Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant, left, and guard James Harden high-five after a basket in the first half Wednesday night against the Orlando Magic at Orlando, Fla. Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated Press
ORLANDO, Fla. — Kevin Durant scored 30 points and James Harden had his 59th career triple double in the Brooklyn Nets’ 123-90 victory over the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night.
Durant, the NBA’s leading scorer at 29.5 points per game, made 11 of 12 shots, including both of his 3-point attempts, to help Brooklyn win for the sixth time in seven games. Harden had 17 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists to help. The two stars sat out the fourth quarter, with the Nets up 94-75 after three.
LaMarcus Aldridge came off the bench with a big second quarter to put Brooklyn in command. He had 21 points and eight rebounds.
Terrence Ross led Orlando with 17 points, and Mo Bamba added 14 points and nine rebounds. The Magic shot 38% and made 4 of 33 3-point shots.
Aldridge hit three 3-pointers and scored 15 points in his first eight minutes in the game, helping the Nets pull out to a 19-point lead late in the first half.
Brooklyn led 65-53 after shooting 56% in the first half. The Nets shot 50% overall.
BUCKS 112, KNICKS 100: Pat Connaughton scored a season-high 23 points, making three late 3-pointers to swing a wild second half back in Milwaukee’s favor, and the Bucks blew a 24-point lead before beating host New York.
Less than a week after the Knicks came from 21 down to win 113-98 at Milwaukee, the Bucks opened a 70-46 cushion midway through the third quarter. But the Knicks’ reserves wiped that away and the game was tied with 5 minutes to play.
But Connaughton’s 3-pointers reopened a 10-point lead with 2:05 remaining and Grayson Allen added another pair to put it away.
Jrue Holiday scored 18 points and Giannis Antetokounmpo had 15 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists for the Bucks, who had just enough to win for the second straight night. They won at Philadelphia on Tuesday.
Derrick Rose had 22 points and seven assists for the Knicks, and Immanuel Quickley scored 18 points. New York’s starters were ineffective all night and Coach Tom Thibodeau stuck with his reserves for the final 1 1/2 quarters.
That decision was improbably almost enough for the Knicks to overcome a five-minute scoreless drought in the third quarter.
Milwaukee led by eight before Holiday made a 3-pointer with 9:02 left in the third. Antetokounmpo had a basket and two free throws before Holiday made another 3-pointer for a 64-46 advantage.
Antetokounmpo then drove his way to the basket for a dunk, Connaughton scored on a follow shot and Antetokounmpo stole an inbounds pass and dunked, capping the 16-0 run and making it 70-46.
Rose made a 3-pointer to end the drought and then finished the third quarter by beating the buzzer, getting a steal and racing in for a layup with 0.1 seconds left that cut it to 82-66.
New York then opened the fourth with an 18-6 run that trimmed it to 88-84 and tied it at 89 on Quickley’s 3-pointer with 5:06 remaining. George Hill answered with a 3-pointer and Connaughton made sure the Knicks could never take the lead.
WIZARDS 97, CAVALIERS 94: Kyle Kuzma hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 12 seconds left as Washington scored the final five points to win at Cleveland.
Darius Garland missed an open 3 on Cleveland’s subsequent possession, and Corey Kispert made a layup with 0.7 seconds remaining for Washington. Garland’s desperation 70-footer at the buzzer was well off target.
Kuzma scored 12 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter, including two 3-pointers in the final 26 seconds. Montrezl Harrell led the Wizards with 24 points and 11 rebounds. Bradley Beal had 13 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.
PISTONS 112, ROCKETS 104: Jerami Grant scored a season-high 35 points to help Detroit win at Houston in a matchup of two of the worst teams in the NBA.
Grant shot 12 of 23 from the field, including 4 of 9 from 3-point range. It was a stark contrast to his last game when he went 0 for 9 from the field, missing four 3s, in a 96-90 loss to Brooklyn on Friday night.
Detroit improved to 2-8, and Houston dropped to 1-10.
The meeting was the first between the top two picks in the July draft. Cade Cunningham, Detroit’s choice as the No. 1 pick, had 20 points on 8-of-18 shooting. Houston’s Jalen Green, the No. 2 pick, had 23 points on 8-of-20 shooting.
BULLS 117, MAVERICKS 107: Zach LaVine scored 23 points and Lonzo Ball made seven of Chicago’s 15 3-pointers, helping the Bulls win at home.
Five players scored in double figures for Chicago during its second straight victory. Nikola Vucevic had 18 points and 10 rebounds, and DeMar DeRozan finished with 17 points.
Dallas had won three straight and 4 of 5, but it couldn’t keep up with LaVine and the Bulls in the second half. Kristaps Porzingis had 22 points and 12 rebounds for the Mavericks, and Luka Doncic finished with 20 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds.
HORNETS 118, GRIZZLIES 108: Kelly Oubre Jr. scored a season-best 37 points on 13-of-17 shooting and visiting Charlotte snapped a five-game losing streak.
Oubre matched his career high with seven 3-points on nine attempts and broke the franchise record for points off the bench.
Gordon Hayward added 25 points for Charlotte. LaMelo Ball, who was coming off a triple-double of 25 points, 15 rebounds and 11 assists Monday night in an overtime loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, fell just short of his second consecutive triple-double with 12 points, nine rebounds and eight assists.
Ja Morant led Memphis with 32 points, 19 of them in the first quarter, and eight assists.
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