LOS ANGELES (United States) — Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 34 points as the Miami Heat’s recent resurgence continued with a 137-117 upset of the Detroit Pistons.
Miami, who started the NBA campaign with a dismal four-game losing streak, improved to 7-6 to move above .500 for the first time this season with a burst of scoring either side of half-time.
After outscoring the Pistons 31-21 in the second quarter, Miami followed that up with 35 points in the third quarter to pull clear of the visitors.
Antetokounmpo finished with 34 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists while off-season signing Klay Thompson drained six three-pointers on his way to 26 points.
Detroit star Cade Cunningham — who had scored 52 points in his previous outing on Thursday — led the Pistons with 33 points. Detroit fell to 8-4 after the loss.
“I’m in a great rhythm right now and I’m gonna try and stay in it as much as I can,” Miami veteran Thompson said. “I’m having a great time on top of all that.”
Thompson’s flurry of threes included one directly after a superb between the legs no-look pass from Antetokounmpo that resembled an NFL snap.
“That was an incredible snap, long-snapper style,” Thompson said. “That was testament to Giannis’s skill level. People get enamored with his ability to dunk and run, but my goodness — he’s like magic at times with his vision. He just knew I was in the corner,” he added according to AFP.
The Chicago Bulls also enjoyed an upset victory, taking down the high-flying Minnesota Timberwolves 117-106 on the road in Minneapolis.
The Bulls grabbed only their third win of the season to improve to 3-9 against a Timberwolves line-up looking to extend a five-game winning streak.
Norman Powell scored 23 points with five rounds and three assists while Matas Buzelis had 18 points. Buddy Hield impressed from the bench, draining four three-pointers in a 16-point haul, while Tre Jones also finished with 16.
In Cleveland, Tyrese Proctor’s triple-double helped the short-handed Cavaliers claim a 127-117 victory over the Dallas Mavericks.
Proctor finished with 24 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists for a Cavaliers side missing their entire regular starting line-up, with the likes of Donovan Mitchell, James Harden and Jarrett Allen all rested due to the team’s travel delay caused by the nationwide grounding of flights in the US.
Proctor, whose points tally included four three-pointers, was backed by 22 points from Mario Hezonja while Meleek Thomas added 20 as the Cavs improved to 7-7.
Former Cleveland star Kyrie Irving led the Mavs scoring with 34 points – including seven three-pointers – with Cooper Flagg adding 18.
“That’s a special team win,” Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson said. “All the circumstances, everything around it — we kind of went with our reserves. It says a lot about our young guys.
“We shouldn’t’ be surprised — they’ve been great since the first day of training camp. So, it’s great to confirm that they’ve made a real leap.”
Elsewhere Saturday, the Denver Nuggets improved to 7-4 with a 116-108 defeat of the New Orleans Pelicans on the road.
Nikola Jokic led Denver with 26 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds while Jamal Murray added 23 points in a comfortable win for the visitors. Zion Williamson led New Orleans’ scoring with 24 points as the Pelicans slumped to a sixth straight defeat.
In Memphis, the Grizzlies improved to 9-4 after pounding the hapless Brooklyn Nets (3-9) 129-110.
