BOSTON — Jayson Tatum banked in a fallaway, go-ahead 3-pointer in the final second, and Giannis Antetokounmpo missed the potential tying free throw with 0.4 seconds left, allowing the Boston Celtics to escape with a 122-121 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday night in the teams’ season opener.
Tatum scored 30 points and Jaylen Brown had 33 for Boston, which entered the fourth quarter leading by 17 points. The Celtics trailed 120-119 when Tatum dribbled the clock down from 8.9 seconds before lofting a high-arcing 3 over Antetokounmpo from the left side that kissed the glass on its way down.
The ensuing inbounds pass was thrown at the rim and Antetokounmpo tried to tip it in, but he was fouled. The two-time reigning NBA MVP made the first foul shot, but bounced the second off the front of the rim.
Antetokounmpo scored 18 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter, and Khris Middleton had 27 points and 14 rebounds for Milwaukee. The Bucks had the best record in the NBA in each of the past two seasons but didn’t make it out of the Eastern Conference finals.
KINGS 124, NUGGETS 122, OT
DENVER — Buddy Hield tipped in Harrison Barnes’ miss at the buzzer, lifting Sacramento past Denver in overtime.
Nikola Jokic recorded a triple-double with 29 points, 15 rebounds and 14 assists, but he had a crucial offensive foul with 2.6 seconds left in regulation and lost the ball on the inbounds with 6.5 seconds left in overtime when Barnes punched it loose.
Hield led Sacremento with 22 points, and Barnes and De’Aaron Fox each added 21 for the Kings. They snapped a six-game skid in Denver, where they had last won on Jan. 3, 2017.
JAZZ 120, TRAIL BLAZERS 100
PORTLAND, Ore. — Rudy Gobert had 20 points and 17 rebounds, leading Utah past Portland.
Gobert controlled the inside and got plenty of support from the outside as Utah shot 19 of 50 from the 3-point line.
Mike Conley, Donovan Mitchell and Bojan Bogdanovic all made four 3-pointers and Joe Ingles and Jordan Clarkson knocked down three apiece. Mitchell also scored 20 points.
Damian Lillard was scoreless in the first half and finished with only nine points and seven assists for Portland. CJ McCollum led the Blazers with 23 points.
MAGIC 113, HEAT 107
ORLANDO, Fla. — Evan Fournier gave Orlando the lead with a late 3-pointer, converted a three-point play in the final minute and scored 25 points in the Magic’s victory over Miami.
Aaron Gordon had 20 points and seven rebounds for Orlando, Terrence Ross added 19 points, Nikola Vucevic had 15 points and 11 rebounds, and Markelle Fultz also had 15 points.
SPURS 131, GRIZZLIES 119
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — DeMar DeRozan had 28 points and nine assists, Dejounte Murray added 21 points and San Antonio overcame Memphis star Ja Morant’s 44-point game.
Morant — the reigning rookie of the year — had 34 of his points in the second half. While that helped carry the Grizzlies offensively, it wasn’t enough to put a deep dent in San Antonio’s double-digit lead through much of the second half. Morant also had nine assists.
