Celtics 97 (27-22), Knicks 89 (23-27)
Isaiah Thomas, who’ll be a first-time All-Star in just a couple of weeks, led the way for the Boston Celtics on the road Tuesday in Madison Square Garden. He finished with 20 points, 8 assists and 5 rebounds, while Evan Turner (14 points and 10 boards) and Tyler Zeller (16 points, 10 boards) contributed double-doubles. The Celtics were able to silence the Knicks, despite double-doubles from both Carmelo Anthony (16 points and 14 rebounds) and Robin Lopez (17 points and 13 rebounds) on a Tuesday night.
Rockets 115 (26-25), Heat 102 (27-22)
With their win at home in Houston on Tuesday, the Rockets got back into the win column. James Harden’s 26 points and career-high 14 assists certainly helped with that, as did the 16 three-pointers the Rockets team sank as a whole. Josh Smith added 19 points in the win that came despite a few fancy moves by Dwyane Wade.
Raptors 104 (33-16), Suns 97 (14-36)
The Toronto Raptors’ starting backcourt combined for 48 points on Tuesday, helping T-Dot bounce back from a bad loss to the Denver Nuggets on the previous night. The Tuesday night win came on the road in Phoenix. Kyle Lowry finished with 26 points, and DeMar DeRozan posted 22, spoiling Markieff Morris‘ season-high 30 points and 11 boards.
Trail Blazers 107 (24-26), Bucks 95 (20-31)
CJ McCollum scored 30 points on Tuesday night to lead the Portland Trail Blazers to a win over the visiting Milwaukee Bucks. Damian Lillard added 14 points and 12 assists in the Blazers’ fifth consecutive win. Tuesday’s game was one in which Portland trailed only a single time—the opening quarter after Milwaukee scored the first bucket. Once POR tied and took the lead in those beginning minutes, the West Coast team never looked back.
Lakers 119 (10-41), Timberwolves 115 (14-36)
Kobe Bryant played his final time against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday—and man!—did the Black Mamba put on a show at Staples. Kobe finished the game with a season-high 38 points, as he shot 7-11 from the three-point line to end Los Angeles’ 10-game losing streak.
Lou Williams added 20 for L.A., and Andrew Wiggins finished with 30 points in the loss.
