NBA: Humphries defies boos

Kris Humphries ignored crowd abuse to lead the New Jersey Nets to victory over the Washington Wizards in the NBA on Monday.

Humphries, a regular in the news owing to the television coverage of his relationship with celebrity Kim Kardashian, scored 21 points and picked up 16 rebounds in the Nets’ 90-84 win.

Elswehere, defending NBA champions, the Dallas Mavericks, lost a second successive game at the start of the season, losing 115-93 to the Denver Nuggets.

Denver scored 20 unanswered points in a second-quarter streak as Ty Lawson scored 20 of his 27 points in the first half.

Twelve fourth-quarter points from Marcus Thornton proved decisive as the Sacramento Kings got the better of the Los Angeles Lakers, 100-91.

Cleveland’s number-one draft pick Kyrie Irving endured a debut to forget as the Cavaliers were humbled by Toronto 104-96.

Twenty-three points from Hedo Turkoglu helped the Orlando Magic to a first win of the season as they downed the Houston Rockets 104-95.

Revenge

Roy Hibbert left the newly-named Bankers Life Fieldhouse with 16 points as the Indiana Pacers beat the Detroit Pistons 91-79, and 19 points from DJ Augustin guided the Charlotte Bobcats to a tense 96-95 win over the Milwaukee Bucks – turning around a 14-point deficit in the process.

Kevin Durant stole the show with 33 points as the Oklahoma City Thunder held off the Minnesota Timberwolves 104-100.

The San Antonio Spurs exacted a measure of revenge for their play-off collapse against Memphis by beating the Grizzlies 95-82, with Manu Ginobili scoring 24 points, while Eric Gordon landed a debut three-pointer with 4.2 seconds left as New Orleans snatched an 85-84 win against Phoenix.

Elsewhere, LaMarcus Alridge landed 25 points as the Portland Trail Blazers saw off the Philadelphia 76ers 107-103, and the Golden State Warriors beat Chicago 99-91, Monta Ellis picking up 26 points.