TORONTO — Kawhi Leonard scored a season-high 35 points, Kyle Lowry had 13 points and 10 assists, and the Toronto Raptors beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 112-105 on Wednesday night to improve to 5-0 and match the best start in franchise history.
Jonas Valanciunas scored 16 points, Serge Ibaka had 15 and Norman Powell added a season-high 10. The Raptors also won five straight to start the 2015-16 season.
Toronto won its 15th straight home game against Minnesota, extending its franchise record for consecutive home victories over a single opponent.
Jimmy Butler scored 23 points for Minnesota.
NETS 102, CAVALIERS 86: D’Angelo Russell scored 18 points, Joe Harris added 16 and visiting Brooklyn beat Cleveland, keeping the Cavaliers winless this season.
Trying to move on without LeBron James, the Cavaliers are 0-4 for the first time since losing their first five games in 2003-04 when James was a rookie.
Brooklyn outscored Cleveland 38-17 in the third quarter, forcing Cavaliers Coach Tyronn Lue to use four timeouts in the quarter. Kevin Love, Jordan Clarkson and Collin Sexton had 14 points for Cleveland.
HAWKS 111, MAVERICKS 104: Kent Bazemore scored 32 points, including a thunderous slam with just over a minute to go, and Atlanta overcame a 26-point deficit to stun visiting Dallas.
Trae Toung added 17 points on a tough shooting night, bouncing back in the fourth quarter to help the youthful Hawks complete their comeback in a rookie showdown with Luca Doncic of the Mavericks.
Doncic finished with 21 points, but hit only 3 of 10 shots over the final two quarters.
The Hawks made it a night to remember at newly rechristened State Farm Arena, which hosted its first game after a $192.5 million renovation that was largely completed over the last two offseasons.
HEAT 110, KNICKS 87: Hassan Whiteside had 22 points and 14 rebounds, Josh Richardson added 21 points and Miami rolled past visiting New York with a 45-point third quarter.
Rodney McGruder added 19 points on only eight shot attempts, and Goran Dragic had 13 points. Miami outscored New York 76-38 in the middle two quarters. Damyean Dotson led New York with 20 points.
JAZZ 100, ROCKETS 89: Donovan Mitchell scored 38 points to lead Utah at Houston in a game James Harden left with an apparent injury.
Harden headed to the locker room midway through the third quarter and didn’t return. It was unclear how he was injured or what the problem was and the team didn’t immediately provide on update.
With Harden out of the game after the Rockets pulled within five, the Jazz regained control, scoring the next 10 points to make it 94-79 and cruise to the victory.
Harden scored 29 points and Carmelo Anthony had a season-high 22 for the Rockets. Chris Paul finished up a two-game suspension for his role in a fight with the Lakers last week, and fellow starter James Ennis sat out with a strained right hamstring.
BULLS 112, HORNETS 110: Zach LaVine made two free throws with 0.5 seconds left to give host Chicago its first victory of the season.
LaVine finished with 32 points for his fourth straight 30-point game to start the season. Cameron Payne scored all of his career-high 21 points in the second half, going 7 for 11 on 3 pointers for Chicago in the opener of the home-and-home set with the Hornets.
Kemba Walker had 23 points on 5-for-14 shooting for Charlotte.
PACERS 116, SPURS 96: Victor Oladipo had 21 points and visiting Indiana led for all but the opening seconds.
Indiana led by 29 points at one point while handing San Antonio its first home loss.
DeMar DeRozan had 18 points to lead the Spurs, his lowest total since joining the team in an offseason trade from Toronto.
NOTES
WIZARDS: Forward Markieff Morris has been fined $15,000 for unsportsmanlike conduct for grabbing an opponent’s uniform.
LAKERS: Coach Luke Walton has been fined $15,000 for public criticism of the officiating.
PELICANS: The New Orleans Pelicans will field a G League team in Birmingham starting in the 2022-23 season.
The Pelicans announced they have acquired the rights to the NBA G League team, giving the developmental league 28 teams by the 2019-20 season.
The team, which hasn’t been named, will play next season as the Erie BayHawks in Pennsylvania while Birmingham’s Legacy Arena is renovated.
Copy the Story LinkSend questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.