The China Mail - Jazz down Nets in Mitchell's return, Mavs rally to beat Sixers

Mitchell hadn't played since suffering a concussion when he took an elbow to the head in a game against the Los Angeles Lakers on January 17.

He stepped right up, however, connecting on eight of 10 shots from the floor with six three-pointers and six assists.

It was a confidence-boosting performance for a player who admitted he'd been "kind of nervous" as his symptoms persisted.

"It was bad," Mitchell said. "The headache, the nausea were pretty messed up.

"It was tough because we've been going through a tough stretch," he said of his enforced absence. "Guys have been out, so it's been eating at me."

With Rudy Gobert still sidelined, Eric Paschall scored 16 points and Hassan Whiteside added 15 for the Jazz, who never trailed against the depleted Nets.

Brooklyn were without two of their "Big Three" with Kevin Durant still recovering from a knee sprain and James Harden nursing a tight hamstring. LaMarcus Aldridge and Joe Harris were also absent.

Kyrie Irving scored 15 points and rookie Cam Thomas had a career-high 30, but the Nets trailed by 21 entering the fourth quarter and never got any closer.

In Dallas, Luka Doncic scored 33 points in a triple-double to power the Dallas Mavericks to a 107-98 come-from-behind NBA victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday.

Slovenian star Doncic added 13 rebounds and 15 assists, his eighth career game of at least 30 points, 10 rebounds and 15 assists. Only Oscar Robertson -- with 22 -- has more.

"I try to play games and win," Doncic said of the impressive stat. "I have fun out there. As long as we win I'm good. We came back from two not-so-great losses. We stepped it up, we bounced back and that's how we have to play."

Philadelphia's Most Valuable Player candidate Joel Embiid scored 27 points and the Sixers led by 10 at halftime.

But Dallas roared back on the strength of determined defense, holding Embiid to nine points after the break.

That came later than expected, after a 43-minute delay in the first quarter because one basket rim was crooked and had to be replaced.

- Cavs hold off Hornets -

In Charlotte, the Cleveland Cavaliers fended off a furious Hornets rally to snatch a 102-101 victory in wild style.

Jarrett Allen scored 29 points and pulled down 22 rebounds for Cleveland, and Kevin Love made two free throws to seal the win with 1.2 seconds remaining.

The Cavaliers led 76-65 going into the fourth quarter, but their fortunes changed when Ed Davis, who was on the Cleveland bench but didn't play in the game, interfered with a three-point attempt by Charlotte's Terry Rozier, thinking the play had been whistled dead.

He was assessed a technical foul and Rozier was credited with a three-pointer -- and made the technical free throw to cut the deficit to six points.

Allen's tip-in of a Love miss pulled Cleveland within 101-100 with 35.3 seconds left. That was the score with 2.1 seconds remaining when Cavs guard Brandon Goodwin missed a jumper. Love grabbed the rebound and missed the follow-up -- sparking celebrations on the Hornets bench.

But officials deemed on review that Love had been fouled, and he was awarded the game-winning free throws.

In Toronto, the Raptors pushed their winning streak to five games, following up their overtime triumph over the Chicago Bulls on Thursday with a 125-114 victory over the Atlanta Hawks.

Pascal Siakam equaled his season high with 33 points. Fred VanVleet scored 26 points and handed out 11 assists as the Raptors beat the Hawks for the second time in a week.

De'Andre Hunter and John Collins scored 23 points apiece for Atlanta, Trae Young had 22 points and 13 assists for the Hawks a day after his 43-point performance in the Hawks' victory over the league-leading Phoenix Suns.

Chicago center Nikola Vucevic scored a season-high 36 points and grabbed 17 rebounds and DeMar DeRozan added 31 points to power the Bulls to a 122-115 victory over the Indiana Pacers, who had 42 points from Caris LeVert.

Q.Yam--ThChM