NBA Scores, Oct. 21: Edwards’ 45 Spoils Giannis’ Heat Debut

NBA scores for Oct. 21

The biggest night of the NBA’s opening week belonged to two guards who each scored 45. In Miami, Anthony Edwards made nine 3-pointers and Minnesota beat the Heat 131-106, spoiling Giannis Antetokounmpo’s first game in a Heat uniform. In Memphis, Ty Jerome set a career high as the Grizzlies beat Utah 123-103.

Wednesday’s 11 games were the season openers for 22 teams. Several were lopsided: Toronto beat Chicago by 43, the season’s widest margin so far, and Portland beat Phoenix by 41. The closest finish came in New Orleans, where Indiana held on 123-120 in Tyrese Haliburton’s return. No game went to overtime, Land of Basketball’s daily summary shows.

All final scores

Home teams went 7-4.

Edwards outguns the Heat’s new star

Antetokounmpo did his part in his Miami debut, scoring 35, but Minnesota had too much shooting. Edwards hit 16 of 29 shots, 9 of 17 from 3-point range, and grabbed 10 rebounds, according to SB Nation’s recap on Yahoo Sports. The Wolves also won the rebounding battle 52-34. LaMelo Ball added 21 in his first game for Minnesota, WPLG Local 10 reported.

SB Nation noted that Edwards joined Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain as the only players with 40-point games in more than one season opener. Minnesota plays at Orlando on Friday.

Jerome’s record night in Memphis

Jerome’s previous career best was 33. He beat it by 12, hitting 17 of 25 shots, and his 45 broke Ja Morant’s Memphis record for a season opener of 44 from 2020, AP reported. The game turned at the start of the third quarter, when an 18-4 Grizzlies run made it 82-55. The Grizzlies’ biggest lead reached 27.

Keyonte George scored 22 for Utah, and Jaren Jackson Jr. had 15 against his former team before fouling out.

Davis takes over late in Washington

Washington’s win came from a fourth-quarter surge. The Wizards led 93-90 after three, then made its first nine shots of the final quarter, Field Level Media reported, and a run in the period pushed the lead to 111-98. Davis finished with 34 points and 12 rebounds, and Trae Young had 20 points and 13 assists. Tyler Herro scored 24 for the Bucks in Taylor Jenkins’ first game as Milwaukee’s coach.

In Los Angeles, the Lakers opened their first season after LeBron James with a 22-point win. Dončić sat out the entire fourth quarter, and Kessler didn’t miss a shot, going 12 for 12 in his Lakers debut, Yahoo Sports reported.

What it means

It’s one game, so the standings say little yet: all 11 winners are 1-0 and all 11 losers 0-1. A handful of teams had already opened on Tuesday (see our opening-night explainer).

A few numbers stand out:

• Blowouts: four of the 11 games were decided by 25 points or more, and two by more than 40. The average winning margin was about 20 points.
• Defense in Phoenix and Chicago: the Suns’ 83 points is the lowest team total of the young season, and the Bulls shot 4 of 36 from 3-point range, according to ESPN’s recap on TSN.
• Debuts: Davis (34), Randle (33) and Antetokounmpo (35) all topped 30 in their first games with new teams, but only Davis came away with a win.
• Returns from injury: Haliburton scored 23 in his first regular-season game since rupturing his Achilles tendon 16 months ago, AP reported, and Kyrie Irving, back from the torn ACL he suffered in March 2025, scored 15 in his return for Dallas.

What’s next

Thursday, Oct. 22, has two games: Cleveland at Philadelphia at 7 p.m. ET and Denver at Oklahoma City at 9:30 p.m. ET, both on ESPN.

Friday, Oct. 23, brings a full slate, including the Knicks at the Celtics at 7 p.m. ET, the Timberwolves at the Magic at 7 p.m. ET, the Pistons at the Heat at 8 p.m. ET and the Clippers at the Lakers at 10 p.m. ET, according to the NBA’s schedule.