BOSTON – Terry Rozier put together a pretty nice impression of Kyrie Irving on Wednesday night.
With Irving sidelined by a quad injury, Rozier logged his first career triple-double in his first NBA start to help the Boston Celtics to a 103-73 victory over the New York Knicks.
Rozier collected 17 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists to become just the second player in NBA history with a triple-double in his first start, joining Tony Wroten for Philadelphia on Nov. 13, 2013, according to Elias Sports Bureau.
“It just worked out perfect for me,” Rozier said. “I got to knock down some shots in the beginning of the game, hit the open man, I’m always going to get in there and rebound. Just a great night.”
Irving got hurt during Monday’s win in Denver, which gave the Celtics a split of a four-game road trip that included a 109-105 loss to Golden State.
“I thought we got ourselves a little bit more re-centered. We played a lot better out west,” Boston coach Brad Stevens said. “So, I was really interested to see how tonight would go without Kyrie.”
Marcus Morris scored 20 points for Boston, and Jayson Tatum had 15. Al Horford and Jaylen Brown scored 14 points apiece.
New York was trying for a third straight win. Enes Kanter had 17 points and 17 rebounds for the Knicks, and Kristaps Porzingis scored 16 points.
Cavaliers 91, Heat 89
In Cleveland, LeBron James scored 24 points, Jae Crowder made a go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:21 left and the Cavaliers began a long stretch without injured All-Star Kevin Love by holding off Miami.
Trail Blazers 124, Bulls 108
In Portland, CJ McCollum scored a franchise-record 28 points in the first quarter and finished with a career-high 50 through three periods before heading to the bench, and the Trail Blazers took advantage of short-handed Chicago.
Pacers 105, Grizzlies 101
In Indianapolis, Myles Turner had 15 points and 11 rebounds in his return to the starting lineup, and the hosts beat Memphis for their third straight win.
All five Indiana starters scored in double digits. Bojan Bogdanovic and Darren Collison each had 21 points, Victor Oladipo added 13 and Thaddeus Young had 10.
Hornets 123, Hawks 110
In Atlanta, Kemba Walker hit a career-high nine 3s and scored 38 points, leading Charlotte to a dominant victory over the hosts.
Dwight Howard had 20 points and 12 rebounds in his return to Atlanta after spending one season with his hometown Hawks. It was Howard’s second double-double in less than a week against Atlanta.
McCollum’s 28 points in the opening quarter were the most in the NBA this season.
Suns 102, Mavericks 88
In Phoenix, rookie forward Josh Jackson matched his career best with 21 points, T.J. Warren added 20 and the Suns snapped a five-game losing streak by beating Dallas, handing the Mavericks their fifth loss in a row and eighth in nine games.
Nets 116, 76ers 108
In New York, Spencer Dinwiddie scored 27 points, D’Angelo Russell added 22 in his best performance since returning from knee surgery, and Brooklyn snapped a four-game skid with a victory over Philadelphia.
Magic 127, Lakers 105
In Orlando, Marreese Speights scored 21 points in his second start of the season, Evan Fournier added 19 and the hosts ran away from Los Angeles in the third quarter.
[“Source-japantimes”]
