Washington’s Bradley Beal drives against Knicks center Isaiah Hartenstein in the second half Wednesday night at New York. Mary Altaffer/Associated Press
NEW YORK — Kyle Kuzma scored 27 points, Bradley Beal had 18 in his return from a five-game absence and the Washington Wizards never trailed in a 116-105 victory over the New York Knicks on Wednesday night.
Kristaps Porzingis had 22 points, 11 rebounds and five assists against his former team, helping the Wizards get off a fast start and play from ahead all night.
Kuzma, who scored a season-high 40 points in a loss to the Knicks last Friday, had 13 rebounds and seven assists.
Kuzma didn’t need to score as much this time thanks to the return of Beal, Washington’s leading scorer who shot 7 for 11 after being sidelined by a strained left hamstring. The Wizards went 1-4 without him and had dropped two in a row.
Beal made his first shot to send Washington to a 7-0 lead that quickly grew to 14-3 and later 19-5. Porzingis hit two 3-pointers and scored eight points in the early flurry.
Jalen Brunson scored 32 points and RJ Barrett 21 had for the Knicks, who have lost two straight home games to teams behind them in the standings this week after a stretch of seven wins in eight games.
HAWKS 130, MAVS 122: Dejounte Murray scored 30 points, Trae Young had 18 points and 12 assists in another matchup with Luka Doncic and Atlanta won at Dallas.
John Collins added 19 points as the Hawks won a season-best fourth consecutive game to get over .500 (23-22) for the first time since Dec. 27.
Doncic scored 30 points but fell to 4-3 in head-to-head meetings with Young since they were traded for each other as top-five picks on draft night in 2018.
Doncic went third overall and Young fifth.
HEAT 124, PELICANS 98: Bam Adebayo scored 26 points and visiting Miami led comfortably from the first quarter in beating New Orleans.
Jimmy Butler added 18 points and Gabe Vincent hit four 3-pointers as part of a 16-point night for the Heat.
CJ McCollum scored 21 points for Pelicans. They’ve lost 7 of 10 while playing much of that stretch without star power forward Zion Williamson.
THUNDER 126, PACERS 106: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Isaiah Joe each scored 23 points and host Oklahoma City rolled past Indiana for its fourth straight victory.
Joe, a reserve, tied a career high with seven made 3-pointers in just 22 minutes.
Lu Dort had 22 points and a career-high 11 rebounds and Kenrich Williams added 12 points and a career-best 10 assists for the Thunder. Oklahoma City shot 50.5% from the field and made 16 of 38 3-pointers.
All four of Oklahoma City’s victories during the streak have been by double digits. The Thunder are 7-2 in 2023.
Andrew Nembhard scored 18 points for the Pacers, who lost their fifth straight.
HORNETS 122, ROCKETS 117: Terry Rozier scored 26 points and visiting Charlotte held off reeling Houston to snap a five-game skid after LaMelo Ball injured his left ankle again.
The Hornets, who have the worst record in the Eastern Conference, got their first win since Jan. 6 over the hapless Rockets. Houston, which has the NBA’s worst record and hasn’t won since Dec. 26, has lost a season-high 12 straight.
Jalen Green tied a career high with 41 points to lead the Rockets. .
Ball sprained his left ankle, another blow to a Hornets team already missing Kelly Oubre Jr., who is out after hand surgery.
Ball was injured when P.J. Washington landed on him after jumping to try for a rebound with about nine minutes left in the third quarter. Ball appeared to be in a lot of pain and didn’t put any weight on his left leg as he was helped to the locker room.
It’s the third time this season Ball has injured the same ankle. The flashy guard missed part of the preseason and the first 13 games of the regular season after spraining it the first time.
He played just three games before spraining it again on Nov. 16 when he stepped on a fan’s foot late in a game against Indiana. That time he missed 11 games with the injury.
GRIZZLIES 115, CAVALIERS 114: Desmond Bane scored 25 points, Ja Morant had 24 and host Memphis won its 11th straight game to match the franchise record, beating Cleveland/
Steven Adams tipped in the winner with 16 seconds left. Adams was in position to tip in a miss by Morant, and Dillon Brooks preserved the victory by blocking Garland’s 3-point try at the buzzer.
Darius Garland led Cleveland with 24 points, Caris LeVert had 23,and Evan Mobley added 18 points and 15 rebounds. Cleveland played without scoring leader Donovan Mitchell because of a strained left groin.
Memphis tied the franchise record set last season during roughly the same time of year (Dec. 26, 2021, to Jan. 13, 2022). The Grizzlies also scored 115 points or more points for the 11th straight game.
NOTES
SUNS: Forward Cam Johnson is expected to make his return from a knee injury on Thursday against the Brooklyn Nets.
Johnson’s return would be welcome good news for the Suns, who have been decimated by injuries and have fallen to 21-24 for the season, which ranks 12th in the Western Conference.
Johnson was averaging 13 points per game in his first season as a starter, but tore the meniscus in his right knee on Nov. 4 and has missed more than two months.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.