Clippers topple Thunder to open Ballmer era
Blake Griffin scored 23 points, making two free throws with five seconds left, and Chris Paul added 22 in a season-opening 93-90 win Thursday over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Already without the injured Kevin Durant, the Thunder lost Russell Westbrook to a small fracture in his right hand in the second quarter.
Perry Jones scored a career-high 32 points, making nine of 11 free throws. The Thunder are 0-2, having dropped their opener a night earlier at Portland.
Jazz 102 Mavericks 120
Dirk Nowitzki scored 21 points and the Mavericks celebrated the return of Tyson Chandler and J.J. Barea with a 120-102 victory over the Utah Jazz in their home opener.
Derrick Favors had 17 points and 11 rebounds for the Jazz, who fell behind by 30 points in the first half of a difficult back-to-back after an opening loss to Houston at home.
The Mavericks shot 55 percent, thanks to a fast start that included four alley-oop dunks in the first quarter.
Wizards 105 Orlando 98
John Wall had 30 points and 12 assists, and Washington held off a late surge to beat the Orlando Magic 105-98 on Thursday night.
Marcin Gortat added 20 points and 12 rebounds. All five starters scored in double figures as Washington earned its fifth straight victory over its division rival.
Nik Vucevic led the Magic with 23 points and 12 rebounds. Ben Gordon added 22 points off the bench, and Evan Fournier was solid with 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting.
Pistons 91 Timberwolves 97
Thaddeus Young scored 19 points and hit a big 3-pointer with 90 seconds to play to lift the Timberwolves to a 97-91 victory over the Detroit Pistons, making Flip Saunders a winner in his first home game as Timberwolves coach since 2005.
Nikola Pekovic had 17 points and 10 rebounds, and Ricky Rubio added 11 points, eight assists and seven boards.
Caron Butler scored 24 points and D.J. Augustin had 20 points and six assists for the Pistons.