Early MVP statement powers LA to 13-yr first; contender bounces back as trade ins fire: NBA Wrap

The LA Lakers and Golden State Warriors both improved to 2-0. Meanwhile Aussie young gun Dyson Daniels shined again for the Atlanta Hawks and Josh Giddey narrowly missed a double-double.

You can read all about the latest with the Aussies in the NBA here and out NBA Wrap below.

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DAVIS GUIDES LAKERS TO 2-0 START, KNICKS BOUNCE BACK

Anthony Davis scored 35 points and LeBron James added 21 as the Los Angeles Lakers erased a 22-point deficit to beat the Phoenix Suns 123-116 for a second victory to start the NBA season on Saturday (all times AEDT).

It’s the first time since the 2010-2011 season that the Lakers have started a season 2-0. Davis, who scored 36 points in a season-opening win over Minnesota, was key again.

“I’m just trying to play the game the right way,” said Davis, who added eight rebounds, four assists, a steal and two blocked shots.

Davis said defensive adjustments were the key to turning things around against Kevin Durant and the Suns, who out-scored the Lakers 38-23 in the first quarter to take control.

“They made some tough shots, but we were letting them get out in transition, we were turning the ball over early,” Davis said. “They had 14 points in transition in the first seven minutes of the game, that’s not us.” The Lakers, down by nine at halftime, turned it around in the third quarter, when a 9-0 scoring burst saw them grab an 83-81 lead. They would push the advantage to as many as 12.

Durant led the Suns with 30 points. Devin Booker scored 23, but after connecting on better than 61 per cent of their shots in the first half, Phoenix were held to 41.9 per cent shooting in the second.

In New York, Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges looked right at home at Madison Square Garden, scoring 21 points apiece to help the Knicks to a 123-98 victory over the Indiana Pacers.

Towns, acquired in a three-team trade from Minnesota days before training camp, added 15 rebounds and two blocked shots in his first home game for his new team.

“It definitely hits different to be home,” Towns said of playing his first game at the Garden as a Knick.

Bridges, who arrived in July in a cross-town trade with the Brooklyn Nets, made eight of 12 shot attempts as the Knicks shook off a blowout season-opening loss to the reigning champion Boston Celtics.

Jalen Brunson led the Knicks in scoring with 26 points and Josh Hart added 20 as the Knicks gained a small measure of revenge against a Pacers team that ousted them in seven games in the second round of last season’s playoffs.

Bennedict Mathurin led the Pacers with 20 points off the bench as star guard Tyrese Haliburton — the cornerstone of Indiana’s potent offence — missed all eight of his shot attempts to finish with zero points.

BULLS STUN BUCKS, WARRIORS TROUNCE JAZZ

Chicago’s Coby White scored 35 points as the Bulls spoiled Milwaukee’s first home game of the season on Saturday with a 133-122 victory over the Bucks.

The Bulls withstood a 38-point, 11-rebound double-double from Milwaukee’s two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Giannis Antetokounmpo, whose big night included a monster dunk over Nikola Vucevic.

Damian Lillard added 28 points and eight assists for the Bucks, but it wasn’t enough in the end.

In a back-end-forth battle featuring 14 lead changes, Chicago seized the lead for good late in the third quarter and were up by seven going into the fourth.

Milwaukee cut the lead to just one point in the first minute of the fourth, but Chicago forward Patrick Williams drained a three-pointer to ignite a 13-1 Bulls run and Chicago closed it out comfortably.

Josh Giddey added 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field and 2-of-2 from downtown with six rebounds and nine assists.

Buddy Hield had another big game in his second contest with Golden State, scoring 27 points off the bench as the Warriors trounced the Utah Jazz 127-86 in Salt Lake City.

Hield connected on 10 of 14 shots, making seven three-pointers. In less than 20 minutes on court he added four rebounds, six assists and a steal.

Stephen Curry added 20 points. Andrew Wiggins had 10 points and 13 rebounds and the Warriors limited the Jazz to 31.5 per cent shooting in a dominant defensive display.

ALL RESULTS

76ERS 107 RAPTORS 115

NETS 101 MAGIC 116

PACERS 98 KNICKS 123

PISTONS 101 CAVALIERS 113

HORNETS 120 HAWKS 125

BULLS 133 BUCKS 122

GRIZZLIES 108 ROCKETS 128

WARRIORS 127 JAZZ 86

PELICANS 105 TRAIL BLAZERS 103

SUNS 116 LAKERS 123