’Wolves stun Grizzlies
Edwards has big game in his postseason debut to propel Minnesota past Memphis
Anthony Edwards scored 36 points in his postseason debut, and the seventhseeded Minnesota Timberwolves stunned the No. 2 seed Memphis Grizzlies 130-117 on Saturday to grab home-court advantage in the opener of their first-round Western Conference series.
Karl-Anthony Towns added 29 and 13 rebounds. Malik Beasley had 23 points, and Jaden McDaniels 15. Patrick Beverley and D’Angelo Russell had 10 apiece.
The Timberwolves, fresh off beating the Los Angeles Clippers in the play-in game, won their first playoff opener since 2004. That’s when they beat Sacramento in the first round on their way to the Western Conference final.
Game 2 is Tuesday night in Memphis.
Ja Morant led Memphis with 32 points and eight assists, and Dillon Brooks added 24 points. Brandon Clarke had 13 points and 12 rebounds off the bench. Desmond Bane scored 17 points and Jaren Jackson Jr. had 12.
Memphis tied the franchise record by winning 56 games in the regular season and earning its highest seed ever. The Grizzlies had a packed FedExForum for only their third Game 1 in Memphis. But they struggled early after a week off and led only twice by two, the last midway through the second quarter.
76ers 131, Raptors 111: Tyrese Maxey had the breakout game of his young career, scoring 21 of his playoff career-high 38 points in the third quarter to lead Philadelphia to a victory over Toronto in Game 1. James Harden had 22 points and 14 assists in his first Eastern Conference playoff game as a Sixer. Joel Embiid, the NBA scoring champion, had 19 points and 15 rebounds. They combined to only make 11 of 32 shots from the floor. Tobias Harris scored 26 points for the Sixers, trying to get past the second round for the first time since 2001. They host Game 2 on Monday. Pascal Siakam scored 24 points for the Raptors. Jazz 99, Mavericks 93: Donovan Mitchell scored 30 of his 32 points after halftime, Bojan Bogdanovic finished with 26 and Utah opened the playoffs with a victory over Dallas, which was without injured All-Star guard Luka Doncic. Bogdanovic had Utah’s only two 3-pointers before halftime, in a 13-2 run over the final 31⁄2 minutes that put the Jazz ahead to stay. Mitchell, who always seems to step up in the postseason, came alive after the break. The fourth-seeded Mavericks, starting the playoffs at home for the first time since their NBA title season 11 years ago, sorely missed their 23-year-old superstar. Doncic strained his left calf six days earlier in the regularseason finale.
Warriors 123, Nuggets 107: Jordan Poole shined in his playoff debut with 30 points, staying in the starting lineup as Stephen Curry returned from a foot injury, and Golden State smothered Nikola Jokic to beat Denver in Game 1 of the first-round series. Jokic had 25 points and 10 rebounds for Denver.