CLEVELAND (AP) — Donovan Mitchell scored a season-high 37 points, Darius Garland had 29 and the Cleveland Cavaliers continued one of the best starts in league history, improving to 14-0 with a 144-126 win over the Chicago Bulls on Friday night in an NBA Cup game.
The Cavs are the sixth team to go 14-0 and first since the Golden State Warriors opened 24-0 in 2015-16.
Cleveland’s 14-game winning streak is the longest in the club’s 55-year existence. The Cavs won 13 in a row three times when LeBron James played for them.
Jarrett Allen added 24 points and Caris LeVert had 22 for the Cavs, who have been perfect under first-year coach Kenny Atkinson.
Coby White scored 29 and Nikola Vucevic had 25 for the Bulls, who were still within four points on Ayo Dosunmu’s dunk with 2:55 left. However, LeVert and Mitchell dropped 3-pointers as the Cavs blitzed the Bulls 21-7 the rest of the way.
The Cavs played without starting forward Evan Mobley, who has been battling an illness the past few days.
HEAT 124, PACERS 111
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Bam Adebayo scored 30 points and had 11 rebounds and Miami Heat beat Indiana.
Adebayo scored 17 points in the final quarter as the Heat pulled away to even their NBA Cup record at 1-1. Tyler Herro scored 20 points, Kevin Love 15 and Haywood Highsmith 14 in the first of two straight games between the teams. They meet again Sunday in Indianapolis.
Obi Toppin led the Pacers with 21 points off the bench. Tyrese Haliburton had 18 points and eight assists. The game was Indiana’s NBA Cup opener after reaching the final last year.
PISTONS 99, RAPTORS 95
TORONTO (AP) — Malik Beasley scored seven of his 20 points in the fourth quarter, Cade Cunningham had 15 points and 10 assists and Detroit beat struggling Toronto.
Tobias Harris had 11 points and 11 rebounds, Jaden Ivey scored 14 points and Jalen Duren added 12 for the Pistons. Rookie Ron Holland had 10 points and eight rebounds for Detroit but missed all six of his 3-point attempts.
Detroit won despite shooting 8 for 38 from 3-point range. The Raptors weren’t much better and shot 8 for 31 from distance.
Jakob Poeltl had a season-high 25 points and matched his career-high with 19 rebounds, but the Raptors lost their sixth straight.
RJ Barrett scored 22 points and Gradey Dick, who shot 1 for 10 from 3, added 16 for Toronto, which has lost 10 of 11.
MAGIC 98, 76ERS 86
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Franz Wagner had 31 points and 11 rebounds, Jalen Suggs added 19 points and seven rebounds, and Orlando pulled away in the fourth quarter to a win over Philadelphia.
Joel Embiid, playing 33 minutes in his second game this season for the 76ers (2-10), had 20 points and eight rebounds. Rookie guard Jared McCain scored 29 points, his fourth straight game of 23 or more, before fouling out with 4:56 remaining. Paul George added 13 points on 4-of-15 shooting.
Mo Wagner, Jonathan Isaac and Anthony Black sparked a 9-0 charge that concluded the third quarter and put Orlando ahead to stay.
The Magic are 2-0 in NBA Cup Group A play, while Philadelphia dropped to 0-2.
HAWKS 129, WIZARDS 117
ATLANTA (AP) — Dyson Daniels continued his scoring surge with 25 points and Atlanta beat Washington to improve to 2-0 in the NBA Cup.
Kyle Kuzma led Washington with 24 points. Jordan Poole had 22 and rookie Alex Sarr added a career-high 20 points. Despite the trio’s scoring leadership, the Wizards’ NBA Cup opener was their seventh consecutive loss.
Washington is now 2-9 with both wins against Atlanta in the first four games of the season.
Coming off a career-high 28 points in Tuesday night’s at defending NBA champion Boston, Daniels made 10 of 14 shots from the field and paced the defense with six steals.
Jalen Johnson scored 18 points with 13 rebounds and seven assists for Atlanta. Trae Young had 18 points and nine assists.
LAKERS 120, SPURS 115
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Anthony Davis had 40 points and 12 rebounds, LeBron James had 15 points, 16 rebounds and 12 assists and Los Angeles opened defense of their Emirates NBA Cup title with a victory over San Antonio.
James had his career-high fourth straight triple-double.
Victor Wembanyama had 28 points, 14 rebounds, five assists and two blocks for San Antonio. On Wednesday night, he had a career-high 50 points in a 139-130 home victory over Washington.
Davis shot 14 for 26, making 2 of 4 3-pointers, in his highest-scoring game of the season. Austin Reaves added 19 points, Dalton Knecht had 14 and D’Angelo Russell 13.
San Antonio raced to an 11-0 lead, including an alley-oop dunk by Wembanyama from fellow 20-year-old Stephon Castle. Davis scored 16 points in the opening quarter as Los Angeles closed the period on a 21-8 run to take a 31-30 lead.
Castle had 22 points, and Devin Vassell added 15 for San Antonio.
PELICANS 101, NUGGETS 94
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Brandon Ingram scored 29 points to lift New Orleans to a victory over Denver Nuggets, .
Ingram twisted his left ankle in the second half but stayed in the game to help the injury-riddled Pelicans snap a six-game skid and end the Nuggets’ five-game winning streak.
Brandon Boston Jr. scored 19 points and Trey Murphy III had 17 points for New Orleans.
Michael Porter Jr. led Denver with 24 points and Peyton Watson added 18. Jamal Murray scored 16 points for the Nuggets but struggled from long range, making 2 of 8 from beyond the arc.
KNICKS 124, NETS 122
NEW YORK (AP) — Jalen Brunson made a go-ahead 3-pointer with 6.2 seconds left after the Knicks had blown a 21-point lead, and New York edged Brooklyn Nets to improve to 2-0 in the NBA Cup.
Brunson missed a potential game-winning shot in a loss to Chicago on Wednesday but came through when the Knicks needed him this time and finished with 37 points. OG Anunoby added 25 and Mikal Bridges had 22 against his former team before partially blocking Dennis Schroder’s layup attempt on the final possession.
Cam Thomas scored a season-high 43 points for the Nets, his ninth career 40-point game and second at Madison Square Garden.
Playing without starting center Karl-Anthony Towns, who rested a bruised left knee, the Knicks led 98-77 with 30 seconds left in the third quarter before barely pulling out the opener of a weekend series between the teams. They meet again Sunday at Madison Square Garden — with the court back to its normal color after it was orange Friday for the tournament game.
ROCKETS 125, CLIPPERS 104
HOUSTON (AP) — Jabari Smith Jr. had a season-high 28 points with five 3-pointers and Houston never trailed in a rout of Los Angeles.
It was Houston’s season-high fourth straight victory and the team’s second straight over the Clippers after getting a Wednesday night.
The Rockets led comfortably throughout and used a big run in the third quarter to enter the fourth leading by 19.
Fred VanVleet added 18 points and 10 assists for Houston and Dillon Brooks scored 17.
James Harden had 21 points for the Clippers, who lost their third straight after winning their previous four. He made three 3-pointers to move into a tie with Ray Allen (2,973) for second-most career 3-pointers behind Stephen Curry, who entered Friday with 3,779.
THUNDER 99, SUNS 83
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 28 points and Oklahoma City beat short-handed Phoenix.
Lu Dort had 15 points and nine rebounds, Jalen Williams added 14 points and eight rebounds and Isaiah Joe scored 11 points to help Oklahoma City improve to 11-2.
Oklahoma City led by 25 points in the second half en route to its third straight victory without injured center Chet Holmgren.
Josh Okogie had 15 points and nine rebounds for Phoenix, which played again without Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal and Grayson Allen.
Devin Booker added 12 points as the Suns dropped to 9-4. He missed his first six shots and finished 2 of 10 from the field.
TIMBERWOLVES 130, KINGS 126, OT
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Anthony Edwards had 36 points, and Minnesota beat short-handed Sacramento in overtime despite a franchise-record 60 points from De’Aaron Fox.
Fox had 26 points in the fourth quarter and overtime, but it wasn’t enough for a Kings team without DeMar DeRozan (lower back tightness) and Malik Monk (ankle). Julius Randle had the go-ahead basket on a driving layup with under a minute to play to put the Timberwolves ahead by two.
Minnesota made its first four shots in the extra session – including five straight by Edwards after Fox opened the scoring with a 3-pointer.
Randle added 26 points, and Naz Reid had 16 for Minnesota. Domantas Sabonis added 23 points and 12 rebounds for Sacramento.
The Timberwolves gave up a 20-point lead in the second half after the Kings began the fourth on a 14-0 run. Fox had 21 points in the first half, but Minnesota led 62-54 after jumping out to a double-digit advantage in the first quarter.
WARRIORS 123, GRIZZLIES 118
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Draymond Green had 13 points, eight rebounds and seven assists before a late ejection after two technical fouls in a 33-second span, and Golden State beat Memphis in a physical NBA Cup game.
Stephen Curry overcame a slow start to finish with 13 points, eight rebounds and five assists, while Buddy Hield had 18 points and Moses Moody scored 14.
Jaren Jackson Jr. scored 32 points for Memphis in a matchup of teams with deep rotations who rely heavily on their reserves.
Curry, who had scored 36 and 37 points the past two games, respectively, shot 4 for 9 with three 3-pointers.
The Associated Press