Pacers pile up points in win over Wizards
Bruce Brown scored 24 points and made a careerhigh six 3-pointers in his Pacers debut, leading revamped Indiana to a record-breaking 143-120 victory over visiting Washington on Wednesday night.
It was the highest scoring total for a season opener in team history, surpassing the 140 they had against Brooklyn in 2017.
All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton had 20 points and 11 assists as eight Pacers had double-digit scoring totals.
Brown, a free agent who left the world champion Denver Nuggets, needed only one half to match his career high for 3-pointers (four). And he was hardly alone. The Pacers finished 20 of 43 from 3-point range, three short of the franchise's single-game record for 3s made.
Kyle Kuzma scored 25 points for the Wizards.
HEAT 103, PISTONS 102 »
Bam Adebayo scored 22 points, Jimmy Butler finished with 19 points and 13 rebounds and host Miami held off Detroit.
The Heat led by 19 with 9:07 left, wasted almost all of it and went scoreless in the final 2:57.
Cade Cunningham had 30 points and nine assists for the Pistons.
CELTICS 108, KNICKS 104 »
Kristaps Porzingis made a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 1:29 left and scored 30 points in a strong Celtics debut, Jayson Tatum had 34 points and 11 rebounds and Boston won at New York.
Porzingis finished with eight rebounds and four blocked shots against his original NBA team.
CAVALIERS 114, NETS 113 »
Donovan Mitchell scored 10 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter, and Cleveland beat Brooklyn for its first road win in a season opener since 2000.
Cam Thomas scored 36 for Brooklyn, setting a league record for most points for a reserve in a season opener.
PELICANS 111, GRIZZLIES 104 » CJ McCollum scored 24 points, Zion Williamson added 23 points and seven rebounds and visiting New Orleans defeated Memphis.
RAPTORS 97, TIMBERWOLVES 94 » Dennis Schroder had 22 points and seven assists in his Toronto debut and the host Raptors gave new coach Darko Rajakovic a victory in his first game by beating Minnesota.
HORNETS 115, HAWKS 110 » P.J. Washington scored 25 points, rookie Brandon Miller provided a huge spark with eight of his 13 points in the fourth quarter and host Charlotte held on to defeat Atlanta.
ALL-STAR GAME GOING BACK TO EAST-WEST » The NBA All-Star Game is going back to its roots, with the best of the East playing the best of the West.
Commissioner Adam Silver made the announcement Wednesday, revealing this season's All-Star Game on Feb. 18 in Indianapolis will pit the top vote-getters from the two conferences against one another. The decision means captains will no longer draft teams, though the players with the most votes in each conference will serve as captains.
The reason: Silver wants the All-Star Game to look more like traditional basketball.
76ERS LEAVE HARDEN BEHIND » James Harden and the Philadelphia 76ers added another wrinkle to their messy relationship when the team told the disgruntled guard to stay home instead of traveling for tonight's season opener against Milwaukee.
Harden — who issued an offseason trade demand — did not play in the preseason and skipped practice last week for what was officially called a personal matter before he showed up Wednesday at the team's complex in Camden, New Jersey, ready to play.
Coach Nick Nurse said he was told Tuesday night that Harden had arrived in town. Nurse said Harden was involved in practice early and late but not in the game preparation part for the Bucks.
“We have to get ready for our game tomorrow with the guys that are going to be playing,” Nurse told reporters. “He's been gone 10 days so we are in ramp-up phase again. He will stay here and get oncourt work with our staff and with our players from the (G League) and our two-way guys and things like that.”
Nurse said Harden was “fine” with the decision.