PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Donovan Mitchell scored 11 of his 23 points in the final three minutes of the game and the Cleveland Cavaliers became the sixth team in NBA history to start a season 13-0 with a 114-106 win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night.
Mitchell also grabbed 13 rebounds and added nine assists as Cleveland became the first team since the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors to win 13 straight to begin a season. That Warriors team holds the record for most wins to begin a campaign at 24 straight.
Darius Garland scored 25 points while Evan Mobley had 14 points with seven rebounds.
Jared McCain had a career-high 34 for the 76ers, who played without Paul George and Joel Embiid on the second night of a back-to-back as part of left knee injury maintenance. Kelly Oubre Jr. had 20 points while Caleb Martin added 18 for the Sixers.
CELTICS 139, NETS 114
NEW YORK (AP) — Jayson Tatum had 36 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds, Jaylen Brown added 24 points and 12 rebounds and Boston beat Brooklyn.
Payton Pritchard had 23 points, eight assists and six rebounds for the Celtics, who quickly and emphatically bounced back with their highest points total of the season after a surprising 117-116 home loss to Atlanta on Tuesday night.
Boston fell into a 13-point hole in the first quarter of this one before the NBA champions snapped themselves back into top form and turned the game into a rout with a 74-point second half.
Ziaire Williams scored a season-high 23 points for the Nets.
MAGIC 94, PACERS 90
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Franz Wagner scored 29 points, Jalen Suggs hit two free throws with 9.8 seconds left and Orlando beat Indiana to remain unbeaten at home.
Orlando is 6-0 at home this season and has won 13 in a row overall at home.
Pascal Siakam led Indiana with 29 points. Bennedict Mathurin added 23 points — scoring 12 straight Pacers points late in the fourth quarter — and 12 rebounds. Tyrese Haliburton had with nine points and 12 assists.
Goga Bitadze added 12 points and 12 rebounds for the Magic. Anthony Black came off the bench for six points, six assists, four steals and a block.
BULLS 124, KNICKS 123
NEW YORK (AP) — Zach LaVine scored 31 points and Colby White had 22, including the winning free throws with three second left, as Chicago outlasted New York.
The Bulls led by as many as 22 in the third quarter, but the Knicks rallied and went ahead 123-121 on Jalen Brunson’s bucket with four seconds remaining.
On the ensuing possession, White was fouled by Josh Hart on a 3-point attempt and made all three.
Brunson’s potential winner rimmed out at the buzzer.
Karl-Anthony Towns scored a season-high 46 points for the Knicks, adding 10 rebounds. Brunson finished with 24 points and Mikal Bridges had 20.
Nikola Vucevic had 19 points and 11 rebounds for the Bulls.
THUNDER 106, PELICANS 88
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (AP) — Jalen Williams scored 31 points, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 29 and Oklahoma City beat short-handed New Orleans.
The victory was the second straight for the Thunder without Chet Holmgren. Oklahoma City was coming off a 134-128 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday.
Lou Dort scored 11 points and Aaron Wiggins added 10 for Oklahoma City, which broke a 59-all tie with a 16-0 run in the third quarter for a 75-59 advantage.
Williams shot 10 for 18, including 4 for 7 from long distance and had seven assists. Gilgeous-Alexander made 12 of 25 shots and the Thunder converted 15 of 39 shots from 3-point range.
Brandon Ingram scored 18 points, Trey Murphy added 14 and Yves Missi had 10 points and 10 rebounds for New Orleans, which outrebounded Oklahoma City 58-31, but was slowed by 24 turnovers.
ROCKETS 111, CLIPPERS 103
HOUSTON (AP) — Jalen Green had 21 points and Amen Thompson and Tari Eason added 18 each to lead Houston to a victory over Los Angeles in the opener of a two-game set.
The Rockets trailed by 11 early but had taken a five-point lead by halftime. They used a huge run at the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth to push the lead to 19.
The Clippers used a 9-2 run to cut the lead to four with about 90 seconds remaining, but Alperen Sengun had a dunk followed by a monster block on the other end to secure Houston’s third straight victory.
James Harden had 19 points for the Clippers, who lost a second straight after winning four in a row. He was 3 of 4 on 3-pointers in the first quarter but missed all four attempts after that. He moved within three of tying Ray Allen (2,973) for second-most career 3-pointers in NBA history behind Stephen Curry (3.779).
SPURS 139, WIZARDS 130
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Victor Wembanyama had a career-high 50 points and San Antonio rolled to a victory over Washington.
Wembanyama was 8 for 16 on 3-pointers, also setting a career high, as San Antonio won its second straight.
Jordan Poole had 42 points for Washington, which lost its sixth straight.
At 20 years 314 days, Wembanyama is the fourth-youngest player to score 50 points, trailing only Brandon Jennings (20/52), LeBron James (20/80) and Devin Booker (20/145).
Wembanyama’s previous high was 49 points in a 130-126 overtime victory over New York.
Wembanyama made at least six 3-pointers for the third straight game.
Devin Vassell had 17 points in his third game for the Spurs since returning from offseason surgery to repair a fractured right foot.
BUCKS 127, PISTONS 120, OT
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 59 points to pace Milwaukee to a overtime victory over Detroit.
It was a league-high for points by an NBA player this season and the second-highest single-game total for Antetokounmpo, who had 64 against Indiana last season.
Antetokounmpo hit 21 of 34 shots and 16 of 17 free throws and added 14 rebounds and seven assists as the Bucks rallied from an 18-point second-half deficit.
Brook Lopez added 29 points for the Bucks. Cade Cunningham led Detroit with 35 points and Malik Beasley had 26 against his former team.
Detroit’s Ron Holland II was fouled by Antetokounmpo with one second left in regulation and the score tied at 111, but Holland missed both free throws.
KINGS 127, SUNS 101
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — De’Aaron Fox had 29 points and 10 assists, Kevin Huerter scored a season-high 22 points and Sacramento beat Phoenix.
Domantas Sabonis added 11 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists to help the Kings to their second victory in four days against the Suns, who were without Kevin Durant for the third straight game because of a strained calf.
Josh Okogie had a season-high 25 points and eight rebounds for the Suns, who also were without Bradley Beal (calf) and Grayson Allen (hamstring). Devin Booker had 18 points.
The Kings’ DeMar DeRozan did not play in the second half because of lower back tightness.
The Kings led by 26 before Phoenix made a charge in the fourth quarter and got five at 93-88 on Okogie’s layup with 10:22 remaining. Fox stopped the Suns’ run with a short jumper then made a 3-pointer.
TRAIL BLAZERS 106, TIMBERWOLVES 98
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Shaedon Sharpe scored 33 points, Donovan Clingan narrowly missed a triple-double with 17 points, 13 rebounds and eight blocks, and Portland beat Minnesota for the second straight night.
Anthony Edwards scored 24 points as Minnesota squandered an early lead and dropped its third straight game.
The teams entered the fourth quarter tied before Portland took control behind the defense of Clingan, who had four blocks in the period as Minnesota missed 10 of its first 11 shots to start the final frame.
Portland extended its lead to double digits for the first time on free throws by Sharpe to make it 89-78.
LAKERS 128, GRIZZLIES 123
LOS ANGELES (AP) — LeBron James had 35 points, 14 assists and 12 rebounds for his third straight triple-double and the Los Angeles Lakers rallied to beat the Memphis Grizzlies 128-123 on Wednesday night.
Anthony Davis scored 11 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter. He picked up his fifth foul with 3:51 remaining in the third quarter, then came back in with 6:48 left and hit a couple of pivotal baskets, including a 3-pointer with 4:51 remaining to put Los Angeles up for good at 111-108.
James was 13 of 22 from the field, hitting 4 of 7 3-pointers.
Jaren Jackson Jr. had 29 points for Memphis, which had a three-game winning streak snapped.
Rookie Dalton Knecht and Rui Hachimura added 19 points apiece for the Lakers.
The Lakers trailed 96-91 at the end of three quarters before starting the quarter with a 10-2 run. The lead would change hands three more times before the 3-pointer by Davis, who also had 14 rebounds.
The Associated Press