Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball dunks against the Indiana Pacers during the first half Wednesday at Charlotte, N.C. Jacob Kupferman/Associated Press
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — LaMelo Ball scored 31 points, hitting seven 3-pointers, and the Charlotte Hornets used a 24-0 third period run to battle back and beat the Indiana Pacers 123-122 on Wednesday night.
Indiana led 122-121 on Torrey Craig’s foul shots with 12.7 left. P.J. Washington made two free throws with 4.6 seconds left before Domantas Sabonis missed from 11 feet to seal the Hornets’ win.
Ball scored 12 points in the third-quarter run and finished with nine rebounds and seven assists. Gordon Hayward scored 27 for Charlotte, which got 14 each from newcomers Kelly Oubre Jr. and Ish Smith. Miles Bridges had 13 and Cody Martin 10 for the Hornets, who played without last year’s leading scorer Terry Rozier.
BULLS 94, PISTONS 88: Zach LaVine scored 15 of his 34 points in the third quarter, leading visiting Chicago to a win over Detroit.
Detroit’s Jerami Grant was off on an 11-foot baseline jumper with 50 seconds left, missing a chance to tie it. The Bulls sealed the victory by making free throws.
The Pistons were without rookie guard Cade Cunningham, the No. 1 overall pick, whose NBA debut was delayed by a sprained right ankle.
DeMar DeRozan had 17 points, and Lonzo Ball had 12 points in their Bulls debut. Nikola Vucevic had 10 points and 11 rebounds at halftime and finished with 15 points and 15 rebounds
Grant led the Pistons with 24 points. .
WIZARDS 98, RAPTORS 83: Bradley Beal scored 23 points, Montrezl Harrell had 22 in his Wizards debut and Washington won at Toronto.
Kyle Kuzma – acquired with Harrell in the trade that sent Russell Westbrook to the Lakers – had 11 points and 14 rebounds for Washington. Spencer Dinwiddie, acquired from the Nets in the same four-team deal, scored 13 for the Wizards, who led by as many as 29 points to give new coach Wes Unseld Jr. a victory in his first game.
Fred VanVleet scored 12 points and rookie Scottie Barnes had 12 in his debut, but it was a disappointing performance for the Raptors, who played in Toronto for the first time since a Feb. 28, 2020 loss to Charlotte. Toronto relocated to Tampa last season because of border restrictions stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.
TIMBERWOLVES 124, ROCKETS 106: Anthony Edwards energized the first full-size home crowd of his nascent career with 29 points in 31 minutes in host Minnesota’s win over Houston.
Karl-Anthony Towns led the way with 30 points and 10 rebounds, D’Angelo Russell added 22 points and seven assists, and the Timberwolves were in control from start to finish.
GRIZZLIES 132, CAVALIERS 121: Ja Morant had 37 points and six assists, De’Anthony Melton added 20 points and host Memphis pulled away in the fourth to beat Cleveland.
Morant and Melton combined for 14 points down the stretch as the Cavaliers pulled within a point on a couple of occasions but could never overtake Memphis. Desmond Bane added 22 points for Memphis.
Jarrett Allen led the Cavaliers with 25 points, hitting all 11 of his shots from the field.
76ERS 117, PELICANS 97: Joel Embiid had 22 points and 12 rebounds, Furkan Korkmaz hit four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to also score 22 points, and Philadelphia pulled away to win at New Orleans.
New Orleans was as close as six points when Brandon Ingram’s turnaround fade made it 83-77 with 9:27 left.
Korkmaz responded with his onslaught from deep, hitting three 3s in less than a minute to put the Sixers up 92-79. That was the start of a 20-2 Sixers run that included another 3 by Korkmaz.
NOTES
PELICANS: Center Jonas Valanciunas has agreed to a two-year extension worth a reported $30.1 million.
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