Thunder humble Wizards
Continuing their turnaround from a terrible season start, the Thunder picked up their fourth consecutive victory by beating the struggling, booed-at-home Washington Wizards 134-111 behind Russell Westbrook’s 23 points and 12 assists Friday night.
From 0-4 to 4-4, the Thunder are clicking, led by Westbrook, who missed the first two games after a procedure on his right knee and sat out the final quarter of the rout at Washington.
And even though Oklahoma City was the team playing on the second night of a back-toback, it looked a lot fresher and more active than Washington, which was coming off a two-day break and finally got to see new center Dwight Howard make his debut.
After missing all of training camp, every exhibition game and the first seven regularseason games with a sore backside, Howard started and immediately appeared to have an impact, scoring 13 first-quarter points. But soon enough, Washington got into its bad habits, the ones that have led to loss after loss: ineffective defense and low-effort rebounding.
The Wizards have lost four games in a row to drop to 1-7, and spectators let the players hear their displeasure in the second quarter, jeering when the Thunder went ahead 61-40 on Jerami Grant’s dunk on a pass from Westbrook.
Oklahoma City’s Paul George wound up with 17 points to surpass 10,000 for his career.
Howard had 20 points on 7-for-8 shooting, three rebounds and four fouls in 23 minutes. When he was out of the game, he either laid down on his stomach on the sideline or stood.
Rockets 119, Nets 111: Chris Paul had 32 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds, Carmelo Anthony added a season-high 28 points and visiting Houston snapped a four-game losing streak. The Rockets stumbled to a 1-5 start after winning 65 games and falling a game short of the NBA Finals last season. Caris LeVert scored 29 points for Brooklyn.
Clippers 120, Magic 95: Lou Williams was perfect on five three-point attempts and scored 28 points to lead Los Angeles at Orlando. Tobias Harris added 21 points to help the Clippers beat the Magic for the 10th straight time. Nikola Vucevic led Orlando with 22 points and 11 rebounds.
Grizzlies 110, Jazz 100: Mike Conley scored a season-high 28 points to lead visiting Memphis past shorthanded Utah. Shelvin Mack, who played for Utah from 2015 through ’17, had 19 points, and Marc Gasol added 17 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. Utah played without guard Donovan Mitchell because of a right hamstring strain. Ricky Rubio led the Jazz with 22 points.
Pacers 107, Bulls 105: Victor Oladipo had 25 points and 14 rebounds, and Darren Collison made a tiebreaking jumper with 17.8 seconds left to help Indiana beat Chicago. Myles Turner added 18 points, and Indiana ran its road winning streak to five games. Turner also blocked six shots, including Antonio Blakeney’s desperate jumper as the final seconds ticked off. Blakeney led the Bulls with 22 points.
Knicks 118, Mavericks 106: Allonzo Trier scored 19 of his personal-high 23 points during a second-half surge, and New York handed host Dallas its sixth straight loss. Tim Hardaway Jr. had 18 points and six rebounds to help the Knicks win for the second time in three games after a five-game skid that followed a victory in their opener. Luka Doncic, a 19-year-old rookie, had 18 points, nine rebounds and six assists for the Mavericks.
Raptors Toronto run to scored finally used 107, 19 put points a Suns 14-2 away 98: fourth-quarter and Phoenix. Kawhi visiting Leonard Jonas Valanciunas Serge Ibaka 14 added for the 16 Raptors, points and who improved to 8-1, the best nine-game start in franchise history. Deandre Ayton, the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, had 17 points and 18 rebounds for the Suns, losers of seven in a row since winning their season opener.