NBA Griffin leads win in Detroit
Blake Griffin was host Detroit’s best player in his debut with the Pistons. Griffin had 24 points and 10 rebounds, and although his new team is still very much a work in progress, the Pistons edged the Memphis Grizzlies 104-102 on Thursday.
Detroit traded for Griffin earlier in the week. The Pistons were clearly a better team when he played against the Grizzlies.
“We were plus-23 with him on the floor in 35 minutes, so we were fairly dominant in that time,” coach Stan Van Gundy said.
“I wanted to just come out and play hard, being very limited in my knowledge of our offense,” Griffin said. “I thought coach Van Gundy did a great job of just putting in five things that we could go to, and we ran them to death, but they worked and everybody just played hard.”
Anthony Tolliver’s threepointer with 1:49 remaining gave Detroit a 101-100 lead, and the score stayed that way until the final seconds. Marc Gasol attempted to drive on Griffin but missed his shot, and a wild scramble led to a jump ball between Tolliver and Dillon Brooks with 10.4 seconds left.
The Pistons controlled that tip. Tolliver gave Detroit a three-point lead with two free throws, and then purposely fouled Wayne Selden with 2.6 seconds remaining. Selden made the first free throw and the second went in though he was trying to miss.
Reggie Bullock made it 104102 when he made the second of two free throws with two seconds left. Nuggets 127, Thunder 124: Gary Harris made the winning three-pointer at the buzzer and finished with 25 points to lift host Denver over Oklahoma City. The Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic had his third triple-double of the season with 29 points, 13 rebounds and 14 assists and Jamal Murray had 33 points to lead Denver. Paul George had 43 points to lead the Thunder. Westbrook had 21 assists, one shy of his career high, to go with 20 points and nine rebounds. Rockets 102, Spurs 91: James Harden had 28 points and 11 assists, and visiting Houston dominated San Antonio. Clint Capela added 14 points and 13 rebounds in the Rockets’ third straight win. Danny Green had 22 points to lead San Antonio in scoring for the first time this season. LaMarcus Aldridge was held to 16 points. Timberwolves 108, Bucks 89: Jimmy Butler scored 28 points and Karl-Anthony Towns had 24 points and 11 rebounds for his NBA-best 46th double-double as host Minnesota beat Milwaukee. Khris Middleton scored 21 points and Giannis Antetokounmpo had 17 points and 15 rebounds for the Bucks. Wizards 122, Raptors 119: Bradley Beal scored 25 of his 27 points in the second half, leading host Washington to the victory. The Wizards had eight players score in double figures in their third straight win without All-Star John Wall, who had surgery on his left knee Wednesday. The Wizards’ Otto Porter Jr. had 16 points and 11 rebounds, and Markieff Morris scored 15 points. Kyle Lowry scored 17 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter for Toronto. DeMar DeRozan added 23 points for the Raptors.