Kyrie climbed the ladder to punch home this lob from Luka, helping their Mavs squad climb into Playoff position on Thursday.
THE LINEUP 🏀
What’s inside today’s edition?
Nuggets cool Knicks: MPJ and Joker combine for 61 to snap NY’s four-game win streak
Mavs rise up: Dallas climbs out of the Play-In with a win over Utah and Sacramento’s loss
Magic, Rockets stay hot: Orlando wins 5th straight, rise to 4th in East; Houston wins 7th straight
30 vs. everybody: SGA needs 30+ pts in his next two games (@TOR, @MIL) to be the 4th to score 30+ vs. every team
Sharing the load: Cleveland has had contributions up and down the roster to sit 3rd in the East
BUT FIRST … ⏰
Last night’s scores & what to watch today
Cavs-Wolves (8 ET, NBA TV): The No. 3 seeds in each conference clash for the second time in two weeks. Will this one need overtime like Cleveland’s win on Mar. 8?
Sixers-Lakers (10:30 ET, NBA TV): A matchup between two teams trying to climb out of the Play-In over the season’s final three weeks
1. NUGGETS, BUCKS SCORE WINS OVER NYC SQUADS
Nikola Jokic finishes with 30 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists in a win over the Knicks.
Denver cools off New York: Michael Porter Jr. (31 pts) and Nikola Jokic (30 pts, 14 reb, 11 ast) combined for 61 points in Denver’s 113-100 win, snapping New York’s four-game win streak and lifting the Nuggets to a league-best 13-2 since All-Star. | Recap
- Jokic’s H.O.R.S.E. shot: Good luck recreating this one. Tap to see Jokic use the top of the backboard to knock down an and-1 fadeaway jumper over Isaiah Hartenstein
- MPJ for 3: Porter Jr. splashed three 3s to pass Dale Ellis (192 in 1996-97) for the most 3-pointers in a single season in Nuggets history (193 and counting)
- Playoff Race (DEN ↔️): Denver remains second in the West, moving into a virtual tie with No. 1 OKC (separated by .006 in win percentage) and moving 1.5 games up on No. 3 Minnesota
- Playoff Race (NYK ⬇️): New York’s loss combined with Orlando’s win has the two swap spots in the East race, with the Knicks dropping from fourth to fifth by a half-game
Lillard, Antetokounmpo lead Bucks: Damian Lillard (30 pts, 12 ast) posted his third straight 30+ point game, but it was his 14 fourth-quarter points and two clutch steals that helped the Bucks fend off the Nets 115-108. Giannis Antetokounmpo (21 pts, 9 reb, 5 ast, 2 blk) returned strong from a two-game absence. | Recap
- Dame 🤝 Splash Bros. Lillard posted his ninth season with at least 200 triples, joining Steph Curry (11) and Klay Thompson (9) for the most in league history
- Playoff Race (MIL ↔️): Milwaukee remains second in the East, increasing its cushion over idle Cleveland to 1.5 games
2. MAVS STAY HOT, CLIMB OUT OF PLAY-IN
Mavs move up: Luka Doncic (34 pts, 9 reb, 8 ast, 4 stl) led the Mavs to their third straight win (and seventh in their last eight games) with a 113-97 win over Utah. Daniel Gafford added 24 points for his highest scoring game since joining the Mavs at the deadline. | Recap
- First-half Luka: Doncic posted his 30th game this season with at least 20 points in the first half, one shy of James Harden’s 31 from 2018-19 for the most since tracking began in 1997-98
- Playoff Race (DAL ⬆️): With the win and Sacramento’s loss, Dallas climbs from seventh to sixth in the West. The Mavs and Suns are tied at 41-29, but Dallas owns the tiebreaker
Suns catch fire: Devin Booker (30 pts, 6 3s), Eric Gordon (21 pts, 4 3s) and Kevin Durant (19 pts, 2 3s) combined for 70 points and 12 of Phoenix’s season-high 22 3s in a 128-115 win over the Hawks. | Recap
- KD 2K: Durant splashed a 3 early in the second quarter to become the 16th player to reach 2,000 career 3s
- Playoff Race (PHX ⬆️): With Dallas’ win and Sacramento’s loss, Phoenix climbs to seventh in the West. The Suns and Mavs are tied at 41-29, but Dallas owns the tiebreaker
- Play-In Race (ATL ↔️): Atlanta remains 10th in the East, 3.5 games back of No. 9 Chicago and 4.5 clear of No. 11 Brooklyn
Wizards snap 5-game skid: Kyle Kuzma (31 pts, 6 reb, 5 ast) returned from a two-game absence to lead the Wizards to a 109-102 win over the Kings. Deni Avdija added 17 points for Washington, while De’Aaron Fox led the Kings with 25 points and six steals. | Recap
- Sabonis 1 away: With his 52nd straight double-double (14 pts, 14 reb), Domantas Sabonis is one shy of Kevin Love’s 53-game run from the 2010-11 season for the longest streak of the 2000s
- Playoff Race (SAC ⬇️): With the loss and wins by Dallas and Phoenix, the Kings drop from sixth to eighth in the West, a half-game back of the Mavs and Suns and three games ahead of the No. 9 Lakers
3. ROUNDUP: MAGIC, ROCKETS EXTEND WIN STREAKS
New Orleans has no answer for Paolo Banchero, who records his 2nd career triple-double in Orlando's 5th consecutive win.
Magic win 5th straight, reach 4th in East: Behind Paolo Banchero’s second career triple-double (20 pts, 10 reb, 11 ast) and 22 points from Jalen Suggs, the Magic beat the Pelicans 121-106 in a battle of No. 5s. | Recap
- Playoff Race (ORL ⬆️): Orlando’s win coupled with New York’s loss sees the Magic leapfrog the Knicks from fifth to fourth in the East, with a half-game lead over NY
- Playoff Race (NOP ↔️): New Orleans maintains fifth in the West, dropping 1.5 games back of the No. 4 Clippers and just 1.5 games up on Dallas and Phoenix
Rockets stay hot: Jalen Green scored 26 points, Jock Landale added 17 and 12 boards off the bench to lead the Rockets to a 127-117 win over the Bulls, extending their win streak to seven. | Recap
- Green for 3: Green became the second youngest player (22y-41d) in NBA history to reach 500 career 3-pointers made (trailing only Anthony Edwards)
- DeRozan, Brooks ejected: With 6:02 left in the third quarter, a foul by DeMar DeRozan on Green, followed by a scrum involving DeRozan and Dillon Brooks resulted in both being ejected
- Play-In Race (CHI ↔️): Chicago remains ninth in the East, 4.5 games back of Philadelphia and Miami, and 3.5 games ahead of No. 10 Atlanta
- Play-In Race (HOU ↔️): Houston remains 11th in the West, moving within 2.5 games of No. 10 Golden State
4. SGA SCORING 30 VS. EVERYBODY
Find out Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's approach to getting buckets & hear from opponents and teammates on why he’s so hard to guard.
On his way to posting a league-high 50 games with 30+ points, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been an equal opportunity scorer, putting up 30+ points on nearly every team he’s faced this season.
The checklist: 27 teams down, two teams to go.
The two exceptions: The Toronto Raptors and Milwaukee Bucks.
- Toronto: Shai had 23 points in OKC’s first game against the Raptors on Feb. 4 and has his final chance tonight (7 ET, NBA App) in his hometown of Toronto
- Milwaukee: Shai and the Thunder have yet to face the Bucks this season. Their first meeting takes place on Sunday (7 ET, NBA TV) with another on April 12
On Wednesday, Shai joined Michael Jordan (1989-90 and 1990-91), Tracy McGrady (2002-03), Kobe Bryant (2005-06) and James Harden (2018-19) as the only players in the past 35 years to put up 50 games with at least 30 points.
By Sunday, Shai can join Larry Bird (1984-85), Jordan (1986-87) and Harden (2018-19) as the only players to score 30+ points against every team in the NBA in a single season (min. 20 teams in the league).
With the Thunder locked in a three-team race for the No. 1 seed in the West, they’ll need every point Shai can give them as they sit two wins away from their first 50-win season since 2015-16.
5. CAVS SHARING THE LOAD
The Cavaliers have weathered injury issues to emerge as one of the East's best teams. Are they ready to pass a playoff test?
Cleveland’s two leading scorers – Donovan Mitchell (27.4 in 49 games) and Darius Garland (18.7 in 45 games) – rank eighth and ninth, respectively, in games played out of Cleveland’s 69 so far this season.
Next Man Up: With injuries hampering two of their stars, the Cavs have held their top three position in the East thanks to a collective effort up and down the roster.
Everybody Involved: Over the past three months, the Cavs rank second in assist percentage, with 69.5% of their buckets coming off a pass.
How much have they shared the rock? Ten different Cavs have led them in scoring this season (and all but one have led the team at least twice).
No other team ranked in the top five in either conference has done that. Indy (13 players) is the only other team in playoff position to do so.
Cleveland’s Top Game Scorers This Season
- 32x: Donovan Mitchell
- 9x: Jarrett Allen & Darius Garland
- 5x: Caris LeVert
- 4x: Max Strus
- 3x: Sam Merrill
- 2x: Evan Mobley, Georges Niang & Dean Wade
- 1x: Craig Porter Jr.
In the span of a week, the Cavs had the Max Strus Game (Feb. 27 vs. Dallas) and the Dean Wade Game (Mar. 5 vs. Boston) as both players caught fire from 3-point range in the fourth quarter to lead the Cavs to improbable comeback wins.
While different players have led the offense throughout the season, a mainstay for the Cavs has been defense, which ranks fourth overall for the season (111.0), but has been even better over the past three months (109.3, 2nd in NBA).
Jarrett Allen’s presence has been felt on both ends. He’s already racked up a career-high 34 double-doubles and defensively holds opponents below their expected field goal percentage near the basket (-7.5% inside six feet) and all the way out to the 3-point line (-3.3%).
With Mitchell (nasal fracture), Strus (knee), Wade (knee) and Mobley (ankle) all ruled out for tonight’s game against Minnesota (8 ET, NBA TV), it will be another by committee approach for the Cavs in this clash of No. 3s.
