Jordan Clarkson shines as Jazz blast Hornets
Credit to Author: Agence France-Presse| Date: Sat, 11 Jan 2020 16:17:52 +0000
LOS ANGELES: Jordan Clarkson scored 20 points as the Utah Jazz extended their league leading winning streak to eight games with a 102-92 win over the Charlotte Hornets.
The Jazz started fast and never let up, winning their sixth consecutive home game and improving to 26-12 on the season in front of a crowd of 18,300 at Vivint Smart Arena.
Rudy Gobert added 15 points with 13 rebounds, Bojan Bogdanovic scored 16 points and Georges Niang added 15 for the Jazz, who now head out on a three-game road trip through Washington, Brooklyn and New Orleans.
Terry Rozier scored 23 points and Miles Bridges added 11 as the Hornets lost their third consecutive game and lost for the ninth time in their last 11 games.
LeBron James, meanwhile, finished with 35 points and 16 rebounds while battling a virus as the Los Angeles Lakers won their seventh straight game with a 129-114 win over the Dallas Mavericks.
The flu-weakened James was a questionable start against Dallas, but the Lakers couldn’t afford to be without him as they were already missing their leading scorer Anthony Davis because of an injury.
James now has made 12,197 field goals to move closer to Wilt Chamberlain, who is in third place with 12,681.
Davis, who leads the team in scoring with a 27.1 average, took a hard fall against the New York Knicks and suffered a bruised behind.
Both clubs were without key players on Friday. The Mavericks have played their past six games without 7-foot-3 forward Kristaps Porzingis (right knee soreness), who is second on the team in scoring with a 17.3 average.
Leading scorer Luka Doncic finished with 25 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists but once again the Lakers tried to take the young star off his game by bumping him every chance they got. Doncic finished with six turnovers.
Elsewhere, red-hot power forward Brandon Ingram scored a game high 28 points as the New Orleans Pelicans handed the New York Knicks their fifth straight NBA defeat with a 123-111 win.
In Washington, Jordan McRae scored 29 points and the short-handed Washington Wizards overcame a six-point fourth quarter deficit to defeat the visiting Atlanta Hawks 111-101.