🎃Cade Cunningham scored a season-high 40 points and the Detroit Pistons overcame Anthony Edwards' career-high 53 points to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 119-105 on Saturday night. ()
🍃Cunningham, who also had nine assists, set his previous season high of 35 points against Milwaukee on Nov. 13.
🌃Edwards' previous career high was 51 points against Washington on April 9. His 3-pointer with 9:25 remaining tied his career best, but he didn't score again until 22 seconds remained.
𝕴Malik Beasley had 23 points as the Pistons won their third straight and sixth in their last seven games. Tobias Harris contributed 16 points and 11 rebounds and Ausar Thompson added 10 points, 10 rebounds and a career-best six steals.
꧃Julius Randle was the only other Minnesota player in double figures with 17 points.
🔯Detroit had a five-point lead after the first quarter and extended it to 18 with a 13-0 run to start the second. Cunningham had six points and an assist, while Thompson made two steals and dunks during that span. The Pistons led the rest of the way.
𝔉Edwards had been held to 20 or fewer points in eight of the previous 14 games. His previous season high was 37 points against Portland on Nov. 8.
Jokic’s big night lifts Nuggets
🎀Nikola Jokić had 46 points and 10 rebounds and the Denver Nuggets spoiled Victor Wembanyama’s 21st birthday, beating the San Antonio Spurs 122-111 in overtime.
🅺Wembanyma finished with 20 points and 23 rebounds for San Antonio but was scoreless and without a rebound in OT. Wembanyama has 57 double-doubles in 101 career games.
✃The teams split the home-and-home series on consecutive nights. The Spurs won Friday's game 113-110 when Wembanyama stole the ball from Jokic with four seconds remaining and Devin Vassell scored on a fastbreak layup.
♔Jokic made sure there were no such heroics in the rematch, scoring nine points in the extra period.
💃Michael Porter Jr. added 28 points and 10 rebounds to help Denver win its fourth in five games.
🔜Harrison Barnes scored 22 points and Devin Vassell 19 for San Antonio, which had won two straight.
🅷Vassell missed a contested layup, but tipped in the rebound, to tie the game at 108 with 14 seconds remaining in regulation. Jokic missed a 19-footer over Wembanyama with two seconds left to close regulation.
Leonard makes season debut in Clippers’ win
ꦉNorman Powell scored 20 points, Kawhi Leonard added 12 in his season debut and the Los Angeles Clippers rolled to a 131-105 victory over the Atlanta Hawks.
❀Leonard, who missed the Clippers’ first 34 games with what the team described as right knee injury recovery, played 19 minutes. He was 4 of 11 from the floor, including three 3-pointers, along with three rebounds and one assist.
𒈔Ivica Zubac had 18 points and 18 rebounds as the Clippers snapped a two-game losing streak.
🌳Trae Young led Atlanta with 20 points and 14 assists. De’Andre Hunter had 18 points for the Hawks, who have dropped their last three after winning four straight.
💞The Clippers had a 36-35 advantage early in the second quarter before breaking it open with a 27-4 run, with Amir Coffey scoring nine of his 15 points in the period.
