Grizzlies Stay Perfect, Maxey Saves the Sixers: Halloween Night Around the NBA

Halloween night around the NBA was supposed to belong to one man, and in San Antonio it did — Victor Wembanyama's 43 points and six blocks against Minnesota got the full treatment in our game wrap. But the other six games on Saturday's slate had their own ideas. The Grizzlies stayed perfect, the last unbeaten team standing in the league. Tyrese Maxey saved the Sixers in Charlotte, in a game Philadelphia had no business winning, on the road, without its two biggest names. Cleveland hung 48 points in a single quarter. And a pair of rookies — one on each side of the same blowout in Memphis — put up numbers that dragged names like Oscar Robertson and Lionel Simmons into the conversation. Here is the whole night, game by game.

Memphis 136, Sacramento 105 — the last unbeaten team standing

Start with the team nobody can beat yet. Rookie Cameron Boozer scored a career-high 27 points with nine rebounds, 17 of them in a third quarter the Grizzlies won 42–25, and Memphis routed Sacramento 136–105 at FedExForum to improve to 6–0 — matching the best start in franchise history, set in 2014–15, according to the Associated Press. After Houston's loss in Dallas on Friday night, Memphis is the NBA's only unbeaten team.

The wild part is how deep this ran. Isaiah Stewart scored 24 points in 21 minutes off the bench on 8-of-9 shooting, GG Jackson added 21 while making all five of his 3-pointers, and the Grizzlies' bench outscored Sacramento's 81–20 — a 61-point gap in a game decided by 31. Cam Spencer, starting at point guard because Ty Jerome and Scotty Pippen Jr. both sat with back injuries, finished with 10 points, 13 assists and not a single turnover. Memphis shot 55.3 percent from the field and 50 percent from three, and led by as many as 34.

And somehow, the single best individual performance in the building belonged to the losing team. Kings rookie Darius Acuff Jr. scored a career-high 38 points with nine 3-pointers on 14 attempts, five rebounds and five assists — 21 of those points before halftime, when Sacramento was still pretending this was a game. Statitudes noted Acuff is the first Kings rookie with at least 35 points, five rebounds and five assists in a game since Lionel Simmons in February 1991, and that his 158 points and 38 assists through six career games match a start previously managed only by Oscar Robertson. The Kings are 0–6 for just the third time in franchise history. Both of these rookies are real. Only one of them is having any fun.

Philadelphia 109, Charlotte 104 — Maxey would not let them lose

Philadelphia rested LeBron James and Joel Embiid one night after an NBA Cup win over the Knicks, walked into Charlotte on the second night of a back-to-back, fell behind by seven with five minutes left — and won anyway, because Tyrese Maxey decided the evening was his. Maxey scored a season-high 38 points on 13-of-23 shooting, with four rebounds, four assists and two steals, and 15 of those points came in the fourth quarter. The NBA noted it was already the third time this season Maxey has scored 15 or more in a fourth quarter; no other player has done it more than once.

The finish, as the Associated Press described it, was a slow squeeze. Brandon Miller blocked a VJ Edgecombe layup and fed Moussa Diabate for a dunk that put Charlotte up 97–90, and Grayson Allen's 3-pointer later stretched it to 101–94. Then Philadelphia scored 13 straight points. Maxey's free throws with 1:22 left gave the 76ers the lead for good, Edgecombe buried a 3 from the left wing to make it 105–101, Charlotte's Sion James missed an uncontested layup with 24 seconds left, and Jaylen Brown — a game-time decision who started and scored 16 — iced it at the line with 5.2 seconds remaining. Anfernee Simons added 19 off the bench. Allen led Charlotte with 27 on 7-of-10 shooting from three, and Miller had 24, but the Hornets, still missing Coby White and Kon Knueppel, fell to 3–4. Philadelphia is 6–1 and 3–0 on the road, and Maxey has scored at least 25 in all seven games — a season-opening streak Statitudes ranks as the third-longest in franchise history, behind only Allen Iverson's 11 in 2005–06 and Maxey's own 10 last season.

Cleveland 136, Milwaukee 111 — a 48-point quarter ends it early

Milwaukee actually led this one after a quarter, 25–24. Then Cleveland scored 48 points in the second quarter to Milwaukee's 21, led 72–46 at halftime, and spent the rest of the night playing with its food. Evan Mobley scored a season-high 27 points — 13 of them in that second-quarter avalanche, on 11-of-16 shooting — and Jarrett Allen added 25 points and 11 rebounds, scoring 19 before halftime and recording the 250th double-double of his career, according to Field Level Media. The Cavaliers shot 62.2 percent in the first half, pushed the lead to 112–76 early in the fourth, and picked up their first road win of the season. Donovan Mitchell scored 15 and James Harden had 13 points and seven assists, which tells you how little Cleveland needed from its guards. Kel'el Ware led Milwaukee with 19 points and 10 rebounds, but the Bucks are 1–5, and a defense that just gave up 136 at home has some explaining to do.

Houston 119, Oklahoma City 98 — a statement, with an asterisk

One night after Dallas handed Houston its first loss, the Rockets took out their frustration on the defending champions — or what was left of them. Jabari Smith Jr. scored 30 points with nine rebounds and five assists, hitting six of his 12 3-point attempts, and Marcus Smart added 24 with seven 3-pointers as Houston beat Oklahoma City 119–98 at Toyota Center. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 26 for the Thunder, which Statitudes noted was his 156th consecutive game with at least 15 points, the seventh-longest streak in NBA history. The asterisk is real, though: Oklahoma City played without Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams, Cason Wallace and Alex Caruso. Houston's response after the Dallas loss was emphatic and worth crediting. What it proves against a whole Thunder team is a question for another night.

New Orleans 121, Atlanta 99 — the Pelicans are breathing again

Two nights ago the Pelicans were 0–4 and looked lost. Now they have won two straight, and this one was not close. Saddiq Bey scored 25 points off the bench on 9-of-13 shooting, Jeremiah Fears added 20 points and seven assists on 9-of-12 shooting, and New Orleans led Atlanta 63–48 at halftime before a 17–6 fourth-quarter run turned the night into garbage time, winning 121–99. Atlanta's rough night got worse in the second half when Jalen Johnson left with a left ankle injury and did not return; he finished with 13 points, seven rebounds and four assists in 28 minutes, and the Hawks said afterward only that his status going forward was uncertain. Jock Landale also exited after one minute with a left hip injury. The Hawks, 3–4, play at Indiana on Monday, and whether Johnson is in uniform is suddenly one of the bigger questions of the young season in the East.

Portland 112, Utah 90 — defense travels

Portland opened the game with a 17–0 run while Utah went scoreless for nearly six minutes, led 59–42 at halftime and never let the Jazz breathe in a 112–90 win in Salt Lake City. Deni Avdija led the Trail Blazers with 24 points, Damian Lillard added 22, and Jrue Holiday, Toumani Camara and Scoot Henderson scored 14 apiece. Utah shot about 37 percent, committed 20 turnovers and lost the rebounding battle 48–37. Lauri Markkanen, back after missing two games with a wrist sprain, managed 13 points on 3-of-14 shooting, and rookie Darryn Peterson led the Jazz with 16. Portland did all of it without Ja Morant, who is expected to be re-evaluated in about four weeks with a Grade 2 left hamstring strain. The Blazers are 4–1, and they are winning with defense and balance rather than any one star turn — which, given the Morant news, is exactly the identity they are going to need.

And in San Antonio…

The night's headline act was Wembanyama: 43 points on a career-high 34 shot attempts, seven rebounds, six blocks and four assists in the Spurs' 121–111 win over a Timberwolves team missing Anthony Edwards and Rudy Gobert — his 10th career 40-point game, per Statitudes, tying Mike Mitchell for the fourth-most in Spurs history. Dylan Harper added 25 and six assists for San Antonio, which has won four straight, while Ayo Dosunmu's 27 points and nine rebounds led Minnesota. The full story of that game — the self-pass off the glass, the block-to-dunk sequence that carried Wembanyama to 40 — is in our wrap from Frost Bank Center.

Seven games, 1,572 points, one unbeaten team left. Sunday's slate is a light one — just four games, with Boston at Orlando starting the afternoon — and Monday all 30 teams play. The season is barely a week and a half old, and it is already moving fast.