Nic Claxton collected a career-high 28 points and 10 rebounds as the Brooklyn Nets executed in the final minutes of the fourth quarter after losing a 15-point lead in the third and earned a 123-115 victory over the Chicago Bulls Monday night in New York.

The Nets won consecutive games for the third time this season thanks to Claxton, who made 12 of 15 shots and surpassed his previous career high of 28 set against the Detroit Pistons on Jan. 26, 2023. He recorded his 10th double-double and added four assists.

Claxton’s big night helped the Nets improve to 2-9 this season when Michael Porter Jr. is held out. Porter sat due to right knee tendinitis and rookie Egor Demin was rested.

Noah Clowney added 22 points as the Nets placed six in double figures and withstood blowing their big lead in the third.

Rookie Drake Powell added 14 and the Nets also got solid showings from first-year forward Danny Wolf and rookie guard Nolan Traore. Wolf contributed 13 while Traore finished with 13 and a career-high 13 assists.

Ziaire Williams added 11 off the bench as the Nets shot 51.1% and 48% from 3 (12 of 25), scored 66 points in the paint and survived committing 20 turnovers.

The Bulls dropped their fifth straight and fell for the eighth time in nine games.

Anfernee Simons led Chicago with 23 points and fellow newcomer Collin Sexton added 21 off the bench. Matas Buzelis contributed 18, Jaden Ivey had 13 and reserve Nick Richards finished with 12 for Chicago.

The Bulls shot 44%, missed 26 of 36 3-point tries and committed 18 turnovers in their third loss to the Nets this season.

Claxton scored 10 points in Brooklyn’s 15-3 spurt, his consecutive dunks putting the Nets ahead 51-43 with 3:50 left. They led 60-54 at the break.

The Nets’ largest lead was 74-59 early in the third quarter and they held a 14-point lead on a 3 by Powell with 4:27 left before the Bulls scored 16 of the final 18 points of the third to forge an 89-89 deadlock entering the fourth.

Terance Mann hit an open 3 for a 109-102 lead with 5:19 left following an errant pass by Simons. Claxton’s putback of Clowney’s miss opened a 117-107 lead with 1:57 left to clinch it for Brooklyn.

–Field Level Media

In his second season in the Big 12 Conference, Oklahoma State coach Steve Lutz is getting accustomed to how the ball can bounce.

His Cowboys took down then-No. 16 BYU 99-92 last Wednesday. Three days later, they had to visit the No. 1 team in the country, and Arizona ran them out of the building, 84-47.

Oklahoma State completes a two-game stay in the state when it visits Arizona State on Tuesday in Tempe.

The Cowboys (16-7, 4-6 Big 12) are on the NCAA Tournament bubble with the weeks dwindling down in the regular season. The uncompetitive loss to Arizona could be excused at season’s end, but it didn’t help their case to shoot 15 of 61 (24.6%) while allowing 33-of-64 shooting (51.6%) and a 56-35 rebounding disparity.

“It’s tough in the Big 12. You’re talking to the wrong guy that’s gonna make excuses for my team, our team not performing (Saturday),” Lutz said. “We did not play our best, and Arizona had a lot to do with that, and that’s on us.

“But you know what, we gotta go across the state here in 2 1/2 days and we better be hooked up and ready to go because I’m sure that Arizona State’s not gonna take it easy on us. I watched both the games that (the Wildcats) played Arizona State. They gave you a game.”

To his point, Arizona State (12-12, 3-8) pushed Arizona to the brink on the road in an 89-82 loss back on Jan. 14 before losing 87-74 at home on Jan. 31.

The Sun Devils have dropped three of their past four games, most recently falling 78-70 at Colorado on Saturday. After the Buffaloes bullied Arizona State 40-26 on the boards, Sun Devils coach Bobby Hurley made his frustration clear in the postgame press conference.

“We got seven games left, so if we can’t rebound by now, then chances are we’re not gonna be able to rebound,” Hurley said.

Arizona State ranks dead last among Big 12 teams with an average of 32.8 rebounds per game and a minus-3.2 differential. Oklahoma State may have been outmatched by the Wildcats, but the Cowboys still get 38 rebounds per game, fifth in the Big 12.

Anthony Roy, who dropped 30 points on BYU and paces Oklahoma State with 17.8 points per game, was held in check by Arizona at 10 points (3-of-11 shooting, 3-of-10 success from 3-point range).

Maurice Odum leads Arizona State with 17.2 points and 6.2 assists per contest. He had 23 and five, respectively, in the Colorado game.

–Field Level Media

Reserve Brice Sensabaugh knocked in a go-ahead 3-pointer with 46.8 seconds left in the fourth quarter as the visiting Utah Jazz shocked the Miami Heat 115-111 on Monday night.

Utah, which entered Monday with 18 losses in its 22 previous games, led 85-82 after three quarters. However, for the second straight game, the Jazz benched multiple starters for the entire fourth quarter in an apparent effort to tank.

The Jazz did something similar in their previous game, blowing a seven-point lead in the fourth quarter in a loss to Orlando after sitting Jaren Jackson Jr. and Lauri Markkanen. At issue is that Utah owes Oklahoma City its first-rounder in June unless that selection is among the first eight picks.

The benched Jazz starters on Monday were Jackson (team-high 22 points), Lauri Markkanen (17 points) and Jusuf Nurkic (10 points, game-high 16 rebounds). Sensabaugh wound up with 14 points for Utah, while Ace Bailey and Kyle Filipowski posted 16 apiece. Filipowski added 11 rebounds.

Miami was led by Andrew Wiggins, who scored 11 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter. Bam Adebayo added 23 points, 11 rebounds and five assists for the Heat.

Rookie Kasparas Jakucionis, Miami’s first-round pick, scored 20 points. However, he missed a corner 3-pointer with 7.2 seconds left that would’ve given Miami a 114-113 lead.

Miami, thanks to 50% shooting overall and 7-of-15 on 3-pointers, led 32-26 after one quarter. The Jazz shot just 28.6% in that quarter but stayed in the game by grabbing seven offensive rebounds to just one for Miami.

With 3:44 left in the second quarter, Filipowski scored on a putback for Utah’s first lead of the game, 47-45. The half ended as Isaiah Collier took a short inbounds pass, pounded three dribbles and connected on a 3-pointer at the buzzer to put the Jazz ahead 61-52.

Jackson and Jakucionis led their respective teams with 17 first-half points.

In the third quarter, Adebayo led all scorers with 11 points as Miami made a run.

With 4:30 left in the fourth, Miami took a 104-101 lead on a 3-pointer by Wiggins. With reduced firepower, the Jazz appeared to be doomed at that point, but they surprised the Heat.

In the closing minutes, Sensabaugh nailed a triple to get Utah within 108-106, Bailey’s floater trimmed it to 109-108 and Collier’s fadeaway put the Jazz within 111-110.

–Field Level Media