Milwaukee Bucks 116, Philadelphia 76ers 127

Milwaukee had the better of the first half. Philadelphia led 34-25 after one quarter on Tyrese Maxey's 46-footer at the buzzer, but the Bucks opened the second with nine straight points, tied it at 34 with 8:56 left, and took their biggest lead at 48-41 on Kel'el Ware's free throw with 5:38 to go. Philadelphia answered with 10 straight, from Kentavious Caldwell-Pope's three at 2:08 to Embiid's free throws at 1:15 for a 61-56 lead, and Jaylen Brown's three with 11.8 seconds to go sent the 76ers in up 64-60.

The third quarter was tied three times, the last at 82-82 on AJ Green's three with 4:25 left, and then Philadelphia ran off 15 of the next 20. Embiid's free throws at 3:24 put the 76ers ahead for good, Caldwell-Pope's three at 2:57 made it 87-82, Maxey's three at 1:58 made it 91-84, and Maxey's step-back at 1.7 seconds sent Philadelphia into the fourth up 97-87. The lead reached 16 at 105-89 with 9:28 left, Milwaukee got within three at 117-114 on Ware's and-one with 2:02 to go, and Brown's three from 27 feet at 1:39 and Caldwell-Pope's runner at 1:12 put it back to nine. Embiid's dunk with 47 seconds left made it 125-114.

Embiid finished with 28 points on 8-of-20, 11 rebounds and 10 assists, making 12 of 14 free throws. Brown scored 27 with five assists and three steals, Maxey had 26 on 9-of-22 with four threes, VJ Edgecombe made five threes for 17 points and pulled down 13 rebounds, and Caldwell-Pope went 4-of-6 from deep for 12. Philadelphia made 19 of 44 threes and forced 22 turnovers. For Milwaukee, Jaime Jaquez Jr. led with 21, Ware had 19 and 13 off the bench, Ryan Rollins scored 15, Kyle Kuzma had 14 and 12, and Tyler Herro went 6-of-14 for 13. Myles Turner was 0-of-4 in 20 minutes. The Bucks outrebounded the 76ers 62-40 and scored 58 in the paint, and lost anyway. James sat with his back; Dean Wade started and made two threes. Philadelphia is 3-0; Milwaukee is 0-3.

San Antonio Spurs 122, Dallas Mavericks 106

Dallas took the floor without Cooper Flagg, whose shoulder kept him out, and without Kyrie Irving, listed out with a knee, and for three quarters it did not matter. The first half had six lead changes, the Mavericks' biggest lead was six at 47-41 with 6:27 left in the second, and San Antonio closed the half with Dylan Harper's layup and free throw at 3.2 seconds for a 68-60 lead. Dallas came all the way back in the third: Sergio de Larrea's floater at 2:01 put the Mavericks up 85-84, Zaccharie Risacher's step-back at 1:28 made it 87-86, and the lead changed hands four times in 52 seconds before Stephon Castle's three at 1:09 and Victor Wembanyama's three at 35.7 seconds sent the Spurs into the fourth up 92-89.

Then the Spurs' shooting took over. Daniel Gafford's layup made it 92-91 with 11:32 left, and San Antonio answered with 11 straight: Devin Vassell's three at 11:15, Tarris Reed Jr.'s alley-oop at 10:40, Julian Champagnie's three at 9:52 and Harper's three at 9:05 made it 103-91. Champagnie and Harper made two more threes for 109-94 at 5:53, Wembanyama's alley-oop and free throw made it 112-96 at 5:06, and Harper's dunk at 3:13 pushed the lead to 23 at 119-96. Dallas scored 17 in the fourth quarter; San Antonio scored 30.

Wembanyama had 23 points on 9-of-18 with seven rebounds and four blocks in 29 minutes, Harper scored 22 with three threes, and De'Aaron Fox and Castle had 19 apiece, Fox with nine assists and Castle with eight. Champagnie made three threes for 12 off the bench. San Antonio made 15 of 42 threes and had 34 assists on 48 baskets. For Dallas, de Larrea led with 21 on 9-of-15 off the bench, Gafford had 12 and nine, P.J. Washington and Marcus Sasser scored 12 each, and Risacher had 11. The Mavericks turned it over 18 times and took eight free throws. San Antonio is 1-2; Dallas is 1-2.

Golden State Warriors 122, Phoenix Suns 131

Golden State took the floor without Stephen Curry, Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford and Brandin Podziemski, and Draymond Green did not play, and for a half the short-handed Warriors held their own. Yaxel Lendeborg made two threes and Brandon Williams a third for an 11-4 lead with 9:00 left in the first, Devin Booker’s running layup at 5:09 gave Phoenix its first lead at 16-15, and Golden State closed the quarter up 25-22. The second quarter was tied six times: De’Anthony Melton’s three at 3:27 made it 47-44, LJ Cryer’s three at 3:01 made it 50-47, Dillon Brooks’s three at 2:00 put the Suns up 54-52, and Booker’s driving layup at 57.4 seconds sent Phoenix in up 57-54.

Lendeborg’s three tied it at 57 eleven seconds into the third, and Phoenix answered with 14 of the next 18 for a 71-61 lead on Jalen Green’s and-one at 8:12. Then Golden State scored 12 straight: Will Richard’s pull-up at 7:53, Charles Bassey’s layup and free throw at 7:01, Bassey’s floater at 6:43 to tie it at 71 and another at 6:12 for a 73-71 lead, and Melton’s free throws at 5:49 made it 75-73. That was the last Warriors lead. Khaman Maluach’s three at 5:32 put Phoenix ahead 76-75 for good, Collin Gillespie made two threes for 85-80 at 3:40, and Booker scored 11 in the final 2:55 of the quarter, the last of them a 27-foot running pull-up and the free throw that came with it at 36.4 seconds for 99-89. Jordan Goodwin’s three with two seconds left sent the Suns into the fourth up 102-92; Phoenix won the quarter 45-38.

The lead reached 16 at 118-102 on Booker’s technical free throw at 6:07, and Golden State got no closer than seven, at 124-117 on Richard’s three at 3:00. Brooks’s driving layup at 2:38 and Booker’s pull-ups at 1:43 and 1:06 made it 131-119, and Lendeborg’s jumper at 25.5 seconds set the final. Booker finished with 43 points on 17-of-25, seven rebounds and seven assists in 36 minutes. Miles Bridges had 16 and seven, Brooks scored 15 with five assists, Green had 12, Luke Kennard made three of five threes for 11, and Gillespie had 11 points and nine assists off the bench. Phoenix shot 58 percent, scored 60 in the paint and 27 on the break. For Golden State, Lendeborg scored 26 on 6-of-11 from three with nine rebounds, Melton had 25 on 8-of-13 off the bench, Williams scored 20 with five assists, Graham Ike had 12 and 10, Richard scored 11 and Bassey had 10 and seven in 13 minutes. The Warriors made 17 of 39 threes and grabbed 19 offensive rebounds, and turned it over 16 times. Phoenix is 1-1; Golden State is 0-3.

Hornets 115, Heat 110: Charlotte led by 23 at 96-73 with 9.7 seconds left in the third, then watched Miami run off 15 straight points and tie it three times, the last at 104 on Bam Adebayo's dunk with 3:45 left. Grayson Allen's 26-footer and the free throw that came with it made it 108-104 at 3:19, and Charlotte made seven of eight free throws from there. Brandon Miller, 2-of-14 on Friday, scored 34 on 11-of-12 from the line; Dennis Schroder had 25 and Naz Reid made five threes for 23. Davion Mitchell led Miami with 22 and 10 assists, and Giannis Antetokounmpo had 14 in 25 minutes. Charlotte is 2-1; Miami is 0-3.

Cavaliers 125, Nets 121: Cleveland led 66-52 at the half and 104-80 on Jaylon Tyson's three with 9:29 left, then gave up 41 fourth-quarter points. Egor Demin's four-point trip made it 116-103 at 3:54, Chaney Johnson's three at 33.6 seconds made it 120-114, and Michael Porter Jr.'s three with 8.1 seconds left cut it to 123-121 before Sam Merrill's free throws closed it. Donovan Mitchell scored 22, Jarrett Allen made seven of eight for 21, and Evan Mobley had 20 and 10. Porter had 28 and Demin went 5-of-10 from three for 22; the Nets made 20 of 49 threes. Cleveland is 1-1; Brooklyn is 0-2.

Wizards 124, Bulls 120: Tied at 64 with 10:17 left in the third, Washington won the quarter 40-20 and led 103-82 with 10:34 to play. Chicago won the fourth 38-27 and got within three on Matas Buzelis's runner at 23.3 seconds, but Anthony Davis and Trae Young made six free throws in the final 18 seconds. Young had 25 and nine assists, Kyshawn George 22 with four blocks, and Davis 19. Caleb Wilson scored 30 with 14 rebounds for Chicago on 1-of-9 from three. Buddy Hield's layup at the horn set the final. Washington is 2-1; Chicago is 1-2.

Rockets 121, Hawks 114: Atlanta scored the first seven points and never led again. Kevin Durant's three sent Houston to the half up 59-48, Bogdan Bogdanovic's three at 3:56 of the third made it 85-65, and Reed Sheppard's second three of the fourth made it 108-88 at 7:58. The Hawks got within five at 117-112 with 36.5 seconds left and no closer. Durant led with 22, Sheppard and Tari Eason had 19 each, and Alperen Sengun had 17, 10 and seven with Fred VanVleet out. Jalen Johnson had 26 points and 16 assists for Atlanta, which made 13 of 49 threes. Houston is 3-0; Atlanta is 2-1.

Nuggets 141, Pelicans 135 (OT): New Orleans led 53-30 with 7:00 left in the second, 73-57 at the half and 112-96 with 10:10 to play, and Denver scored 30 of the next 44. Jamal Murray's step-back three at 1:09 made it 126-122, Aaron Gordon's alley-oop at 48.3 seconds made it 126-124, and Murray made two of three free throws at 16.8 to tie it; the Pelicans did not score again in regulation. Nikola Jokic's turnaround at 2:36 of overtime put Denver ahead for good, and Trevon Brazile's three at 1:25 made it 133-129. Murray scored 42 with eight threes and no turnovers, Jokic had 35 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists, and Brazile added 17 off the bench. Trey Murphy III led New Orleans with 26. Denver is 1-1; New Orleans is 0-3.

Sunday is a seven-game night, starting with the Lakers at Utah at 5:00 PM ET and running through Memphis at Sacramento at 9:00. Orlando visits the Knicks, Toronto goes to Minnesota, the Clippers are in Oklahoma City, Detroit visits Philadelphia for the 76ers' fourth game in six nights, and Indiana plays at Brooklyn. We'll have the preview, the card, and both leans before tip-off.

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