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• White impressed by Queta as Celtics stay perfect

  Derrick White believes Neemias Queta is "more sure of himself" after helping the Boston Celtics cruise to a 122-102 win over the Washington Wizards.

  The Celtics maintained their perfect record in the NBA this season with their first road win of the season, with Jayson Tatum leading the charge with 25 points and 11 rebounds.

  Jaylen Brown scored 27, while White added 19 as the reigning champions extended their winning streak over Washington to five games.

  The Wizards struggled to gain any momentum in what was their season opener and trailed the Celtics throughout.

  Boston were much changed from their opening win over the New York Knicks, as Joe Mazzulla went with a double-big line-up to make up for Sam Hauser's absence.

  One of those brought in was Queta, who scored 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds, including a game-high four on the offensive end.

  And White was impressed with the influence Queta had despite his short time on the court.

  "He's athletic, seems to get every offensive rebound, and is just a big body around the rim," White said.

  "I just think he's a little more comfortable, a lot more sure of himself, of where to be in the offense. I think last year he was maybe thinking too much, but this year he's just playing and doing what he does.

  "He was really good for us in training camp and again [against Washington]."

  Xavier Tillman and Luke Kornet were the other backups brought in by the Celtics, and proved their most efficient scorers, shooting a combined 10-of-14 from the field.

  "The standard is the standard and no matter who we put in there, we expect the same things," White added.

  "Obviously, it's not Sam Hauser running around out there, but there's a lot of ways for us to create advantages and I thought all the bigs did a great job for us today."

• Thompson proud of 'great debut' after setting Mavericks record

  Klay Thompson was delighted with his "great" debut, after setting a new franchise record in the Dallas Mavericks' win over the San Antonio Spurs.

  He got 22 points, seven rebounds and three steals in 28 minutes, with eighteen of those points coming from 3-pointers, a record for a Mavericks player.

  Thompson, who left the Golden State Warriors after 13 years in the close season, helped push the Mavericks to a 120-109 victory on Thursday.

  "Great debut," Thompson said.

  "It's only one game in October, but it feels good just to get that first one out of the way.

  "I had a ton of excitement, really just an awesome feeling. And you only get the first time of something so often."

  Victor Wembanyama, meanwhile, finished with 17 points on 5-of-18 shooting with nine rebounds, one assist and a game-high-tying four turnovers to open his second season with the Spurs.

  Due to his involvement in the Paris Olympics, Wembanyama was limited to fewer than 40 minutes in preseason, and he admitted he felt that in their season opener.

  "Some moments felt great," Wembanyama said. "A little hard conditioning-wise at first, of course [as] I expected.

  "But I think we had some good basketball moments and some really bad ones.

  "None of us really have played four games since [the] middle of the summer for me. It's a struggle.

  "Every player in the NBA goes through it. Conditioning is not an excuse [for missed shots]. I'll have different weapons we need to know when to use.

  "So, for the missed shots, it's more getting used to taking shots, getting used to again taking shots in a game."

• NBA: Edwards' late free throws lift Timberwolves over Kings

  Anthony Edwards sank two free throws with 2.4 seconds remaining and the Minnesota Timberwolves spoiled Sacramento's opener by beating the Kings 117-115 on Thursday night.

  Edwards was fouled by Domantas Sabonis on a drive with the game tied and calmly hit the free throws to give him 32 points.

  Keegan Murray's 3-point attempt rimmed out at the buzzer for the Kings.

  Julius Randle led the Timberwolves with 33 points in his second game after being acquired in a trade from New York this month.

  Demar DeRozan scored 26 points to lead the Kings in his debut for Sacramento after being acquired this summer in a sign-and-trade from Chicago. Sabonis added 24 points and Murray had 23.

  Edwards and Naz Reid hit back-to-back 3-pointers that started an 11-0 run for Minnesota that turned a five-point deficit into a 105-99 lead midway through the fourth quarter.

  After going 13 for 41 from 3 in the opener, Minnesota shot 20 for 50 from long range against Sacramento. The 91 attempted 3s are the most ever for the Timberwolves in the first two games of a season.

  Holmgren's all-around performance powers Thunder

  Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 28 points, Chet Holmgren added 25 as part of a stellar all-around game and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Denver Nuggets 102-87 in the season opener for both teams.

  Holmgren proved to be a handful at both ends of the floor. He tied a career-high with 14 rebounds and had five assists and blocked four shots. Reserve Aaron Wiggins added 15 points.

  It was an important divisional game right out of the gate. The Thunder and Nuggets both finished 57-25 last season, with the Thunder earning the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference by virtue of a tiebreaker.

  Reigning NBA MVP Nikola Jokic had 16 points, 13 assists and 12 rebounds for his 131st triple-double.  

  Jokic's point guard partner, Jamal Murray, had 12 points on 4-of-14 shooting. Christian Braun added 16 points, while Aaron Gordon, fresh off signing a new contract extension, added 12 points. Denver missed 32 of 39 3-pointers.

  New addition Russell Westbrook was held to six points on 2-of-10 shooting.

  Doncic, Thompson pace Mavericks

  Luka Doncic had 28 points and 10 rebounds, Klay Thompson added 22 points in his Dallas debut and the Mavericks beat the San Antonio Spurs 120-109 in the opener for both teams on Thursday night.

  Kyrie Irving had 15 points for the defending Western Conference champions, who got eight assists from Doncic and seven rebounds from Thompson.

  Thompson set a franchise record in a debut with six 3-pointers.

  He scored 14 points after halftime and was 4 of 5 from long range, as Dallas went 13 of 21 from deep after making just 6 of 23 in the first half. The five-time All-Star and four-time champ with the Warriors also had seven rebounds and three steals.

  Victor Wembanyama shot just 5 of 18 from the field for 17 points to open the young French phenom's second year with the Spurs. Jeremy Sochan and Julian Champagnie scored 18 apiece.

  Chris Paul had three points on 1-of-6 shooting to go with eight assists and seven rebounds in his Spurs debut.