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Here are the consensus odds and totals for tonight’s key matchups:
With a tight board, finding value requires looking closely at the situational context.
Houston Rockets @ Denver Nuggets (10:00 PM EDT)
The Nuggets are laying 6.5 points at home, driven by Nikola Jokić, who is averaging a staggering 28.9 points, 12.5 rebounds, and 10.3 assists on 57.5% shooting. Denver’s offense is humming at 120.3 points per game, but they are coming off a grueling buzzer-beater loss to OKC. As for tonight, Denver faces a 40-24 Rockets squad riding high after a win over Toronto.
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Minnesota Timberwolves @ LA Clippers
This 1.5-point spread practically screams coin flip, but market inefficiencies exist if you look closely. The Timberwolves (40-24) are leaning heavily on Anthony Edwards (29.3 PPG), but a recent production dip from Julius Randle and a stagnant bench without Edwards has fueled a recent skid. Conversely, the Clippers (32-32) have engineered a remarkable post-trade deadline turnaround.
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Two weeks ago, Max Kellerman severely criticized Luka Doncic on his podcast and called Jaylen Brown of the Boston Celtics a better player. Since then, Doncic has been on fire and the Los Angeles Lakers have gone 6-1.
Kellerman said, among other things, that if Doncic ever got a statute, it would depict him

NBA icon LeBron James is anticipated to continue his playing career when he enters free agency this summer. The Los Angeles Lakers hope to contend this season with James on the roster, but nothing is confirmed after this season as they look to build around new face of the franchise Luka Doncic. Rumors have circulated about LeBron’s future potentially putting him on a new team to end his career away from the Lakers.
However, Lakers Daily reports that the Lakers are one of two teams that James will seriously consider as a free agent:
As one source told Lakers Daily, “A farewell tour with the Warriors would make no sense at all. It’s Lakers, Cavaliers or retirement.”
The Cleveland Cavaliers are the other team that could get LeBron to sign a deal and end his career there. James is still considered the greatest player in Cavaliers franchise history and arguably the most beloved athlete in Cleveland sports history.
The 2016 NBA Championship made LeBron an iconic figure forever after leading the Cavaliers to their first and only NBA Title. A return home to end his career with the franchise most synonymous with LeBron would make logical sense after rumors started picking up earlier this season.
How The Lakers Can Keep LeBron
The Lakers are expected to play hardball with James and not just hand out another massive contract to him. Despite having a lot of cap space coming off the books, reports suggest that getting new talent that fits better with Doncic will be the top priority.
Austin Reaves is anticipated to receive a huge contract offer to become the second highest-paid superstar on the team. James reportedly will have to take a smaller contract for the Lakers to add better talent and improve the depth for a stronger NBA Championship chance.
This plan caused many to question if LeBron would want to return to a place that may not want him as badly. However, James could easily opt to stay in the place where he’s most comfortable and retire playing alongside his son Bronny James on a contender. The Lakers would have to convince LeBron that the roster is elite to keep him under a smaller contract.
How Cleveland Can Steal LeBron Away
Cleveland also makes a lot of sense as the other team named by the source close to James. The most recent Lakers game visiting the Cavaliers saw the Cleveland fans and franchise giving him a hero’s welcome, in case it was his final game in the chance he retires this summer.
James would also need to take a pay cut here and may need to settle for near a minimum contract to make this deal work. The Cavaliers have to sign James Harden to an extension after trading for him at the deadline this season

The breeze from the Pacific Ocean drifted into the sun-drenched Manhattan Beach neighborhood of Lakers superstar Luka Doncic on Wednesday.
The NBA’s leading scorer and the most talked-about man in basketball this week arrived at his $25 million home — that he bought from tennis champ Maria Sharapova in September — in a black Cadillac Escalade and appeared unbothered by the off-the-court storm swirling around his personal life.
The California Post exclusively captured photos of Doncic arriving at his beachfront bachelor pad, stepping out in a black Lakers track suit, dark sunglasses shielding his eyes, and a black duffle bag. Flanked by personal security and his chief brand officer and business manager, Lara Beth Seager, the 27-year-old guard looked calm — almost serene — despite the drama with his ex-fiancée Anamaria Goltes.
Doncic’s Tuesday morning began with the NBA fining him $50,000 for what the league called an “inappropriate and unprofessional gesture” directed at a referee during the Lakers’ 110-97 win over the Knicks on Sunday. Hours later, another headline detonated across the sports world: Goltes, a Slovenian model and influencer, had filed a petition for child support and attorney fees in a Los Angeles court.
The legal filing ignited a custody battle over their two daughters — Gabriela, born in 2023, and Olivia, born in Slovenia last December.
Doncic confirmed the breakup in a statement to ESPN later in the afternoon.
“I love my daughters more than anything,” Doncic said. “I’ve been doing everything I can for them to be with me in the U.S. during the season, but that hasn’t been possible, so I recently made the tough decision to end my engagement.”
Behind the scenes, the situation has been complicated and emotional for the Lakers star. According to sources, Doncic was surprised by the California filing, noting that one daughter spent only three months in the state while the other has never been there.
The relationship between Doncic and Goltes stretches back nearly a decade. The pair met in their youth and began dating in 2016 before the Lakers star proposed in July 2023.
According to the court filing, Goltes moved back to Slovenia on May 5, 2025, and remained in Slovenia for the birth of Olivia last December. The fracture reportedly widened when Doncic arrived at Kranj Maternity Hospital on Dec. 6.
According to a police report obtained by ESPN, officers responded to a dispute between Doncic and Goltes after a disagreement erupted about travel plans for their older daughter. Police later concluded there was no criminal wrongdoing, and Doncic left peacefully before returning to the United States.
Since then, the distance has grown colder.
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Doncic hasn’t seen his daughters since that trip and recently filed an interim injunction in Slovenian court seeking immediate contact with them.
Yet through all of it, he’s dominated on the court.
Doncic leads the league with 32.5 points per game, and just hours after the child-support news broke Tuesday night, he poured in 31 points in the Lakers’ 120-106 victory over the Timberwolves.
Three straight wins. Helping the Lakers leapfrog into fourth place in the Western Conference.
And on Wednesday afternoon, as he disappeared behind the doors of his Manhattan Beach home, Doncic looked exactly like he has all season.
Unbothered.
Focused.
And still very much in control of the game that made him a global superstar — even if the one off the court has suddenly become far more complicated.

If nothing else, Bam Adebayo’s stunning 83-point explosion reminded everyone of two things: One, Bam is a terrific player who’s easy to root for. And two, the NBA record book doesn’t always tell the whole story.
As Andscape’s Jesse Washington pointed out, Adebayo’s outburst technically places him second on the league’s single-game scoring list — right between Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 and Kobe Bryant’s 81. But context matters, and Washington’s point was simple: the game today isn’t the same game Wilt or Kobe played.
Chamberlain’s century came in 1962 without a three-point line, while Bryant’s unforgettable 81 in 2006 arrived in a gritty comeback against a Raptors team actually trying to win. Adebayo’s night? It came against the Wizards, a franchise that has spent the better part of recent seasons looking toward the draft lottery.
Washington also noted how the modern NBA favors offense in ways previous eras simply didn’t. Faster pace means more possessions, rules discourage physical defense, and free throws come easier.
Adebayo went 36-for-43 from the line — a reflection of a league where attacking the rim often means marching to the stripe.
None of that diminishes the feat. Dropping 83 in the NBA still requires elite talent, relentless effort and a bit of history lining up just right. As Washington made clear, Adebayo deserves every bit of the praise he’s receiving.
Still, the larger takeaway isn’t that Bam somehow surpassed Kobe. It’s that the sport has evolved dramatically.
And if scoring eruptions keep happening like this, the real question may not be about No. 2 on the list. It might be how long Wilt’s 100 lasts.

Luka Doncic is having a particularly rough few weeks. The Lakers star is working through a breakup, dealing with a nasty custody battle, and has just been fined by the NBA for making an “inappropriate gesture” towards a referee. Here’s everything that has been going on in Doncic’s life in recent days.
Luka Doncic’s engagement is over.
Luka Doncic made a big announcement this week. While the point guard generally tries to keep his off-the-court life a bit more private than most, he did open up about his recent split. On March 10, Doncic announced that he was in the midst of navigating a split from his longtime fiancée, Anamaria Goltes. Doncic made the announcement through a statement to ESPN. That announcement came just after news that Goltes had filed legal paperwork began circulating.
Dončić and Goltes met as teenagers in Slovenia during separate family vacations. They began dating in 2016, with Goltes following Doncic to the United States for his NBA career. While Doncic proposed in 2023, around the time they welcomed their first child together, things were complicated from the start. In 2025, their second child was born. While Doncic announced the birth, it seems the couple had already split by then. At the very least, the romance was on thin ice.
A custody battle is heating up
Luka Doncic and Anamaria Goltes’ split might be pretty fresh, but the former flames are not wasting any time hashing out custody, and it looks like there might be a bit of a battle. According to Parade, Doncic wants his two daughters with Goltes to spend time with him in the United States during the NBA season, but Goltes isn’t interested. Doncic told ESPN that he will fight to spend time with his two children.
Goltes, who seemingly returned to Slovenia after the split, has filed for child support. That paperwork was filed in the United States. Doncic reportedly filed his own legal paperwork in Slovenia to assert his right to custody of his two daughters. No rulings have been made at this time, though. The international nature of the dispute might complicate matters.
Luka Doncic is having trouble on the court, too
Luka Doncic is known for having a bit of a temper on the court, and it seems he is taking out his personal frustrations there. Just a few days before he announced the end of his engagement to Goltes, he played an action-packed game at Crypto.com Arena against the New York Knicks. While the Lakers ultimately won by a large margin, Doncic let his frustration get the better of him.
According to several sources, the famed point guard, angered by a call, made a hand gesture that suggested the referee had been paid off. While lying on the floor after the play, he rubbed his fingers together in a “money” gesture toward the referee. While nothing happened initially, the NBA reviewed the interaction and fined Doncic. He must pay $50,000 to the league for an inappropriate hand gesture.
Doncic has opted not to comment on the incident. This is a developing story.

When Deandre Ayton signed for the Los Angeles Lakers last summer, he was expected to be the final piece of the puzzle that would propel them to NBA Championship contenders. But as the season has progressed, Ayton has had his ups and downs, averaging 12.5 points and 8.3 rebounds over 56 games. The Bahamian made headlines last month following his controversial “I’m not no Clint Capela” outburst following the Lakers’ 11o-109 loss to the Orlando Magic.
Ayton, who bagged a double-double (21 points, 13 rebounds) in that game, was frustrated at the lob-finishing, rim-running role that coach JJ Redick has him playing as opposed to his skilled offensive game. He was heard yelling out, “They’re trying to make me Clint Capela,” which immediately went viral the next day.
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Since then, Ayton has been moving differently, avoiding the media and throwing shade at reporters, including Daniel Starkand. “I definitely think it has to do with that Capela article, and that was something, you know, he kinda said walking out of the locker room, and people just heard it. I do think there is an aspect of him kinda losing trust in the media because that got put out,” he said while on Lakers Nation with analyst Trevor Lane.
Starkand went on to add that Ayton has been actively dodging reporters after recent games. He claimed that the former Phoenix Suns man also refused to speak to the media following team practice earlier this week. In fact, he was ‘awkwardly’ avoidant of Starkand last night too, following the Lakers’ big win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
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But Starkand defends his colleagues’ actions, claiming they’re just doing their jobs. “DA needs to know that if he says something out loud when reporters are in the locker room like that’s considered ‘on the record’, like that’s fair game, you know, whether he likes it or not. And if he doesn’t want something like that to be published, then he should just not say it,” he concluded.
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Deandre Ayton Looks to Silence the Haters by Balling Out
After his ‘Clint Capela’ comments made headlines, Ayton bombed miserably in the next game vs the Suns. He managed just two points and four rebounds after spending 23 minutes on the court. Former Laker Shaquille O’Neal and NBA legend Charles Barkley roasted him on TNT’s Tip-Off, with the latter saying Ayton should embrace the ‘Capel’ role.
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Ayton kept his head down and focused on working on his craft. And since the start of March, he’s been a pivotal player for LA as they’ve climbed up the Western Conference standings to occupy the fourth seed. He played a crucial role last night in the 106-120 win over Minnesota, bagging a double-double (14 points, 12 rebounds).
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Bam Adebayo even managed to impress His Airness with his 83-point fever dream this week.
The Miami Heat big man Adebayo appeared Wednesday on ESPN’s “NBA Countdown” following his game-of-a-lifetime on Tuesday night against the Washington Wizards. Adebayo revealed during the interview that he received a text message from Michael Jordan congratulating him on his 83-point explosion.
“[He] just [said], ‘Congratulations,’” said Adebayo of Jordan. “Just short and sweet. If you know Mike, he’s not talking a lot.”
Adebayo, a three-time NBA All-Star at 28 years old, surpassed Kobe Bryant’s 81-point game in 2006 as the single highest scoring performance of the modern basketball era. In the all-time history of the NBA, now only Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game back in 1962 tops the 83 points that Adebayo erupted for this week.
As for Jordan, now 63 years old, his single-game career-high was “only” 69 points (set in 1990 with the Chicago Bulls during an overtime victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers). Jordan does however still hold the NBA’s single-game playoff scoring record of 63 points, set with the Bulls in 1986 during a double-OT loss to the Boston Celtics.

The Boston Celtics defied the preseason predictions by climbing and staying in the upper echelons of the Eastern Conference. Despite leading this short-handed ragtag squad by being the literal definition of a ‘valuable player’ to the team, Jaylen Brown feels the opposite. His expectation is rock bottom because of what he perceives as a fundamental bias in the NBA’s most prestigious individual race. For Jaylen Brown the bar for MVP is always just a few inches higher than where he stands.
Speaking on The Cousins podcast with Tracy McGrady and Vince Carter, Brown suggested that the goalposts for the MVP award are constantly shifting to exclude him. He’s seemingly resigned to a grim conclusion: he will likely never take home the Michael Jordan Trophy.
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“It’ll be cool, it’ll be nice,” Brown told Carter about the idea of winning MVP. However, he’s reset his priorities. “But in terms of like winning MVP versus winning the championship, it’s a big gap for me.”
Brown emphasized his team-first mentality instead by saying, “I’d like to play for another championship, but it’ll be nice… but you know that’s not in my control. I feel like I fit the criteria for it. Especially what people were saying about me before the season, that I couldn’t do it or I wasn’t capable of being this or being that.”
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The 2024 Finals MVP’s frustration stems from a perceived moving target in the voting narrative. “I’ve been able to kind of shoulder that and then also help lead my team to where we’re at now, but people constantly just move the bar,” he explained.
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“Now we fast forward and I don’t have enough to fit the criteria. I probably never will (fit the criteria to be MVP), no matter what I do.”
Shortly after he recorded this podcast, Jaylen Brown got his second career ejection on Tuesday night against the Spurs. So his sentiment is not related to an ejection he didn’t know was coming in a few days. It was a commentary on a broader sentiment in the league.
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Jaylen Brown’s own excellence came in the way of MVP potential
For most of the season, the MVP race was split between Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s potential back-to-back win and Nikola Jokic’s fourth MVP campaign. Until Victor Wembanyama and Jaylen Brown made solid cases to upset the odd. But somehow the hype Wemby gets is not the same as JB.
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Many analysts wrote the Celtics off following a season-ending Achilles injury to Jayson Tatum and the breakup of the 2024 championship squad. Brown was the pillar of the Celtics’ narrative shift. He defied those expectations, averaging a career-high 28.3 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 5.1 assists per game as of March 2026.
This perceived snub has caught the attention of the league’s elder statesmen. Following a Celtics victory over the Lakers in late February, LeBron James went on the record to call the race a “popularity contest.” James told reporters, “This whole MVP thing, I don’t understand why his name is not getting talked about as well… Nobody gave them a shot to start the season and he’s averaging just under 30? I have my own personal issues with [the award criteria].”
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Shaquille O’Neal echoed these sentiments on Inside the NBA, using Brown as a prime example of how voting has shifted toward advanced analytics over raw impact and leading a winning team through adversity.
Proving their point is the perspective in the media, among the MVP voters, as the Celtics remained contenders. The narrative shifted from “Jaylen Brown is carrying them” to “the team is simply too deep,” effectively diluting his individual MVP case. It’s probably what spurred him to tell Vince, “I don’t have enough to fit the criteria.”
The consensus among these legends is that Brown is being punished for the Celtics’ collective competence, even as he serves as the primary engine driving their 38-20 record. Only Jaylen Brown himself has gotten over that. His singular goal is only the rewards at the end of the season.

MIAMI — The Miami Heat led the Washington Wizards by 25 points with 2:56 left. The game was essentially over, the outcome decided. And Bam Adebayo got called for an offensive foul that, under normal circumstances, would not have mattered.
These were not normal circumstances.
Adebayo already had 77 points on Tuesday night and the Heat wanted more. So, coach Erik Spoelstra emphatically challenged that offensive foul call. Every Heat player, assistant coach and staffer jumped off the bench, celebrating that decision. The challenge failed — refs got the call right — but it was clear what the moment meant to Miami.
Adebayo wound up scoring 83 points. It was the second-highest total by any player in any game in NBA history, passing Kobe Bryant’s 81 and trailing only Wilt Chamberlain’s 100.

By TIM REYNOLDS
MIAMI (AP) — Bam Adebayo scored 83 points, the second-best scoring effort in NBA history, to carry the Miami Heat to a 150-129 win over the Washington Wizards on Tuesday night.
Adebayo had 31 points in the first quarter, 43 by halftime and 62 by the end of the third quarter. He finished 20 for 43 from the field, 36 for 43 from the foul line and 7 for 22 from 3-point range.
Adebayo’s free throw makes and attempts both set NBA records for a game. The record for attempts was 39 by Dwight Howard — who got to the line that many times on two occasions. The record for free throws made in a game was 28, set by Wilt Chamberlain and Adrian Dantley.
Chamberlain got the 28 free throws on the night he scored 100 points in 1962 — the only game better than Adebayo in NBA history. Adebayo passed his basketball idol, Kobe Bryant, for the second-highest scoring game ever; Bryant’s career-best was 81.
LeBron James had the previous Heat single-game scoring mark; his 61-point effort against Charlotte happened on March 3, 2014. Denver’s Nikola Jokic had the previous season high in the NBA this season with 56.
Adebayo passed them both in the third quarter — and just kept going.
Simone Fontecchio scored 18 points for Miami (37-29), which has won six straight and moved a season-best eight games over .500. The Heat were without Norman Powell (groin), Tyler Herro (quadriceps), Nikola Jovic (back) and Andrew Wiggins (toe).
Alex Sarr had 28 points for the Wizards, who were without Trae Young — held out with right knee injury management. Will Riley added 22 and Jaden Hardy scored 17 for Washington, which has lost nine straight.
Besides Towns and now Adebayo, only three other players in the last 30 seasons had at least 31 points in a quarter.
— Klay Thompson had an NBA record for any quarter with 37 for Golden State against Sacramento in the third quarter on Jan. 23, 2015.
— Kevin Love had 34 for Cleveland against Portland in the first quarter on Nov. 23, 2016.
— Carmelo Anthony had 33 for Denver against Minnesota in the third quarter on Dec. 10, 2008.
The previous Heat record for points in a first quarter was 25, done by LeBron James at Cleveland on March 18, 2014. James had the only other 25-point quarter in Heat history, part of his team-record, 61-point game against Charlotte on March 3, 2014.
Before Tuesday, Adebayo had never scored more than 19 points in a quarter.
43-point half
Adebayo’s 43-point first half was the NBA’s second-best in at least the last 30 seasons — going back to the start of the digital play-by-play era that began in the 1996-97 season.
Towns had 44 for Minnesota against Charlotte on Jan. 22, 2024.
The NBA record for points in a first half is 53, shared by Denver’s David Thompson and San Antonio’s George Gervin — who famously did it on the same day, April 9, 1978. That was the final day of that regular season, as those two dueled (albeit in separate games) to decide the league’s scoring title.

Eighty-three points and counting for the Miami Heat’s captain Bam Adebayo tonight against the Washington Wizards.
Sets an NBA scoring record, only trailing Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 point game.
The NBA world was quick to react to this historic night in basketball history.
Olympic teammates LeBron James reacted to his big night. Adebayo actually passed James in some Heat history in this game, as his 31 point first quarter marked the most points scored in a quarter in Heat franchise history, passing James’ 25 points which he did twice.
Damian Lillard is another former Olympic teammate of Adebayo, and close friend, as he called into The Association to tell NBA reporter Chris Haynes that he

Bam Adebayo saw the Washington Wizards one fine Tuesday night and decided to channel his inner Kobe Bryant. The Miami Heat Center sent the entire basketball world into a frenzy after dropping 83 points in the 150-129 win over the Wizards. Adebayo was everywhere during the game and was found in the arms of his girlfriend, A’ja Wilson, after scripting history. Wilson was on the sidelines, watching Adebayo play the game of his life. Once it was all said and done, she had the perfect words regarding Adebayo’s fortunes.
Adebayo passed ​Kobe Bryant (81 points in 2006) for second place on the single-game scoring list. Wilt Chamberlain’s infamous 100-point game still stands as ‌the record since 1962. “Welp, won’t have the highest career high in the house anymore, but at least it gives me something to go after,” Wilson wrote on twitter. A’ja Wilson herself holds the record for most points in a WNBA game with her 53 points against Atlanta in 2023 (tied with Liz Cambage).
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“God is really just really special for him and God doesn’t play about Bam,” Wilson said in the post-match press conference. Adebayo’s statline is something very unique, even beyond the points. He went 20 of 43 from the field, 36 of 43 from the foul line, and 7 of 22 from 3-point range.
Adebayo also broke the Free throw attempt and made a record in the process. And not without reason, he was getting double-, triple- and what once appeared to be a quadruple-team from a Wizards defense that kept sending him to the foul line. It was his day, but Adebayo also took time to credit Wilson as one of the drivers behind his effort.
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“She’s been gone for about a week. She was joking about how I got my 10,000th point and saying she wanted me to wait until she was there. So having her here for my 83rd is very special,” Adebayo said. “The behind-the-scenes work, the workouts, and the conversations are very motivating. Obviously, you see what she does and get inspired by it every day. I’m thankful to have her in my life.”
A’ja Wilson and Bam Adebayo have always turned up for the important moments of each other’s careers. When Wilson won the MVP last year, it was Adebayo who handed her the trophy. They have openly shared learning from each other during their workouts and propelled each other to new heights. Bam also took a page out of Wilson’s book during the game after he met with an exclusive problem.
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Bam Adebayo Dips In A’ja Wilson’s Formula During His 83-Point Game
By the fourth quarter, it was clear both teams were fighting over one thing: Bam Adebayo’s scoring record. Heat was actively trying to get Bam the ball and get his numbers up while the Wizards were giving him extra attention. Defenders swarmed around Adebayo and Bam continued getting and-ones. After the game, he joked about seeing the same situation happening with Wilson.
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“Turning around and you got four people guarding you. I’ve seen that before,” Adebayo said while not so subtly pointing towards Wilson sitting beside him, who laughed heartily. “Obviously when they just don’t want you to get the ball…I don’t even know how to put this night into words, man. Like I’m still feeling lightheaded. I don’t even know, like, how to really respond for real.”
Wilson is famous for leading the WNBA in freethrows because of the sheer attention she gets. Not without reason, she is a 4-time MVP who can score from anywhere. Her playstyle forces teams to defend her with multiple players. Remember Game 3 of the WNBA finals against the Phoenix Mercury?
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With the game tied, Wilson took a dribble left and spun right while being guarded by DeWanna Bonner. Alyssa Thomas, an All-Defensive team member, joined in for a double team. But Wilson did not care. She fired the winner from mid-range with 0.3 seconds left, taking the Aces closer to the title, which they eventually won in Game 4.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to San Antonio for Tuesday’s matchup between the Boston Celtics and the San Antonio Spurs, featuring Victor Wembanyama and Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and De’Aaron Fox, Tyler Ford and Suyash Mehta.
Wait … who?
If you missed it, Ford and Mehta are the referees who tagged Brown with a pair of technical fouls late in the second quarter of the Spurs’ 125–116 win over the Celtics, ejecting Boston’s All-Star from the game. Brown was hot after a no-call on Stephon Castle caused a turnover, and he let Ford know it. When Ford T’d him up, Brown aggressively moved toward him. That’s when Mehta, from across the floor, hit him with another.
Goodbye, Jaylen.
Look: Brown came into this game a little prickly. In January, Boston shot four free throws in a 100–95 home loss to San Antonio. Brown popped off after the game, telling reporters “it’s the same s— every time we play a good team. It’s, like, they refuse to make a call, then they call touch fouls on the other end.” The NBA dinged Brown with a $35,000 fine.
So Brown, who has an elephant-like memory, likely came into the game with a chip on his shoulder. He probably earned the first tech. And he put himself in the position for Ford to eject him when he went after him aggressively enough that multiple teammates had to hold him back.
But Ford didn’t eject him. That came from Mehta, the umpire, who injected himself into the situation from the basketball equivalent of right field. Ford told a pool reporter after the game that Brown was given the first tech “for aggressively pointing and using profanity and resentment to the no call.” The second, Ford said, was because Brown “aggressively approached a game official while pointing and using profanity.”
Minutes after getting toss, Brown posted from the locker room, “This the s— I be talking about.”
Did Brown earn the technicals? Sure, if it was a midseason game between Boston and the Brooklyn Nets. But it wasn’t. It was a nationally televised game between two of the top four teams in the NBA. It featured two MVP candidates in Brown and Wembanyama. Brown had eight points in 14 minutes and left with the Celtics holding a two-point lead. They ended up losing the game by nine.
More importantly, this wasn’t Mehta’s call to make. Ford was the crew chief. He was the one who T’d up Brown and he was the one taking his abuse. If Ford, the more experienced official, believed Brown had gone too far, he should have tossed him. Mehta, who was never involved in the play, should not.
That it was Mehta, not Ford, who tossed Brown, didn’t go unnoticed by Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla. “I just give a ton of credit to my high school principal,” said Mazzulla. “He had the balls to throw a student out. He didn’t leave it to the hall monitor.”
Yikes.
NBA referees generally do an excellent job. It isn’t easy to manage a game played at these speeds by these kind of athletes. And, as NBA commissioner Adam Silver reminded me last fall, a lot of how the game is called is dictated by the league. There are certain actions they have to call. Wave your hand at an official? That’s a tech. Clap at one? That’s another. Slap the stanchion in frustration. You are going to get whistled.
These are rules that are constantly evolving. For example: Silver said the league recognizes the need to allow players to show more emotion without fear of getting T’d up for it. “I think we may have gotten to a point where we had disallowed some of the spontaneous emotion on the floor and created some bright line leading to technicals that I think were not necessary to control the game and not the official’s fault,” said Silver. “I think that’s the league office’s fault.”
Brown needed to have a cooler head in that situation. But referees need to exercise more discretion, too. More than 19,000 fans packed the Frost Bank Center on Tuesday for what could have been an NBA Finals preview. They got nearly two quarters of it. After that, they got something else.
More NBA from Sports Illustrated

By Tim Reynolds
MIAMI (AP) — It’s Wilt, then Bam.
Bam Adebayo had a night for all time on Tuesday, with a point total second to only Wilt Chamberlain in the NBA record books. Adebayo scored 83 points, setting league marks for free throws made and attempted in a game for the Miami Heat in a 150-129 win over the Washington Wizards.
“An absolutely surreal night,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.
Adebayo started with a 31-point first quarter and never stopped rolling. He was up to 43 at halftime, 62 by the end of the third quarter. And then came the fourth, when the milestones kept falling despite facing double-, triple- and what once appeared to be a quadruple-team from a Wizards defense that kept sending him to the foul line.
His final numbers: 20 of 43 from the field, 36 of 43 from the foul line, 7 for 22 from 3-point range. It was a stat line unlike any other in NBA history, and a night like none other for Adebayo.
He was in tears as he hugged his mother, Marilyn Blount, before leaving the floor after the game.
“Welp won’t have the highest career high in the house anymore,” Adebayo’s girlfriend, four-time WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson, wrote on social media, “but at least it gives me something to go after.”
Adebayo’s dunk with 22 seconds left in the third quarter gave him 62 points for the game, breaking the Heat single-game record of 61 set by LeBron James on March 3, 2014.
The NBA’s previous best this season was 56, by Nikola Jokic for Denver against Minnesota on Christmas night. The last player to have 62 points through three quarters: one of Adebayo’s basketball heroes, Kobe Bryant, who had exactly that many through three quarters for the Los Angeles Lakers against Dallas on Dec. 20, 2005.
He wound up passing Bryant for single-game scoring as well. Bryant’s career-best was 81 — a game that was the second-best on the NBA scoring list for two decades.
Until now.
And Adebayo only needed the first half to set a career high, too.
Adebayo scored 31 points in the opening quarter against the Wizards, breaking the Heat record for points in any quarter — and tying the team record for points in a first half before the second quarter even started.
He finished the first half with 43 points, a team record for any half and two points better than his previous career high — for a full game, that is — of 41, set Jan. 23, 2021, against Brooklyn.
Adebayo’s season high entering Tuesday was 32. He matched that with a free throw with 5:53 left in the second quarter, breaking the Heat first-half scoring record.
31-point quarter
Adebayo had the NBA’s highest-scoring quarter — any quarter — since Karl-Anthony Towns had 32 for Minnesota in the third quarter of a game at San Antonio on March 14, 2022.
Besides Towns and now Adebayo, only three other players in the last 30 seasons had at least 31 points in a quarter.
— Klay Thompson had an NBA record for any quarter with 37 for Golden State against Sacramento in the third quarter on Jan. 23, 2015.
— Kevin Love had 34 for Cleveland against Portland in the first quarter on Nov. 23, 2016.
— Carmelo Anthony had 33 for Denver against Minnesota in the third quarter on Dec. 10, 2008.
The previous Heat record for points in a first quarter was 25, done by James at Cleveland on March 18, 2014. James had the only other 25-point quarter in Heat history, part of his team-record, 61-point game against Charlotte.
Before Tuesday, Adebayo had never scored more than 19 points in a quarter.
43-POINT HALF
Adebayo’s 43-point first half was the NBA’s second-best in at least the last 30 seasons — going back to the start of the digital play-by-play era that began in the 1996-97 season.
Towns had 44 for Minnesota against Charlotte on Jan. 22, 2024.
The NBA record for points in a first half is 53, shared by Denver’s David Thompson and San Antonio’s George Gervin — who famously did it on the same day, April 9, 1978. That was the final day of that regular season, as those two dueled (albeit in separate games) to decide the league’s scoring title.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — AJ Dybantsa had 40 points, nine rebounds and six assists, and No. 10 seed BYU use a big second-half run to break open a close game with No. 15 seed Kansas State and roll to a 105-91 victory in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament on Tuesday night.
Robert Wright III added 14 points and six assists, and Kennard Davis Jr. had 15 points for the Cougars (22-10), who set a single-game tournament scoring record while advancing to play seventh-seeded West Virginia on Wednesday night.
P.J. Haggerty matched Dybantsa into the second half and finished with 27 points for the Wildcats (12-20), who played their final game for interim coach Matthew Driscoll, who had taken control of the program after the firing of Jerome Tang last month.
Nate Johnson had 19 points for Kansas State. Khamari McGriff finished with 13.
The fact that BYU was playing at all Tuesday night was somewhat surprising.
Dybantsa could be the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft this year. Wright has been a star in his own right. At one point early in the season, the Cougars were ranked seventh in the AP Top 25 and living up to the lofty expectations of their expensive lineup.
But things went sideways beginning with a four-game skid in January and February, and floor leader Richie Saunders was lost for the rest of the season to a torn ACL. The Cougars lost three of their last four games, and tiebreakers put them at the No. 10 seed.
They jumped out to a quick lead Tuesday night, though, as Haggerty and Dybantsa began to duel. And while they led just 50-49 at the break, the Cougars went on a 17-2 run beginning with about 9 1/2 minutes to play that allowed them to pull away.
Up next
The Cougars march on to face West Virginia, which beat them 79-71 a couple of weeks ago.
Kansas State turns its focus toward hiring its next permanent coach.

MIAMI (AP) — It’s Wilt, then Bam.
Bam Adebayo had a night for all time on Tuesday, with a point total second to only Wilt Chamberlain in the NBA record books. Adebayo scored 83 points, setting league marks for free throws made and attempted in a game for the Miami Heat in a 150-129 win over the Washington Wizards.
“An absolutely surreal night,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Obviously, we’ve been blessed to have been part of a lot of big moments in this arena. This one, it just happened. Moments happen and I’m grateful that we’re all able to be a part of it and witness it.”
Chamberlain’s record of 100 points has stood since 1962. Kobe Bryant — one of Adebayo’s basketball heroes — was No. 2 on the list with 81. Adebayo never thought he’d be in that club.
And then came a night he’ll never forget.
“Wilt, me, then Kobe,” Adebayo said. “It sounds crazy.”
Adebayo’s final numbers: 20 of 43 from the field, 36 of 43 from the foul line, 7 for 22 from 3-point range. It was the most points in an NBA game since then-Dallas Maverick Luka Doncic scored 73 against the Atlanta Hawks in January 2024.
He was in tears as he hugged his mother, Marilyn Blount, before leaving the floor after the game. Emotions were kept in check, until then.
“For me, it was just remaining calm, remaining locked in and understanding that I can go for something special,” Adebayo said. “I didn’t think it was going to be 83. But to have this moment is surreal, because like I said, man, to be able to do it at home, in front of my mom, in front of my people, in front of the home fans, this is a mark in history that will forever be remembered.”
Adebayo’s career high, before Monday, was 41.
That was passed by halftime.
“I looked at the stat sheet. It was pretty crazy: 40 shots, 40 free throws, 20 3s, that takes a lot of stamina, man,” Houston star and Adebayo’s USA Basketball teammate Kevin Durant said. “It takes a lot of energy to go out there and put those shots up and also make them, set a record, surpass Kobe as the second highest-scoring player in the history of the game. I mean, damn. Congrats to him. Huge, huge accomplishment, something we’re going to be talking about forever.”
Adebayo started with a 31-point first quarter and never stopped rolling. He was up to 43 at halftime, 62 by the end of the third quarter. And then came the fourth, when the milestones kept falling despite facing double-, triple- and what once appeared to be a quadruple-team from a Wizards defense that kept sending him to the foul line.
“BAM BAM BAM,” former Heat forward LeBron James posted on social media. James had the Heat single-game record of 61 points, set on March 3, 2014. He’s now No. 2 on the team list — by a wide margin.
The NBA’s previous best this season was 56, by Nikola Jokic for Denver against Minnesota on Christmas night. The last player to have 62 points through three quarters was Bryant, who had exactly that many going into the fourth for the Los Angeles Lakers against Dallas on Dec. 20, 2005.
Adebayo got to the line 16 times in the fourth, and the game had some comical moments. The Heat made clear they kept wanting Adebayo to get the ball and get to the line, even in a blowout. The Wizards tried to foul others — but couldn’t stop the scoring onslaught.
“You’ve got to give him credit,” Wizards coach Brian Keefe said. ”In the first half he shot the ball terrific, he scored the ball really well. Obviously, he came out and had a little bit in the third, too. They obviously kept him in the game, and there was a lot of fouls called — 16 free throws in the fourth quarter. I was trying to take the ball out of his hands, he still got some free throws 40 feet from the rim. I can’t explain some of those calls. That’s all I got to say on that.”
And Adebayo only needed the first half to set a career high, too.
Adebayo’s 31 points in the opening quarter broke the Heat record for points in any quarter — and tied the team record for points in a first half before the second quarter even started.
He finished the first half with 43 points, a team record for any half and two points better than his previous career high — for a full game, that is — set Jan. 23, 2021, against Brooklyn.
Adebayo’s season high entering Tuesday was 32. He matched that with a free throw with 5:53 left in the second quarter, breaking the Heat first-half scoring record.
He was just getting started.
“I would say once he got to 50, then we’re thinking, all right, maybe he can get to 60,” Spoelstra said.
He got to 60, late in the third.
“And when he got to 60, it just kept on going,” Spoelstra said. “We might as well go for 70.”
He got to 70,
“And then, I didn’t dare even think about taking him out at that point,” Spoelstra said. “We just kept on going.”
When Spoelstra finally declared Adebayo’s night over, he was waiting to greet the center with a big hug. Teammates did the same, as did some of the Wizards after the final buzzer. Adebayo made his way over to Heat managing general partner Micky Arison for congratulations, before eventually getting to the locker room.
Everyone wanted his jersey, which he kept. The game ball was secured. The nets were cut down as souvenirs. A’ja Wilson, Adebayo’s longtime girlfriend and the four-time WNBA MVP, could barely keep from crying.
“I know he says that I’m his inspiration,” Wilson said. “But I don’t think he has a clue how much he inspires me to continue to be the person that I am.”
Finally, Adebayo made his way to the parking garage, exhausted. He never had an opportunity to meet Bryant, who died in 2020, and often wonders what it would be like to have him as a confidant. He had those same thoughts Tuesday, after topping Bryant’s 81.
“Just a surreal moment,” Adebayo said, “being in the company with somebody I idolized growing up.”

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Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo made NBA history on Tuesday night.
Adebayo scored 83 points, all while setting league marks for free throws made and attempted in a game for the Miami Heat in a 150-129 win over the Washington Wizards. It is the second-highest scoring game for a player ever, only to Wilt Chamberlain’s famed 100-point game.

MIAMI (AP) — A look inside the numbers from Bam Adebayo’s 83-point game for the Miami Heat on Tuesday night, the second-highest total in NBA history:
83 points
Start with the obvious one. Only Wilt Chamberlain with his 100-point game is now ahead of Adebayo on the NBA single-game list.
Kobe Bryant — Adebayo’s idol — had the No. 2 spot, with 81 points.
“It speaks volumes for his hard work,” Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo said. “I know Bam. He works his butt off every single day. He never cheats the game. Seeing a guy like him doing something like this is incredible.”
The 40-40 club
Adebayo is the first player in the NBA’s play-by-play era — dating back to the start of the 1996-97 season — to have 40 points in both halves of a game.
He had 43 points in the first, 40 in the second.
The closest anyone has come to that in the last 30 years is Luka Doncic, who had 41 in the first and 32 in the second for Dallas against Atlanta on Jan. 26, 2024.
Chamberlain is the only other 40-40 member — barely. He had 41 in the first half of his 100-point game, then 59 more after halftime.
The free throws
Adebayo made 36 free throws and took 43, both of which are NBA single-game records.
Chamberlain made 28 on the night that he scored 100, March 2, 1962, in Hershey, Pennsylvania for Philadelphia against New York. Utah’s Adrian Dantley also made 28 free throws, in Las Vegas, against Houston on Jan. 4, 1984.
The record for free throws attempted was 39, done twice, both times by Dwight Howard. He took that many for Orlando against Golden State on Jan. 12, 2012 — then did it again for the Los Angeles Lakers, against Orlando, on March 12, 2013.
The 3-pointers
Adebayo attempted 22 3-pointers, making him the seventh player in NBA history to try that many in a game.
The others with at least that many: James Harden has done it four times and Stephen Curry twice, while Damian Lillard, Marcus Smart, J.R. Smith and Klay Thompson all did it once. Thompson has the record for attempts in a game with 24, done for Golden State on Oct. 29, 2018, against Chicago.
Thompson had a record 14 made 3s that night as well.
For perspective, Adebayo averaged — averaged! — 15 3-point attempts per season over his first seven years in the league.
43 shots
Adebayo’s 43 field goal attempts wasn’t even a season-high in the NBA. Cade Cunningham took 45 in a game for Detroit on Nov. 10.
Scoring average
In one night, Adebayo’s average went from 18.9 to 20.0 points per game.
Heat records
Among the many Heat regular-season records that Adebayo set on Tuesday night:
— Most points in a quarter (31, previous was LeBron James with 25).
— Most points in a first half (43, previous was 31 by James, Dwyane Wade and Sherman Douglas).
— Most points in a second half (40, previous was 37 by James).
— Most shots in a game (43, previous was 39 by Wade).
— Most 3-point attempts in a game (22, previous mark was 17, done on six occasions).
___

His nickname is the same as the sound caused by hitting everyone over the head with what he just did, because of course it is. Yes, this morning or afternoon, whenever you read this, you are certainly asking yourself what just happened and still woozy from the Bam!
Wilt Chamberlain, 100 points.
Kobe Bryant, 81 points.
And now, freshly wedged between those immortal single-game scoring totals is a player known for defense, a player whose previous scoring high was 41 points, a player who wasn’t an All-Star last month, a player whose career could generously be described as pretty good but hardly legendary.
Everything changed on a random yet manic March night in Miami with this entry:
Eldrice Femi “Bam” Adebayo, 83 points.
This perhaps qualifies as the biggest statistical surprise in NBA history. Is that prisoner-of-the-moment talk? Maybe not, because it came so unexpectedly, and it involves the glamorous art of scoring, and it’s now in the company of Wilt and Kobe, and it’s more than Michael Jordan or LeBron James ever managed, and …
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra opened his postgame press conference by saying: “Anything happen tonight?”
If Bam’s 83 becomes widely judged by the basketball gods as a fluke because of certain late-game antics and circumstances that contributed, so be it and so what?
It was witnessed by a disbelieving crowd cheering on Adebayo on Tuesday in Miami, teammates who deliriously did whatever necessary to help make it possible, the powerless Washington Wizards, and thousands around the country who rushed to their computers or phones and crashed NBA League Pass as the game progressed and his scoring total went stratospheric.
“It’s a special moment,” he said. “It’s Wilt, me, then Kobe, which sounds crazy.”
He shot 20-for-43 from the floor. Almost half of those attempts, 22, were on 3-pointers. This was a good player on a hot night, which happens frequently in the NBA, just not to this level or anywhere close, actually.
Before Tuesday, Adebayo averaged 4.8 free-throw attempts per game this season. He finished this game with an astounding 43 attempts, making 36 — which is rather impressive for a 77% shooter. His attempts and makes are single-game NBA records.
His teammates conspired to put him in the books. They fouled purposely down the stretch and early in the shot clock, sometimes as soon as the ball was inbounded, to get the ball back to Adebayo as much as possible, even with a comfortable lead that would eventually swell into the 30s. And Spoelstra was clearly co-signing this by keeping Adebayo in the game and throwing in his two cents.
With three minutes left, two Wizards players purposely took a charge against Adebayo. The Heat were up 25 but Spoelstra challenged the call to try to get Adebayo two more free-throw attempts. It was unsuccessful but again, everyone was in on it.
“The last six minutes of the third quarter and the entire fourth quarter I was a fan,” said Spoelstra. “This one came out of nowhere. This one snuck up on us. It snuck up on all of us. Once it kept on going, we knew we could be part of something special.”
Once Adebayo crept toward Kobe’s mythical 81, which is worshiped by the current generation, Spoelstra admitted: “You’re caught up in the moment like everyone else. And I didn’t want to get in the way. And I damn for sure wasn’t going to take him out.”
Adebayo did have 31 points in the first quarter and 43 at halftime. That raised possibilities. That was legitimate, with no theatrics by his teammates and against a full Wizards squad. Speaking of the Wizards, they benched their two best starters after three quarters, in particular Alex Sarr, their promising center, and therefore contributed to the cause.
In that situation, giving such player multiple cracks at the all-time single-game scoring list becomes an obligation by his coach and teammates, to measure how high and where he can take this performance. Any team will feed a hot player to see what happens next. And in this instance, it was a lot.
He had 63 points after three quarters. That was the tipping point. That’s when everyone knew something really unique was brewing. That was just six points fewer than Wilt’s total through three quarters in Hershey, Pa., on March 2, 1962 and 10 more than Kobe’s three quarters 20 years ago.
According to the book Wilt, 1962, an account of his record scoring night, his Philadelphia Warriors teammates constantly fed Wilt the ball in the fourth and stood by and watched. The Knicks, the opponent, began fouling all Warriors except Wilt. So those twin strategies went back and forth and Wilt was caught in the middle as the crowd screamed “give it to Wilt.”
As for Kobe’s 81, the Lakers didn’t conspire to help Kobe in the fourth quarter as much as Kobe helped himself. He took 13 of his team’s last 17 shots, although unlike Heat-Wizards, the game was competitive at that stage.
Sam Mitchell, the coach of the Toronto Raptors that night in LA, recently told NBA.com: “Go back and look at what types of shots he made. It’ll blow your mind. He was pump-faking three, four times and then spinning opposite of the defense while shooting … it was Kobe freaking Bryant, man. Whatcha gonna do?”
Adebayo mentioned Kobe after his own record night, and added: “I wonder what he would say, to be 83 and pass him, my mind is like, what would he say to me? ‘Cause I always wanted to have a conversation with him … he would probably tell me to do it again. Just a surreal moment to be in the company of somebody you idolized growing up.”
The Wizards became an understandable victim because the club has long veered toward the bottom of the East and toward the draft lottery. Washington, like most teams in such a situation, is using the final few weeks of the season to force-feed playing time to young players, essentially judging them now for the future. The downside is this philosophy made the Wizards vulnerable to … this.
So these historic games are part-freakish, part-concocted and partly due to talented players who can’t miss. None are completely pure or explainable. They just happen — and in the case of Bam Adebayo’s night, so inexplicably out of nowhere and by a very unlikely player.
“Unreal,” he said.
* * *

The battle of NBA MVPs on Monday, March 9, surely didn’t disappoint.
In a game between Nikola Jokic’s Denver Nuggets and Oklahoma City Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, both players dazzled.
The latter ended up making history in multiple ways, while coming out on top with the victory.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Joins Exclusive List With LeBron James
In 39 minutes of action, Gilgeous-Alexander shot 14-21 from the field and 3-7 from three to score 35 points.
In addition to his scoring, Gilgeous-Alexander dished out 15 assists to secure the double-double, while coming down with nine rebounds. He also registered one blok and one steal.
With 35 points and 15 assists, Gilgeous-Alexander made NBA history, joining an exclusive list with Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James. The perfect high-volume assist-to-turnover ratio was truly special.
via @UnderdogNBA:
Players in NBA history with 35+ PTS, 15+ AST, 0 TO in a game:
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (tonight)
LeBron James (2018)
End of list.
Gilgeous-Alexander landed plenty of help in the matchup, getting 29 points out of Jaylin Williams. He also secured a double-double by coming down with 12 rebounds.
On the other side, the Nuggets received a strong game from their MVP-winning center, Nikola Jokic.
In 40 minutes, Jokic shot 12-19 from the field and hit on five of his six free throws to score 32 points.
More Thunder News: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Likely Secured MVP With Game Winner
Typically a triple-double threat, Jokic added another one to his yearly collection. He dished out 13 assists and came down with 14 rebounds. Jokic also blocked a shot on the defensive end.
The Thunder defeated the Nuggets 129-126.
Another MVP Season In The Making
To no surprise, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is having another MVP season in the making.
The Thunder star went into Monday’s action with 53 games played this season. After averaging 32.7 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 6.4 assists last season, Gilgous-Alexander is right in the same range.
The star guard averages 31.6 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 6.4 assists. He is shooting at a higher percentage, knocking down shots at a 54% clip from the field and 38% from beyond the arc.
Last year, Gilgeous-Alexander ended up beating out Jokic for the league’s MVP award. After being top five in the voting over the previous two seasons, Gilgeous-Alexander finally won the hardware.
This year, he’s looking to become the latest NBA player to repeat the award.
Landing in company with LeBron James, while beating out Jokic, will certainly be a great campaign sweetener.
James, the 41-year-old legend, has won the league’s MVP award on four occasions. While Gilgeous-Alexander didn’t enter the elite conversation as early as LeBron in his career, he’s certainly an undeniable elite player at this stage of his run. As SGA continues to pile up impressive personal accolades, his argument for a Hall of Famer himself just grows by the night at this point.

The last time the Nuggets-Thunder clashed, Nikola Jokic wore all of his emotions on his sleeve. Anger was one of them, after Lu Dort appeared to intentionally go after the Joker’s injured left knee. The Thunder’s defensive stalwart admitted going ‘over the line’. But it appears he’s still not willing to let Jokic off without some bruises whenever they play.
The repeat clash tonight produced yet another thriller. The three-time MVP was sensational, but was interrupted by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s historic night. However, the focus here is on Dort getting another hit on Nikola Jokic.
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With a minute remaining and Dort guarding Jamal Murray, the Thunder guard tried to go over Jokic’s screen. In doing so, he flared his arms in the air, striking the Nuggets cornerstone in his face. After a few blurry moments, the officials reviewed the play. Lu Dort was assessed with a flagrant one for his violent play against Nikola Jokic.
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Tensions didn’t need to be contained this time. The Joker didn’t react with any frustration, but just went about his day. The Nuggets talisman tried to best to will the team back into the contest. Jokic scored 11 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter, missing just one shot in the period. The All-Star center also missed one of the two flagrant foul free throws.
His valiant effort wasn’t enough against the NBA-best Oklahoma City Thunder. Playing without Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams, the Thunder still managed to thwart one of their top conference rivals. It marked their 51 win of the season and extended their winning streak to six games.
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Fans disgusted by Lu Dort’s foul against Nikola Jokic
NBA fans turned against the Thunder’s Lu Dort for targeting Nikola Jokic over their last two meetings. “Get this dude out of the league,” an outraged fan wrote. Dort has suffered a knock to his reputation with such plays. As a point of attack defender, his physicality and instincts are elite. However, there’s still the occasional questionable play that has led to some criticism.
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One of them is fans saying, “Dort is dirty”. The Canadian star recently defended himself against those claims after tripping Jokic when they faced off in February. During this particular instance, Dort’s arms caught Nikola Jokic flush in the face. However, it wasn’t as bad as his first attack on the three-time MVP.
Fans aren’t concerned about that. They’ve seen Lu Dort get away with some hard fouls over the years. And it’s reached a boiling point for some. “This should be a suspension,” a fan reacted. Dort has picked up flagrants in both games against the Nuggets over the past month. There are several other dangerous incidents. Hence, some fans want there to be punishment.
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Others advocated for the players to possibly take some action against Lu Dort. “The NBA is so soft. Lu Dort plays like a dirty b—h and everyone just cries rather than putting his little a– on the ground lol,” one fan suggested. Players such as Jeremiah Fears of the Pelicans nearly tried that. But getting into an altercation or responding to Dort’s actions means bringing trouble to yourself. A reaction does seem well warranted. But in the NBA, everybody doing wrong gets some punishment.
So far, it’s too early to say whether the league will make some changes. There are already concerns about the Thunder getting preferential treatment. But is it mostly inclined to Dort? Let us know your views in the comments below.

Oklahoma City Thunder All-Star guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander likely just won back-to-back NBA MVPs.
On Monday night, the reigning champion Thunder hosted the Denver Nuggets for the second time in 11 days. Oklahoma City defeated Denver 127-121 in overtime on Feb. 27, and Gilgeous-Alexander, the reigning NBA Finals MVP, is the only reason they didn’t go to overtime again.
With five seconds left in regulation, Gilgeous-Alexander pulled up from three and drained the game-winning dagger.
After the game, Gilgeous-Alexander told reporters he’d rank this performance among the best regular-season performances in his eight-year NBA career.

Popular head coach Steve Kerr pitched a bold idea to drastically change the NBA season by removing 10 games from the schedule. The Golden State Warriors coach has deeper insight into the problem of too many injuries taking place to harm the league. Jimmy Butler and Stephen Curry both suffering injuries of varying levels ruined the Warriors’ season after a promising star created some high expectations.
Kerr said the following to the media, while admitting the idea would be unpopular around the league:
“I know this will not be a popular opinion in the league office, but I will continue to say it because it’s obvious. We need to play fewer games. We need to take 10 games off the schedule. I think it would be great for the league. And I get it, it’s revenue, and you’d have to get everybody to agree to take a little less money, and that’s a really hard thing to do.
But I know about the league, about coaching, about how hard it is to play the modern game with the pace and the space. I think it would be a more competitive and healthier league if we played fewer games.”
Kerr backed up his claims by stating the modern game is harder with the pace and space. Faster competition and high-level competition today increase the risk of injuries compared to past eras.
Kerr’s Solution Could Fix Other Issues
The NBA is dealing with multiple problems harming the latter stages of the regular season. Many fans feel the season is relatively pointless due to tanking, injuries, and the standings holding little relevance beyond a few teams in certain secondary tiers.
Kerr’s idea to remove 10 games would help a few of these other issues. Tanking feels significant now since the end of the season feels long. Winning only hurts the bottom tier teams to see more than five teams drastically tanking.
Franchises like the Memphis Grizzlies, Utah Jazz, and Sacramento Kings have all ruled out more than a few players out with questionable injuries. The season would also feel more important with fewer games meaning each game holds more importance. Kerr’s point would get support from other coaches and media members.
Why NBA Will NEVER Approve Kerr’s Idea
Multiple reasons exist for why the NBA has not considered lowering the schedule in recent years. Complaints about too many back-to-back games have created this conversation over the past couple of seasons with nothing coming out of it.
The NBA loves the historic records being part of the game with the greatest teams compared via the same total amount of games played. Statistical records for averages and other individual accomplishments will be harmed. Mikal Bridges’ “iron man” streak or Victor Wembanyama setting a blocks record are things that can be harmed.
Kerr also acknowledged that the financial benefits of playing 82 games will likely stop the league from considering his plan. The NBA has new television rights’ deals with national television games almost every night. Adam Silver is not risking losing money and likely prefers the risks of injury hurting the game.

After the Los Angeles Lakers’ dynamic duo of Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves combined for 60 points in a 110-97 win over the New York Knicks on Sunday, a familiar debate resurfaced around the league: are the Lakers actually better without LeBron James?
James missed the game with a left elbow contusion and arthritis in his left foot. That absence left Doncic and Reaves to carry the offense. Doncic finished with 32 points, eight rebounds, and four assists. He knocked down four three-pointers and scored 28 points in the first three quarters. Reaves added another strong scoring night as the Lakers secured their 39th win of the season.
The performance fueled online discussion about the Lakers’ offensive identity. However, NBA analyst Jason Timpf believes the real takeaway is different. Speaking on his podcast Hoops Tonight, Timpf argued the Lakers are not better without James. Instead, he believes the team may need to redefine his offensive role to maximize the lineup built around Doncic and Reaves.
Timpf addressed the viral discourse directly. He pushed back against the idea that Los Angeles functions better without its longtime superstar.
“No the Lakers are not better without LeBron, but I do think Austin needs to be the second option on this Lakers team,” Timpf said.
Lakers Need LeBron, But the Offense Should Change
The Knicks game offered a clear example of how dangerous the Lakers can look when Doncic runs the offense and Reaves serves as the primary scoring partner. Reaves’ performance stood out after several inconsistent outings earlier in the season.
But this conversation extends beyond one game. The statistical evidence supporting the Doncic-Reaves partnership has become difficult to ignore this season, even in a small sample size.
When the two share the floor without James, the Lakers hold a 9-2 record. In the 329 minutes Doncic and Reaves have played together, Los Angeles owns a +16.9 net rating. That mark ranks among the team’s most effective lineup combinations.
By comparison:
LeBron + Reaves: -4.7 net rating (194 minutes)
LeBron + Doncic: -3.5 net rating (498 minutes)
All three together: +1.5 net rating (293 minutes)
The numbers do not suggest James is the problem. Instead, they highlight how productive the Doncic–Reaves pairing can be when the offense runs through them.
Timpf made it clear that claims the Lakers are better without James are “ridiculous.” However, he noted the team could benefit if James accepts a different role now that Reaves has re-emerged as a consistent offensive weapon.
“But now that Austin’s back, I do think LeBron’s role offensively should be pared back,” he explained. “LeBron should be functioning as a screener unless he gets a favorable post matchup. I think that is the best version of this team.”
That would represent a unique role for the league’s all-time leading scorer. James has spent most of his career running offenses as the primary initiator. Now, the veteran may face a different reality. At this stage of his career, he may need to adjust his game to fit around other stars rather than the opposite.
Los Angeles Still Need LeBron to Contend
Despite the recent debate, the Lakers’ broader outlook still revolves around James. The team currently ranks ninth in offensive rating. That number has steadily improved over the past week.
If Los Angeles hopes to contend in the Western Conference playoffs, the offense likely needs to climb into the top five.
James remains one of the league’s most impactful players in his 21st season. However, the roster’s evolving identity centers on Doncic’s pace and Reaves’ scoring versatility. Because of that shift, the Lakers may benefit from adjusting how the four-time MVP is used.
That is the balance Timpf believes the Lakers must find. The team is not better without LeBron James. But if Los Angeles wants to maximize its new core, the path forward may involve reshaping James’ offensive role rather than replacing it.

Dwight Howard has finally broken his silence and filed for divorce for the second time. The honeymoon phase with wife Amber Rose, aka Amy Luciani, didn’t last long as the couple headed for a split after just 6 months of marriage. Eventually, they reconciled, but the current accusations caused a significant setback.
A few days ago, Luciani uploaded multiple videos on her Instagram and then deleted them, alleging that her husband was a dr-g addict. The Love & Hip-Hop alum also claimed that Dwight Howard called Child Protective Services three times in less than three months. While the NBA Hall of Famer hasn’t released a statement, TMZ reported that he filed for divorce on Monday morning.
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Dwight said the marriage was “irretrievably broken.” In the recent filing, the 3x DPOY demanded exclusive use of his Georgia mansion, which the couple shared. Even though he has filed for divorce, there was no other statement from the former Lakers star. Even Luciani, apart from those deleted videos, hasn’t spoken about her petition or divorce claims.
The NBA star’s ex first filed for divorce in July 2025, after six months of marriage. Last year, Amy even allegedly claimed that Howard tried to give her a herbal tea laced with a drug. But Howard’s attorney, Gillian B. Fierer, refuted any such claims, calling them “patently false.”
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At the time, even Dwight Howard would file his petition, but both dismissed it soon enough. Since then, the couple would step out together quite often. This included their attendance at events such as the Hall of Fame weekend and the recent photo taken at the WWE event last month. That’s why the videos from Luciani about Howard’s behavior went viral.
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She claimed that her stepdaughter was just taken by CPS because of her father. In another video, Luciani spoke to her stepson and asked him if his dad had made him lie to the police, and the reply was positive. Amy was in her car, crying profusely while revealing these details. She even stated that people close to the former NBA player knew about the issue and asked her not to end the marriage last year.
Dwight Howard’s ex hits back
Being a father to five children from five different women always made Howard’s personal life complicated. In fact, legal drama always surrounded his very first relationship. Royce Reed, a former Orlando Magic cheerleader, shares 17-year-old son Braylon with Howard. In 2024, she would even launch her own Instagram page, ‘ihadababybysuperman,’ which, until now, has 25 posts and has shared issues with Dwight Howard.
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At the time, Amy Luciani dismissed them and backed her husband. But now, after her allegations, Reed was quick with her statement. “Now you want to speak because he brought you into it,” Reed said. “Girl, keep me blocked! Because I’m gonna CLOCK IT!” She made it clear that it wasn’t against the kids and that she is standing in solidarity against Dwight Howard.
Their son, Braylon, also stated the same in a caption on Instagram. “I really hope you’re getting the help you need, Dad, but this other stuff you’re doing has to stop.” So, Dwight Howard is not receiving support during his legal issue.

Having already put together a career worthy of legendary status, Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had one of the most memorable games of his career to date on Monday night.
Gilgeous-Alexander, 27, was at his best while matching an icon with a share of NBA history as the Thunder beat the Denver Nuggets 129-126. He scored 35 points, shooting a 66.7% from the field and falling one rebound away from a triple-double with nine boards and 15 assists.
Gilgeous-Alexander’s monster performance saw him tie Wilt Chamberlain for the longest streak of scoring at least 20 points in NBA history at 126 games.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was the hero in more ways than one
But his total statistics and historic achievement still don’t tell the whole story of why the game was a special one for Gilgeous-Alexander.
The reigning league MVP and Finals MVP made sure the Oklahoma City faithful went home happy after his big night. With the game tied at 126-126, Gilgeous-Alexander took control of the ball and drilled a clutch three to win the game in the final seconds.

Cooper Flagg’s latest ad campaign caught basketball fans’ attention when he teamed up with NBA legend Larry Bird to promote Chime’s new banking app.
The Mavericks rookie looks up to Bird in a big way, as he has previously said Bird was his favorite NBA player despite the fact Bird retired 14 years before Flagg was born. The star from Maine grew up rooting for the Celtics and his parents owned a DVD set featuring Boston games from Bird’s heyday.
It wouldn’t be a commericial involving Bird if it didn’t feature is infamous ability to trash talk. The 12-time All-Star and three-time NBA champion validates his titles because he won them “back when the league was legit.”
When the customer in the commercial shows off that his credit score on the Chime app went up 70 points, Flagg asks Bird if he could put up 70 points in game.
“Not if I’m guarding you,” Bird replied.
Flagg also had a joke of his own for Bird. When the Celtics legend asked Flagg if one of the benefits to the Chime app were for real, Flagg held up an old photo of Bird with his iconic haircut and said, “As real as your mullet in ‘86.”
Watch the full advertisement below.

For decades, the NBA has been defined by players who make it an experience. From Magic Johnson and Larry Bird’s rivalry, through Michael Jordan’s gravity-defying feats, to Stephen Curry’s long-distance shooting, these athletes command the price of admission not just for their stats, but for the sheer unpredictability of their greatness. A generation after His Airness turned every possession into a historic feat and The Chef made every crossing of the half-court line must-see, Victor Wembanyama is completing the trinity of the game’s greatest marksmen.
Back again on Dan Patrick’s show, Reggie Miller declared that the alien has surpassed the rookie plane and firmly in a category reserved for the sport’s most watchable icons. After his 2025 season was cut short with blood clots, Miller feels that Wemby has defied scouting reports that suggested that physical play could disrupt his rhythm.
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“He’s come back with a sense of purpose of matching other teams’ physicality,” Miller said about Wemby’s Shaolin retreat in the offseason. This transformation has turned Wembanyama into a dual-threat terror on both ends of the floor that fans want to watch and opponents can’t predict.
“I’m thinking like, MJ was like that, because you didn’t know what you were going to see with MJ on the court,” Miller explained. “I put Stephen Curry in that because of his ability to shoot the basketball. To me, Wemby is a must-see experience because you truly do not know what you are going to see. And what you do see and witness, it’s like, I don’t think I’ve seen a human being do that.”
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It defies Charles Barkley’s narrative that Wemby could never be the face of the league. The Spurs’ last three games alone have made the French phenom a thrill to watch.
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Fans feel a little protective about him but by embracing the physical style rather than shying away from it, Wembanyama has transitioned from a curiosity into a “must-see” phenomenon that mirrors the legendary auras of Jordan and Curry.
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Victor Wembanyama’s rapid revolution into Michael Jordan’s mindset
Even Michael Jordan struggled with the physicality of ’80s NBA in his scrawny, rookie days. It only takes watching episode 4 of The Last Dance to show how he overcame that.
The infamous ‘Jordan Rules’ seem to be at play whenever Victor Wembanyama is on the floor now. Reggie Miller and Dan Patrick referenced a grueling three-game stretch for the San Antonio Spurs where Wemby had some close calls. Each time, he got up and dismantled some of the league’s most physical rosters.
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That mental fortitude was tested against the Detroit Pistons, the LA Clippers, and a towering Houston Rockets lineup featuring Kevin Durant. Wemby didn’t just embrace that, Miller says that he, “almost uses it against them.” This ability to weaponize an opponent’s aggression has propelled the Spurs to a dominant 14-of-15 stretch as of March 2026.
Wembanyama’s recent performance against the Clippers, where he led a 25-point comeback, is being cited by many as his “Jordan moment.” It was a back-to-back game, he was exhausted, and teared up with relief when the game was over. He could’ve rested in this game, but he’s on the threshold of falling out of DPOY contention if he misses more games. And he knows fans want to watch him play.
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Irrespective of what Jaylen Brown thinks, his defensive impact now rivals the peak years of Hakeem Olajuwon, who by the way trained him at his camp months ago. He’s also bringing some flair in his footwork and handles that he learned from Jamal Crawford and Kevin Garnett.

LOS ANGELES — Mohamed Diawara’s first NBA dunk was a poster.
The Knicks rookie highlighted an otherwise dreary Knicks loss Monday with a dribble through the Clippers defense before a one-handed jam over fellow Frenchman Nic Batum.
It occurred late in the third quarter and ignited a pro-Knicks crowd at the Intuit Dome, but the visitors couldn’t complete a comeback and fell amid a rash of turnovers, 126-118.
“I was just driving and dunked the ball and fortunately (Batum) was there,” Diawara, who grew up in France hearing much about Batum, told The Post. “But that was a good play. Funny to see that. My first dunk – my first poster – was against him.”
Diawara’s jam was part of an 11-3 run to end the third quarter. He finished with five points in 18 minutes with four rebounds and two assists.
“(The dunk) felt good,” Diawara said. “It was about time. I was looking forward to doing it.”
With Jose Alvarado struggling, coach Mike Brown briefly gave Tyler Kolek a meaningful cameo in the fourth quarter.
Kolek has been basically out of the rotation since Alvarado was acquired in a trade. On Monday, Kolek went scoreless in just two minutes.
“I thought Jose was struggling a little bit. So I threw Tyler out there to see if we could get something from him, similar to me throwing Jordan Clarkson out there (in the previous game against the Lakers),” Brown said. “Tyler didn’t get a long time to play because we put Jalen out there to see if we could make a run. But I said this before, those guys have to keep themselves ready just in case their number is called. Because it can be called at any time.”
Brown knocked on wood while crediting the performance staff, including owner James Dolan’s son, Quentin, for keeping Mitchell Robinson healthy throughout this season.
“Casey (Smith, the VP of Sports Medicine), Chico (Goenega, the head athletic trainer), those guys, and Quentin Dolan, those guys have done a nice job of coming up with a plan,” Brown said. “And the biggest thing is to get him in games this year and making sure he stays healthy. And so our whole medical staff, starting with those three guys down to everybody that’s in our medical department. They’ve done a great job of keeping him healthy and keeping him in the game and practicing and stuff like that. So I applaud them more than anybody else for what they put together and how they’re executing it.”
Quentin Dolan holds the title of Senior VP, Player Performance and Science Leader.
Robinson, who has been injury prone throughout his career and underwent multiple surgeries on his ankle, again sat Monday versus the Clippers in the second game of a back-to-back. Robinson hasn’t played both games of a back-to-back all season.