Irving, Harden lead Nets
Griffin debuts in Brooklyn’s win over Washington, since buyout from the Pistons
Kyrie Irving scored 28 points and James Harden had 26 to lead the Brooklyn Nets to a 113-106 victory over the Washington Wizards on Sunday.
Blake Griffin dunked for the first time since December 2019 in his Nets debut and Nicolas Claxton added 16 points, including two three-point plays down the stretch to help hold off the Wizards. Russell Westbrook added 29 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists.
Deandre Jordan scored 12 points and Joe Harris added 10 for the Nets, who have won 15 of their last 17 games.
Griffin played in his first game for the Nets since his buyout from the Pistons, checking in with 4:37 left in the first quarter.
Celtics 112, Magic 96: Jaylen Brown hit a career-high 10 3-pointers and scored 34 points, Jayson Tatum added 23 and Boston beat Orlando to snap a three-game losing streak. Nikola Vucevic had 22 points and 13 rebounds for Orlando.
Cavaliers 116, Raptors 105: Collin Sexton scored 23 of his 36 points in the second half, Jarrett Allen had 17 points and 15 rebounds and Cleveland handed Toronto its eighth straight loss. Dean Wade scored 16 points, and Darius Garland had 15 points and six assists for Cleveland. Fred Vanvleet had 23 points and seven assists for Toronto.
Pelicans 113, Nuggets 108: Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson each scored 30 points and New Orleans’ overcame another triple-double by Nikola Jokic to beat Denver. Jokic had 29 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for his 11 triple-double of the season and 52nd overall.
Pacers 109, Heat 106 (OT): Justin Holiday scored 15 points and hit consecutive 3-pointers in overtime to lead Indiana past Miami. Myles Turner had 16 points and five blocks and Doug Mcdermott scored 15 points for the Pacers. Bam Adebayo scored 29 points for Miami.
Bulls 100, Pistons 86: Laurie Markkanen had 16 points and eight rebounds and Chicago used a strong defensive performance to beat Detroit. Zach Lavine scored 18 points for the Bulls Jerami Grant had 26 points for Detroit.
Thunder 114, Rockets 112: Houston lost their team-record 20th straight game, falling to Oklahoma City when John Wall missed two shots in the final 10 seconds. Christian Wood had 27 points, eight rebounds and two blocks for Houston, Wall had 24 points and seven assists. Oklahoma City outrebounded Houston 52-38, led by Moses Brown’s 14 board, Brown added 13 points.