Magic open NBA season with win

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Tracy McGrady scored a career-high 32 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in his debut for Orlando on Tuesday night, leading the revamped Magic to a 97-86 victory over the Washington Wizards.

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Grant Hill, still hobbling after offseason ankle surgery, was held to nine points on 3-for-6 shooting but finished with 10 assists, five rebounds and two steals before limping to the Magic bench for good with 4:06 to go.

McGrady led a 15-4 run that enabled the Magic to pull away from a 66-66 tie.

McGrady was 11-of-25 from the field and 8-for-11 at the foul line. He also had four assists and blocked three shots.

Felipe Lopez led the Wizards with 16 points, while Juwan Howard had 12 and Mitch Richmond and Rod Strickland added 10 each.

Hornets 106, Hawks 82

ATLANTA -- Jamal Mashburn scored 23 points and Baron Davis added 20 as Charlotte spoiled the NBA debut of Hawks coach Lon Kruger.

The Hornets scored 18 straight points in the first quarter, a run that led to their biggest first-half lead, 26-8, on two free throws by Eldridge Recasner.

Atlanta fought back to take a 61-60 lead on a 14-foot lean-in by Larry Robinson, who came off the bench to score 21 points, with 4:38 remaining in the third quarter.

Charlotte, though, went on an 11-0 run that culminated with two free throws by P.J. Brown, who had 16 rebounds. The Hornets finished with a 44-29 advantage on the boards.

Alan Henderson led the Hawks with 23 points on 9-for-11 shooting.

Cavaliers 86, Nets 82

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Lamond Murray hit a twisting shot in the lane to hold off a late New Jersey and Cleveland spoiled the coaching debut of Byron Scott.

Kenyon Martin, the overall No. 1 pick in the NBA draft, also bombed in his Nets' debut, scoring 10 points on 4-of-16 shooting. He fouled out with 38 seconds to go on Murray's clutch layup.

Murray led the Cavaliers with 17 points, while Matt Harpring had 16 and Bimbo Coles added 15, including 10 in the fourth quarter when the Cavaliers took the lead for good.

Backup center Aaron Williams scored 20 points for New Jersey, which will be without star forward Keith Van Horn until December with a broken leg. Stephon Marbury was held to just nine points on 3-of-17 shooting.

Pistons 104, Raptors 95

TORONTO -- Jerry Stackhouse scored a career-high 44 points, including 19 points in the third quarter as Detroit led by as many as 19 in the quarter.

Vince Carter had 26 points for Toronto.

Stackhouse and Carter, who played at the University of North Carolina, guarded each other for most for the game. Carter fouled out with 1:19 remaining.

Stackhouse also had five rebounds and three assists. Just before he converted a fastbreak dunk in the third quarter, he looked over his shoulder at Carter.

Chucky Atkins added 21 points and seven assists for Detroit.

76ers 101, Knicks 72

NEW YORK -- Allen Iverson scored 25 points and Toni Kukoc shot 10-for-12 in adding 23 as Philadelphia cruised as New York opened the season without Patrick Ewing at center for the first time in 15 years.

Theo Ratliff added 12 points, Eric Snow had 11 and George Lynch contributed nine points and 11 rebounds for the Sixers, who shot 58 percent from the field.

Allan Houston had 21 points but was the only player to find a rhythm offensively for the Knicks. Latrell Sprewell shot 1-for-9 and had six points, while Glen Rice -- the key player acquired in the Ewing trade -- came off the bench to shoot just 3-for-8 while scoring nine points.

Mavericks 97, Bucks 93

DALLAS -- Michael Finley scored 26 points to lead Dallas, which snapped a seven-game losing streak to Milwaukee.

Ray Allen scored 26 points to lead the Bucks, whose winning streak over Dallas included sweeps the last three seasons.

Milwaukee got within 81-80 with 8:46 to play, but 7-foot Dirk Nowitzki hit two 3-pointers in a 10-2 Dallas run over the next three minutes.

Sam Cassell added 15 points for Milwaukee, while Tim Thomas and Lindsey Hunter added 12 each and Glenn Robinson had 11.

Steve Nash had 20 points and Nowitzki added 16 for the Mavericks.

Timberwolves 106, Rockets 98

HOUSTON -- Kevin Garnett scored 28 points and Terrell Brandon added 22 as Minnesota, without Joe Smith, built a 26-point lead and held on.

The Timberwolves had to put aside the distraction of penalties imposed by the NBA for a secret pact between the team and Smith, whose contract was voided.

Minnesota never trailed, and withstood a 33-point effort from Houston's Cuttino Mobley, with 15 coming in the final quarter.

The Rockets opened the second half with a 7-2 spurt and Minnesota responded with an 11-1 run that made it 78-52.

Rasho Nesterovic had 16 points and 13 rebounds for Minnesota.

Hakeem Olajuwon, playing in his record 17th season with the same NBA franchise, played 18 minutes and had only four points and six rebounds for Houston.

Spurs 98, Pacers 85

SAN ANTONIO -- David Robinson scored 22 points and Tim Duncan added 16 as San Antonio spoiled the NBA coaching debut of Isiah Thomas.

Reggie Miller had 27 points and eight rebounds for the Pacers. Thomas, a Hall of Fame player with the Detroit Pistons, replaced Larry Bird, who announced he was resigning before taking the Pacers to the NBA Finals last season.

Austin Croshere, an Indiana reserve moved into the starting lineup this year, added 17 points, while Jermaine O'Neal, acquired from the Portland Trail Blazers over the summer, had 16 points and 10 rebounds.

Robinson was 12-for-12 from the free-throw line and grabbed nine rebounds, while Duncan, who spent the summer recovering from torn knee cartilage that forced him to miss last season's playoffs, had 10 rebounds.

Kings 100, Bulls 81

CHICAGO -- Predrag Stojakovic and Chris Webber each scored 23 points to lead Sacramento.

Jason Williams, the Kings point guard with the spectacular passes and playground-style game, is suspended for the first five games of the season for failing to comply with his drug treatment plan.

Stojakovic was 10-of-13 from the field, and had three steals and eight rebounds. Webber also had eight boards, as well as a game-high seven assists. He also blocked three shots.

Ron Mercer had 19 points for the Bulls, while rookie Marcus Fizer had 16 points on 7-of-13 shooting.

Jazz 107, Clippers 94

SALT LAKE CITY -- Karl Malone scored 34 points, Bryon Russell had 19 and John Starks added 18 as the veteran Jazz opened the season with a victory over the young Clippers.

The Clippers, with a 19-year-old in first-round draft pick Darius Miles and 11 players in their 20s, are the youngest team in NBA history.

Starks, beginning his 12th season and the first as Utah's replacement for the retired Jeff Hornacek, Russell, an eight-year veteran, combined for 23 points in the third quarter as the Jazz blew the game open.

John Stockton had 11 points and 14 assists for the Jazz.

Jeff McInnis led the Clippers with 20 points, while Miles had eight points on 4-of-6 shooting in his NBA debut.

Warriors 96, Suns 94

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Chris Mills hit a desperate 3-pointer with 4.7 seconds left as Golden State overcame Jason Kidd's 32nd career triple-double to beat Phoenix.

Kidd hit two free throws with 29 seconds left to give Phoenix a one-point lead. Golden State couldn't get a shot on its ensuing possession, and Vinny Del Negro wildly flung the ball behind his head to Mills, who buried a long shot from straightaway.

Mills had 19 points as Golden State made Dave Cowens' coaching debut an improbable success. The Warriors won their season opener for the first time since 1995.

Kidd had 24 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds.

Forward Danny Fortson had 18 points and 18 rebounds for the Warriors in his first game since being traded from Boston during the offseason.

Phoenix got 26 points from Clifford Robinson, but he missed an open shot at the buzzer.

Lakers 96, Trail Blazers 86

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Shaquille O'Neal had 36 points and 11 rebounds and Isaiah Rider showed up his old teammates in the fourth quarter as Los Angeles opened defense of its title.

Rasheed Wallace scored 26 points to lead the Blazers, and Steve Smith had 22.

Portland's Scottie Pippen sprained his left ankle in the first quarter and didn't return.

The Lakers committed 20 turnovers, and their sloppy play in the third quarter let the Blazers come back to tie it at 67 heading into the fourth.

Smith's layup got the Blazers within 72-71 with 9:17 remaining, but the Lakers ran off six straight points. Rider, signed by the Lakers for the minimum of $700,000 after being waived by Atlanta last season, elevated on a 13-foot jumper to give Los Angeles a 78-71 lead. Rider, who finished with 13 points, nailed a 3-pointer to make it 85-77 with 3:32 left.

Grizzlies 94, SuperSonics 88

VANCOUVER, British Columbia --Shareef Abdur-Rahim scored 27 points on 12-of-16 shooting and Mike Bibby was one assist short of a triple double for Vancouver.

Bibby had 15 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists.

Seattle's Gary Payton did get the triple double, with 25 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists, but it was not enough as Patrick Ewing, in his regular-season debut on the West Coast after 15 seasons with the New York Knicks, had two points and 12 rebounds in 37 minutes.

Vancouver hit six of its first eight shots to take a 13-0 lead, tying a franchise record for the best start to a game, while Seattle missed their first eight attempts.