USA - Redd-hot Bucks no match for Utah

MILWAUKEE (NBA) - The best game of Michael Redd's career was still not enough for victory.

The Team USA international scored 57 points but ended up on the losing end of a 113-111 scoreline as the Utah Jazz overcame his Milwaukee Bucks.

Redd's tally broke the Bucks' single-game record of 55 set by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar against the Boston Celtics on December 10, 1971.

Redd, a 2004 All-Star, was 18 of 32 from the field, six of 12 from three-point range and made 15 of 17 free throws in the NBA's highest individual scoring game of the season.

But Matt Harpring made a lay-up with 1.8 seconds left to save the Jazz, who had blown a 24-point lead in the game.

Puerto Rico's Carlos Boozer paced Utah with 32 points and 11 rebounds.

Even so, all eyes were on Redd.

"He was on fire," Harpring said. I've competed against a lot of guys in this league that have been on fire. It's something where you just have to keep working hard. (Michael) Jordan, I've played against him when he was on fire. He was just on fire tonight."

"When I got in the 30s, I was just playing basketball and was in a rhythm," Redd said. "I got to the free-throw line a lot, which was key. I didn't just settle for jumpers."

Utah led by 24 points late in the second quarter before Redd willed Milwaukee all the way back, tying the game at 111-111 on an off-balance three-pointer with Deron Williams in his face with six seconds remaining in the game.

"It's unfortunate that we lost," Redd said. "We played so good in the fourth quarter, but it's so hard to come back from 20 down. We cannot start down 20 and expect to win games, especially against tough teams like Utah."

"You've got to give them credit," Boozer said. "We did a bad job of sustaining our lead, something we need to get better at real quickly. The best thing about it, we won the game at the end. If we had lost this, it would have stung a lot worse."

One bum note for the Jazz was the loss of Russian Andrei Kirilenko, who left the game with 5:34 remaining in the second quarter after hurting his ankle. He is considered day to day.

France international Tony Parker had his best game of the season so far, scoring 33 points to lead the San Antonio Spurs to a 100-92 win over the New York Knicks.

Tim Duncan added 24 and 16 rebounds, while Argentina's Manu Ginobili had nine points, six rebounds and two assists.

The Spurs raced into an early lead and finished the first half 57-46 ahead having shot 63%.

Quentin Richardson had 21 points and 11 rebounds for New York.

The Chicago Bulls rallied from a 12-point third-quarter deficit to beat the Indiana Pacers 89-80 in the last leg of their road trip.

Team USA's Kirk Hinrich scored 23 points while Great Britain new boy Luol Deng had 21 and 12 rebounds.

Summer acquisition Ben Wallace also grabbed a season-high 18 boards.

This was the final installment of a seven games on the road, but far from tiring, the Bulls stepped it up in the final quarter.

Deng scored 10 points in the final period, including a run of six straight which put them 77-75 up with 2:55 remaining.

Argentina's Andres Nocioni scored 12 points for the Bulls.

Team USA LeBron James led a ferocious fightback, scoring 22 of his 38 points in the final 17 minutes as the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Boston Celtics 94-93.

Serbia's Sasha Pavlovic added 14 points for the Cavs, who had trailed 70-45 with five minutes left in the third quarter.

James scored 10 to bring them back to 76-60 before the start of the fourth period.

He then had 12 further points in the final stanza.

Dwight Howard scored 21 points and grabbed 22 rebounds to lead the Orlando Magic to a 109-98 win over the slumping Minnesota Timberwolves.

Kevin Garnett had 28 points and 11 rebounds for Minnesota, but had no answer to Howard.

Serbia center Darko Milicic, the former number two pick in 2003, had 10 of his 15 points in the second quarter as the Magic took a 59-41 lead into halftime en route to their first road win of the season.

The Seattle SuperSonics needed overtime to end the Atlanta Hawks' longest-winning streak in eight years.

Ray Allen converted a drive from the top of the key with 2.1 seconds remaining in overtime and finished with 33 points as the SuperSonics posted a 113-112 triumph over the red-hot Hawks.

After seven consecutive losing seasons - including just 39 victories in its last two campaigns - Atlanta were denied their first five-game winning streak since the 1998-1999 season.

Amare Stoudamire had his best game in more than a year, scoring 25 points and grabbing 14 rebounds as the Phoenix Suns beat the Memphis Grizzlies 96-87.

Limited to only three games last season after undergoing microfracture left knee surgery on October 11, 2005, Stoudemire had played more than 25 minutes just once through the Suns' first six games.

He had only 24 minutes in this one, but made them count.

The Detroit Pistons' early-season struggles continued as they lost 111-79 at the Golden State Warriors.

Baron Davis scored 20 points and Jason Richardson added 16 and nine rebounds.

PA Sport