WASHINGTON (AP) — Rob Dillingham scored a career-high 26 points and the Chicago Bulls ended a seven-game skid, pounding the NBA-worst Washington Wizards 129-98 on Tuesday night in the opener of a two-game set.
In the first game since they fired their top two basketball executives, the Bulls were in firm control by the end of the first quarter, leading 38-18 against a Washington team that’s seeking to maximize its odds of landing a top draft pick.
Chicago extended its lead to 66-37 by halftime and 100-63 by the end of the third against a Wizards team that appeared disinterested on defense. Patrick Williams added a season-high 20 points and Tre Jones had 20 points and nine assists for the Bulls, who play at Washington again on Thursday night.
TIMBERWOLVES 124, PACERS 104
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Ayo Dosunmu scored 24 points and Julius Randle and Bones Hyland each added 19 as Minnesota picked up a critical victory over Indiana.
Hyland also had seven assists and Rudy Gobert finished with 12 rebounds. Minnesota is on the cusp of clinching a top six seed and avoiding the Western Conference’s play-in tournament. It could happen later Tuesday — if Houston beats Phoenix. For the Timberwolves, it was a much-needed turnaround. They snapped a three-game losing streak and won for just the second time in six games as they try to build postseason momentum.
The Timberwolves also won despite the absences of All-Star guard Anthony Edwards and Jayden McDaniels. Edwards has missed nine of Minnesota’s last 11 games with a bad right knee, this time on the front end of a back-to-back and against a Pacers squad missing a large group of injured players. McDaniels missed his sixth straight game with an injured left knee.
Ethan Thompson scored 17 points to lead Indiana, and Obi Toppin and Jalen Slawson each had 14 points. The league’s second-worst team lost its third straight and fell to 4-22 in its last 26 games. Indiana still needs two wins to avoid posting the lowest single season victory total in the franchise’s NBA history.
NETS 96, BUCKS 90
NEW YORK (AP) — E.J. Liddell scored a career-high 21 points to lead Brooklyn to a victory over Milwaukee.
Ben Saraf added 19, while Drake Powell and Malachi Smith each had 11 for the Nets (20-59), who have won two straight and three of their last five.
AJ Green scored 20 points for Milwaukee, which dropped to 31-48. Taurean Prince added 16 points, Cormac Ryan chipped in with 14 and Jericho Sims had 12.
Five years after the Bucks edged the Nets in Game 7 of a thrilling second-round series on their way to the NBA championship, both teams are out of the playoff race and Milwaukee’s Doc Rivers indicated before the game he might not coach much longer.
RAPTORS 121, HEAT 95
TORONTO (AP) — Scottie Barnes scored 25 points, Brandon Ingram finished with 23 and Toronto beat Miami, an outcome that locked the Heat into the play-in tournament for a fourth consecutive season.
Jakob Poeltl scored 17 points for the Raptors (44-35), who moved within a game of idle Atlanta for the No. 5 spot in the Eastern Conference playoff chase. Toronto is aiming for its first playoff trip since 2022 and leads Philadelphia (43-36) by one game in the race for the sixth and final guaranteed berth in the East.
RJ Barrett scored 16 and Jamal Shead had 11 assists off the bench for Toronto.
A 19-2 run by the Raptors in the first half turned a two-point deficit into a 13-point lead, and Toronto maintained the double-digit margin virtually the entire rest of the way.
Andrew Wiggins scored 24 points for Miami (41-38), which now likely needs to win its final three games to have any realistic chance of escaping the No. 10 seed going into the play-in tournament for a second consecutive year.
CELTICS 113, HORNETS 102
BOSTON (AP) — Jaylen Brown had 35 points and nine rebounds, and Boston outlasted Charlotte.
Brown has scored 26 or more points in his last 10 games. Jayson Tatum added 23 points and has had at least 20 in each of his last six games. Both played the entire fourth quarter.
With the win, the Celtics inched closer to locking up the No. 2 playoff seed in the Eastern Conference. It also gave Boston a 2-1 win in the season series with the Hornets, who could potentially be its first-round opponent.
The Hornets led by 11 in the first half but were outscored 35-26 in the third quarter as Boston took a 90-87 edge into the final period. The Celtics limited the Hornets to 15 points in the fourth, when they built a 13-point lead.
LaMelo Ball led the Hornets with 36 points, his second straight 30-point game.
PELICANS 156, JAZZ 137
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Jeremiah Fears set a Pelicans rookie record for points in a game with 40, and New Orleans snapped an eight-game losing streak with a victory over Utah, who lost their 10th straight.
Fears, the seventh overall pick in the draft, shot 17 for 29 from the field and 1 for 7 from 3-point distance. Jordan Poole scored 34 points, including 22 in third quarter, when New Orleans set a franchise record for points in a period with 50. The Pelicans also set a franchise record for points in a game, despite playing without usual starters Zion Williamson, Trey Murphy III, Dejounte Murray, Herb Jones and Saddiq Bey.
While Murphy (right ankle) and Murray (bruised left hand) were injured, Williamson, Jones and Bey were all active, but were left on the bench for New Orleans’ final home game of a second-straight non-playoff season.
Poole, who has spent more than half the season on the bench, shot 7 of 16 from 3-point range in his seventh start for New Orleans.
Rookie Micah Peavy scored a season-high 20 points, 2023 first-round draft choice Jordan Hawkins added 25 points for New Orleans and 2025 first-rounder Derek Queen (13th overall) had 17 points and 12 rebounds as the Pelicans finished with a franchise-record 90 points in the paint.
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