Bulls tame Celtics for sixth straight victory – Kings hold off Lakers

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CHICAGO, Jan 8, (Agencies): Pau Gasol had 17 points and 18 rebounds, Derrick Rose scored 18 points, and the Chicago Bulls beat the Boston Celtics 101-92 on Thursday night for their sixth straight victory.

Jimmy Butler added 19 points and 10 assists.

The Bulls used a big third quarter to extend their longest win streak of the season and handed the Celtics their fourth loss in five games.

Boston coach Brad Stevens missed the game to visit a cancer-stricken former player from his time as a university coach.

With assistant Jay Larranaga filling in for Stevens, Boston got 17 points from Jae Crowder. Kelly Olynyk added 16 points and nine rebounds, but the Celtics shot just 35.7 percent and were 5 of 25 on 3-pointers.

Kings 118, Lakers 115

In Sacramento, California, DeMarcus Cousins had 29 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, and the Kings blew all of a 27-point lead in the second half before beating the Lakers in Kobe Bryant’s last Sacramento appearance.

Although the Kings were ahead 25-4 five minutes into the game, they needed a late rally and a go-ahead basket from Rajon Rondo to spoil the night for the 37-year-old Bryant, who thrilled the partisan crowd with 28 points.

Bryant made 10 of 18 shots and was 6 for 8 on free throws. But he was on the bench for the night by the time the Lakers made a huge comeback to take the lead down the stretch.

Rookie D’Angelo Russell scored 11 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter before having to leave with an ankle injury for the Lakers, who have dropped five straight games to the Kings and have the NBA’s second-worst record behind Philadelphia.

Hawks 126, 76ers 98

In Philadelphia, Kent Bazemore scored 22 points, Paul Millsap and Al Horford had 18 apiece and Atlanta blew out Philadelphia to end a two-game losing streak.

Dennis Schroder added 14 points off the bench for the Hawks, who shot 54 percent from the field and 42 percent from 3-point range against the NBA’s worst team en route to their most lopsided win of the season.

Rookie Jahlil Okafor led the Sixers with 21 points, while Nerlens Noel had nine points and 13 rebounds. Recently acquired point guard Ish Smith finished with 12 points and seven assists.

Rockets 103, Jazz 94

In Houston, James Harden scored 33 points to lead Houston to its second victory over Utah in four days.

The Rockets won 93-91 Monday in Salt Lake City. Harden had 30 points in that one and has scored at least 30 in three of his last four games.

Playing without Dwight Howard, who sat out with lower back tightness, the Rockets beat the Jazz for the 10th time in the last 12 meetings.

Gordon Hayward scored 15 points for Utah. Center Rudy Gobert played for the first time since spraining a left knee ligament on Nov 30. He was limited to just 15 minutes but chipped in six points and three rebounds.

The Los Angeles Lakers’ aging superstar Kobe Bryant continues to lead fan voting for the 2016 NBA All-Star game, the league said Thursday.

Bryant, who is retiring after the season, has 1,262,118 votes — more than 300,000 ahead of reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors, according to the second batch of voting figures released by the league.

Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James has the third-most votes — and leads the Eastern Conference with 636,388.

Bryant, who has been selected to 17 All-Star Games in his career, announced in November that he would retire at the end of this season.

The 65th NBA All-Star Game will be held at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre on Feb 14.

The next balloting update will be released on Jan 14, and fan voting concludes on Monday, Jan 18.

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