The China Mail - Thunder roll to 14th straight NBA win, Celtics beat depleted Lakers

NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 33 points and Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren added 15 apiece for Oklahoma City, who are off to the best start to a season since the Golden State Warriors opened the 2015-16 campaign 24-0.

Up by 30 through three quarters, the Thunder rested their starters in the final period, the Mavericks' three-game winning streak ending with a thud.

Jaden Hardy scored 23 points off the bench to lead the Mavs on a night when star center Anthony Davis scored just two points, making his lone basket of the night in an irrelevant four minutes on court in the final frame.

The oft-injured Davis had checked out of the contest in the third quarter after appearing to injure his left knee, sitting on the bench with it wrapped before returning to the game.

The Boston Celtics, led by 30 points from Jaylen Brown, cruised past the short-handed Los Angeles Lakers 126-105.

The marquee clash lost much of its lustre with Lakers superstar LeBron James sidelined by the sciatica that caused him to miss the first 14 games of his 23rd season and by foot joint arthritis.

Luka Doncic was also absent, missing a second game for personal reasons. Austin Reaves scored 36 points to lead the Lakers, but Boston never trailed and led by as many as 29.

Denver star Nikola Jokic scored 30 of his 40 points in the second half as the Nuggets rallied to edge the Hawks 134-133 in Atlanta.

Hawks forward Jalen Johnson had a triple-double by halftime with 11 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists before the break and finished with 21 points, 18 rebounds and 16 assists.

But the Nuggets, who trailed by as many as 23 late in the first half, put up 80 points in the second half to charge back.

Jamal Murray scored 23 points and came up with a big block in the waning seconds to help Denver hang on for their ninth straight road win.

In Orlando, Franz Wagner scored 32 points and Jalen Suggs added 22 as the Magic held on for a 106-105 home victory over the Miami Heat.

Miami, trailing their cross-state rivals by 10 early in the fourth quarter, cut the deficit to one on Norman Powell's driving layup with 50.9sec remaining.

Miami had chances to win it in the waning seconds, but Powell missed a fadeaway jumper, the Heat had to burn their last timeout when they were unable to inbound the ball and Bam Adebayo missed a three-pointer as time expired.

- Durant milestone -

It was a milestone night for Houston star Kevin Durant, who became the eighth player in NBA history to score 31,000 career points in the Rockets' 117-98 victory over the Phoenix Suns.

Durant came into his first game against his former team since a blockbuster July trade needing just four points to reach the mark, which he achieved with a jump shot midway through the first quarter.

Durant, eighth on the league's all-time scoring list, finished with 28 points and teammate Amen Thompson scored his season-high of 31 as the Rockets claimed a fifth victory in six games.

"I'm just grateful to be in this position to live out my dreams every single day," Durant, a former NBA Most Valuable Player and a two-time champion, said of his latest milestone. "So many people have invested in my life. I'm just grateful for them and I want to keep it going."

At Madison Square Garden, the New York Knicks opened on a 23-0 scoring run and kept the pedal down in a 146-112 rout of the Utah Jazz.

X.So--ThChM