Philadelphia moves past Houston Rockets, 115-107
HOUSTON—Ben Simmons had 24 points, nine assists and seven rebounds and Joel Embiid added 22 points to lead the 76ers to a 115-107 win over the Rockets on Monday.
After losing 105-104 on a buzzer3-pointer from Eric Gordon in Philadelphia on Oct. 18, the 76ers snapped an eight-game losing streak against the Rockets, winning in Houston for the first time since Feb. 16, 2011.
The Rockets missed nine of their last 10 shots, scoring just four points in the final 3:28 and dropped consecutive games for the first time this season.
James Harden scored 29 points and Gordon had 25.
TIMBERWOLVES 125, HEAT 122
MIAMI—Jeff Teague scored 23 points, Andrew Wiggins scored 22 and the Minnesota Timberwolves scored the first six points of overtime before holding on to beat the Miami Heat.
Karl-Anthony Towns scored 20 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for the Timberwolves, who got 16 from Jimmy Butler and 13 from Jamal Crawford.
Jimmy Butler scored 14, Jamal Crawford scored 13 and Towns grabbed 12 rebounds for the Timberwolves.
Dion Waiters tied a career-high by scoring 33 for Miami, 14 of those coming in the fourth quarter including a layup that sent the game to overtime. His 30-footer that would have tied the game as time expired bounced off the rim.
Kelly Olynyk scored 23 points and Goran Dragic added 18 for Miami— which was again without center Hassan Whiteside, out for a fifth consecutive game with a bruised left knee. Bam Adebayo started again in his place and had the best game of his rookie season, finishing with 13 points and 13 rebounds.
KNICKS 116, NUGGETS 110
NEW YORK—Kristaps Porzingis scored a career-high 38 points and Kyle O’Quinn added 15 points and 12 rebounds to help the Knicks beat the Nuggets.
Tim Hardaway Jr. scored all 13 of his points in the fourth quarter after the Knicks had blown all of their 23-point third-quarter lead.
Nikola Jokic led the Nuggets with 28 points and Jamal Murray scored 20.
CELTICS 108, SPURS 94
BOSTON—Kyrie Irving scored 24 points, Jaylen Brown added 18 and Al Horford had 13 rebounds to help the Celtics beat the Spurs and lead Boston to its fifth straight victory.
Irving scored 24 for the third straight game, rookie Jayson Tatum had 11 rebounds and Terry Rozier had 10 of his 12 points in the fourth quarter. Boston lost its first two games of the season on back-to-back nights—and star free agent Gordon Hayward, too—but have not lost since.
Reserves Brandon Paul had 18 points and Rudy Gay scored 14 for San Antonio, which remains without Tony Parker and Kawhi Leonard. The Spurs lost on backto-back nights and fell to 1-3 on a fourgame road trip, leaving coach Gregg Popovich waiting for career victory No. 1,155, which would tie him with Phil Jackson at sixth on the NBA’s all-time list.
HORNETS 104, GRIZZLIES 99
MEMPHIS, Tenn.—Kemba Walker scored 27 points and keyed a fourth-quarter rally to erase a double-digit deficit as the Hornets handed Memphis its first home loss of the season with a win over the Grizzlies.
Jeremy Lamb added 17 points and rookie Malik Monk finished with 13 points.
Memphis held a 10-point lead with just under 8 minutes left, but Walker re-entered the game and kick-started the Charlotte rally. Walker had nine points in the stretch, part of which included an 18-4 run by the Hornets.