Australian Josh Giddey scored 21 points and had 10 rebounds in an impressive double-double for the Oklahoma City Thunder, but couldn’t help his team to victory in a 113-121 defeat to the Charlotte Hornets.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 28 points and Lu Dort 22 points for the Thunder, but LaMelo Ball’s 27 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists led the Hornets to power past the Thunder in the second half. However, Giddey’s impressive shooting from the line – a perfect 7-7 – had fans and pundits raving about his upside in that department.
The widely-shared argument is that Giddey could unlock his true scoring potential by attempting to get to the line more frequently.
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DONCIC GOES OFF AGAIN
Luka Doncic continued his extraordinary season with 35 points, 12 rebounds and 13 assists in the Dallas Mavericks’ 129-114 win over the Houston Rockets.
Just two nights after a historic 60-point triple-double, Doncic recorded a 30-point triple-double in the first three quarters of the game — the fifth time in his career he has accomplished the feat.
There have been just seven instances of a 30-point triple-double through three quarters since the 1997-98 season, and Doncic has five of them.
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He now has eight triple doubles this season, leading the NBA in that regard.
“I thought this was a great team win,” Dallas coach Jason Kidd said. “We didn’t have to rely on Luka.”
Most of that was down to Christian Wood, who bagged 21 points on five-of-eight shooting from beyond the arc against his former team. He added four blocks. Dwight Powell had 19 points off the bench on eight-of-eight shooting – his season-best points tally – while Tim Hardaway Jr. had 18.
Rockets coach Stephen Silas, a former Dallas assistant in Doncic’s early days, was full of praise for the superstar.
“It’s always been his passing that has been the thing that has really separated him from everybody else, but now he’s adding the scoring to the passing, which makes him just a nightmare to defend and prepare for.”
The impressive performance was highlighted by two brilliant moments – the first a deep buzzer-beater on the brink of halftime, the second a stunning long-range assist for Powell earlier in the first half.
His brilliant passing led the Mavericks to a season-high 25 fast-break points.
“Normally we have zero. Or two,” Kidd said
Jalen Green scored 23 points to lead the Rockets, but Houston has now lost seven from their last eight.
OTHER RESULTS
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown scored 29 points each as the Eastern Conference leading Boston Celtics beat the Los Angeles Clippers 116-110 in the NBA on Thursday.
The Celtics (25-10) closed out their seven game homestand, which began with three losses, with a fourth straight win.
Twice in the game, Brown pulled the Celtics clear of the 21-15 Clippers with runs of seven straight points.
With Boston just three up with 33 seconds remaining Derrick White produced a superb block to deny Paul George’s layup and the Celtics kept a firm grip on the game from that point.
“It was a rough start obviously but we bounced back well and now we have got four tough games on the road and we have to find a way to get wins,” said White, reflecting on the homestand and the New Year’s Day trip to the Denver Nuggets, second in the West.
Kawhi Leonard top scored for the Clippers with 26 points and eight rebounds while Paul George had 24 points.
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Ja Morant provided a career high 17 assists as the Memphis Grizzlies beat the Toronto Raptors 119-106 with Dillon Brooks helping himself to 25 points.
The Raptors have now lost five straight home games and eight of their last 10 games despite Pascal Siakam’s strong form — he now scored 25 or more in the last six games.
The Pacers beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 135-126 with Tyrese Haliburton scoring 29 points, one of four Indiana players to put up more than 20 points.
Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle was ejected in the third quarter after angrily protesting a non-call on a travel by Donovan Mitchell.
“I’ve been on that guys to stay off the referees and then it was the mortal sin,” said Carlisle.
“I got a lot of nice text messages during the fourth quarter from people who agreed with my assessment but that is all I will say about it,” he added.
The New York Knicks suffered a fifth straight loss with a 112-115 defeat to the San Antonio Spurs with Keldon Johnson scoring 30 points.
Julian Randle had a season high 41 points but couldn’t stop the Knicks slipping to an 18-18 record with the loss to the next to bottom team in the West.