TORONTO – Lenny Wilkens set the NBA record for most career coaching losses, dropping his 1,107th game Friday night as Malik Rose scored 23 points to lead the San Antonio Spurs past the Toronto Raptors 124-98.
Wilkens, already the winningest coach in league history with 1,292 victories, surpassed Bill Fitch’s record with one of the Raptors’ most lopsided losses of the season.
Stephen Jackson added 22 points for the Spurs, who shot 77.1 percent in the first half. San Antonio has won eight straight overall and 16 of 17 on the road.
Tim Duncan had 13 points and eight rebounds before leaving the game late in the first half with a mildly sprained right ankle. A Spurs spokesman said Duncan would have played in the second half if the game wasn’t a blowout.
Bucks 95, Cavaliers 93
MILWAUKEE – Michael Redd scored 22 points and combined with Toni Kukoc to dominate the second half as the Milwaukee Bucks moved closer to a playoff berth by beating the Cleveland Cavaliers 95-93 Friday night.
The Bucks, who have five games remaining, reduced their magic number to three over Washington in the race for a playoff berth. Milwaukee victories and/or Washington losses totaling three gives the berth to the Bucks.
Desmond Mason scored 18 points, and Kukoc had all but two of his 17 points in the second half for the Bucks, who didn’t put the Cavaliers away until the final seconds.
Ricky Davis scored 23 points and Zydrunas Ilgauskas 18 for the Cavaliers, who lost their 18th straight on the road.
Rockets 88, 76ers 79
PHILADELPHIA – Yao Ming had 20 points and 13 rebounds, and the Houston Rockets capitalized on an injury to Keith Van Horn and a poor game by Allen Iverson to defeat the Philadelphia 76ers 88-79 Friday night.
Iverson missed 19 of his 23 shots, including his final 16, and finished with just eight points – all in the first quarter. He wasn’t fouled and missed his only free throw.
The Sixers lost Van Horn to a sprained left foot in the second quarter. X-rays were negative, but Van Horn was to have an MRI and didn’t return.
James Posey added 19 points and 12 rebounds as the Rockets moved within one game of Phoenix for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Kenny Thomas had 17 points and 10 rebounds and Eric Snow added 17 points for the Sixers, who had their three-game winning streak snapped and dropped to 20-6 since the All-Star break. The Sixers began the night just a half-game behind first-place New Jersey in the Atlantic Division.
Nets 99, Heat 83
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Jason Kidd scored 13 of his 30 points in the third quarter to hold off a Miami rally and lead the New Jersey Nets to a 99-83 victory over the Heat on Friday night.
Richard Jefferson added 18 points and Rodney Rogers came off the bench for 12 as the Nets swept the four-game season series from Miami for the first time.
Brian Grant had 23 points and eight rebounds and Caron Butler had 15 points for Miami, which lost its fourth straight overall and seventh straight on the road.
The Heat, who trailed by as many as 16 points in the second quarter and by 13 in the opening minutes of the second half, made it a game by scoring 10 straight points to close to 58-55 on a jumper by Anthony Carter with 5:47 left in the quarter.
After Eddie House missed a chance to tie the game with a 3-pointer, Kidd took over.
Lakers 102, Grizzlies 101
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Kobe Bryant hit a 21-footer as time expired Friday night, completing the Lakers’ comeback from a 23-point fourth-quarter deficit as Los Angeles defeated the Memphis Grizzlies 102-101 Friday night.
Bryant’s basket from the top of the key came off Robert Horry’s inbounds pass with 3.3 seconds remaining. It gave Bryant 21 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter.
Shaquille O’Neal led the Lakers with 33 points and 19 rebounds, hitting 13 of his 20 shots from the floor. Los Angeles won for the sixth time in seven games.
Pacers 98, Pistons 92
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – Jermaine O’Neal had 29 points and 13 rebounds and Ron Artest scored 20 to lead a second-half comeback as the Indiana Pacers beat the Detroit Pistons 98-92 Friday night.
Indiana has won four of its last five games after losing 15 of 19 to pull within 21/2 games of Detroit in the Central Division. The Eastern Conference-leading Pistons have just a half-game lead over New Jersey after losing three of five.
Chauncey Billups led the Pistons with 27 points and Richard Hamilton added 22.
After trailing for much of the game, Indiana took control with a 13-2 run over the final minute of the third quarter and the first few minutes of the fourth to go ahead 88-80.
Reggie Miller scored 12 of his 20 points in the first quarter and O’Neal had 15 in the second. Artest scored 16 in the third after a scoreless first half.
Knicks 94, Jazz 92
SALT LAKE CITY – Allan Houston made a 15-foot jump shot with 4.4 seconds left in overtime as New York kept the Utah Jazz from clinching a playoff berth with a 94-92 victory Friday night.
Houston finished with 27 points and Kurt Thomas added 20 points and blocked John Stockton’s tying attempt at the end of overtime. The Knicks, who blew a 10-point lead late in the fourth quarter, held the Jazz to 1-for-11 shooting in the OT.
Karl Malone led Utah with 23 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists. Andrei Kirilenko added 16 points and 12 rebounds, Greg Ostertag pulled down 11 rebounds and Matt Harpring had 12 points and 10 rebounds.
The Jazz held a 59-39 rebounding advantage that didn’t make up for poor shooting down the stretch.
Utah could have clinched a 20th straight playoff berth with a win.
With the loss and the Lakers’ win over Memphis, the Jazz dropped to seventh place in the Western Conference.
MORE
AP-ES-04-04-03 2348EST
Send questions/comments to the editors.
