PHILADELPHIA-Joel Embiid scored 24 points in his return to the lineup after a one-game absence, Ben Simmons and Furkan Korkmaz added 18 points apiece, and the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Detroit Pistons for the second time in four days, winning 116-102 on Monday night.
Jimmy Butler, who had 38 points to lead Philadelphia to a 117-111 victory in Detroit on Friday, exited in the first half with a strained groin and did not return.
Luke Kennard finished with a career-high 28 points and Andre Drummond had 21 for the slumping Pistons (13-12), who have dropped five straight after five consecutive wins.
Detroit was missing Blake Griffin, 10th in the NBA in scoring. Griffin, who had 50, 38 and 31 points against the Sixers this season, was rested after Detroit hosted New Orleans the previous night.
Embiid was given his own night off to rest at Detroit on Friday after the 7-foot-2 star grew frustrated with his role following three straight sub-20-point performances. Embiid, though, has had little trouble against Detroit, averaging 32 points in three contests this season.
Highlighted by a couple of Simmons' dunks, the Sixers scored 38 points in opening quarter and led by as many as 15 in the first half. The Pistons pulled within five early in the fourth quarter before an emphatic dunk by Embiid and Simmons' three-point play helped Philly pull away for its 10th win in the last 12 games.
Korkmaz and T.J. McConnell both delivered big buckets off the bench in the second half. McConnell finished with 14 points and six assists.
Celtics 113, Pelicans 100
BOSTON-Marcus Morris Sr. had a season-high 31 points, making three quick 3-pointers to start the second half, and Jayson Tatum scored 21 on Monday night to lead a depleted Boston lineup to its sixth straight win, a 113-100 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans.
With Kyrie Irving, Al Horford, Gordon Hayward and Aaron Baynes all ill or injured, Jaylen Brown scored 19 points and first-round draft choice Robert Williams III had career highs of seven points and 11 rebounds in 25 minutes.
Anthony Davis scored 41 points and Julius Randle had 20 points and 11 rebounds for New Orleans, which was playing back-to-back games after beating the Pistons in Detroit on Sunday.
The Celtics scored nine straight points in the last four minutes of the first quarter to take a lead they would never relinquish. They led 59-53 at the half before Morris hit three 3s-one from the left corner, one from the right wing and one from the top of the key-to make it 68-55.
New Orleans never got closer than nine points after that.
Thunder 122, Jazz 113
OKLAHOMA CITY-Paul George went 5 of 6 from 3-point range and scored 31 points, Dennis Schroder added 23 and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Utah Jazz 122-113 on Monday night.
Steven Adams had 22 points in the first meeting between the Western Conference foes since the Jazz downed the Thunder in six games in the first round of last season's playoffs. Oklahoma City overcame a 4-of-18 shooting performance by Russell Westbrook, who nonetheless managed a triple-double with 12 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists.
Oklahoma City has won 15 straight regular-season games at home against Utah, although the Jazz did beat the Thunder in Oklahoma City in Game 2 during their playoff series. The Thunder have gone 17-4 since starting this season 0-4.
Donovan Mitchell battled foul trouble much of the game but led the Jazz with 19 points, while Rudy Gobert recorded his 23rd double-double of the season with 13 points and 14 rebounds. It was the second straight lopsided road loss in two days for Utah, which fell 110-97 on Sunday at San Antonio.
The Thunder jumped to a 6-0 lead, causing Jazz coach Quin Snyder to call a timeout just 68 seconds into the game. Oklahoma City gradually built its lead to 17 points before settling for a 57-46 halftime advantage.
George, who scored 25 fourth-quarter points during a 47-point outburst in a win at Brooklyn on Wednesday, nearly reprised that performance in the third quarter.
George hit his first 3-point attempt 50 seconds before halftime, then hit his next four shots from behind the arc en route to a 17-point third quarter. That helped the Thunder build their lead to 26 points near the end of the quarter and the Jazz never seriously threatened after that, although they did cut a 29-point deficit to nine in the final minute. Reserve Epke Udoh scored 10 points in nine minutes for Utah.
Jae Crowder had 13 points and Derrick Favors had 12 for the Jazz.
Bucks 108, Cavaliers 92
MILWAUKEE-Eric Bledsoe had 20 points and 12 rebounds, and the Milwaukee Bucks shot 52 percent from 3-point range in the first half of a 108-92 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday night.
Malcolm Brogdon scored 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting, while Sterling Brown had 12 points and eight rebounds for the Bucks, who rested Giannis Antetokounmpo on the second night of back-to-back games. He was ruled out about an hour before the game with neck soreness.
Leading by 18 points at the half and by as much as 26 in the third quarter, the Bucks hardly needed their All-Star forward against one of the NBA's worst teams.
Cleveland's Tristan Thompson had 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting and added six rebounds, but left in the third quarter with a left foot injury. Jaron Blossomgame had 11 points and 10 rebounds, while Larry Nance Jr. scored a team-high 16 points.
The Cavaliers did manage to cut the deficit in half, to 13, with 5:40 left and the Bucks playing mostly backups. It was close enough that coach Mike Budenholzer put most of his starters back in the game until the closing minutes.
Otherwise, the game was decided in the first half, when the Bucks-one of the top 3-point shooting teams in the league-hit 11 of 21 from beyond the arc. Bledsoe was 4 of 5 from 3-point territory, with all his attempts before halftime.
Brown came off the bench to provide a spark in the first half, hustling all over the court to grab boards and defend. His transition dunk after a turnover with 2:08 left in the second quarter gave Milwaukee a 57-36 lead.
It didn't matter much when the 6-foot-10 Thompson was in the game, anyway. The Cavs were outscored 50-40 in the paint and outrebounded 58-46, even with the high-flying Antetokounmpo missing the game for Milwaukee.
The Bucks finished 15 of 36 (42 percent) from 3-point range for the night.