Bulls rally to shock Rockets

HOUSTON — The Chicago Bulls rallied from a 14-point third-quarter deficit to shock the Houston Rockets 103-100 Thursday and boost their NBA playoff hopes. Nikola Mirotic drained a go-ahead three-pointer with less than three minutes to play and Houston’s Trevor Ariza saw an attempted game-tying three-pointer fail at the buzzer. Mirotic scored a game-high 28 points. His three-pointer from the corner with 2:56 remaining put the Bulls up 92-91 and was followed by a dunk from Jimmy Butler and a three-pointer from E’Twaun Moore that stretched Chicago’s lead to 97-91 with 1:30 remaining. “We’re fighting for our lives,” said Chicago coach Fred Hoiberg of the crucial win in a game between two teams jockeying for the final playoff spots in their respective conferences. The Bulls were without Taj Gibson, who has a broken rib, and Derrick Rose didn’t play the second half because of his bruised left elbow. But the Bulls reserves scored 67 points and Chicago out-scored the Rockets 32-20 in the fourth quarter to come up with the win. The Bulls now trail Indiana by one game for the eighth and last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Pacers fell 114-94 to the Orlando Magic in Indianapolis on Thursday, and Chicago hold the tiebreaker over Indiana. James Harden led the Rockets with 24 points. Houston are half a game behind Utah and Dallas, who with matching records of 37-38 occupy the last two spots in the West. Cavaliers 107, Nets 87 LeBron James scored 24 points to move into 12th place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list and the Cleveland Cavaliers hammered the Brooklyn Nets 107-87. James, who also recorded 11 assists, has 26,689 points to move ahead of Dominique Wilkins. He remains 21 points behind Oscar Robertson for 11th and can surpass him Friday when Cleveland plays at Atlanta. Kevin Love had 19 points and 10 rebounds and Channing Frye scored 13 points off the bench for the Cavaliers, who lost to the Nets last weekend on the road. Thaddeus Young had 18 points and eight rebounds for the Nets. Thunder 119, Clippers 117 Kevin Durant scored 31 points to lead Oklahoma City to a victory over short-handed Los Angeles. Durant shot 10-for-22 from the field and only 1-for-8 from 3-point range as he scored at least 20 points for the 60th consecutive game. Russell Westbrook added 26 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds. Serge Ibaka scored 16 points to go along with nine rebounds. Playing without their five regular starters, the Clippers got a career-high 32 points from Austin Rivers and 32 from Jamal Crawford. Trail Blazers 116, Celtics 109 Al-Farouq Aminu scored a career-high 28 points and grabbed nine rebounds as Portland pulled out a victory over Boston. CJ McCollum added 17 points and eight assists, and Gerald Henderson came off the bench for 15 points, five rebounds and five assists for the Trail Blazers. Portland won its third consecutive game overall and sixth in a row at home. Isaiah Thomas scored 22 points but made only six of 21 shots from the field and had five turnovers for the Celtics, who lost their second game in a row. Reserve guard Evan Turner had 14 points for Boston. Magic 114, Pacers 94 Evan Fournier scored 25 points and Nikola Vucevic added 24, leading suddenly red-hot Orlando to victory over Indiana. The Magic have won three in a row by a collective 76 points as they beat Chicago by 22 and Brooklyn by 34. Orlando also snapped a seven-game losing streak to the Pacers and a six-game skid in Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The Magic’s Victor Oladipo finished with 18 points, seven assists and seven rebounds. Indiana got 27 points from Paul George, 13 from Monta Ellis and 12 from Lavoy Allen in their second consecutive home loss. The Pacers fell to Chicago 98-96 Tuesday. Pelicans 101, Nuggets 95 Luke Babbitt scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and guard Toney Douglas added 20 points and 10 assists to lead short-handed New Orleans past Denver. Tim Frazier nailed a 3-pointer from the right wing with 45 seconds left to give the Pelicans their biggest lead 99-91. New Orleans won for only the fifth time in 18 games. Frazier finished with 17 points and eight assists. The Nuggets were led by Darrell Arthur with 24 points and nine rebounds. — Agencies