Jazz play sweet music, Clarkson hits 23 off the bench

Croatia’s Bojan Bogdanovic scored 31 points as the Utah Jazz won their ninth straight game with a 127-116 victory over the Washington Wizards on Sunday.

Frenchman Rudy Gobert finished with 21 points and 14 rebounds, one of a half-dozen players who finished in double figures for Utah, which improved to 27-12 on the season. 

The Jazz tightened up their defense in the second half to knock the Wizards off their game, then pulled it out in the final quarter.

Jordan Clarkson added 23 points off the bench and Joe Ingles chipped in 20 for the Jazz, who are now 14-1 in their last 15 games.

Gobert made three dunks over a two-minute stretch after Washington cut the deficit to 111-108 on a driving layup from American Bradley Beal with 3:32 left. 

Beal scored 25 points to lead the Wizards. Davis Bertans scored 18 points, Jordan McRae added 16 and Ian Mahinmi chipped in 15 for the Wizards, who lost for the second time in five games. 

Beal was back in the lineup after missing several games with injuries.

Donovan Mitchell of the Jazz missed his first game of the season while recovering from an illness.

Knicks 124 – Heat 121

In New York, Taj Gibson made a clutch free throw with 98 seconds left to give New York the lead for good as the Knicks stormed back from a 14-point deficit in the second half to beat the Miami Heat 124-121.

Nets 108 – Hawks 86

Kyrie Irving scored 21 points in his first game in nearly two months as the Brooklyn Nets never trailed and cruised to a 108-86 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday night in New York.

Irving returned from missing 26 games with right shoulder impingement. In his first game since Nov. 14 at Denver, the All-Star guard made 10 of 11 shots, hit his one 3-point try and had three assists in 20 minutes.