San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
76ers’ Embiid, Simmons keep dominating Knicks
Joel Embiid had 27 points and 10 rebounds while remaining unbeaten at Madison Square Garden, and the Philadelphia 76ers beat the New York Knicks 10989 on Saturday night.
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. The Sixers beat the Knicks for the 13th straight time since early in the 201718 season, the first with Embiid and Simmons playing together.
They did it by breaking open a close game in the third quarter, when they had seven assists on their 11 baskets.
“Team basketball wins games and championships,” Simmons said.
Tobias Harris and Seth Curry each scored 17 points to help Philadelphia improve to 20. 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 02 under Tom Thibodeau. Barrett, after a 26point opener, shot 2 for 15 and had 10 points.
Tobias Harris and Seth Curry each scored 17 points as Philadelphia improved to 20 and got off to a good start in turning around its road woes after finishing with a 1226 road record last season.
Julius Randle scored 25 points and Alec Burks added 22 for the Knicks, who fell to 02 under Tom Thibodeau. Barrett, after a 26point season opener, shot 2 for 15 and had 10 points.
“Our responsibility is to improve each and every day. Come in, put everything you have into it,” Thibodeau said. “The games reveal exactly where we are and obviously it’s showing us that we have a lot of work to do.”
Spurs 119, Raptors 114: DeMar DeRozan had 27 points and host San Antonio rallied in the final minute to beat Toronto. DeRozan’s 3- pointer with a minute remaining pulled the Spurs within 114- 113, and they took a 115- 114 lead on LaMarcus Aldridge’s fadeaway put- back with 29.9 seconds remaining. Thunder 109, Hornets 107: Shai Gilgeous- Alexander hit a tie- breaking jumper with 1.4 seconds left and finished with 24 points, helping visiting Oklahoma City hold off Charlotte 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.
Magic 120, Wizards 120: Terrence Ross scored 25 points and Orlando overcame another Russell Westbrook triple- double in his home debut for Washington. Westbrook had 15 points, 15 rebounds and 12 assistst 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.
Cavaliers 128, Pistons 119: Collin Sexton scored 32 points and three of his teammates had at least 21 points, helping visiting Cleveland outlast Detroit 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. Blake Griffin had 26 points for Detroit.
Hawks 122, Grizzlies 112: Trae Young scored eight straight points down the stretch and finished with 36 to help visiting Atlanta beat Memphis for its second straight victory to open the season. Ja Morant led Memphis with 28 points and seven assists.
Pacers 125, Bulls 106: Domantas Sobonis had 22 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds and visiting Indiana used big scoring runs in the second and third quarters to rout Chicago. 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.