The Golden State Warriors were dealt their first defeat of the season Sunday, and may have suffered an even greater loss in their home opener.
Stephen Curry exited in the fourth quarter with a left ankle injury in the Los Angeles Clippers' 112-104 win over the Warriors, who entered the contest off back-to-back blowout road victories over the Portland Trail Blazers and the Utah Jazz.
Curry initially left the game late in the third quarter but returned with just over eight minutes left in the fourth. The two-time NBA MVP lasted just 13 seconds before hobbling to the bench after setting a screen, however, and headed to the locker room before being ruled out of the remainder of the game shortly afterward.
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said afterward that Curry, who finished with 18 points and six assists, has a "mild to moderate" sprain and will undergo an MRI.
James Harden and Ivica Zubac led the Clippers, who never trailed after embarking on an 11-1 run to build a 56-45 lead late in the second quarter, with 23 points each. Harden added 11 assists and seven rebounds, while Zubac pulled down 18 boards to go along with six assists.
Los Angeles also received 20 points from Norman Powell in its second straight win since a season-opening loss to the Phoenix Suns.
Andrew Wiggins paced Golden State with 29 points on 11-of-15 shooting, including a 5-for-8 effort from 3-point range.
Maxey's 45 points sends 76ers past Pacers in overtime
Tyrese Maxey scored 10 of his 45 points in overtime to rally the short-handed Philadelphia 76ers to their first win of the season, a 118-114 victory over the Indiana Pacers.
Still without All-Stars Joel Embiid and Paul George due to knee injuries, the 76ers bounced back from two straight losses to start the campaign despite trailing 102-97 with under 90 seconds left in regulation.
Philadelphia then went on an 8-0 run, capped by two Maxey free throws with 11.7 seconds remaining, to briefly move ahead until Indiana's Tyrese Haliburton forced overtime with a 3-pointer that tied the score at 105-105 with 3.5 seconds to go.
Maxey took over in the extra session, however, scoring a pair of layups around a made free throw by the Pacers' Myles Turner to give the 76ers a 114-111 lead with 20.7 seconds left. The sharpshooting guard later sealed the victory with two free throws with 2.5 seconds remaining that extended the margin to 118-114.
Caleb Martin added 17 points and 12 rebounds for Philadelphia, which also received 17 rebounds from Andre Drummond with the veteran center starting in Embiid's place.
Haliburton led the Pacers with 22 points, while Pascal Siakam had 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting along with six assists in Indiana's second straight loss since a season-opening win at Detroit.
Nets beat Bucks for Fernandez's first win
Cam Thomas scored 32 points and Dennis Schröder added 29 as the Brooklyn Nets gave rookie head coach Jordi Fernandez his first NBA victory with a 115-102 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.
After opening the season with consecutive losses, the Nets outscored Milwaukee by a 22-4 margin over a stretch of under seven minutes in the fourth quarter to win their home opener under Fernandez, a native of Spain who spent the last two seasons as the Sacramento Kings' associate head coach.
Brooklyn broke the game open with a 10-0 run that Thomas capped with a three-point play to give his team a 99-85 lead with seven minutes to go. The Nets' advantage later grew to 22 points when Nic Claxton dunked in a feed from Cameron Johnson to make the score 111-89 with 2:36 left.
Milwaukee was dealt its second straight loss since a season-opening win at Philadelphia despite Giannis Antetokounmpo's 22 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists.
Damian Lillard added 21 points for the Bucks but went 1 of 7 from 3-point range. Milwaukee shot just 30.3 per cent from beyond the arc for the game.
Joker Jokic wants more party time for 'struggling' Nuggets
Nikola Jokic suggested a novel way to try and get the Denver Nuggets firing after a stuttering start to the NBA season continued against the Los Angeles Clippers.
Superstar Jokic put up a hugely impressive 41 points but was unable to help the Nuggets to victory as the Clippers ran out 109-104 victors at the Ball Arena on Saturday.
It means the Nuggets have started the season 0-2 and Jokic was asked what the team could do differently to get things going.
He jokingly replied: "Party every time when we go out."
Jokic would later follow up with a more substantive answer, though, saying: "I really don't know, my friend.
"We just want to win. We just want to win one game and uh, hopefully, we can do that on this road.
"I think we're really struggling to score. We scored 104 points. In today's NBA, I think that’s not a really good number. Last game, we scored 89 [actually 87]. I don't even know."
The Nuggets will attempt to get on the win column when they visit the Toronto Raptors on Monday.
Durant hailed as generational talent after reaching 29,000 career NBA points
Kevin Durant was hailed as a generational talent by Phoenix Suns coach Mike Budenholzer after becoming the eighth player to reach 29,000 career NBA points.
Durant scored 31 points as the Suns recorded their second victory in three games on Saturday, beating the Dallas Mavericks 114-102.
That made him just the eighth player in league history to score 29,000 points, after LeBron James, the NBA's scoring leader with 40,543 points, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Dirk Nowitzki and Wilt Chamberlain.
Addressing the 36-year-old's landmark after the game, Budenholzer said: "What a tribute to a great, generational talent. I feel incredibly lucky to be around him every day."
Durant now has 29,010 total points through his 17 seasons in the league with the Seattle Supersonics, Oklahoma City Thunder, Golden State Warriors, Brooklyn Nets and Phoenix.
He has averaged over 20 points in each of his campaigns in the league, but he said the credit must go to those who have put him in a position to score points.
"I've got to give credit to the people who have helped me since I was a kid," Durant said.
"Team-mates who passed me the ball, set screens for me, coaches who drew up plays for me."
LeBron James: Lakers are not built for me
LeBron James shrugged off the suggestion that the Los Angeles Lakers are a team built for him after his superb fourth-quarter showing against the Sacramento Kings.
James scored 16 points and laid on an assist in an awesome run at the start of the fourth quarter, as the Lakers sank 21 unanswered points en route to a 131-127 victory on Saturday.
The Lakers have won their opening three games of the season, with James finishing with a game-high 32 points.
But the 39-year-old, who is playing in his 22nd NBA campaign, stressed it was a team effort that got the Lakers over the line.
"Listen, I could do that at 22, but at almost 40, I don't need to be doing it for four quarters," said James, who also added 14 rebounds and 10 assists for a triple-double.
"I have the luxury of having an MVP-calibre player next to me in Anthony Davis.
"[Austin Reaves] can get it going in bunches. [D'Angelo Russell] can catch fire. Rui [Hachimura] has been consistent, and he can get going and score in bunches, as well.
"This team is not built for me to have 16-point quarters through all four quarters. That's not how it's constructed and nor should it be. We're a team, and we all play together."
Lakers coach JJ Redick was blown away by what he saw from James.
"What can you say? We've all been very fortunate to watch his greatness for so long, and the fact that he's able to keep doing it – it's actually insane," Redick said.
For James' brilliant display, it was Davis grabbed the crucial points in the closing stages, sinking a three-pointer before nailing a free-throw in the final minute.
"We encourage him, coaches encourage him, we as his teammates encourage him to shoot that 3 ball," James said of Davis.
"Probably the biggest shot of the night is him making that 3, so it made it easy on me."
Davis has now put up three straight 30-point games to start the season, tying with Elgin Baylor, Jerry West and Kobe Bryant in a franchise record.
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