LOS ANGELES — Luka Doncic scored 24 points and the Dallas Mavericks led by a NBA-record 50 points at halftime in a 124-73 rout of the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday.
Josh Richardson added 21 points and Tim Hardaway Jr. had 18 points for the Mavericks.
The Clippers trailed 77-27 at halftime, with their 50-point deficit being the largest at the break in the shot-clock era, which began in 1954-55.
Paul George led the Kawhi Leonard-less Clippers with 15 points before sitting out the second half. Serge Ibaka added 13 points and nine rebounds over three quarters of the team’s first loss. The Clippers opened with victories over the defending NBA champion Lakers and Denver.
Leonard sat out after needing eight stitches in his mouth after accidentally getting elbowed by the 7-foot Ibaka going for a rebound in Friday’ night at Denver.
WARRIORS 129, BULLS 128
CHICAGO — Damion Lee hit a 3-pointer with 1.7 seconds remaining and Stephen Curry scored 36 points, sending Golden State past Chicago for its first victory of the season.
With the Chicago defense focused on the sharp-shooting Curry, Lee took a handoff after Golden State inbounded the ball with 5 seconds left and fired from a few feet beyond the top of the 3-point arc. Lee finished with 12 points on 4-for-5 shooting on 3s.
Curry was 11 for 25 from the field, including 5 of 15 on 3-pointers — a day after making 105 straight 3s to finish practice at the Bulls’ facility.
With his first 3 late in the first quarter, Curry became the third NBA player to amass 2,500 career 3-pointers. Ray Allen (2,973) and Reggie Miller (2,560) are the others.
Late in the third quarter, Curry set a Warriors record for most consecutive made free throws with his 61st dating to last season. He finished 9 for 9 for the game to run his streak to 64. Rick Barry set the previous record of 60 in 1976.
Zach LaVine had 33 points for winless Chicago.
LAKERS 127, TIMBERWOLVES 91
LOS ANGELES — Kyle Kuzma scored 20 points in the first half while starting in Anthony Davis’ place, and LeBron James added 18 points in Los Angeles’ win over Minnesota.
Star big men Davis and Karl-Anthony Towns sat out.
Kuzma had a phenomenal opening half in his first start. He hit three consecutive 3-pointers to open the scoring in a wire-to-wire win for Los Angeles, which led by 20 in the first quarter and 36 in the third.
Marc Gasol had 12 points, eight assists and seven rebounds in just 21 minutes for the Lakers, while James tied Kevin Garnett for fourth place in NBA history by scoring at least 10 points for the 1,260th time.
No. 1 pick Anthony Edwards had 15 points on 6-of-21 shooting in the Timberwolves’ first loss of the season. Minnesota missed its first 12 3-point attempts while falling behind by 23 early in the second quarter.
CAVALIERS 118, 76ERS 94
CLEVELAND — Andre Drummond had 24 points, 14 rebounds and three steals to help Cleveland beat Philadelphia for its third straight victory to start the season.
Collin Sexton added 22 points and Darius Garland had 14 points and seven assists for Cleveland. The Cavaliers had the second-worst record in the NBA last season at 19-46. They Cavaliers are 3-0 for the first time since winning six in a row to begin 2016-17.
Tobias Harris had 16 points, nine rebounds and five assists for Philadelphia, which fell to 2-1 and played without center Joel Embiid (back tightness).
SUNS 116, KINGS 100
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Mikal Bridges scored 22 points, Cameron Johnson had 21 in 21 minutes and Phoenix pulled away with two second-half runs to beat Sacramento.
Devin Booker added 20 points, five rebounds and five assists, and Deandre Ayton had 11 points and 15 rebounds for the Suns, a night after a 106-103 loss in the opener of the two-game set in Sacramento. The loss snapped the Suns’ winning streak at nine.
Bridges was 9 of 15 from the field, going 4 of 8 from long range. Johnson was 7 of 9, hitting 3 of 4 3-pointers. He made all four of his free throws.
Buddy Hield scored 17 points for Sacramento. First-round draft pick Tyrese Haliburton added 15 points and six assists.
