Harden, Lin spark Rockets to win over Bulls

Agence France-Presse · Wednesday, December 26, 2012 · 1:48 pm

Reuters

CHICAGO – James Harden scored 26 points and Jeremy Lin added 20 points and 11 assists to spark the Houston Rockets to a 120-97 NBA victory over the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday.
The Rockets improved to 15-12, sixth in the Western Conference, with their fourth victory in a row, a streak that began in New York when Lin returned to beat his former Knicks teammates at Madison Square Garden earlier this month.
Asian American star Lin, whose parents are from Taiwan, came off the Knicks bench last February to ignite a win streak for the club with shooting and clutch play that touched off a global phenomenon dubbed “Lin-sanity.”
Chandler Parsons added 23 points for the Rockets, who outscored the Bulls 31-19 in the second quarter and 36-27 in the third period, pulling ahead by as much as 86-51 late in the third quarter.
Nate Robinson led the Bulls with 21 points, while Italy’s Marco Belinelli added 15 points and Britain’s Luol Deng contributed 14 for the Bulls, who fell to 15-12, falling behind Indiana (16-12) in the fight for the Central division lead.

Source:InterAKTV

Durant scores 41 as Thunder edge Hawks for 12th straight win

Agence France-Presse · Thursday, December 20, 2012 · 2:14 pm

Reuters

ATLANTA – Kevin Durant scored 41 points and grabbed 13 rebounds and the Oklahoma City Thunder stretched its NBA win streak to 12 games by defeating the Atlanta Hawks 100-92 on Wednesday.
Durant hit 14-of-23 shots from the field and 9-of-10 from the free throw line while London Olympic gold medal teammate Russell Westbrook added 27 points and 11 assists for the Thunder, who improved to an NBA-best 21-4 overall.
Serge Ibaka, whose Spanish side lost to Durant and the Americans in the final for the second Olympics in a row, contributed 14 rebounds for Oklahoma City.
Jeff Teague led Atlanta with 19 points and 12 rebounds while Josh Smith added 17 points and nine assists and Zaza Pachulia had 10 rebounds for the Hawks, who fell to 15-8.
Oklahoma City led 55-41 at half-time but the host Hawks pulled within 73-66 entering the fourth quarter only to falter in the final minutes.


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Melo returns from injury, leads Knicks past Nets

Agence France-Presse · Thursday, December 20, 2012 · 2:02 pm

Reuters

NEW YORK – Carmelo Anthony returned from a two-game absence with a sprained left ankle by scoring 31 points to power the New York Knicks over the Brooklyn Nets 100-86 on Wednesday in an matchup of NBA rivals.
Anthony injured his ankle in a fall last week in a victory over the Los Angeles Lakers and sat out last Saturday’s victory over Cleveland and a 109-96 home loss on Monday to former teammate Jeremy Lin and the Houston Rockets.
Tyson Chandler added 16 points and 12 rebounds for New York while J.R. Smith scored 19 points in support of Anthony, who made 12 of his 22 shots.
The Nets led 61-57 before the Knicks closed the third quarter with an 18-6 run to seize a 75-67 advantage.
“Right now we’re playing in a great rhythm,” Anthony said. “Guys are trusting each other, making the extra pass, and we’re making some great shots.”
New York’s defense kept the Nets to 38 points in the second half.
“The last couple games, we thought we had been slipping on defense,” Anthony said. “We did it tonight on defense. We locked down in the second half and got some points and we won.”
The Knicks, missing injured star Amare Stoudemire, improved to 19-6, the top record in the Eastern Conference, and have lost only once in 12 home games. Brooklyn fell to 13-12, six games behind New York in the Atlantic division.
Joe Johnson led the Nets with 17 points while Deron Williams added 16 points and 10 assists and Brook Lopez scored 16 points and contributed 10 rebounds for Brooklyn, which lost for the eighth time in 10 games.
The Manhattan-based Knicks and the Nets, who moved to New York from New Jersey earlier this year, met for the third time in 24 days, with the Knicks having won two of the three, and their last meeting set for January 21.
“I think the NBA was trying to get it over with quick, setting us up like this — three times in the first two months,” Anthony said. “They are not going nowhere. We’re not going nowhere. This will be here for a long, long time.”

http://www.interaksyon.com/interaktv/melo-returns-from-injury-leads-knicks-past-nets