Sixers center Joel Embiid (21) returned to the court for his second game of the young season, scored 20 points in a loss at Orlando on Friday.
Phelan M. Ebenhack | AP photo
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ORLANDO, Fla. — Franz Wagner had 31 points and 11 rebounds, Jalen Suggs added 19 points and seven rebounds, and the Orlando Magic pulled away in the fourth quarter to a 98-86 win over the Philadelphia 76ers in an NBA Cup game Friday night.
Joel Embiid, playing 33 minutes in his second game this season for the 76ers (2-10), had 20 points and eight rebounds. Rookie guard Jared McCain scored 29 points, his fourth straight game of 23 or more, before fouling out with 4:56 remaining. Paul George added 13 points on 4-of-15 shooting.
Mo Wagner, Jonathan Isaac and Anthony Black sparked a 9-0 charge that concluded the third quarter and put Orlando ahead to stay.
The Magic are 2-0 in NBA Cup Group A play, while Philadelphia dropped to 0-2.
During a 9 1/2-minute span of the second half, the 76ers scored only four points — on Caleb Martin’s 3-pointer and a technical foul assessed to injured Magic forward Paolo Banchero. Orlando scored 20 during that stretch and took a nine-point lead. The 76ers shot 40.3% overall and 10 of 31 (32.3%) from 3-point range.
Having played their first 12 games without their trio of stars (Embiid, George and Tyrese Maxey) intact, the 76ers have fallen into a big hole in the Eastern Conference standings.
The Magic have won all seven of their home games this season and 14 in a row going back to March 30. Their next three games will be on the road, where they are 2-14 since that date.
CAVALIERS 144, BULLS 126
CLEVELAND — Donovan Mitchell scored a season-high 37 points, Darius Garland had 29 and Cleveland continued one of the best starts in league history, improving to 14-0 with a win over Chicago Bulls in an NBA Cup game.
The Cavs are the sixth team to go 14-0 and first since the Golden State Warriors opened 24-0 in 2015-16.
Cleveland’s 14-game winning streak is the longest in the club’s 55-year existence. The Cavs won 13 in a row three times when LeBron James played for them.
Jarrett Allen added 24 points and Caris LeVert had 22 for the Cavs, who have been perfect under first-year coach Kenny Atkinson.
Coby White scored 29 and Nikola Vucevic had 25 for the Bulls, who were still within four points on Ayo Dosunmu’s dunk with 2:55 left. However, LeVert and Mitchell dropped 3-pointers as the Cavs blitzed the Bulls 21-7 the rest of the way.
LAKERS 120, SPURS 115
SAN ANTONIO — Anthony Davis had 40 points and 12 rebounds, LeBron James had 15 points, 16 rebounds and 12 assists and Los Angeles opened defense of its NBA Cup title with a victory over San Antonio.
James had his career-high fourth straight triple-double.
Victor Wembanyama had 28 points, 14 rebounds, five assists and two blocks for San Antonio. On Wednesday night, he had a career-high 50 points in a 139-130 home victory over Washington.
Davis shot 14 for 26, making 2 of 4 3-pointers, in his highest-scoring game of the season. Austin Reaves added 19 points, Dalton Knecht had 14 and D’Angelo Russell 13.
San Antonio raced to an 11-0 lead, including an alley-oop dunk by Wembanyama from fellow 20-year-old Stephon Castle. Davis scored 16 points in the opening quarter as Los Angeles closed the period on a 21-8 run to take a 31-30 lead.
Castle had 22 points, and Devin Vassell added 15 for San Antonio.
HAWKS 129, WIZARDS 117
ATLANTA — Dyson Daniels continued his scoring surge with 25 points and Atlanta beat Washington to improve to 2-0 in the NBA Cup.
Kyle Kuzma led Washington with 24 points. Jordan Poole had 22 and rookie Alex Sarr added a career-high 20 points. Despite the trio’s scoring leadership, the Wizards’ NBA Cup opener was their seventh consecutive loss.
Washington is now 2-9 with both wins against Atlanta in the first four games of the season.
Coming off a career-high 28 points in Tuesday night’s 117-116 win at defending NBA champion Boston, Daniels made 10 of 14 shots from the field and paced the defense with six steals.
Jalen Johnson scored 18 points with 13 rebounds and seven assists for Atlanta. Trae Young had 18 points and nine assists.
PISTONS 99, RAPTORS 95
TORONTO — Malik Beasley scored seven of his 20 points in the fourth quarter, Cade Cunningham had 15 points and 10 assists and Detroit beat struggling Toronto.
Tobias Harris had 11 points and 11 rebounds, Jaden Ivey scored 14 points and Jalen Duren added 12 for the Pistons. Rookie Ron Holland had 10 points and eight rebounds for Detroit but missed all six of his 3-point attempts.
Detroit won despite shooting 8 for 38 from 3-point range. The Raptors weren’t much better and shot 8 for 31 from distance.
Jakob Poeltl had a season-high 25 points and matched his career-high with 19 rebounds, but the Raptors lost their sixth straight.
RJ Barrett scored 22 points and Gradey Dick, who shot 1 for 10 from 3, added 16 for Toronto, which has lost 10 of 11.
HEAT 124, PACERS 111
INDIANAPOLIS — Bam Adebayo scored 30 points and had 11 rebounds and Miami beat Indiana in NBA Cup play.
Adebayo scored 17 points in the final quarter as the Heat pulled away to even their NBA Cup record at 1-1. Tyler Herro scored 20 points, Kevin Love 15 and Haywood Highsmith 14 in the first of two straight games between the teams. They meet again Sunday in Indianapolis.
Obi Toppin led the Pacers with 21 points off the bench. Tyrese Haliburton had 18 points and eight assists. The game was Indiana’s NBA Cup opener after reaching the final last year.