. 

Utah made a franchise record 10 3-pointers in the second quarter but didn't have enough offense left to hold off Golden State's late rally after taking the lead on Crowder's putback basket with 51.4 seconds left.

Free-throw shooting helped keep Utah's offense afloat during a first quarter when the shots didn't fall. The Jazz went 15-of-17 from the line in the period -- culminating in three free throws from Alec Burks that gave them a 34-32 lead going into the second quarter.

The first quarter featured 16 lead changes and eight ties. Golden State built the largest lead of either team in the quarter, going up 16-11 when Durant and Kevon Looney capped an 8-0 run with back-to-back dunks.

Utah used hot perimeter shooting to surge ahead of Golden State before halftime. After starting 1-of-11 from 3-point range, the Jazz went on to make 12 of their next 15 shots from long distance.

Starting with back-to-back 3-pointers from Dante Exum and Georges Niang, Utah drained 10 of its final 13 3-point field goal attempts in the second quarter. 

The Jazz capped the flurry with 3-pointers on three straight possessions from Ingles, Crowder and Mitchell over the final minute of the quarter. It gave Utah 47 points in the quarter and an 81-69 halftime lead.

It offset Golden State's efficient first-half offense. The Warriors shot 60 percent from the field (27-of-45) before the break. Durant led the way with 24 of his 38 points.

Utah's hot perimeter shooting continued into the third quarter. The Jazz extended their lead to 98-82 with 5:36 left in the quarter behind back 3-pointers from Mitchell and Crowder.

Golden State didn't fade away, though. The Warriors held Utah to a single basket over the next 5 1/2 minutes and clawed back into the game. 

Curry dropped 16 points in the quarter, culminating in a 3-pointer that capped a 15-2 run, to cut the deficit to 100-97. Ingles stopped the run with a 35-foot buzzer beater at the end of the third quarter.

The Warriors finally completed the rally and took a 112-111 lead on Durant's layup midway through the fourth quarter.

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Durant leads Warriors past Kings

Kevin Durant connected on six of Golden State's 17 3-pointers Friday night, helping the Warriors avenge a November loss to the Sacramento Kings with a 119-104 victory at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California.

Durant had 33 points, Stephen Curry 23 and Klay Thompson 20 for Golden State, which made 17 of its 33 3-point attempts and outscored the Kings 51-30 from beyond the arc.


The win was the Warriors' 11th straight following a loss this season. They have not recorded a two-game losing streak all season.

Golden State was coming off a 129-99 loss at Utah on Tuesday night.

All five Kings starters scored in double figures, led by Zach Randolph with 18 points.

Sacramento had beaten the Warriors in their last meeting, taking advantage of the absences of Durant (sprained ankle) and Curry (bruised hand) to record a 110-106 win at Golden State in November.

The Kings also had beaten their Northern California rival in their most recent meeting in Sacramento, that coming last February in a 109-106 overtime affair.

The Warriors trailed by as many as 13 points in the first quarter, then led only 89-88 with 7:55 to go before getting five late 3-pointers, including two each by Durant and Nick Young, to pull away.

Young finished with 12 points, all coming on 4-for-6 shooting on 3-pointers.

Thompson also had four 3-pointers, while Curry added three.

Zaza Pachulia contributed a game-high 13 rebounds for the Warriors, who were playing the front end of a road back-to-back. They visit Denver on Saturday.

Justin Jackson (17), De'Aaron Fox (16), Buddy Hield (16), Willie Cauley-Stein (13) and Bogdan Bogdanovic (12) joined Randolph in double figures for the Kings, who were playing at home for the first time after a 3-3 trip that ended with three wins in their last four games.

Jackson and Hield had two 3-pointers each among the 10 the Kings converted. Bogdanovic had four.

Sacramento welcomed coach Dave Joerger back to the bench after he had to leave the team during its trip after experiencing light-headedness in a game against San Antonio on Sunday.

Assistant Elston Turner coached the Kings to their 114-103 win at New Orleans to complete the trip on Tuesday.

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NBA: Warriors advance to West finals after sweeping Jazz

LOS ANGELES -- Stephen Curry scored 30 points as the Golden State Warriors wrapped up a series sweep with a 121-95 rout of the Utah Jazz on Monday.

The Warriors advanced to a Western Conference finals showdown against either Houston or San Antonio after overcoming a fleeting Utah rally to take the series 4-0 at Salt Lake City's Vivint Smart Home Arena.

It was a second consecutive 4-0 series victory for the Warriors, who also notched a sweep against Portland in the opening round of the playoffs.

"We gotta good thing going, we're playing well," Curry said afterward.

"Tonight we had an opportunity to seal the deal and thankfully we came out on top," added Curry, praising the Warriors all-round offensive display.

"That's our approach to every game. We don't know who's going to have a hot night. We want to keep that going," he said.

The Warriors laid the foundation for the win with a devastating first quarter performance which saw them pour on 39 points to open up a double-digit lead against a shellshocked Utah.

The Jazz battled back to reduce the deficit to eight points at half-time at 60-52.

Utah remained in touching distance throughout the third period but the Warriors always looked capable of finding an extra gear when it mattered.

The decisive period came at the end of the third period when both Curry and Andre Iguodala both hit three-pointers in quick succession to help the Dubs pull away to 93-79 heading into the fourth quarter.

- Lessons through winning -

That burst of scoring was a foretaste of what was to follow in the fourth quarter, with the Warriors pulling further clear to wrap up victory by a 26-point margin.

Curry was one of five Warriors players to hit double figures, with Klay Thompson adding 21 points and Kevin Durant 18. Draymond Green added 17 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists for a triple-double.

For Utah, Gordon Hayward top scored with 25 points while Shelvin Mack had 18 and Dante Exum 15.

Curry meanwhile played down the suggestion that the Warriors may suffer deeper into the playoffs after romping through the first two rounds without dropping a game.

"Every team that we've played had a lot of pride," Curry said. "We haven't lost but within these games we've really had to check ourselves.

"You can learn lessons through winning and that's what we've done."

Jazz star Hayward, who may have played his last game for the team as he prepares for free agency, said Utah had been defeated by a "historically great team."

"They make you pay for your mistakes," Hayward told reporters. "You have to be almost perfect every possession, or else they turn it into a 9-0 run or 10-0 run.

"You can't have one mental lapse against them. This was a great learning experience for us. They showed why they are who they are, and we're not quite there yet. But you have to take positives from it."

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Durant propels Warriors past Jazz

LOS ANGELES -- Kevin Durant scored 38 points and the Golden State Warriors withstood a determined Utah effort to down the Jazz 102-91 on Saturday to take a commanding 3-0 lead in their NBA playoff series.

The Warriors will try to close out the best-of-seven Western Conference second-round series in game four on Monday in Salt Lake City.

The Jazz had hoped a return to their home floor on Saturday would spark a resurgence, and it briefly looked as if it had.

Although the Warriors got off to another fast start, leading by 10 after the first quarter, the Jazz, fueled by a standout performance from French center Rudy Gobert, responded.


They seized the lead for the first time in the series when they went up 48-47 in the second period, and led 50-49 at halftime.

The hosts stretched their lead to as many as nine in the third quarter before the Warriors reasserted themselves.

Durant did the heavy lifting as Stephen Curry connected on just six of 20 shots en route to 23 points and Klay Thompson made just one basket in scoring six points.

Trailing 75-74 early in the fourth, the Warriors launched a 10-4 scoring run to regain a lead they wouldn't relinquish.

The Warriors out-scored the Jazz by nine points in the final four minutes, Curry warming up late to contribute to the surge with a three-pointer that made it 89-84.

On the next possession Durant came off a screen and drained a pull-up three over Gobert to make it 92-84.

Not long after, Durant and Gobert were involved in a testy exchange, with Durant called for a flagrant foul and a technical. Gobert, however, missed both free throws.

Gobert finished the night with 21 points and 15 rebounds for the Jazz, who were led by Gordon Hayward's 29 points but still find themselves one defeat away from elimination.

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Warriors beat Jazz in overtime, Spurs still perfect at home

LOS ANGELES -- The Golden State Warriors kept their bid for a record-setting NBA regular season on track Wednesday with a 103-96 overtime victory over the Utah Jazz.

Stephen Curry scored 31 points and the Warriors overcame a double-digit, second-half deficit to notch a club record 68th win of the season. They have lost only seven games.

Klay Thompson forced overtime with a three-pointer with 15 seconds left in regulation.

He scored 18 points to help the Warriors edge closer to the NBA record 72 regular-season victories posted by the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls.

Golden State need five wins in their last seven games to surpass the record. They finish out the season with home games against Boston, Portland, Minnesota, San Antonio and Memphis, and road games at Memphis and San Antonio.

"I've said many times over the years that I didn't think that record would be broken, and it still may not be," said Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who played on that 1995-96 Chicago team. "We have a tough finish still to go in the last games.

"To be part of both situations is unreal."

Gordon Hayward scored 21 points and Rodney Hood added 20 points for the Jazz, who had won eight of 10 games.

The Nuggets are now tied with the Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks in a battle for the last two Western Conference playoff berths.

The Jazz were hurt by their performance from the free-throw line, making just 13 of 29 from the stripe.

Hayward gave the hosts an early lead in overtime, but Utah's offense then succumbed under pressure.

Curry scored six straight points in overtime and Draymond Green added a slam dunk for a 101-93 lead.



- Spurs still perfect at home -

While the Warriors continued to close in on the regular-season wins record, the San Antonio Spurs broke one mark set by that Michael Jordan-led Bulls team of 1995-96 with their 38th straight home win of the season without a defeat.

Argentine veteran Manu Ginobili scored 20 points, including nine in the fourth quarter to help the Spurs finish off a 100-92 triumph over the injury depleted New Orleans Pelicans.

The Spurs took control of the contest with a 22-9 scoring run spanning the end of the second quarter and first six minutes of the third.

The Spurs improved to 63-13, matching a franchise record for wins in a season.

The Spurs have won 47 straight regular-season games in San Antonio dating back to last year, the second-longest home winning streak ever behind the continuing 54-game home win streak of the Warriors.

Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green added 16 points each for the Spurs. LaMarcus Aldridge chipped in 11 points. Of 13 players who saw action for the Spurs, 12 of them scored. New Orleans, meanwhile, had just nine players in uniform. Seven of them scored in double figures, led by the 18 points of Alexis Ajinca.

- 50 win Raptors -

The Raptors notched a milestone victory in Toronto, downing the Atlanta Hawks 105-97 to reach 50 wins for a season for the first time in franchise history.

DeMar DeRozan led the Raptors with a game-high 26 points to go with six assists and five rebounds.

"It means everything to me," DeRozan said. "My whole career, I've been through the tough times, now to be called the winningest Raptors of all time and now to break a franchise record three years in a row -- it definitely means a lot to me."

Jonas Valanciunas added 19 points and nine rebounds, while Kyle Lowry, still nursing a right elbow injury, contributed 17 points, 11 assists and six rebounds.

- Clippers cruise past T'Wolves -

In Minneapolis, Chris Paul scored 20 points, handed out 16 assists and pulled down eight rebounds to lead the Los Angeles Clippers to a 99-79 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Clippers won their fourth straight, strengthening their grip on fourth place and the final home-court advantage berth in the Western Conference playoffs.

They are 6 1/2 games ahead of the injury-hit Memphis Grizzlies, who lost 109-105 at home to the Denver Nuggets and are now just two games in front of the Portland Trail Blazers for the fifth seed in the West.

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