📨 And the award goes to…

You, for dragging yourself out of bed for the first Monday of daylight savings time.

Want a kind of mind-blowing stat to help start your week?

OKC has led the West for five days this season. This is the first time it’s been by more than half a game.

THE LINEUP 🏀

1. 💥 All-time night for AD
2. 🌪 Roundup: Wild day in East
3. 🎞 Coaches Corner with Pop
4. ⏪ Weekend Rewind
5. 📸 Photos of the week

📺 Warriors-Spurs (8 ET) & Celtics-Blazers (10:30 ET) meet on NBA TV tonight … Suns-Cavs (7:30 ET) & Mavs-Bulls (8 ET) highlight four more games in the NBA App.

1. DAVIS’ ALL-TIME NIGHT SENDS LAKERS TO STATEMENT WIN

Anthony Davis completely took over for one of the best games of his career – and NBA history – on the way to a monster line of 27 points, 25 boards, 5 assists, 7 steals and 3 blocks, to propel the Lakers’ 120-109 win over the Timberwolves. | Recap

• Nobody ever: No player has ever had 25+ pts, 25+ reb, 5+ ast and 5+ stls, since all the stats were tracked in 1973-74
• First Laker since …: Shaq in 2004 to go for 25 pts & 25 reb … Lou Williams in 2015 to have 7+ stls … Dwight Howard in 2013 to pull down 25+ rebounds 

The Lakers, who have the NBA’s fifth-best record over their last 15, are 11-4 when AD goes for at least 25 pts, 10 reb and 3 blks

• Playoff Race (MIN ⬇️): The Wolves’ second straight loss sent them to 3rd in the West, falling a half-game behind Denver in 2nd and 1.5 behind OKC in 1st
• Playoff Race (LAL ↔️): The Lakers, who just beat the Thunder, Bucks and Wolves, held onto 9th in the West, between Dallas & Golden State

Thunder roll, stay atop West: OKC raced out to a 22-8 lead to beat the Grizzlies 124-93, led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (23 points in three quarters). | Recap

• Playoff Race (OKC ↔️): The Thunder’s third straight win kept them in first place in the West, by an entire game (for the first time this year)

2. ROUNDUP: GIANNIS, DAME MAKE HISTORY ON WILD DAY IN EAST

Stars shine, Bucks rise: On a night the Bucks needed a win, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard did something nobody else has this year – both putting up 30+ pt, 10+ ast nights to send Milwaukee past the Clippers, 124-117, and into second in the East. | Recap

• First duo ever: In addition to becoming the first duo this year to both go 30/10, the Bucks’ superstar pair became the only teammates in history to both put up 34/7/10 lines in a game. Watch their best from Sunday
• 2nd in last 40: The performances made Giannis & Dame the second duo in the last 40 years to both go for at least 30-5-10
• Driving the Bucks: Milwaukee improved to 17-3 when Giannis and Dame both score 25+ and 7-1 when they both score 30+
• Playoff Race (MIL ⬆️): The Bucks climbed back to the No. 2 spot in the East with the win and Cleveland’s loss, a half-game ahead of the Cavs

Thomas, Nets quiet Cavs: Against a Cavs team without starters Donovan Mitchell, Max Strus and Evan Mobley, Cam Thomas put up 29 points in 31 minutes and Mikal Bridges chipped in 25 to send the Nets to a 120-101 win. Brooklyn’s 3.5 games out of the final Play-In spot. | Recap

• Playoff Race (CLE ⬇️): Cleveland fell to third in the East with the loss, a half-game behind Milwaukee

Sixers win lowest-scoring game of 2023-24: Looking for a win to jump out of Play-In territory, the Sixers dug in and turned in one of the best defensive performances of the season – on a night when the Knicks did, too – to win 79-73 at MSG. | Recap

• Fewest points, by 20: The game marked the lowest-scoring matchup of the season (and 2nd lowest since 2016-17), with its 152 combined points coming in 20 shy of 2023-24’s previous mark – when the Knicks beat the Magic 98-74 on March 8.
• Playoff Race (PHI ⬆️): The win ended the Sixers’ three-game skid and shot them up to sixth in the East after the Heat’s loss
• Playoff Race (NYK ↔️): The Knicks held onto fourth in the East, with the Magic falling to the Pacers on Sunday

Pacers rally past Magic: A day after finding out that Bennedict Mathurin would be out for the rest of the season (right shoulder), Indy got 16+ pts from Tyrese Haliburton, Pascal Siakam, TJ McConnell, Obi Toppin and Aaron Nesmith to mount a 15-point comeback and beat Orlando 111-97. | Recap

• The comeback: After scoring just 18 points in the first quarter, Indy closed the first half down three … then exploded for a 39-21 third quarter to pull away
• Playoff Race (ORL ↔️): The Magic hung tight at sixth in the East, but after their first back-to-back losses since late Jan, stand just a half-game ahead of the Pacers
• Playoff Race (IND ⬆️): Indy leapfrogged the Heat for No. 7 in the East with the win

Wizards win 2nd straight, drop Heat to 8th: Kyle Kuzma dropped 32 and the Wizards steadily climbed out of a first-quarter hole to drop Miami 110-108 and claim their first back-to-back wins of the season after 16 straight losses. Miami, which got 23 from Jimmy Butler, took its third loss in a row.  | Recap

• Playoff Race (MIA ⬇️): Miami fell from 6th to 8th in the East, after wins from the Pacers and Sixers

Houston holds off Sacramento: Houston had seven players put up double-figures in scoring – led by 22 from Fred VanVleet & 19 from Jalen Green – and held off a furious Sacramento charge to pick up its fourth win in five games, 112-104, and move within 4.5 games of the final Play-In spot in the West. | Recap

• Sengun suffers injury: The Rockets’ rising star center landed awkwardly in the fourth quarter and left the court in a wheelchair. Rockets coach Ime Udoka said Sengun will undergo tests on his knee and ankle
• Green comes up clutch: Down 17 with 10:47 in the fourth, the Kings trimmed the Rockets’ lead to five, but a Jalen Green trey pushed the lead to eight with under a minute to play – after missing his five prior attempts
• Said Green: “I knew I was taking that one, because I missed (a prior attempt). I wanted that one bad.”
• Playoff Race (SAC ⬇️): Sacramento, who got 25 points & 15 boards from Domantas Sabonis, fell from 6th to 7th in the West

Pelicans perfect in last 3: NOLA capped off an undefeated three-game road trip with a 116-103 win over Atlanta spearheaded by Trey Murphy III (28 pts off the bench), Zion Williamson (27) and CJ McCollum (20). | Recap

• Said Pelicans Coach Willie Green: “When [Murphy] keeps it simple, like he’s been doing, the simple can be spectacular.”
• Playoff Race (NOP ↔️): Winners of four in a row, New Orleans stayed planted at fifth in the West, 2.5 games behind the Clippers and 2 over the Suns
• Playoff Race (ATL ↔️): Atlanta remained locked into 10th in the East

3. COACHES CORNER WITH GREGG POPOVICH

This summer, when Gregg Popovich – owner of five NBA titles, two with Steve Kerr playing for him – entered the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, his protege Kerr had this to say.

• Kerr on Pop: “There are so many people out there like me, whose lives have been impacted so dramatically and so positively by Pop. You can take all the accomplishments, the championships, the wins and everything else, and it’s all meaningful.
• “But it doesn’t come close to the meaning of his relationships that he’s built around the league and what he’s meant to so many of us.

Before today’s Warriors-Spurs matchup (8 ET, NBA TV), three days after Pop’s Spurs beat Kerr’s Warriors, a new episode of Coaches Corner coming later today gives us a chance to reflect on the impact of Pop’s style.

Start with a sneak peek here.

Kerr’s Warriors helped bring the game into a new generation, defined by floor spacing, ball movement and constant motion – something Popovich brought to the Spurs during their 2010s dynasty.

Secrets of misdirection: In an early look at this episode, Pop brings us through an inbounds play from 2022-23, with the Spurs down 2 in the final 2 seconds … and an emphasis on misdirection to create a bucket.

Pop: “You see, Keldon Johnson is the most important one in this, where he’s coming to the ball. Sandro is coming away from the ball, which would make one believe that the guy coming off the screen is the guy.”

“In this case. Graham coming off, Keldon’s the guy like we said, he looks like the least involved in anything. So it’s kind of a misdirection where the first person comes off, looking for a screen, gets picked up, then everybody thinks the play is over and then you go.”

“Well, these days space is the key. If we can keep somebody out of it to begin with and bring somebody to it, that occupies all the defense in that situation.”

“So [Johnson’s] out of the play. We want to get him away from the rim because we’re trying to do that. He’s the least likely guy in the situation. As you can see, he’s just sort of standing there, doing nothing, and the defense will relax to some degree, and he becomes the operative in the play.”

4. WEEKEND REWIND: STANDINGS SHUFFLE

Friday

• Dunk of the year? Jalen Green rose up, kept rising as his defender fell back to earth, reached back and punched through a dunk that’s still echoing across social media. Haven’t seen it? Got ya
• Thunder take first: SGA put up 23 of his game-high 37 in the second half to send OKC past the red-hot Heat and back into sole possession of first in the West leaving Friday night
• Cavs beat 2nd No. 1 in 4 days: One of the hottest teams in the league since 2024 started, Cleveland kept making its case for title contender by beating the Wolves, its second win over a conference-leading team in four days.
• International Women’s Day: ESPN had an all-women-led broadcast crew for Cavs. ‘Of course’ we caught up with them

Saturday

• Celtics avoid 3-game skid: The Boston Celtics still haven’t lost three in a row this year, getting 56 combined from Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum to drop the Suns 117-107 after falling in their two previous games.
• This D-White block was just too smooth
• KD had a season-high 45 points in the loss to the Celtics, the 70th time he’s done so in his career – tied with Rick Barry and Kareem for ninth all-time
• Luka sets a record: Luka Doncic is on fire. Even for him. The Mavs’ superstar put up his sixth straight game with a 30-point triple-double on Saturday, the longest in NBA history, as the Mavs took down the Pistons to keep pace in the West.
• Luka’s new lewk: Set a record, don the goggles
• Nuggets pull even with Wolves: The champs won for the eighth time in nine games, getting a season-high 37 from Jamal Murray to beat the Jazz and finish Saturday a half-game back of OKC

5. PHOTOS OF THE WEEK