NEW YORK — Kemba Walker scored a season-high 32 points, snapping out of an early season shooting slump with seven 3-pointers, and the Boston Celtics beat the winless New York Knicks 118-95 on Saturday night.
Jaylen Brown added 19 points for the Celtics, who won their second straight after beating NBA champion Toronto on Friday. Jayson Tatum had 15 points and nine rebounds, and Boston broke open a close game so thoroughly in the fourth quarter that 7-foot-5 rookie Tacko Fall was able to make his NBA debut, scoring four points on a pair of dunks.
Walker began his Celtics career by going 4 of 18 in an opening loss to Philadelphia, and even with a strong finish against the Raptors was only 8 of 22. But the New York native and former UConn star thrived again at Madison Square Garden, going 11 of 17 overall and 7 of 12 behind the arc.
Rookie RJ Barrett scored 26 points for the Knicks, who fell to 0-3 in their home opener. Mitchell Robinson added 17.
New York raced to an early lead and trailed only by six after three, but the Celtics scored the first eight points of the final period to make it 90-76. The Celtics then put it away with a 19-4 surge, featuring three straight baskets by Walker, to expand it to 109-85.
The Celtics had a six-point lead with five minutes remaining in the half, but the Knicks outscored them 16-5 the rest of the way to bring a 51-46 advantage with them into the locker room.
76ERS 117, PISTONS 111: Tobias Harris scored 29 points against his former team as Philadelphia won at Detroit.
Al Horford added 23 points, and Ben Simmons had 13 points and 10 assists to help the 76ers improve to 2-0. Philadelphia had 30 assists to Detroit’s 19.
HAWKS 103, MAGIC 99: Trae Young scored 39 points, including Atlanta’s last eight, and the Hawks won at homer.
Young, who had 38 points in Atlanta’s season-opening win at Detroit, again carried the scoring burden for the Hawks.
HEAT 131, BUCKS 126: Reserve Goran Dragic scored 25 point, and Miami rallied from a 21-point third-quarter deficit to beat Giannis Antetokounmpo at Milwaukee in overtime.
Antetokounmpo finished with 29 points, 17 rebounds and nine assists, but lalso had eight turnovers and fouled out with 2:31 to play in overtime. Antetokounmpo also fouled out Thursday night in Houston.
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