What’s happening around the NBA on Nov. 1

With nine games on tonight’s slate, NBA fans will be treated to a feast of hoops action. Here’s how the lineup looks for tonight’s games.
Knicks 128, Pistons 98 
Cavaliers 120, Magic 109
Celtics 124, Hornets 109
Lakers 131, Raptors 125
Nets 120, Bulls 112
Kings 123, Hawks 115
Pelicans 125, Pacers 118
Timberwolves 119,  Nuggets 116
Thunder 137, Trail Blazers 114
Don’t hurt ’em, CB 😰

Missi on a mission

Career nights were had by Toronto’s Gradey Dick and Orlando’s Jalen Suggs as they each set personal bests for points. Dick went for 31 against the Lakers and Suggs dropped 28 on the Cavaliers.

Zion Williamson –
34 Points (14-20 FG), 10 assists, 6 rebounds and 2 steals
Anthony Davis –
38 Points (14-20 FG) – 11 Rebounds, 3 steals, 2 blocks
Jalen Brunson –
36 Points (14-22 FG, 6-8 3Pt) in 31 minutes
After the Timberwolves saw a lead evaporate into a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter, they rallied to take the lead late on an Anthony Edwards floater with 25 seconds to go. The Timberwolves finished on a 10-0 run to seal the victory.
Edwards also set the franchise record for most points through the first five games of the season (149)
Minnesota gets the win 119-116 over Denver.

Christian Braun throws down a nasty dunk over the Stifle Tower. Braun’s slam registered a 106.3 dunk score, the highest on the night and 2nd highest on the season.

Minnesota took a lead into the fourth quarter and had been in the driver’s seat for much of the game but it’s been all Denver in the fourth. The Nuggets have outscored the Timberwolves 29-16 nine minutes into the fourth and have their largest lead of the game at 10 points.
Oklahoma City is looking to remain unbeaten but Portland is not making it easy. The Trail Blazers trailed by 17 late in the first but stormed back with a 44-point second quarter to draw even going into the break. Deni Avdija has settled into a groove with 11 points and Jerami Grant is cruising along with 14.
Portland would have led at the half if not for a Jalen Williams prayer at the buzzer that was answered.

Anthony Edwards is off to a good start this season to say the least. How good? How does 141 points and counting through five games sound?
Edwards is up to 24 on the night with over a quarter to go and has already set a franchise record for most points scored through the first five games of a season.

On a night where the Timberwolves are doing everything they can to slow Nikola Jokić, Aaron Gordon is stepping up big time for the Nuggets.
Gordon is absolutely unconscious from the floor with 25 points on 9-for-11 shooting.

Oklahoma City entered the night as one of the two remaining undefeated squads alongside the Cleveland Cavaliers, who defeated the Magic to stay perfect through six games.
The Thunder have gotten contributions from a myriad of players as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams lead the scoring charge with 11 points apiece and Cason Wallace provided eight points off the bench.

Jerami Grant and Rayan Rupert have supplied the offense thus far for Portland with nine points each.
Minnesota’s lead swelled to 16 points mid-way through the second but Denver found a way to counterpunch and cut the lead to three at the break. The Timberwolves have kept a lid on Nikola Jokić (9 Pts, 5 Reb) but other Nuggets have stepped up. Aaron Gordon has gone 7-for-9 from the floor en route to 19 first-half points.
Baylor produced a pair of first-round rookies this year with Ja’Kobe Walter (Toronto) and Yves Missi (New Orleans) and both of them got their shine Friday.
Missi got his first career start and helped the Pelicans get the win over the Pacers. He pulled down 10 boards, added a thunderous dunk and made the highlight reel with this block of Myles Turner that set the crowd ablaze.

Walter made his NBA debut after missing time with a shoulder injury. He got in on the action with an effective 22 minutes off the bench in which he posted five points and six boards.
In a back-and-forth battle, the Pelicans scratched out a win in front of the Smoothie King Center crowd to get back to .500 on the season. Zion Williamson came up big with a season-high 34 points. Williamson has now hit the 30-point mark in two of his last three games. And of course, he had some highlight moments along the way.

That’s levitation, homes.
The Pelicans also got a spark from rookie Yves Missi who had the dunk of the night along with 10 rebounds.
In a marquee matchup between two of the best in the West, the T’Wolves are holding serve at home thus far with a double-digit lead mid-way through the second quarter. Anthony Edwards is doing his thing with nine points and Julius Randle has matched him.
The Nuggets are looking to find their stroke from beyond the arc after starting just 3-for-13 from 3.

This pair of west coast teams hit the road and got wins on eastern time Friday.
The Kings went into Atlanta and took down the Hawks 123-115 in a game that got close at the end with the Hawks outscoring the Kings in the fourth. De’Aaron Fox led the way in the winning effort with 31 points to go with seven boards.

The Lakers, meanwhile, got out to a scorching start in Toronto and led 43-19 after one quarter. The Raptors clawed back and outscored LA 74-55 in the second half but the Lakers managed to hold on. Anthony Davis continued his MVP-caliber season with 38 points and 12 boards.

Things are heating up in the Pelicans-Pacers showdown in NOLA.
Late in the fourth quarter, the Pelicans and Pacers are going back-and-forth in a close game. New Orleans’ dynamic tandem of Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram are carrying the load offensively as each are within shouting distance of getting to 30 points.
The Pacers have gotten a huge boost off the bench from second-year man, Ben Sheppard. He has a team-high 20 points and has canned six treys to help keep the Pacers afloat.
Catch the thrilling ending on NBA League Pass.
Cavaliers defeat Magic 120-109 to keep their record unblemished.
In the win-loss column, things couldn’t be going better for Cleveland. The underlying metrics support this strong start for the Cavaliers, though. Entering Friday, the Cavaliers ranked second behind the Warriors in NET rating and actually led the league in Offensive Rating.
They kept it rolling Friday with a convincing win over Orlando. The dynamic backcourt duo of Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland combined for 47 points and Evan Mobley was a force on both ends with 14 points and 12 boards.
For the Magic, they’ll look to find their rhythm going forward with Paolo Banchero sidelined for the next 4-to-6 weeks.

A big bright spot for the Magic was Jalen Suggs, who took on a big part of the scoring burden in Banchero’s absence and had a career-high 28 points, beating out his previous career-best of 27 against the Nuggets last season.

The Pelicans have been bitten by the injury bug this season but that has opened the door for some of the young players to emerge like Yves Missi. This is Missi’s first start and he’s making his presence known with several highlights, including this jam.
In fact, Missi’s dunk score on this slam was 101 — easily the highest thus far on Friday. Unsurprisingly, teammate Zion Williamson has the 2nd and 3rd highest dunk scores on the night. For reference, those Williamson dunks rated 75.4 and 74.7, respectively.
These Pelicans can fly.

De’Aaron Fox and the Kings take a double-digit lead into the fourth quarter against the Hawks. Fox and DeMar DeRozan have chipped in 21 points apiece and Keon Ellis has scored 10 off the bench.
Trae Young has led the scoring charge for the Hawks with 18. No.1 overall pick Zaccharie Risacher has been held to three points thus far but is staying aggressive on offense.

As the Pistons social team so adeptly put it: things happened 😂😂
The Knicks jumped out to a commanding 39-13 lead at the first quarter and never looked back. Jalen Brunson had an efficient 36 points on 22 field goal attempts and the frontcourt combo of OG Anunoby and Karl-Anthony Towns added another 42 points combined.
The Knicks triumphed 128-98.
For Detroit, the next winning streak is always just a day away. The Pistons will head to Brooklyn to face the Nets on Sunday while the Knicks return to action Monday in Houston.

LeBron James finds Anthony Davis on a behind-the-back pass for the bucket. Davis is up to 25 points in 20 minutes as the Raptors struggle to find an answer for him down low.

The Hornets are giving the defending champion Celtics everything they can handle tonight as Boston leads by just three points in the fourth quarter. Boston led by as many as 15 in the second quarter but Charlotte has battled back.
LaMelo Ball has a game-high 31 points and Tre Mann has been huge off the bench with 19. Catch the fourth quarter action now on NBA League Pass.

Zion Williamson gets 🆙 for the oop and Yves Missi shows some hops of his own with a tremendous block. We’ve got a good one in Nola with the Pelicans and Pacers tied at 35 going into the second quarter. Tune into the action now on NBA League Pass.

We can’t show you dunks without some Obi Toppin, though.

Brooklyn’s Keon Johnson has provided quite the spark off the bench with 12 points in five minutes on 5-for-5 shooting. The Nets lead the Bulls 68-60 at the break.
Chicago’s Zach LaVine had a great first half in his own right with 17 points in 17 minutes.

Toronto rookie Ja’Kobe Walter slashes to the hoop for the lay-in and his first NBA points. The rookie had been dealing with a shoulder injury but is now in the mix in his NBA debut. You can catch the Raptors-Lakers action now on NBA League Pass.

Jalen Brunson has led a scoring barrage for the Knicks with 26 first-half points. The Knicks took a 69-46 lead into the locker room as they chase their third win of the season. Tobias Harris has been a factor on the other side with three blocks for the Pistons.

Jayson Tatum slams it home for two of his 15 first-quarter points as the Celtics take a 15-point lead into the second quarter in Charlotte. Jrue Holiday has chipped in a pair of triples to help the cause. On the Charlotte side, LaMelo Ball leads the team with seven points in eight minutes.

New York has gotten out to a commanding 28-10 lead late in the first quarter Friday night in Detroit. OG Anunoby has pitched in 11 early points and the Knicks are shooting 68.8 percent from the floor as a team. Great passing finding cutters and open shooters have fueled the hot start.

Evan Mobley follows a Donovan Mitchell misfire with a flush to put the Cavs up seven early. Mobley is up to six points on 3-for-3 shooting to start the night.

Sacramento’s Kevin Huerter catches up with his former Hawks teammate, Onyeka Okongwu ahead of their matchup at 7:30 Eastern tonight. Huerter is shooting 55.9 percent from the floor to begin the year.

Here is how the Hornets and Celtics will be lining up for tonight’s game at 7 PM ET. The Hornets are 1-1 at home on the young season while the Celtics are 2-1 away from The Garden. With Jayson Tatum and LaMelo Ball taking the floor tonight, NBA fans are in for a treat.

The Cavaliers take the floor with the second-best NET rating in the league while the Magic are looking to find their footing sans Paolo Banchero.

The Bulls will need to put the clamps on Brooklyn’s explosive backcourt duo of Dennis Schröder and Cam Thomas tonight.

RJ Barrett and the Raptors host Anthony Davis and the Lakers in Toronto tonight. The Raptors are looking to round into form after a 1-4 start while the Lakers seek to snap a mini two-game losing skid.

Bennedict Mathurin draws into the starting lineup for the first time this season for the Pacers as they take on the Pelicans in the Big Easy. New Orleans counters with a new-look lineup without C.J. McCollum, who is sidelined with an abductor injury.

Some Raptors looking cold up north ahead of their game against the Lakers

The Celtics are hitting the road in style tonight in Charlotte

LaMelo and Co. ready to go

Can we get a NET rating on Brooklyn’s fits tonight?

Halloween might have been last night but it’s still Spooky Szn for LeBron James.

The Magic and Cavaliers will also rehash their playoff series from last season. The last time these two met, the series went the distance with Cleveland advancing.