DETROIT (AP) — Jalen Duren had 21 points and 10 rebounds after being added to the All-Star Game on Sunday night as an Eastern Conference reserve, and the Detroit Pistons routed the Brooklyn Nets 130-77 in the most-lopsided victory in franchise history.
The 53-point margin topped the mark of 52 set in a 118-66 victory at Boston on Jan 31, 2003. The Nets had a 54-point loss — 120-66 — on Jan. 21 against New York.
Cade Cunningham, the Detroit star who was earlier selected an East All-Star starter, added 18 points, 12 assists and four steals. The Eastern Conference-leading Pistons improved to 36-12 with their second straight victory. They beat Golden State on Friday night to finish 2-1 on a three-game trip.
Cunningham had 13 points, 10 assists and four steals in the first half as the Pistons raced to a 67-44 lead. Ausar Thompson hit a half-court shot at the halftime buzzer.
Detroit outscored Brooklyn 33-18 in the third quarter to push it to 100-62. The Pistons’ largest lead was 55 points.
CELTICS 107, BUCKS 79
BOSTON (AP) — Jaylen Brown had 30 points and 13 rebounds, Anfernee Simons scored 27 points off the bench and Boston coasted to a victory over Milwaukee.
Derrick White added 17 points, eight assists and seven rebounds, and Neemias Queta had 14 points and eight boards as the Celtics won their second straight game after alternating wins and losses in their previous four. It was Brown’s third double-double this season.
Ryan Rollins led Milwaukee with 25 points and Kyle Kuzma scored 16.
With trade rumors swirling around their sidelined star Giannis Antetokoumpo, the Bucks didn’t miss a shot in the opening 2½ minutes (5 for 5) and pulled ahead 12-0 before Boston sent them to their fifth straight loss.
The Celtics led 56-42 at halftime and Brown, who missed their easy win over Sacramento Friday with left hamstring tightness and a bruised right knee, scored 10 of their initial 12 points to start the second half, pushing them ahead 68-47.
Boston’s lead ballooned to 27 points on Brown’s 3-pointer midway into the final quarter before coach Joe Mazzulla pulled his starters.
HEAT 134, BULLS 91
MIAMI (AP) — Bam Adebayo and Pelle Larsson each had 20 points, and Miami tied their third-biggest victory margin ever in a rout of Chicago.
The Heat led by as many as 54; before Sunday, their biggest lead this season was 45 at Memphis on Oct. 24. It was Miami’s second-largest lead of the play-by-play era that dates to 1996; the Heat beat Memphis by 60 on March 29, 2024.
The 54-point hole was Chicago’s biggest since a 58-point deficit against Boston on Dec. 8, 2018. The Bulls’ biggest deficits this season were a pair of 41-point games — one against Minnesota on Dec. 29, the other also against Miami on Nov. 21.
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WIZARDS 116, KINGS 112
WASHINGTON (AP) — Rookie Will Riley scored a season-high 18 points, including a go-ahead 3-pointer with 2:07 left, and the Washington Wizards beat the Sacramento Kings 116-112 on Sunday night in a matchup of last-place teams.
AJ Johnson added 17 points and Bilal Coulibaly and Marvin Bagley III each scored 15 for the Wizards, who relied heavily on their reserves as they handed the Kings their ninth straight loss.
Washington has won three of four since a nine-game skid of its own. The Wizards began the night last in the Eastern Conference but moved one-half game ahead of Indiana.
Zach LaVine scored 35 points and DeMar DeRozan had 32 for the Kings, who are last in the West and concluded their season-long East Coast trip at 0-6.
Maxime Raynaud added 14 points for Sacramento, but no other Kings player had more than six. Washington led 61-20 in bench points, and the Wizards’ reserves also outscored their starters.
RAPTORS 107, JAZZ 100
TORONTO (AP) — RJ Barrett scored 21 points, Sandro Mamukelashvili added 20 and the Toronto Raptors beat the Utah Jazz 107-100 on Sunday night to open a five-game homestand.
Brandon Ingram added 19 points to help Toronto end a two-game losing streak. Immanuel Quickley had 17 points.
Lauri Markkanen had 27 points and 11 rebounds for Utah. Isaiah Collier added 19 points, and Jusuf Nurkic had 11 points and 13 rebounds.
KNICKS 112, LAKERS 100
NEW YORK (AP) — OG Anunoby scored 25 points, Landry Shamet added 23 and New York beat Los Angeles to spoil LeBron James’ 32nd game at Madison Square Garden.
Josh Hart finished with 20 points and Jalen Brunson had 12 points and a season-high 13 assists for the Knicks, who matched a season high with their sixth straight win, most of them coming easily.
James finished with 22 points, six assists and five rebounds after being chosen as a reserve earlier Sunday for his NBA-record 22nd consecutive All-Star selection. He fell to 23-9 in the regular season at MSG, where he came into the game having averaged 28.2 points, 7.6 assists and 7.0 rebounds.
Luka Doncic had 30 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists. The game was exactly a year to the day of the Lakers’ last trip to New York, when shortly after their victory came word that they agreed to the blockbuster trade with Dallas that brought Doncic to Los Angeles.
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