Los Angeles, United States – Trae Young tallied 39 points as the Atlanta Hawks upset the Philadelphia 76ers to a 127-117 victory on Thursday (Friday Philippine time).
The home team led 39-31 heading into the second, with Young having a monster first quarter.
Young recorded a double-double of 14 points and 10 assists in the first quarter alone, finishing with 39 points and a career-high 18 assists for the Hawks.
Ben Simmons was dominant in the early going for the Sixers, scoring at the rim seemingly at will. He led the 76ers with 31 points.
John Collins tallied 17 points and a season-high 20 rebounds for the Hawks, who avenged an earlier 105-103 loss to the Sixers.
De’Andre Hunter scored 10 of his 15 in the first quarter, as the Hawks won their third straight at home.
Meanwhile, newly-named all-stars Kyle Lowry and Pascal Siakam combined for 42 points as the reigning NBA champion Toronto Raptors won their ninth straight game with a 115-109 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Lowry scored 14 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter, and Siakam added 19 as the visiting Raptors extended their season-best winning streak.
Lowry, who is headed to the All-Star Game for the sixth straight season, was named as one of seven reserves from the Eastern Conference to join teammate Siakam, who was chosen as a starter last week.
Serge Ibaka scored a team-high 26 points in the win as the Raptors completed a three-game sweep of the season series with the Cavaliers.
“That was anybody’s game from start to finish, to be honest,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. “You’ve just got to grind it out and find a way.”
Norman Powell scored eight of his 16 points in the final 62 seconds of the game for Toronto to help blunt a Cavs’ rally. Fred VanVleet had eight points and a season-best 12 assists in the win.
Kevin Love and Collin Sexton scored 23 points each for Cleveland.
Darius Garland had 16 points and eight assists, Kevin Porter and Larry Nance added 13 points each, and Tristan Thompson had two points and 12 rebounds.
Toronto took a 10-point lead on a clutch three-point basket with 5:41 remaining.
But the Cavaliers went on a 9-0 run, and Love’s three-pointer cut the lead to one point with just under four minutes left in the fourth, 100-99.
Powell followed with a three-pointer and then a dunk with 35 seconds left to give Toronto a six-point lead. He added two free throws to get the lead back to six with 20 seconds left.
In the late game, Nikola Jokic had 28 points and 10 assists, Will Barton scored 18 as Denver Nuggets pulled out a 106-100 win over the Utah Jazz.
Jerami Grant added 15 points, Torrey Craig scored 13 and grabbed 10 rebounds, and Michael Porter came off the bench to score 12 points and 12 rebounds for the Nuggets, who overcame a fourth quarter surge from Jordan Clarkson.
Clarkson scored 24 of his season-high 37 points in the fourth quarter.