Highlights of Wednesday's NBA games

[December 15, 2016]  Dec 14 (The Sports Xchange)

Rockets 132, Kings 98

James Harden matched the franchise record for career triple-doubles as the Houston Rockets blitzed the shorthanded Sacramento Kings 132-98 on Wednesday night.

The Rockets (19-7) won their eighth consecutive game and flirted with the NBA record for 3-pointers, hitting 22 of 42 from behind the arc.

Harden finished with 15 points, 14 assists and 11 rebounds to post his 14th career triple-double and match the mark set by Hall of Fame center Hakeem Olajuwon. Harden needed only 30 minutes to produce his fifth triple-double on the season.

The Kings (9-16) lost for the sixth time in eight games and played without center DeMarcus Cousins (rest), forward Rudy Gay (hip) and guard Ben McLemore (quad).

Raptors 123, 76ers 114

DeMar DeRozan scored 31 points, 23 over a blistering 15-minute stretch mid-game, as the Toronto Raptors beat the Philadelphia 76ers 123-114.

DeRozan, the NBA's fifth-leading scorer, was 11 of 18 from the floor and 9 of 11 from the foul line.

Kyle Lowry added 20 points, and Jonas Valanciunas 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Atlantic Division-leading Raptors (18-7), who won for the 10th time in 11 games.

The Sixers (6-19) dropped their seventh consecutive home game.

Grizzlies 93, Cavaliers 85

Center Marc Gasol posted a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds as the Memphis Grizzlies defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 93-85.

The Cavaliers (18-6) played without LeBron James, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving -- all of whom were rested and did not make the trip. Cleveland never led and trailed by 25 points in the fourth quarter.

Memphis (18-9) got a game-high 20 points from guard Troy Daniels off the bench and he hit 4 of 8 3-pointers.

Spurs 108, Celtics 101

Kawhi Leonard scored 26 points and Pau Gasol added 17 points and pulled down 13 rebounds as the San Antonio Spurs defeated the Boston Celtics 108-101.

The Spurs' Tony Parker had eight points in a two-and-a-half-minute stretch of the fourth quarter to help San Antonio (20-5) withstand a Celtics' comeback attempt.

Parker ended up with 16 points, 10 of them in the fourth quarter, while Manu Ginobili chimed in with 12.

Jazz 109, Thunder 89

Rodney Hood scored 25 points and Gordon Hayward added 17 to lead the Utah Jazz to a 109-89 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Utah (16-10) led from start to finish while shooting 58.3 percent from the field and 13-of-23 from 3-point range.

Russell Westbrook tallied 27 points, six rebounds and five assists for Oklahoma City (15-11), which lost for the third time in four games.

Clippers 113, Magic 108

Austin Rivers scored a season-high 25 points and hit seven 3-pointers while leading the Los Angeles Clippers to a 113-108 road victory over the Orlando Magic.

Rivers, who sat out Monday night after sustaining a concussion on Saturday, started just his second game of the season.

Heat 95, Pacers 89

Hassan Whiteside scored 26 points and grabbed 22 rebounds to lead the Miami Heat past the Indiana Pacers 95-89.

It was the fourth 20-20 game in Whiteside's career.

The Heat (9-17) improved to 4-8 at home.

The Pacers (13-13) are 1-10 in their past 11 games in Miami.

Wizards 109, Hornets 106

John Wall had 25 points, 10 assists and seven steals as the Washington Wizards used their highest scoring quarter of the season to help defeat the Charlotte Hornets 109-106.

Bradley Beal scored 18 of his 20 points in the second half and set a career high with nine assists for the Wizards (10-14). Washington outscored Charlotte 38-23 in the third quarter for an 87-77 lead and fended off the Hornets late.

The Hornets (14-12) lost their third straight despite shooting 51 percent from the field.

Nets 107, Lakers 97

Brook Lopez scored eight of his 20 points in the final seven minutes as the Brooklyn Nets did enough down the stretch to defeat the Los Angeles Lakers 107-97.

Bojan Bogdanovic led the Nets (7-17) with 23 points and Sean Kilpatrick added 22, but it was Lopez who did a bulk of the heavy lifting to give the Nets the win.

Pistons 95, Mavericks 85

Jon Leuer scored a season-high 19 points off the bench and the Detroit Pistons finished strongly to top the Dallas Mavericks 95-85.

The Pistons (14-13) were down 12 points in the third quarter before outscoring the Mavs 43-21 to the finish line.

(Editing by Andrew Both)

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