Kristaps Porzingis had 16 points in 23 minutes in a successful season debut as the Boston Celtics stayed hot with Monday's 126-94 blowout of the Los Angeles Clippers. (More NBA News)
Porzingis' return from offseason ankle surgery helped turn this clash of teams that came in each owning five-game winning streaks into a laugher. Three-point shooting turned out to be the biggest factor, however, as the defending NBA champion Celtics hit 22 shots from beyond the arc while holding Los Angeles to a 7-of-26 effort (26.9 per cent) on such tries.
Payton Pritchard went 6 of 10 from 3-point range while scoring 20 points off the bench for Boston. Jayson Tatum also had 20 points to go along with nine rebounds, while Derrick White added 19 points and seven assists while going 5 of 9 on 3-point attempts.
Ivica Zubac led Los Angeles, which was coming off a win in Philadelphia on Sunday, with 23 points on 11-of-14 shooting as well as 10 rebounds. James Harden flirted with a triple-double in defeat by tallying 19 points, eight rebounds and nine assists.
After taking a 27-20 lead after one quarter, the Celtics overwhelmed the Clippers from the perimeter in the second. Boston hit 12 shots from beyond the arc for the period and shot 70.8 per cent overall while outscoring Los Angeles by a 51-29 margin during the quarter.
The scoring barrage sent Boston into the break owning a commanding 78-49 advantage.
Los Angeles never seriously threatened in the second half, as the Celtics never held a lead smaller than 15 points over the final two quarters.
Nets overcome 18-point deficit to stun Warriors
Dennis Schroder scored 23 of his 31 points in the second half to spark the Brooklyn Nets to a surprising 128-120 comeback road win over the Golden State Warriors.
The Nets handed the Warriors a second straight loss after a 12-3 start to the season despite trailing by 18 points midway through the third quarter. Brooklyn was able to rally for its second win in as many nights behind big efforts from Schroder and Ziaire Williams, who had 13 of his 19 points after half-time and finished with 10 rebounds.
Cam Thomas added 23 points for Brooklyn, which was coming off a 108-103 road victory over the Sacramento Kings on Sunday.
Golden State received 28 points and seven assists from Stephen Curry and 18 points from Andrew Wiggins, but failed to get late stops on defence while being outscored 41-28 in the fourth quarter.
The Warriors appeared to have the game in control after Curry tallied seven points during an 11-0 run that gave them an 86-68 lead with seven minutes left in the third quarter.
Brooklyn answered with 11 straight points of its own, however, and later got to within 92-87 after Trendon Watford sank a 3-pointer to end the third quarter.
Schroder then scored the first eight points of the fourth, with his 3-ball with 9:43 to go breaking a 92-92 tie.
The Warriors were never able to get the lead back, with the Nets putting the game out of reach with a late 7-2 spurt that put them up 126-115 in the final minute.
Anunoby's 40 points leads Knicks' blowout of Nuggets
OG Anunoby racked up a career-high 40 points and the New York Knicks tied a franchise record with 45 assists to hand the scuffling Denver Nuggets a 145-118 loss.
Jalen Brunson also set a career best by dishing out 17 of New York's 45 assists, which matched a team single-game high set in 1979. The Knicks also shot a season-high 60.9 per cent from the field to win for the fifth time in six games, with Anunoby hitting 16 of 23 shots and Karl-Anthony Towns going 12 of 15 while adding 30 points and 15 rebounds.
New York held Nikola Jokić to a season-low seven rebounds as well as they dealt Denver a fourth defeat in six games. The reigning NBA MVP did manage 22 points and seven assists, while Russell Westbrook scored 27 points off the bench and Jamal Murray had 20 along with seven assists.
The Nuggets also received their second straight loss at home, where they're 5-4 so far this season after producing a 33-8 record at Ball Arena in 2023-24.
Brunson had nine of his 23 points during an 11-4 run to close out the first quarter that staked New York to a 36-24 lead after 12 minutes of play. Towns then put up 15 points in the second quarter as the Knicks stretched the margin to 23 points by half-time, as they entered the break with a 76-53 advantage.
The Knicks continued to pour it on in the second half, as their lead never got under 17 points and reached as high as 30 in the fourth quarter.
