Embiid remains unbeaten at MSG; 76ers beat Knicks
NEW YORK — Joel Embiid had 27 points and 10 rebounds while remaining unbeaten at Madison Square Garden, and the Philadelphia 76ers beat the New York Knicks 109-89 on Saturday night.
Ben Simmons had 15 points, nine rebounds and six assists while also leading the defensive effort that forced New York’s RJ Barrett into a miserable shooting performance. Embiid and Simmons have never dropped a game at MSG and the Sixers have won the last 13 meetings overall.
Tobias Harris and Seth Curry each scored 17 points to help Philadelphia improve to 2-0. New coach Doc Rivers earned his 945th victory, moving ahead of Bill Fitch into sole possession of 10th place.
Julius Randle scored 25 points for the Knicks, who fell to 0-2 under Tom Thibodeau. Barrett, after a 26-point opener, shot 2 for 15 and had 10 points.
SPURS 119, RAPTORS 114
In San Antonio, Texas, DeMar DeRozan had 27 points and the Spurs rallied in the final minute to beat Toronto.
DeRozan’s 3-pointer with a minute remaining pulled the Spurs to 114-113, and they took a 115-114 lead on LaMarcus Aldridge’s fadeaway put-back with 29.9 seconds remaining.
Toronto’s Kyle Lowry missed a pull-up 19-footer with 22.3 seconds left, and Rudy Gay made two free throws at the other end.
Fred VanVleet had 27 points and Chris Boucher added 22 points for the Raptors.
Patty Mills added 21 points for San Antonio. Aldridge had 12 points and Dejounte Murray had 11 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds.
THUNDER 109, HORNETS 107
In Charlotte, N.C., Shai Gilgeous-Alexander hit a tiebreaking jumper with 1.4 seconds left and finished with 24 points, helping Oklahoma City hold off the Hornets in the Thunder’s opener.
The Thunder led by 13 with 1:50 to go, but Miles Bridges spurred Charlotte with 11 of his 14 points in the final 1:06 — including three 3s in the last 25 seconds. His final 3 tied it at 107 with 10.3 seconds left.
Gilgeous-Alexander then took the inbound pass, brought the ball up the floor and pulled up from 23 feet to drain a contested jumper over Caleb Martin from the top of the key.
George Hill was 8 of 9 from the field and finished with 21 points, and Darius Bazley and Luguentz Dort each had 15 points for the Thunder.
Terry Rozier had 19 points for Charlotte.
MAGIC 120, WIZARDS 120
In Washington, Terrence Ross scored 25 points and Orlando overcame Russell Westbrook triple-double in his home debut for the Wizards.
Westbrook had 15 points, 15 rebounds and 12 assists to become the fourth player in NBA history to record triple-doubles in his team’s first two games. Magic Johnson (twice), Jerry Lucas and Oscar Robertson previously accomplished the feat. Westbrook is the first player to do it with a new team after being acquired from Houston in the offseason for John Wall.
Nikola Vucevic had 22 points and 17 rebounds, and Markelle Fultz added 21 points to help the Magic improve to 2-0. Bradley Beal had 39 points for the Wizards. They are 0-2.
CAVALIERS 128, PISTONS 119 (2OT)
In Detroit, Collin Sexton scored 32 points and three of his teammates had at least 21 points, helping Cleveland outlast the Pistons in double-overtime.
The Cavs took advantage of Detroit wasting opportunities to win in regulation and the first overtime, improving to 2-0 and dropping the Pistons to 0-2.
Cleveland center Andre Drummond had 23 points and 16 rebounds, Darius Garland added 21 points and 12 assists, and Cedi Osman had 22 points. Kevin Love, who scored 15 points, returned after missing the opener with a calf injury and JaVale McGee had 11 points off the bench for the Cavs.
Jerami Grant had 14 of his 28 points in the third quarter for Detroit. Blake Griffin had 26 points.
HAWKS 122, GRIZZLIES 112
In Memphis, Tenn., Trae Young scored eight straight points down the stretch and finished with 36 to help Atlanta beat the Grizzlies for its second straight victory to open the season.
Kevin Huerter had 21 points, De’Andre Hunter added 15 points and rookie Nathan Knight had 14, going 4 of 5 from the field and 2-for-3 shooting from 3-point range.
Ja Morant led Memphis with 28 points and seven assists,
TIMBERWOLVES 116, JAZZ 111
In Salt Lake City, D’Angelo Russell had 25 points and six assists to lead Minnesota past the Jazz.
Karl-Anthony Towns added 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Timberwolves.
Jordan Clarkson scored 23 points and Donovan Mitchell added 21 for the Jazz.
PACERS 125, BULLS 106
In Chicago, Domantas Sobonis had 22 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds and Indiana used big scoring runs in the second and third quarters to rout the Bulls.
T.J. Warren scored 23 points and Victor Oladipo added 22 to help Indiana beat its Central Division rival for the 10th straight time.
Zach LaVine scored 17 points and Lauri Markkanen had 16 points and nine rebounds for Chicago.