NBA roundup: Pacers down Knicks, Bucks struggles continue in NBA Cup

The injury-hit Indiana Pacers held off the New York Knicks 106-104 on Friday, thwarting a Knicks comeback bid to leave New York's bid for an NBA Cup repeat in tatters.

Indiana Pacers 106-104 New York Knicks

The Knicks won the 2025-26 in-season tournament in what proved a curtain-raiser to their run to a first NBA championship since 1973.

But after coming up short in their bid to erase a 14-point third-quarter deficit, the Knicks fell to 0-2 in Cup play.

They are not mathematically eliminated, but in three prior editions of the Cup, no team with two group stage defeats has reached the knockout rounds.

With Tyrese Haliburton still sidelined with a hamstring strain, Pascal Siakam scored 19 points to lead a balanced Pacers attack. Aaron Nesmith scored 18 points, Kelly Oubre Jr. added 16 and Ivica Zubac and Andrew Nembhard chipped in 12 apiece.

Jalen Brunson scored 33 points and handed out 11 assists for the Knicks, who tied it at 87-87 early in the fourth quarter only for the Pacers to pull away again with a 15-2 scoring run.

The Knicks made one last push, cutting the deficit to two, but Karl-Anthony Towns -- who scored 23 points and pulled down 15 rebounds -- missed a potential game-tying basket with nine-tenths of a second remaining.

"Very proud of our team. We were pretty big underdogs coming into this game," said Pacers coach Rick Carlisle, whose team out-scored the Knicks 50-30 in the paint.

"Second half, it got difficult. New York is a championship team. They know how to make comebacks," Carlisle said. "Our guys stuck together and kept fighting together."

The Knicks are last in East Group B and will host the Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat in their last two Cup group games.

Miami Heat 133-121 Cleveland Cavaliers

In Miami, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo scored 37 points each to lead the Heat to a 133-121 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers.

After dropping the first four games of the season, the Heat are seeing what they'd hoped for when they brought in Antetokounmpo to team with Adebayo.

Adebayo added 14 rebounds, and Davion Mitchell chipped in 22 points and 17 assists to help the Heat improve to 2-0 in Cup play -- top of the group -- and 6-6 on the season.

Donovan Mitchell led Cleveland with 25 points and James Harden added 20 but the Cavs have dropped three of their last four games.

Orlando Magic 107-99 Milwaukee Bucks

Franz Wagner continued his stellar play for Orlando, scoring 35 points with nine rebounds and 12 assists to lead the Magic to a 107-99 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks.

The Magic earned their first home win of the season. Just 5-7 overall they improved to 2-0 in Cup play.

San Antonio Spurs 123-85 Golden State Warriors

The San Antonio Spurs, who fell to the Knicks in last year's NBA Cup Final before losing to them in the NBA Finals, crushed the Golden State Warriors 123-85, their 11th straight victory pushing them to 2-0 in Cup play.

Stephon Castle scored 32 points, and Victor Wembanyama added 12 points and 12 rebounds for the Spurs, who opened the game on an 18-0 run and led by as many as 43 against a Warriors team playing without injured superstar Stephen Curry.

LJ Cryer scored 20 points to lead the Warriors as none of the Golden State starters scored in double figures.

Veteran Draymond Green finished with four points and was assessed a flagrant foul for a shove from behind that sent Wembanyama crashing out of bounds midway through the second quarter.

In the last game of the night, the Los Angeles Clippers improved to 1-1 in Cup play - just 3-8 overall - with a battling 113-112 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Darius Garland sealed the victory with a three-point play with less than a minute remaining, driving for a layup that tied it at 112-112, drawing a foul and converting the free throw.

LA's Brook Lopez scored 11 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter, and the Clippers withstood a 40-point performance from Oklahoma City's two-time reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who came up empty on two attempts in the waning seconds.

Around the League

Elsewhere in NBA Cup play, the Atlanta Hawks pushed the Chicago Bulls to overtime, but there the home team took over as the Bulls managed to take down the Hawks 125-117. Normal Powell had 33 for the Bulls, while all four of their remaining starters had double digits on the night, with a total of 7 Bulls scoring double digits as they outscored Atlanta 15-7 in OT for the win.

It was a triple-double from Jalen Johnson that helped Atlanta push it to overtime with 27-11-10, and with CJ McCollum's 20 in support, this was a team that pushed the Bulls all the way only to fall short when it mattered the most.

After a hot start, the Memphis Grizzlies have cooled off significantly lately, but on Friday, the offense turned up again as they took down the struggling New Orleans Pelicans 142-111. Jerami Grant had 22 off the bench for Memphis, with a ridiculous 10 players tallying double digits, showing off the Grizzlies depth.

With the loss, New Orleans fall to 4-9 on the season, and with the news of Dejounte Murray wanting out, this is a team that's struggling to find an identity moving forward despite strong performances from Saddiq Bey and Zion Williamson in this one.

Another team that continued their hot start was the Houston Rockets as they took down the struggling Utah Jazz 125-118. It was an incredible 43 point, 12 rebound performance from Alperen Sengun that led the way for Houston, with 22 from Kevin Durant re-affirming the Rockets potential as a contender.

The loss takes the Utah to 1-12 on the season, and while 28 from Darryn Peterson and 21 from Ace Bailey showed the promise the future holds for the Jazz, the team continue to struggle right now with a lack of star power around them.