The San Antonio Spurs cruised to an emphatic win over the Phoenix Suns in the NBA on Saturday, restricting the hosts to just 24 points in the first half at the US Airways Center.

The Suns' lowest ever first-half score allowed the NBA champions to open up a 27-point lead by the interval, but a late string of baskets from Marcus Morris stopped the Suns from finishing with their worst ever full-time score.

Kawhi Leonard led the scoring for the Spurs, finishing with 22, while Danny Green, Boris Diaw and Aron Bayned all contributed to the rout.

The Atlanta Hawks held on to secure a narrow win over the Miami Heat, despite last season's beaten finalists outscoring the Eastern Conference leaders by nine in the last quarter.

The Heat chipped into Atlanta's lead throughout the fourth, but Kent Bazemore scored a three-pointer with a minute remaining to make sure of the win.

A dominant start to the second half set the Brooklyn Nets up for a win over the Dallas Mavericks.

Deron Williams led the scoring with 25 while four of his teammates also reached double figures, sharing the workload as the Nets outscored the hosts 35-21 in the third quarter.

The Washington Wizards recovered from throwing away a 21-point lead against the Detroit Pistons to end their six-game losing streak.

Greg Monroe and Spencer Dinwiddie got the visitors back into contention after the break after Washington had dominated the the first half, but Bradley Beal and John Wall both added late points to edge the Wizards to victory.

The Toronto Raptors slipped to a fifth straight defeat as they failed to overturn an early lead for the New York Knicks.

Tim Hardaway Jr got the home side off to a strong start before Langston Galloway made a three-pointer to end Toronto's hopes of a late comeback, sealing back-to-back wins for the Knicks.

The Memphis Grizzlies overturned an early deficit to secure a narrow win over the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Target Center.

The hosts were six points up by the end of the first quarter and remained ahead until Marc Gasol scored nine straight points late on to set up the win.

The Utah Jazz came out on top in a defensive battle with the Milwaukee Bucks in a low-scoring tie at EnergySolutions Arena.

The Bucks threatened to pull away with a strong run at the start of the third quarter, but Trey Burke drew the Jazz level before putting them ahead going into the fourth, leaving their defensive play to see out the victory.

Results in full: Detroit Pistons 95-99 Washington Wizards, Atlanta Hawks 93-91 Miami Heat, Toronto Raptors 98-103 New York Knicks, Memphis Grizzlies 101-97 Minnesota Timberwolves, Brooklyn Nets 104-94 Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs 101-74 Phoenix Suns, Milwaukee Bucks 75-82 Utah Jazz