PORTLAND/ PHOENIX — Paul George scored 27 points, James Harden had 19 points and 14 assists and the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Portland Trail Blazers 116-103.
The victory gave the Clippers a one-game lead over the New Orleans Pelicans for the fourth seed in the Western Conference playoff picture.
Scoot Henderson had 18 points and five assists for Portland and fellow rookie Kris Murray had a season-high 17 points, AP reported.
The Clippers used a 34-point third quarter, which included 17 of Kawhi Leonard´s 24 points, to put the game out of reach.
After leading 60-50 at halftime, the Clippers took things into overdrive. Portland cut the Clippers´ lead to eight multiple times early in the third quarter before Los Angeles pushed the lead to 72-58, forcing a Blazers timeout.
Grayson Allen, elsewhere, scored 32 points and tied a career high with nine 3-pointers, leading the Phoenix Suns past the Philadelphia 76ers 115-102.
Allen made 10 of 17 shots from the field, including 9 of 15 from long range. He’s made at least eight 3-pointers in seven games this season, which is second in the NBA behind Golden State´s Stephen Curry.
“A lot of them were passes from (Devin) Booker and his pick and rolls tonight, early kick aheads, head up in transition,” Allen said. “I told him thank you when we were sitting on the bench after the game. I got a lot of good looks.
“Missed a few early, but the ball kept finding me and I just continued to let it fly.”
Kevin Durant added 22 points for the Suns while Booker had 18 points, nine rebounds and 11 assists, falling just shy of his first regular-season triple double.
It wasn’t always a pretty game for the Suns – they had 23 turnovers – but Durant wasn’t complaining.
“It’s about getting wins, man. We just want to win games,” Durant said. “I know it’s about how you win sometimes, but at this point of the season, we just need to add wins.”
The Sixers trailed by 26 points early in the fourth but cut the Suns’ lead to 102-91 with 5:15 left. Durant and Allen hit 3s on back-to-back possessions to turn back the rally.
Allen hit back-to-back 3s, sandwiched around a Durant bucket, to give the Suns an 81-64 lead with 4:32 left in the third. Phoenix finished the quarter on a 17-2 run for a 90-66 advantage heading into the fourth.
Philadelphia was led by Kelly Oubre Jr. with 18 points while Cameron Payne and Jeff Dowtin Jr. scored 12 each off the bench. The Sixers made just 7 of 18 (38%) free throws.
Chet Holmgren, also, scored 35 points and tied a career high with 14 rebounds and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the short-handed Utah Jazz 119-107.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 20 of his 31 points in the second half for the Thunder, who have the best record in the Western Conference at 48-20.
Alexander became the 13th player in NBA history to score 30 points or more in 50 games.
“Credit Utah, they really competed tonight,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “I thought they were the more physical team after the first six minutes of the game, and that really tested us.”
Collin Sexton had 25 points for Utah, which played without injured players Lauri Markkanen and Jordan Clarkson – two of the team´s top three scorers.
“I thought we played 42 good minutes tonight,” said Utah coach Will Hardy. “I was really proud of the team´s effort, competitiveness. I thought the first half was probably as good a half of basketball as we´ve played in a while, which shows some growth and maturity from the team.”
Pascal Siakam, meanwhile, had 25 points and eight rebounds, Tyrese Haliburton added 20 points and nine assists, and the Indiana Pacers routed the short-handed Detroit Pistons 122-103.
Aaron Nesmith added 14 points as the Pacers swept the four-game season series from the Pistons. The game was the first on Indiana´s five-game road trip.
Cade Cunningham had 23 points, 10 assists and six rebounds for Detroit, which lost its fourth straight.
