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Grizzlies Beat Spurs in Triple Overtime

Memphis prevailed in a triple-overtime classic at San Antonio on Wednesday, blowing a 23-point lead before recovering to eke out a 117-116 victory over the NBA champions, a day after ending Golden State's 16-game winning streak.

The Grizzlies moved within half a game of the Warriors for the overall league lead and moved 4-1/2 games ahead of the Spurs, a Southwest Division rival.

Elsewhere, Portland pulled away late to defeat Milwaukee, Atlanta cruised to a big win at Cleveland to extend its strong form run, and Toronto opened a nine-game lead in the Atlantic Division by beating nearest rival Brooklyn.

Memphis' Marc Gasol scored 26 points, including a banked-in 3-pointer as regulation expired, while Zach Randolph had 21 points and 21 rebounds in the Grizzlies' sixth straight victory.

Danny Green scored 25 points, and Tim Duncan had 23 points and 16 rebounds for San Antonio. His jumper rattled in to force the third OT, but he finished just 5 for 15 on free throws.

Manu Ginobili added 21 points, but shot an airball on a 3-pointer in the final seconds for the Spurs.

Portland pulled away in the fourth quarter to down Milwaukee 104-97, with both teams reeling from injuries.

LaMarcus Aldridge had 23 points and 15 rebounds while Damian Lillard added 29 points and seven assists for the Blazers, who lost starting center Robin Lopez to a broken hand on Monday.

Brandon Knight had 24 points for the Bucks, who were without Jabari Parker. The heralded rookie will miss the rest of the season with a knee injury suffered on Monday.

Atlanta made it 11 wins from 12 with a 127-98 victory at Cleveland, dominating the second half of the match after being down 12 points during the second quarter.

Reserve guard Shelvin Mack scored a career-high 24 points for the Hawks, having averaged 3.8 points per game for the season. He made all six of his 3-pointers as the Hawks went 16 for 28 from behind the arc.

LeBron James scored 21 points for Cleveland, but didn't play in the fourth quarter with the result beyond the hosts.

Toronto used a big fourth quarter to overrun Brooklyn 105-89.

Kyle Lowry had 20 points and 12 assists while Jonas Valanciunas added 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Raptors in the first meeting of the teams since the Nets won in the first round of playoffs last season.

Mason Plumlee had a career-high 23 points for Brooklyn, which went 5-of-13 in both field-goal and free-throw attempts in the fourth.

Toronto reached 20 wins before Christmas for the first time in its 20-year history.

Houston's James Harden scored 41 points, including eight in overtime, as the Rockets beat Denver 115-111.

Arron Afflalo had tied the game for the Rockets with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer at the end of regulation.

Patrick Beverley sealed Houston's seventh win in eight games by hitting four straight free throws in the final 17.8 seconds. Harden had a big game at the line, too, hitting 18 of 21.

Los Angeles' Blake Griffin had 31 points and 16 rebounds as the Clippers edged Indiana 102-100.

Dallas' Chandler Parsons scored a season-high 32 points to lead the Mavericks to a 117-106 win against Detroit.

Utah's Gordon Hayward scored 29 points in the Jazz's 105-87 win at Miami, which got 42 points from Dwyane Wade.

Phoenix ended a run of six consecutive defeats by winning 111-106 at Charlotte, with reserve guard Isaiah Thomas scoring 23 points.

Boston had a comfortable 109-92 home win over Orlando, with an even spread of scoring in which no player scored more than 18.

Source: Associated Press


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