Delfino shoots Bucks past slumping Knicks

Carlos Delfino pulled the Milwaukee Bucks into the playoff race, while waiting for his teammates to return for the final push.
   The Argentine sharpshooter poured in a career-high 30 points, including the last of his six threes down the stretch to go along with 11 rebounds, and the Bucks held off the visiting New York Knicks, 100-95 on Sunday.
   "Carlos is an Olympic gold medalist, he knows what it takes to win," said Bucks centre Andrew Bogut, who finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds. "The last two games he's carried the scoring load for us."
   After drilling a career-best eight triples in a 110-95 win over New Jersey on Friday, Delfino remained red hot from behind the arc, helping to move the Bucks to within one-and-a-half games of idle Indiana for the final Eastern Conference playoff berth.

   Out with injuries, Milwaukee is hoping to get stars Michael Redd, Ersan Ilyasova, Drew Gooden and Chris Douglas-Roberts back for the playoff drive.
   "Hopefully, we can get the team back," Delfino said. "Then, we can try to make a great push in the final two or three weeks and do it."

   John Salmons scored 22, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute added 17, while Brandon Jennings finished with 14 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists as Milwaukee (28-41), raced to an early 23-point cushion in the wire-to-wire win.

   "We knew it was a big game, we knew we needed to win and we came out playing like that," Salmons said. "We let them come back, but we held them off."

   Amar'e Stoudemire had 25 points with 11 rebounds for the struggling Knicks (35-34), who fell to a disappointing 7-8 since acquiring Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups in February. Anthony scored 23 while Billups finished with 21.

   "We're a ways away from where we need to be," Billups said. "We have a ways to go on both ends."

   The cold-shooting Knicks hit just 4-of-25 floor shots to fall behind 32-9, making it their worst first quarter since the 1955 season.

   "We dug ourselves too deep of a hole," Stoudemire said. "Offensively we couldn't get anything going."

   New York got back on track, outscoring their hosts 32-15 in the second frame to pull within 47-41 at halftime, and 75-72 heading into the final period.

   With the Bucks clinging to an 86-84 lead, Delfino hit two free throws and a three-pointer to open up a 91-84 advantage with 1:43 left. The Knicks wouldn't go away, though.

   Landry Fields knocked down a triple, making it 91-87. After Delfino and Anthony traded free throws, Jennings nailed a fade-away jumper with 26 seconds left, putting the Bucks ahead 95-89.

   Anthony's three-pointer with 17 seconds left brought New York to 95-92, but Jennings split a pair of free throws and Salmons sank both of his. After Fields hit another triple, pulling the Knicks within 98-95, Salmons hit two more from the stripe to seal the victory.

   "Delfino is in a groove," Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni said. "But us scoring nine points in the first quarter kind of sealed the deal."

   Elsewhere:

   LA Lakers 84, Portland Trail Blazers 80

   Kobe Bryant scored 10 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter, Derek Fisher fired in the game-sealing jumper with 10 seconds left, and the Lakers (50-30) overcame the first of a two-game league suspension to starting centre Andrew Bynum for their 12th win in 13 games.

   Frenchman Nicolas Batum had 25 points for Portland (40-30), outscored 18-8 in the final 6 1/2 minutes.

   Houston Rockets 100, Utah Jazz 108

   Kevin Martin scored 34 points, Kyle Lowry had his first career triple double with 28, 11 rebounds and 10 assists, as the Rockets (37-34) moved to within one-and-a-half games of idle Memphis for the final playoff berth in the Western Conference.

   Paul Millsap led visiting Utah (36-34) with 35 points and 10 rebounds.

   Dallas Mavericks 101, Golden State Warriors 73

   German juggernaut Dirk Nowitzki scored 20 points, Serbian sharpshooter Peja Stojakovic had 17 and the host Mavericks (49-21) clinched a playoff spot in the West.

   Toronto Raptors 95, Oklahoma City 93

   Italy's Andrea Bargnani scored 23 points, and Amir Johnson's layup with 1.4 seconds left snapped the Raptors' (20-49) 14-game road slide.

   James Hardin scored 23, and Russell Westbrook had 22 for Oklahoma City (45-24), which had its six-game winning streak snapped.

   Phoenix Suns 108, LA Clippers 99

   Steve Nash had 23 points, with 13 assists, Marcin Gorat added 17 with 13 rebounds, and the visiting Suns (35-33) beat the Clippers (27-44) for the 10th time in the last 11 meetings.

   Sacramento Kings 127, Minnesota Timberwolves 95

   Samuel Dalembert had 26 points with 17 rebounds, Marcus Thornton added 23, nine assists and eight boards as the Kings (17-51) sent the T-Wolves (17-54) to their second-worst home loss in franchise history.

   Atlanta Hawks 104, Detroit Pistons 96

   Al Horford scored 18 points, Josh Smith and Joe Johnson added 17 apiece, helping the Hawks (40-30) to their third win in the last nine games.
   Rodney Stuckey scored 22 for Detroit (25-45), losers of seven in a row on the road.