LeBron James was left visibly frustrated as the Los Angeles Lakers fell in controversial fashion to the Western Conference leaders Minnesota 108-106 on Sunday.
The Lakers rode a strong first half from big man Anthony Davis (21 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and three steals) to keep in touch with the Timberwolves, who led 61-57 at that point.
Minnesota kept it at a four-point difference heading into the final quarter of the game and were able to push the lead out to seven on two occasions but a few clutch buckets from LeBron James had the Lakers threatening to steal the result late.
In fact, James looked to have sent the game to overtime when he pulled up with 3.1 seconds on the clock and the Lakers trailing 107-104.
The Lakers challenged the initial call of a two-point shot unsuccessfully despite an animated James pointing out his toes were behind the 3-point line when he pulled up for the shot.
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A slowed down replay showed just how close the call was. Crucially, it was deemed a two-point play on the court.
It was a crushing end to the game for James, who didn’t end up celebrating his 39th birthday with a win despite putting up 26 points, three rebounds, six assists, three steals and a block.
Anthony Edwards led the way for the Timberwolves with 31 points while Naz Reid had 21 points, five rebounds, two steals and two blocks off the bench.
GREEN LOOKS ‘A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT PERSON’ IN BEST GAME
Australian Josh Green enjoyed his best game of the season while Luka Doncic was everywhere again as the Dallas Mavericks defeated the Golden State Warriors 132-122.
Green, playing in just his fourth game since returning from an elbow sprain, scored a season-high 18 points as he confidently knocked down three of four 3-point attempts.
“It felt good,” Green told the Mavericks’ broadcast post-game.
“I’ve been struggling to get into rhythm this year so I feel like if I just do the little things and continue to do that the rest will take care of itself. I need to make sure I finish strong and continue to go.”
Fellow Australian Dante Exum also stepped up to replace the production of the injured Kyrie Irving, scoring 19 points to go with five assists.
Doncic, meanwhile, had 39 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds in the win to continue his stellar start to the season.
The Mavericks jumped out to an early 21-13 lead, which was initially cut to just 21-18, but Doncic continued to get anything he wanted as Dallas took a 36-26 advantage into the second quarter.
Doncic was heavily involved with 11 points, four rebounds and three assists while Green flashed his enormous potential when playing with confidence, adding a quick seven points and assist off the bench.
The way Green drained his only 3-point attempt of the quarter with absolutely no hesitation was particularly pleasing to see, with Mavericks commentator Mark Followill declaring the Australian “looks like a completely different person”.
As for the Warriors, Steph Curry made just one of seven field goal attempts in the first quarter to finish the period with two points, three assists and a steal.
Dallas picked up where it left off in the second quarter, going on a 13-7 run to open things and prompt Golden State to call a timeout after five minutes.
That was despite Doncic starting the second quarter on the bench, with Exum making a big impact on both ends as the Australian came up with a steal to set up a Grant Williams 3-pointer before draining a clutch shot of his own from deep.
Exum also had two quick assists helping run the offence with Doncic off the floor and by the time the Slovenian superstar had re-entered the game Dallas still held a 49-38 lead.
The Warriors were able to work their way back to 49-45 but still trailed 63-54 at halftime having shot just 27.3 per cent from downtown at that point.
The Mavericks were shooting well from outside but they were also finishing at the rim with intent, with Exum, Doncic and Jaden Hardy all scoring early buckets to open the third quarter.
Green then joined in on the party with an emphatic dunk right after a Curry 3-pointer, which put Dallas ahead 90-77 as the Warriors called a timeout with just over four minutes left in the quarter.
It was just one of those nights for Golden State, who couldn’t get into any real scoring run with the way the defence was playing, unable to make crucial stops.
Green continued to make big plays as he drained another 3-pointer and drew a foul in the process, making the free throw to cap off a four-point play for Dallas.
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“What a night for Josh Green, it is so exciting to see him back doing what he does,” Followill said in commentary.
“Running the floor, making threes, providing energy.”
“It looks like he’s got his confidence back from the 3-point line,” added Devin Harris.
An assertive Green finished the third quarter in style as he attacked downhill for the finish, seeing Dallas take a 101-89 lead into the final period of the game.
The Warriors were able to get within six points at 112-106 but a Doncic bucket and Hardy 3-pointer pushed the Mavericks’ lead back out to 11 points.
The Warriors then chipped away at that lead some more to reduce the deficit to five points but once again couldn’t get any closer as the Mavericks held on for a 132-122 win.
COACH ‘AMOST IN TEARS’ AS PISTONS SNAP LOSING SKID
The Detroit Pistons are back in the winner’s circle. Finally.
After 28 straight defeats, the Pistons held off the Toronto Raptors 129-127 on Sunday to snap their record-breaking losing run.
Cade Cunningham was quiet in the first half but stepped up in a big way in the second, scoring 26 points and 30 overall while dishing out 12 assists and — crucially — not turning the ball over once.
Toronto had four players score over 20 points, with Pascal Siakam leading the way on 35, Dennis Schroder had 28 while Gary Trent Jr. finished on 24 and Scottie Barnes had 22.
Points were hard to come by elsewhere though as Detroit’s bench outscored Toronto 33-12.
Detroit’s 28 consecutive losses tied the league record set by the Philadelphia 76ers in 2015.
Cunningham had a team-high 31 points in the 128-122 overtime loss to the Celtics, which will go down in the record books as the final defeat of Detroit’s losing skid.
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The Pistons were finding plenty of opportunities for points driving towards the rim against the Raptors but lacked the final finishing touch, with Jalen Duren missing a pair of layups in short succession.
While Duren’s finishing at the rim left a bit to desired early he was making up for it with hustle plays on the boards, recording seven rebounds in his first eight minutes on the court.
Toronto jumped ahead 14-10 after six minutes as Detroit took a timeout, with Siakam — who has been the subject of trade rumours — leading the way with five points and two rebounds.
The challenge for the Pistons came in the latter stage of the first quarter as Monty Williams took out their starters, playing an all-reserves line-up with neither team well on top at that point.
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The all-bench unit didn’t just keep in touch with the Raptors — they took the lead, going ahead 25-24 after the first quarter on the back of 11 points from Alec Burks, who made two 3-pointers and a perfect 5-for-5 from the free throw line.
Bojan Bogdanovic, meanwhile, was heavily involved in the second quarter as the Pistons maintained their lead against a Raptors team that just couldn’t find any real rhythm on offence.
That isn’t a surprise, of course, given Toronto was without O.G. Anunoby, Precious Achiuwa and Malachi Flynn following Sunday’s trade involving the New York Knicks.
A pair of clutch 3-pointers from Kevin Knox II saw the Pistons push their lead out to 10 points before a driving layup from Schroder cut the Detroit difference to 52-44 at halftime.
Knox II finished the half with 10 points while Bogdanovic had eight points and five rebounds.
What would have been particularly pleasing for the Pistons was the fact they had a 52-44 lead despite only getting four points from Cunningham, who shot 1-for-8 from the floor.
Elsewhere, it was a particularly poor opening half for the Raptors, who shot 34.8 per cent from the floor and had just six points from their bench with Schroder (14) the leading scorer at halftime.
The Pistons had led the Celtics by 19 points before being run down in overtime in their last start, so a fast start in the third quarter on Sunday was particularly important.
A turnover though immediately led to points for Toronto and suddenly the Raptors were within four points and threatening to quickly regain the lead.
The Pistons, to their credit, responded in swift fashion to push the buffer back out to 10 points as an assertive Knox II continued to make big plays.
The Raptors refused to go away and took the lead at one point, with Siakam scoring 20 points in the period.
The Pistons were able to hold onto a 90-86 advantage heading into the fourth after a timely explosion from Cunningham, who had 12 points, six assists and one rebound in the third.
It seemed like every time the Pistons opened up a lead they quickly found themselves in danger of losing it and that was the case again early in the fourth as Detroit went ahead 94-86, only for Toronto to cut that down to 94-93 in a matter of minutes.
But back-to-back 3-pointers from Cunningham and Jaden Ivey looked to have the Pistons in a strong position entering the final six minutes of the game, leading 110-99.
The Raptors were able to get within five points as the Pistons gave up a few easy buckets but a locked-in Cunningham hit the mid-range jumper to push it back out to seven.
Sensing his team’s inexperience may be showing at the worst-possible time, coach Williams called a timeout with three minutes left and Detroit up 114-107.
The Raptors had several chances to reduce the deficit in the final few minutes but just couldn’t get shots to fall. Cunningham, on the other hand, was clutch.
Having played some of the best basketball of his career recently, it was fitting that Cunningham would step up when the Pistons needed him the most to deliver a long-awaited win to suffering Detroit fans.
“Guys were screaming, I was almost in tears. I’m just so happy for our guys, I’m happy for everybody in the locker room,” coach Williams said.
“I’ve been in a ton of locker rooms my whole life and that’s a first for me to have that kind of, it wasn’t relief, it was just like, ‘Thank God, finally’,” added Williams.
“Sometimes it just takes a win like that to get things started and I just have so much respect for our team.
“I think people may have thought that they were okay with losing. But they came in every day with a great spirit, and they wanted answers. They came in wanting to learn and try to get better.
“So I just respect the heck out of our guys. Really happy that we finally got a win because it’s so hard to win in this league.”
BUTLER INJURED AGAIN IN HEAT LOSS
Elsewhere, Jimmy Butler’s return from injury was short-lived as the Miami superstar failed to finish the Heat’s 117-109 loss to the Utah Jazz.
Butler had missed the team’s last four games with a calf injury but only managed 23 minutes on Sunday before leaving the game with what the Heat called a right foot injury.
Butler had eight points, two rebounds and an assist, heading to the locker room with just over six minutes on the clock in the third quarter as Miami led 71-66.
The Jazz went on to tie the game at 88-all heading into the final quarter as Kelly Olynyk and Keyonte George combined to score 40 points off the bench in the win.
Olynyk, who has been linked in a trade to Boston, had 19 points, six rebounds, 10 assists, one steal and a block while Collin Sexton — also a name to watch ahead of the deadline — led the Jazz with 22 points.
Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo, meanwhile, combined to score 53 points for the Heat but R.J. Hampton struggled in the starting line-up, playing a scoreless eight minutes as Haywood Highsmith instead got the nod to open the third quarter.
“Second half, we were just never able to contain them off the bounce, regardless of what the action was,” said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra.
“They were pretty much living in the paint and we just could not corral that all game long, even in the first half and we paid the price for that,” he added.
Elsewhere, the Philadelphia 76ers — who were without Joel Embiid (ankle) — went down to the Chicago Bulls 105-92.
The Bulls were undermanned too, down Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic, but had all five starters finish in double figures as DeMar DeRozan (24 points) led the way.
‘WANNABE FAKE ALL-STAR’ GETS LAST LAUGH FOR PACERS
Tyrese Haliburton entered his name into the NBA record books as the undermanned Knicks completed a dreadful 0-3 road trip with a 140-126 loss to the Pacers.
The Knicks were missing several perimeter players, both old and new, with RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley jettisoned in a trade and prized newcomer OG Anunoby not yet with them following his acquisition from the Raptors earlier in the day.
Donte DiVincenzo netted a career-high 38 points and combined with Julius Randle (28) and Jalen Brunson (28) for 94 within Tom Thibodeau’s shortened eight-man rotation for the Knicks, who have slipped to 17-15 and a half-game behind the Pacers into the eighth play-in position in the Eastern Conference standings.
All-Star point guard Haliburton scored 22 points and dished out a career-best and franchise-record 23 assists for Indiana — for back-to-back 20-20 games.
With it, Haliburton became the third player ever with back-to-back games of 20 points and 20 assists, joining John Stockton and Magic Johnson.
He even appeared to talk smack to MSG broadcaster Wally Szczerbiak late in the fourth quarter.
Szczerbiak had called Haliburton a “wannabe fake All-Star” during a broadcast last season, but he admitted on the air during the game that “it wasn’t my finest hour” and he was “dead wrong.”
Obi Toppin added nine points and eight rebounds in 20 minutes in his first game against the Knicks since a summertime trade.
The former Knicks lottery pick had started 27 of the Pacers’ first 28 games, but he came off the bench for a third straight game.
Shooting guard Quentin Grimes also was sidelined with a non-COVID illness, and reserve big man Jericho Sims was announced as available after missing the previous six games with an ankle injury but didn’t play.
Little-used veteran Evan Fournier was forced into action for only the second time this season. He finished with 10 points in 17 minutes in his first appearance since Nov. 17.
With Quickley gone, Miles McBride also was back in Thibodeau’s shortened rotation as Brunson’s backup.
Following an ugly 1-for-18 start from long distance in Friday’s loss in Orlando — and a 6-for-30 night overall from beyond the arc — Hart, Randle and Brunson nailed early 3-pointers as the Knicks jumped out to a quick 13-4 advantage.
DiVincenzo added another triple for an 11-point cushion, but the Pacers also heated up from the outside and used treys by Aaron Nesmith and Bennedict Mathurin to fuel a 21-8 run to close the quarter for a 32-27 lead through one.
Indy led by as many as seven in the second quarter, with Toppin netting five points, but DiVincenzo’s late dunk on a feed from Brunson gave him 15 points in the half to match Randle’s total to cut the Pacers’ lead to 64-62 at intermission.
Fournier also drained two of the Knicks’ nine 3-pointers in the half for six points in 10 minutes.
The Pacers stretched their cushion to eight on another 3-ball by Nesmith just past the midpoint of the third, and to 13 with under two minutes to play on long-range hoops by Turner and Nesmith and a flush by Toppin.
Randle, who had expressed frustration with the officiating after the previous two games on the trip, was assessed a technical foul for arguing in the final minute of the third as the Pacers held a 105-92 lead into the final quarter.
— with New York Post