James Harden amassed 38 points and 11 assists and Joe Harris added 22 points as the short-handed Brooklyn Nets rallied from a 24-point deficit to earn a 128-124 road victory over the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday.
The 21-point, second-half comeback was the largest for the Nets since they joined the NBA in the 1976-77 season.
Jeff Green scored 18 points off the bench for Brooklyn and Tyler Johnson added 17 in his first start of the season. The Nets, who were playing without Kyrie Irving (back) and Kevin Durant (hamstring), won their fourth straight game.
Chris Paul scored 17 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter and Devin Booker added 22 points and seven assists as the Suns saw their season-best winning streak end at six games. Phoenix led the entire game until the Nets took their first lead on a Harden 3-pointer with 31.4 seconds remaining.
Boston Celtics 112 – Denver Nuggets 99
Jaylen Brown scored 27 points, Jayson Tatum had 21 points and eight assists, and host Boston overcame a big night by Nikola Jokic to beat Denver. Kemba Walker added 17 points for the Celtics, who had lost four of their previous five.
Jokic finished with 43 points, Jamal Murray had 25 — but committed nine turnovers — and Facundo Campazzo added 15 points in his first start for short-handed Denver.
The Nuggets played without five rotation players, three of them starters. In addition to Gary Harris, P.J. Dozier and Will Barton, who all missed Sunday’s win over the Los Angeles Lakers, Paul Millsap (left knee sprain) and Monte Morris (right shoulder strain) were sidelined.
Los Angeles Lakers 112 – Minnesota Timberwolves 104
LeBron James totaled 30 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists to lead Los Angeles, playing without injured star Anthony Davis, to a victory over Minnesota in Minneapolis.
The Lakers, one of the NBA’s best road teams this season, won for the 13th time in 16 games away from L.A. and prevailed for the eighth time in their past nine games overall. They played without Davis, who is expected to miss multiple weeks after straining his right Achilles tendon Sunday at Denver.
Montrezl Harrell was clutch off the Lakers’ bench with 17 points and six rebounds and Marc Gasol (11 points) helped limit Karl-Anthony Towns to only 15 points and six rebounds. Dennis Schroder added 24 points for the Lakers while rookie Anthony Edwards led the Timberwolves with 28 points.
New Orleans Pelicans 144 – Memphis Grizzlies 113
Zion Williamson scored 31 points as New Orleans salvaged the final game of a four-game road trip by winning at Memphis.
Josh Hart came off the bench to score a season-high 27 and Willy Hernangomez added 14 off the bench as the Pelicans’ reserves outscored the Grizzlies’ bench 63-30. Brandon Ingram scored 22 and Lonzo Ball had 13 as New Orleans posted a season high in points.
Ja Morant scored 28, Kyle Anderson had 19, Dillon Brooks added 18 and Jonas Valanciunas had 10 for the Grizzlies, who have dropped five straight against the Pelicans.
Toronto Raptors 124 – Milwaukee Bucks 113
Fred VanVleet scored 33 points and added seven assists and visiting Toronto defeated Milwaukee in the opener of a two-game set.
Pascal Siakam scored 23 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for Toronto. Chris Boucher had 14 points, and OG Anunoby, who returned after missing 10 games with a strained calf, scored 13 points.
Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 34 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, dished out eight assists and logged five steals for Milwaukee.
Portland Trail Blazers 115 – Oklahoma City Thunder 104
Damian Lillard scored 31 points, including three 3-pointers in four possessions in the fourth quarter, to lift Portland past host Oklahoma City.
The Blazers had let a 24-point, third-quarter lead slip away, trailing by five when Lillard hit the first of those 3-pointers with 4:11 left to kickstart the decisive surge. Gary Trent Jr. added 19 points for Portland and Enes Kanter had a game-high 21 rebounds.
Luguentz Dort led the Thunder with 23 points while Hamidou Diallo added 17 points off the bench.
—Field Level Media