MILWAUKEE – Larry Sanders had 18 points, 16 rebounds and five blocked shots Saturday night, and the Milwaukee Bucks rallied for a 91-88 victory after the Boston Celtics scored the first 17 points.
Monta Ellis had 17 points and seven assists for the Bucks, and Ersan Ilyasova added 15 points and five rebounds. Brandon Jennings had a big 3-pointer in the fourth quarter.
Additional Photos
Paul Pierce paced the Celtics with 19 points. Kevin Garnett added 17 points and seven rebounds.
Boston played without point guard Rajon Rondo, who served the second of his two-game suspension for his role in a scuffle during a Wednesday night game against the Brooklyn Nets. Courtney Lee, who started in Rondo’s place, had 13 points, and Jason Terry finished with 15 points and 11 assists.
Jeff Green and Pierce hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Celts an 88-85 lead with 1:44 left. Sanders then had a dunk and Jennings drained a 3 to get the lead back for Milwaukee.
Another missed shot and a foul by Boston put Sanders at the line. He hit 1 of 2 free throws to make it 91-88 with 11 seconds remaining. Pierce and Terry missed 3-point attempts in the waning seconds.
Boston was 6 of 19 from beyond the arc, including 2 of 9 by Terry.
The Celtics opened with a 17-0 run. Milwaukee missed its first six shots. The drought ended when Ilyasova sank a jump shot with about 6:30 remaining in the quarter. The Bucks’ problems in the opening minutes included an air ball at the line by rookie forward John Henson.
Boston led 27-11 after one quarter, but the Bucks rallied in the second quarter and trailed 48-47 at halftime. The score was 69-69 after three.
Bucks Coach Scott Skiles juggled his starting lineup, inserting Marquis Daniels and Ekpe Udoh. The Bucks also played without key reserves Beno Udrih and Mike Dunleavy, both of whom sustained injuries in Friday night’s loss to Minnesota. Udrih is expected to miss 1 to 2 weeks with an ankle injury, and Dunleavy attempted to play against the Celtics but couldn’t because of lingering knee soreness, according to Skiles.
SPURS 99, GRIZZLIES 95: Tony Parker scored 30 points, and Tim Duncan had 27 points and 15 rebounds as San Antonio won in overtime at home.
Marc Gasol led Memphis with 20 points.
THUNDER 100, HORNETS 79: Kevin Durant scored 20 points, Russell Westbrook added 18 points and 10 assists, and Oklahoma City won at New Orleans for its fifth straight victory.
Durant and Westbrook did all their work in the first three quarters, resting for the final quarter after helping their club build a 27-point lead.
BULLS 93, 76ERS 88: Luol Deng scored 25 points for Chicago at home.
Deng also had a season-high seven assists and has led the team in scoring in consecutive games. He scored 22 in a 101-78 victory against Dallas.
ROCKETS 124, JAZZ 116: Patrick Patterson scored 20 points, and Chandler Parsons and Jeremy Lin added 19 apiece for Houston at home.
James Harden scored 18 points, and Greg Smith and Carlos Delfino added 13 apiece for the Rockets, who shot 55 percent (46 of 83) and hit half their 3-point shots (11 of 22).
HEAT 102, NETS 89: Dwyane Wade scored a season-high 34 points, LeBron James added 21 and Miami rallied from a 14-point deficit at home.
Ray Allen scored 13 and Norris Cole finished with 12 for the Heat, who won their sixth straight and remained atop the Eastern Conference. Miami held Brooklyn to 30 points in the second half.
MAVERICKS 92, PISTONS 77: O.J. Mayo broke out of a shooting slump with 27 points as Dallas won at home.
Mayo was coming off consecutive games with season lows and started 0 of 4 before taking over in the third quarter. He scored 16 points in a 17-4 run that reached 25-6 as Dallas snapped a three-game losing streak.
NOTES
HAWKS: Atlanta assigned rookies John Jenkins and Mike Scott to its Bakersfield D-League affiliate.
Neither first-year player has seen significant playing time.
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.