We’re guessing your first five-day workweek of 2024 starts today.

The good news? We got your week planned in Section 5.

And if you need a little extra boost this Monday … as always, Boban comes through.

THE LINEUP 🏀

1. 👀 Monday must-see
2. ⏰ 9 games, 90 seconds
3. 📸 Photos of the week
4. ⏪ Weekend rewind
5. 🌤 Weekly forecast

Celtics-Pacers (7 ET, NBA App) & Clippers-Suns (10:30 ET, NBA TV) highlight Monday’s six games, but keep an eye on Milwaukee-Utah, with the Jazz turning into one of the league’s hottest squads over the past few weeks. Tap for the full schedule

Tried NBA Play yet? New interactive games drop daily at 9 am. Have fun. Test your knowledge. Show off a little.

1. MONDAY MORNING MUST-SEE

Sometimes on Monday mornings, it’s just nice to be reminded that great things are doable.

So start with this LeBron full-speed poster in transition (at the age of 39) watch a couple different angles & reactions from everybody, then keep going for Sunday’s goodness.

Top Stories

• Kyrie & Luka out-dueled Ant Edwards, with all three stars going for 34+, as the Mavs came up real clutch to beat the West’s top team (and the best clutch team, statistically speaking, in the whole league). Catch the finish
• Anfernee Simons & Mikal Bridges had themselves a duel, with Bridges dropping 42 (including the bucket to force OT) and Simons, 38, as the Blazers took down the Nets in a thriller. Watch the last 3:46 here
• Wemby joined Shaq, Alonzo Mourning, Manute Bol, Shawn Bradley & Terry Tyler as the only players to record 100+ blocks within their first 35 games, posting 5 blocks on Sunday
• Paolo Banchero is on fire, with 33 ppg over his last five and (arguably) three of the best games of his career over the last three games

Top Plays

• Start with this Dennis Smith Jr. dunk, and look for the part where it seems like he just straight up may never come down
• LOL this Wemby dunk: The No. 1 pick tips the pass, gets out in transition and looks like he’s dunking on the hoop your little cousin got for Christmas
• Jarrett Allen denied this Wemby 4th quarter dunk though, with a clutch, monster rejection that helped throw a blanket on a late Spurs run
• Six points, two seconds: Caris LeVert pulled it off
• Great angle, better pass: Watch Joker thread the needle – a really faraway needle – with this full-court dime to KCP
• Ant can dunk … but he can dance, too: Tiptoeing through traffic for the silky Euro. At Ant speed
• Kyrie answers: With his own Euro
• Push Monday back with suuuuuper slo-mo versions of both. Kyrie here. Ant here
• Go a little further … and turn back the clock on this vintage DeAndre Jordan, head-at-the-rim poster alley-oop

Top Moments

• Otto gets his ring: The Warriors presented Porter Jr. with his 2022 champ ring pregame 
• T-Mac was courtside watching Paolo become the only other Magic player (besides him) to average at least 33.0 pts, 9.0 reb, 6.6 ast across five games
• On those MVP chants … Paolo talked about ‘em in his postgame
• Pure hustle: Kyrie flew into the crowd to save the possession. Jalen Suggs did the same…then took a seat for a sec

2. SUNDAY ROUNDUP: 9 GAMES IN 90 SECONDS

• Magic 117, Hawks 110 (OT): Saddiq Bey threw down a dunk to force OT for Atlanta, but Banchero’s big night (+ this And-1 in OT) was too much, as the fourth-place Magic kept rolling. Peep the duel between Paolo & Trae Young (31 pts, 9 ast). | Recap
• Blazers 134, Nets 127 (OT): Bridges sent it to OT in the final seconds, on a night when his 42 came on 57.7% shooting from the field, but the Blazers rode a 17-6 run in the extra frame to pick up the W. Catch the fantastic finish here. | Recap
• Cavs 117, Spurs 115: Jarrett Allen’s 29-pt, 16-reb night – not to mention that huge block on Wemby – helped the Cavaliers hold off a 20-6 run (including the final 11 points) from San Antonio, along with 24 pts, 10 reb & 5 blks from Wembanyama. | Recap
• Pelicans 133, Kings 100: That whole thing about the league’s toughest January schedule? New Orleans is 3-1 to start the year, after CJ McCollum’s 30-point, seven-trey game gave the Pels their fourth win in four games against Sacramento in 2023-24. | Recap

• Mavs 115, Wolves 108: Two of the best teams in the league, meeting on a Sunday, with three of its biggest stars all dropping 34+. Kyrie and Luka (69 combined pts) got the better of Ant Edwards (36 pts, 10 reb), with Irving hitting the tying and go-ahead threes late to send Dallas to a clutch win over the league’s top clutch team. | Recap
• Nuggets 131, Pistons 114: Jamal Murray’s 37 points led the way as Denver became the second team to reach 26 wins this year. | Recap
• Raptors 133, Warriors 118: RJ Barrett made 11 of the first 14 shots he took, scoring a season-high 37 in his fourth game since being traded to Toronto. | Recap
• Grizzlies 121, Suns 115: Jaren Jackson Jr. had 28 pts with 10 reb as the Grizzlies rallied from 11 down in the fourth to take down Phoenix. | Recap
• Lakers 106, Clippers 103: LeBron led all scorers with 25 (along with 8 reb & 7 ast), and Taurean Prince’s tiebreaking trey in the final 80 seconds broke the Lakers’ four-game losing streak and gave them their second straight win over their LA rivals – one of the NBA’s hottest teams. | Recap

3. PHOTOS OF THE WEEK

4. WHAT HAPPENED THIS WEEKEND?

A lot.

Including a number we’ve only seen one other time in 33 years. (33!)

Friday

• 50! The Pacers had 50 (fifty, 5-0, half of 100) assists, 18 of which came from Tyrese Haliburton. The total marked the most in franchise history, just the 11th time a team’s ever had 50+ times in league history and just the second time since 1990
• Said Haliburton: “Sharing is caring”
• The Banchero Is Open: Banchero dropped a career-high 43 on Wednesday, then followed it up with his first career triple-double a night later to pace the Magic to an 18-point comeback over the defending champ Nuggets
• Celtics In Historic Company: Boston’s 17-0 record at home, after dropping the Jazz on Friday night, ties the 1957-58 C’s for the best home start in franchise history

Saturday

• Tatum, Brown & C’s Stop Pacers: Jayson Tatum & Jaylen Brown became the eighth pair of teammates in NBA history to score 30+ points each in 25 or more games, on the way to a 118-101 win. But the Celtics’ defense was the story, holding Indiana to a season-low 101 points
• Rockets Keep Rolling, Despite Giannis: Antetokounmpo’s 48 points tied him with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most 45+ point games in Bucks history (18), but the Rockets jumped out to an early, big lead and held on for their 18th win of the year – four shy of last year’s win total (with 48 games to play)
• On that note … you gotta see this Alperen Sengun dime
• Smooth Jazz: Don’t look now but Utah’s won 10 of its last 14, after a 120-109 win over the Sixers (sans Joel Embiid) 

5. YOUR WEEKLY FORECAST: PARIS GAME, NO. 1 VS. NO. 1, STARS OUT

What’s coming in the week ahead?

Monday: Starry Skies

• Suns vs. Clippers: Both teams playing good ball. Both teams looking to have their full lineup of All-Stars on the floor, with Booker, KD & Beal in Phoenix and LA’s Kawhi, Harden, Russ and PG (10:30 ET, NBA TV)
• Celtics-Pacers: Can Indy get Boston back for a win on Saturday in the second half of a home-and-home? The Celtics have found a way to slow the … Pace … this year, holding Indiana to two of its three lowest-scoring games this season (7 ET, NBA App)

Tuesday: Raining 3’s

• Grizzlies vs. Mavs: Memphis hit 23 treys against the Lakers on Friday. Meanwhile, the Mavs have the most 3-pointers in the league this year, with 566 (8:30 ET, NBA TV)

Wednesday: High-Pressure Atmosphere

• Wolves-Celtics: The top teams in both conferences meet, with Anthony Edwards and Jayson Tatum – both Top 10 in Michael C Wright’s Kia Race to the MVP – starring in Timberwolves vs. Celtics. Working against both of them? The fact that these are also the top 2 defensive teams in the NBA (7 ET, NBA App)
• Pelicans-Warriors: A Western battle on ABC (8:30 ET).  Zion and the Pelicans face a tough January schedule. Steph & the Warriors look to get back on track – with Draymond likely back this week 

Thursday: Clear & Crisp (…the actual Paris forecast as of now)

• Nets vs. Cavs in Paris: BKN & Cleveland play in the NBA Paris Game on Thursday – marking the first time Cleveland’s ever played in Europe, and the first Paris game for the Nets since ‘08 (2 ET, NBA TV)
• Did You Know: More NBA players came from France than any other country outside North America

Friday: Thunderbolts & Lightning

• Kings-Sixers: Two of the game’s greatest bigs clash, when Philly’s Joel Embiid – and his 30-pt, 10-rebound streak very much alive at 15 games – and the Kings’ Domantas Sabonis — one of the game’s top playmakers at the center position — meet up in Philly (7:30 ET, ESPN)