INDIANAPOLIS — Josh Richardson forced rookie Bennedict Mathurin into an air ball as the San Antonio Spurs sounded to preserve a 137-134 victory at Indiana Pacers.
“We’re not exactly ready for full-court pressure this early in the season,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said according to AP. “The last four or five minutes when we were going one-on-one were pretty terrible, but it’s always sweet to get a win on the road.”
Richardson didn’t just make the defensive play of the game. He scored 27 points and Devin Vassell and Keldon Johnson each had 23. Jakob Poeltl finished with 21 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
Also, Jonas Valanciunas had 30 points and 17 rebounds and the New Orleans Pelicans spoiled the Charlotte Hornets’ home opener with a wire-to-wire 124-112 victory.
Terry Rozier flirted with a triple-double for the Hornets with 23 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds. Gordon Hayward had 26 points on 12-of-19 shooting and added seven assists.
Elsewhere, Jordan Clarkson scored 29 points from 3-point range to lead the rally, and the Utah Jazz outlasted Gobert and the Minnesota Timberwolves 132-126.
Anthony Edwards scored 30 points for Minnesota, Karl-Anthony Towns had 27 points and D’Angelo Russell added 23 points including the tying jumper with 4.4 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
Jaylen Nowell had 18 points for the Timberwolves, who led by as many as 17 points in the first-half. “We´ve got to do a better job of just making it more difficult on them,” Towns said.
Clarkson and Kelly Olynyk – who had 21 points – made a pair of 3-pointers apiece that gave the Jazz a 120-113 lead with 1:54 left in regulation.
Gobert´s three-point play with 44 seconds to go brought the Timberwolves within two, when he grabbed his own miss, drew the foul on Olynyk and let out a primal scream from the flex pose.
When Markkanen missed a jumper on the other end, Olynyk was called for a foul in the rebound tangle with Towns. Russell faked Conley to the floor with a killer crossover to set up his pull-up bank shot that tied the game.
Meanwhile, Nikola Jokic had his 77th career triple-double with 26 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists playing with a sore right wrist he had taped, as Denver Nuggets edged Golden State Warriors 128-123.
“My biggest challenge for Nikola is always finding a way to use his voice and be a leader,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said.
“This is his team. He´s a great player, and what makes him great is he makes every one of those guys better. And that chemistry is only going to continue to get better and better as the season goes along. But tonight was a great example of what it has potential to be.”
Stephen Curry scored 34 points with five 3-pointers after a second straight slow start shooting and has 30-point performances in his first two games. But the Warriors committed 19 turnovers that led to 30 Denver points.
Brown scored 20 points and Michael Porter Jr. and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope 17 apiece for the Nuggets.
“We didn´t start off with a strong defensive presence,” Draymond Green said. “Five minutes into the game they had 20 points.”
Thompson and Draymond Green had 16 and 13 points, respectively, playing increased minutes – 23 for Thompson and 27 for Green, who also had nine assists.
