Ja Morant scored 28 points and was two assists shy of a triple-double as the Memphis Grizzlies defeated the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves 114-103 on Friday night.

Morant made 11 of 25 shots while adding 10 rebounds and eight assists to lead the Grizzlies to their fifth win in the last six games. Desmond Bane contributed 24 points, and Dillon Brooks finished with 21.

It was a dominating performance on the glass for Memphis, which outrebounded the Timberwolves 57-40.

Anthony Edwards paced Minnesota with 28 points, six rebounds and six assists on 10-for-16 shooting. Jaden McDaniels and Rudy Gobert supplied 15 points apiece, and Karl-Anthony Towns added 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Despite dropping their third straight game, the Wolves dished out 29 assists on 37 made field goals.

Minnesota tried one last comeback midway through the fourth, digging its way out of a 13-point hole to trail by eight after Towns made a layup. But Morant hit a layup just over a minute later with Towns committing his sixth foul, taking the wind out of the Timberwolves’ sails.

Gobert headlined an 11-3 run to open the third that pulled the Wolves within one. But the Grizzlies never faltered, getting 3-pointers from Bane and Morant to maintain an advantage.

Memphis outscored the Timberwolves 13-6 to close the third to head into the final frame with a 12-point edge.

Morant and Brooks each had 19 points in the first half to lead the Grizzlies into the intermission with a 72-63 lead.

Memphis had gone up by as much as 13 in the second, but Edwards scored six of his 21 first-half points in the final 1:43 before the break to cut the deficit to single digits.

Towns found himself in early foul trouble, picking up four fouls through the first two quarters.

Both offenses got off to fast starts thanks to their work at the charity stripe. Minnesota made 11 of 13 free throws in the first quarter, but the Grizzlies went a perfect 7-for-7 to help them build an early 33-30 lead.

–Field Level Media

Eugene Omoruyi scored a career-high 22 points as the Oklahoma City Thunder finished with eight players in double figures for the first time in franchise history in a 132-113 win over the visiting Toronto Raptors on Friday.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 20 points, Aaron Wiggins added 17, and Josh Giddey had 15 points and nine rebounds to help the Thunder end a four-game losing streak. Aleksej Pokusevski had 14 points and Luguentz Dort tallied 13 points and seven rebounds.

Tre Mann had 13 points and Jalen Williams had 10 points and 11 assists for Oklahoma City, which led by as many as 32 and shot a season-high 55.9 percent.

Chris Boucher led Toronto with 20 points and a season-high 12 rebounds, while Fred VanVleet and Scottie Barnes had 15 points apiece. The Raptors have lost five of their first seven road games this season.

Oklahoma City led 106-85 after three quarters, and both teams rested their starters for much of the final period. VanVleet exited the game late in the third quarter with a non-COVID illness.

OG Anunoby scored 13 points, Gary Trent Jr. had 12, and Malachi Flynn added 10 off the bench for Toronto, which shot 38 of 88 43.2 percent from the field and 11 of 30 (36.7 percent) from 3-point range.

Oklahoma City opened the game by making 11 of its first 16 shots and led 29-24 at the end of the first quarter. Dort led all scorers with 11 points, including three 3-pointers.

The Thunder finished the first half with a season-high 70 points and took a 14-point lead into the break.

Omoruyi scored 10 points in the second quarter for Oklahoma City, which ended the half by shooting 65.1 percent from the field while holding the Raptors to 40.4 percent.

The Thunder maintained their double-digit lead throughout the third quarter and moved ahead 97-75 on Omoruyi’s 3-pointer with 2:59 left in the period.

Toronto played without forwards Pascal Siakam (strained right adductor muscle) and Precious Achiuwa (sprained right ankle). Siakam is expected to miss at least two weeks, while Achiuwa is out indefinitely.

–Field Level Media

Keldon Johnson poured in 29 points as the host San Antonio Spurs used a torrid early-fourth quarter run to put a stamp on a 111-93 win over the short-handed Milwaukee Bucks on Friday to snap a five-game losing streak.

Milwaukee played without its top two scorers, Giannis Antetokounmpo (sore left knee) and Jrue Holiday (sprained right ankle), for the second consecutive game.

The Spurs led by seven points heading into the final quarter and put the game out of reach via a 16-5 run to push their lead to 99-81. Johnson had seven points and Devin Vassell hit for five in that decisive stretch.

Vassell added 22 points, with Jakob Poeltl racking up 15 points and 10 rebounds, Jeremy Sochan and Doug McDermott scoring 10 points each and Charles Bassey grabbing 14 rebounds in the win.

Jevon Carter led the Bucks with 21 points. Brook Lopez added 19, Bobby Portis amassed 16 points and 12 rebounds and Serge Ibaka hit for 11 points. Milwaukee has dropped two of its past three games after starting the season 9-0.

The first quarter went back and forth, with seven ties and four lead changes, the last of which came on a Vassell pullup jumper with 1 minute to play in the period that gave the Spurs a two-point advantage on the way to a 31-27 lead at the end of the quarter.

San Antonio began to pull away in the second quarter, as eight points by Johnson over a nearly two-minute stretch in the middle of the period helping turn a four-point lead to a 50-39 advantage at the 6:12 mark.

The Bucks fought back to within six points on Carter’s free throw with 1:17 left before McDermott’s running layup 17 seconds later granted San Antonio a 54-46 advantage at the break.

Johnson scored 12 points in the half to lead all players while Carter’s 10 points paced Milwaukee.

The Spurs pushed their lead to 21 after a McDermott 3-pointer with 5:58 to play in the third quarter. But Milwaukee refused to fold its tent, reeling off 15 of the following 17 points to draw back to within 77-69 after a Lopez free throw at the 2:42 mark. The Bucks were within 83-76 heading to the fourth quarter.

–Field Level Media

RJ Barrett had a season-high 30 points and the New York Knicks defeated the visiting Detroit Pistons 121-112 on Friday night.

Jalen Brunson supplied 26 points, seven assists and four steals as the Knicks bounced back from a poor outing against Brooklyn on Wednesday. Julius Randle contributed 21 points, eight rebounds and five assists.

Bojan Bogdanovic led eight Pistons in double figures with 25 points. Alec Burks, making his season and Pistons debut, tossed in 17 points off the bench. Burks was traded by the Knicks in a draft-night deal.

Hamidou Diallo and Isaiah Stewart had 13 points apiece, while Isaiah Livers, Saddiq Bey and Killian Hayes each added 11 points. Jaden Ivey posted 10.

Pistons leading scorer Cade Cunningham, who is averaging 19.9 points per game, sat out due to left shin soreness.

The Knicks led 30-26 after the first quarter and established a double-digit advantage at 39-29 on Obi Toppin’s 3-pointer. Quentin Grimes’ 3-pointer with 4:31 left in the half increased New York’s lead to 58-42.

Detroit had an 11-6 spurt to finish the half but still trailed by 10, 68-58. Barrett carried the Knicks with 20 points, while Bogdanovic had 15 by the break.

New York stretched its lead to 17 early in the third quarter with an 11-2 run. Brunson had five points and an assist during that span.

The Knicks maintained a double-digit advantage the rest of the quarter and headed into the fourth with a 94-80 lead.

Detroit scored two baskets in the first minute of the quarter to make it a 10-point game. Diallo scored on a runner with 9:38 left to bring the Pistons within seven points. Livers’ 3-pointer with 7:02 to go cut the Knicks’ lead to 101-95.

Randle’s putback with four minutes left made it 107-97.

Stewart hit a corner 3-pointer with 2:37 remaining to cut New York’s lead to six, and Bogdanovic made a jump shot and knocked down two free throws to trim it to 114-110 with 1:20 left.

Immanuel Quickley’s corner 3-pointer in the final minute sealed the Knicks’ victory.

–Field Level Media

Wendell Carter Jr. collected 20 points and 10 rebounds to lift the host Orlando Magic to a 114-97 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Friday.

The double-double was Carter’s team-high sixth of the season.

Franz Wagner scored 17 points, Jalen Suggs had 16 and Terrence Ross added 14 points off the bench to fuel the Magic to their second straight win after losing nine of their previous 11 games. Orlando shot 52.4 percent from the floor and 45.5 percent from 3-point range.

Bol Bol had 13 points and a career-high 15 rebounds. His total on the boards eclipsed his previous high of 12 set in the Magic’s 116-108 loss at the Oklahoma City Thunder on Nov. 1.

Orlando rookie Paolo Banchero sat out his second consecutive game due to a sprained left ankle. The top overall pick sustained the injury in Monday’s 134-127 loss to the Houston Rockets.

Phoenix’s Cameron Payne scored 22 points while making his second straight start in place of the injured Chris Paul. Devin Booker collected 17 points, eight rebounds and six assists and Deandre Ayton had 14 points for the Suns, who have lost three of their last five games.

Paul sat out his second consecutive game due to a heel injury. Landry Shamet (concussion protocol) also missed the contest after scoring a season-high 16 points in the Suns’ 129-117 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday.

Chuma Okeke, Caleb Houstan and Mo Bamba each made a 3-pointer on consecutive possessions to push Orlando’s lead to 83-69 late in the third quarter.

Payne answered by making a 3-pointer, stealing the ball from Franz Wagner and converting from beyond the arc on the next possession to begin the fourth quarter. Orlando, however, weathered the storm and soon scored six straight points to extend its lead to 99-84 with 8:18 remaining.

Mikal Bridges countered with a 3-pointer, but Ross took over by scoring the Magic’s next seven points to ignite an 11-2 run and effectively put the game out of reach.

–Field Level Media

Jayson Tatum had 34 points and eight rebounds, Jaylen Brown scored 25 points and added eight assists, and the host Boston Celtics beat the Denver Nuggets 131-112 on Friday night.

Al Horford had 21 points, Grant Williams added 13 and Derrick White finished with 10 for Boston, which has won five straight.

Nikola Jokic led the Nuggets with 29 points, Aaron Gordon had 17, Bruce Brown had 16 points and 10 rebounds, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 15 and Jamal Murray added 14 points and 10 assists.

Denver played without guard Bones Hyland, who was out due to health and safety protocols.

The Celtics opened a double-digit lead in the first quarter with hot shooting. Boston hit 60.9 percent of its field goals to lead by as many as 13 points.

The Celtics stretched the lead to 49-34 midway through the second quarter on consecutive 3-pointers by White and Tatum. Another 3-pointer by White a few minutes later gave Boston a 58-40 lead.

Bruce Brown and Caldwell-Pope hit 3-pointers and Jokic scored four points in a 12-2 run that got the Nuggets within 60-52, and they went into intermission down 66-57.

The lead increased to 13 on a floating jumper from Jaylen Brown before Denver chipped away. Jeff Green converted a three-point play, Caldwell-Pope hit three from behind the arc and Murray also drained a 3-pointer that got the Nuggets within six.

It was 88-87 late in the third when the Celtics closed the quarter on a 9-4 run to take a 97-91 lead into the fourth. They built the lead back to 12 on three free throws from Tatum, and after Jokic missed twice, Horford made two 3-pointers to make it 111-95 with 8:26 left.

Denver made six free throws around a bucket from Tatum, but Williams hit Boston’s 14th 3-pointer to make it 116-101 with 5:38 left.

The Nuggets made another push, getting within nine on a jumper by Murray, but Jaylen Brown hit another 3-pointer to spark an 11-2 run that put it away.

–Field Level Media