Ronnie Brewer, centre, of the Chicago Bulls celebrates with his team late in the fourth quarter against the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday. (Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images)
Bulls 76, Hawks 74
CHICAGO — Luol Deng's layup with 3.7 seconds to play lifted the Chicago Bulls to a 76-74 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night.
Derrick Rose scored 17 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter to rally the Bulls from a 19-point deficit. Coming out of a timeout with the score tied in the final seconds, Deng cut along the baseline and took a feed from Joakim Noah to put Chicago ahead.
Atlanta's Joe Johnson shot an airball at the buzzer, giving the Bulls the win.
Rose missed a runner with 21 seconds left, but Atlanta's Jeff Teague missed two free throws. Rose then drove past Teague and scored over the Hawks' Josh Smith with 9.9 seconds left to put the Bulls up 74-73.
Al Horford, who led the Hawks with 16 points, was fouled and split two free throws with 7.7 seconds remaining.
Cavaliers 115, Bobcats 101
CLEVELAND — Kyrie Irving scored 20 points and fellow rookie Tristan Thompson added 16, leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 115-101 win over the Charlotte Bobcats on Tuesday night.
Cleveland continued its strong three-point shooting, making 10 of 21 from behind the arc. The Cavaliers made 16 of 26 attempts from three-point range Sunday, falling one short of the team record in a 98-82 home win over New Jersey. Back-to-back three-pointers by Daniel Gibson gave the Cavaliers a 103-86 lead midway through the fourth quarter.
Antawn Jamison added 19 points for Cleveland.
Charlotte has lost four straight since opening with a 96-95 home win over Milwaukee on Dec. 26. D.J. Augustin scored a season-high 26 points for the Bobcats.
Grizzlies 113, Kings 96
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Rudy Gay scored 23 points, Sam Young added 20 and the Memphis Grizzlies beat the Sacramento Kings 113-96 on Tuesday night.
O.J. Mayo had 16 points, and Mike Conley — returning from an ankle injury — and Marc Gasol scored 14 points each. Tony Allen added 10 points. Gasol also had 15 rebounds as Memphis out-rebounded Sacramento 49-41. Tony Allen had 10 points.
With Memphis holding a double-digit lead for a bulk of the second half, the Kings' reserves got extended minutes.
Jimmer Fredette scored 17 points and fellow rookie Isaiah Thomas had 15 to lead Sacramento as the Kings' reserves got extended minutes.
J.J. Hickson was the only Sacramento starter to reach double figures, scoring 12 points. Travis Outlaw added 11.
Trail Blazers 103, Thunder 93
OKLAHOMA CITY — LaMarcus Aldridge had 30 points and eight rebounds to help the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 103-93 on Tuesday night.
Wesley Matthews added 16 points for the Blazers, who held Oklahoma City to 34 per cent shooting in the second half to push ahead on an off night for all-stars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook.
Westbrook scored 22 points on 8-for-18 shooting and Durant finished with 19 points while hitting 8 of 26 shots. James Harden made his sixth career start in place of Thabo Sefolosha and led the way for the Thunder with 23 points.
Oklahoma City started the season 5-0 before losing for the second straight night.
Jazz 85, Bucks 73
SALT LAKE CITY — Al Jefferson scored a season-high 26 points to lead the Utah Jazz to an 85-73 win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday night.
Paul Millsap had 13 points and 12 rebounds and Gordon Hayward added 12 points for the Jazz. Hayward scored five points on back-to-back possessions and Millsap added a jumper on the next offensive set to clinch the game with 1:07 to play.
Drew Gooden had 24 points and 12 rebounds for the Bucks but didn't have the inside presence of centre Andrew Bogut as the Jazz had plenty of point-blank looks at the basket. Bogut missed the game due to personal matters and Mike Dunleavy was out with groin pain.
Led by Brandon Jennings' 4-for-19 performance, the Bucks shot just 31 per cent and had 10 shots blocked by the Jazz, including a career-best five by Derrick Favors.
Lakers 108, Rockets 99
LOS ANGELES — Kobe Bryant scored 37 points, Andrew Bynum had 21 points and 22 rebounds in the first 20-20 game of his career, and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Houston Rockets 108-99 Tuesday night for their fourth victory in five games.
Pau Gasol scored 14 points for the Lakers against the franchise that tried to acquire him in a three-team trade in the offseason, and the Lakers survived a tight fourth quarter with Bryant's brilliance and tough defence, holding the Rockets without a field goal for just under six minutes.
Kobe eventually took over, scoring seven consecutive points down the stretch of the Lakers' third straight win over the Rockets at home.
Kyle Lowry scored 22 points and Luis Scola added 20 for the Rockets.
