Chris Paul had 15 points and
nine assists and Trevor Ariza had 16 points for New Orleans, which snapped a
two-game skid.
Smith was starting for center
Emeka Okafor , whose left oblique muscle strain kept him out for the first time
in 306 games. The 7-foot Smith, normally a reserve power forward, looked
comfortable filling in at center, hitting his first nine shots.
Nick Young scored 30 points
for Washington, which trailed by double digits most of the second half in
losing its sixth straight overall.
Andray Blatche had 21 points
and nine rebounds, and Kirk Hinrich added 10 points for the Wizards, who are
four road losses from matching the 1992-93 Dallas Mavericks’ NBA worst 0-29
start on the road.
Trail Blazers 99 Spurs 86: In Portland, Oregon, LaMarcus
Aldridge had a career-high 40 points along with 11 rebounds for Portland
against NBA-leading San Antonio.
Wesley Matthews added 21
points for the Blazers, who snapped a two-game losing streak.
Manu Ginobili had 14 points
for the Spurs, who have lost only eight games this season.
Gary Neal’s 3-pointer for San
Antonio tied it at 78, but Aldridge’s layup and Wesley Matthew’s scoop gave
Portland its biggest lead of the game so far at 82-78 with 7:03 left.
It was the first game of the
Spurs’ “Rodeo Road Trip,” the team’s annual junket while the AT&T Center
hosts the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo. The next stop on the nine-game trip
is the highly anticipated matchup with the defending NBA champion Los Angeles
Lakers on Thursday.
Celtics 95 Kings 90: In
Sacramento, California, Ray Allen scored
22 points and Rajon Rondo had 17 points and 10 assists as Boston overcame a
slow start.
Paul Pierce added 15 points
and Kevin Garnett had 12 to help the Celtics (37-11) pull away in the fourth
quarter and clinch the Eastern Conference’s best record through games of Feb.
6. That means Boston’s Doc Rivers will coach the East in the All-Star game in
Los Angeles on Feb. 20.
DeMarcus Cousins and Tyreke
Evans finished with 20 points apiece for a Kings team that returned to its
losing form. They were coming off wins against two of the Western Conference’s
elite — the Los Angeles Lakers and New Orleans Hornets — but missed out on
their first three-game winning streak this season.
Glen Davis’ fastbreak dunk
highlighted the run that put Boston ahead 87-77 with 6 minutes remaining.
Lakers 114, Rockets 106, OT:
In Los Angeles, Kobe Bryant scored 32 points and Pau Gasol hit the go-ahead layup
with 1:04 left in overtime, and Los Angeles bounced back from consecutive home
losses.
Gasol had 26 points and 16
rebounds, and Lamar Odom had 20 points and a season-high 20 rebounds in his
return to the Lakers’ starting lineup.
The two-time defending NBA
champions finished their first overtime of the season on a 10-2 run, barely
holding off injury-depleted Houston.
Luis Scola hit a tying layup
with 5.5 seconds left in regulation for the Rockets, who have lost three
straight.
Kevin Martin scored 30 points
and Scola added 24 points and 15 rebounds as Houston launched a season-high 38
3-point attempts. The Rockets made just 10 3-pointers on the third stop of a
four-game road trip.
