Sunday night featured plenty of NBA action across the league. Most notably, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce made their return to TD Garden and helped to lift the struggling Brooklyn Nets past the Boston Celtics, 85-79.
NBA Scores: Nets down C’s at the Garden, Heat dominate Spurs in South Beach
For the first time in the regular season, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce returned to TD Garden as a member of a visiting team, winning an emotional game, 85-79.
Andray Blatche had a team-high 17 points and added four rebounds and two blocked shots in the victory.
The Celtics committed 18 turnovers and shot just 38 percent from the field and 27 percent from the three-point line. Brooklyn didn’t fare much better in the shooting department, but did enough to win by posting a 39-percent mark from the field despite hitting just 24 percent of their looks from the three-point line.
That wasn’t all -- Sunday night featured much more:
Miami Heat 113, San Antonio Spurs 101
Chris Bosh put together a sound performance with 24 points on a blazing 9-of-10 from the field and added five rebounds as the defending champion Miami Heat overcame last season's Western Conference winners in an NBA Finals rematch on Sunday night, 113-101.
The Heat were all about balance with six players scoring in double figures. They made things easy on themselves by shooting a collective 58 percent from the field and made 42 percent of their three-point attempts. They made 19-of-20 from the free throw line and made any Spurs’ attempt at a comeback difficult.
San Antonio got its top performance out of Tim Duncan, who poured in 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting and added three rebounds, two steals and one blocked shot.
New York Knicks 110, Los Angeles Lakers 103
Carmelo Anthony followed up his historic performance on Thursday with a 35-point effort on Sunday night at Madison Square Garden. He continued to shoot well, converting 14-of-31 shots from the field. He added five assists and four rebounds, and committed just two turnovers, doing enough to lift New York to a win against the hapless Lakers.
Tyson Chandler added a double-double of 13 points and 14 rebounds for New York.
Jodie Meeks led the way for the Lakers with 24 points on 8-of-13 shooting, and Pau Gasol added 20 points and 13 rebounds. Los Angeles lost their fourth straight while concluding a seven-game road trip.
New Orleans Pelicans 100, Orlando Magic 92
Tyreke Evans scored 23 points off the bench to lift the Pelicans past the Magic at New Orleans arena. Anthony Davis had the performance of the evening with 22 points and a game-high 19 rebounds and recorded an astounding seven blocked shots.
Not only was there substance to the second-year big man’s game, but there was plenty of flash too:
Phoenix Suns 99, Cleveland Cavaliers 90
The Suns caught the Cavs in a lull, especially during a pedestrian six-point output in the third quarter to earn a convincing road victory. Just for fun, here’s a look at the dreadful shot chart from that frame:
*shot chart via ESPN.com
Markieff Morris led the Suns' scoring effort with 27 points and 15 rebounds on 8-of-16 shooting. Kyrie Irving led the Cavs with 24 points, nine assists and two steals.
Dallas Mavericks 116, Detroit Pistons 106
Dirk Nowitzki showed no signs of slowing down with him leading all scorers with 28 points and added nine rebounds as the Mavs defeated the Pistons at American Airlines Center.
Brandon Jennings had an efficient 26 points on 10-of-18 shooting for the Pistons, though struggled from the free throw line, going just 4-for-8.
Stephen Curry poured in 38 points on 13-of-23 from the field and 5-of-8 from the three-point line and added seven rebounds and eight assists to lift the Warriors past the Blazers in the Bay Area.
Portland scored just 12 points in the third quarter and never found any consistency on the floor as they shot just 34 percent from the field for the game.
Wesley Matthews spearheaded the Blazers' scoring with 21 points.
Why wouldn’t Curry have a stellar game if he was doing this before the action even started?
Denver Nuggets 125, Sacramento Kings 117
Ty Lawson was too much to handle as he posted 27 points, six assists, three rebounds and two steals to lead the Nuggets past the Kings in Northern California. Six Nuggets players scored in double figures to put their team balance on display.
Isaiah Thomas struggled from the field at 7-of-21, but led the Kings in scoring with 22 points, eight assists and five rebounds. At least one of those five dishes is worth a second look:
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