NBA Game Notes (April 7, 2024)
Here are the NBA game notes for games that were played on April 7, 2024.
Three Stars
The three stars in ice hockey are the three best players in a game, with the “first star” considered the best of the three players, similar to the player of the match in other sports. Here are my “three stars” from yesterday’s NBA games.
First ⭐️
Kyrie Irving scored a season-high 48 points as the Dallas Mavericks outlasted the Houston Rockets 147-136 in overtime. Dallas has won 10 of its last 11 games, while Houston has lost five in a row on the heels of an 11-game winning streak.
Irving shot 15-25 from the floor (3-8 on 3-pointers) and 15-17 from the free throw line. He’s just the fourth player in franchise history to make at least 15 field goals and 15 free throws in a game, joining Dirk Nowitzki (twice), Luke Doncic (twice), and Jim Jackson (Nov. 26, 1994). It’s the first time Irving has reached both of those marks in a game.
Second ⭐️
Tyrese Maxey scored a career-high 52 points to the lead the Philadelphia 76ers to a 133-126 double-overtime win over the San Antonio Spurs. The Sixers have won five straight games and stand just one game behind the Indiana Pacers for the sixth and final guaranteed playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Maxey made 19 of his career-high 41 shots from the field and sank all 12 of his free throws. He also contributed a team-high seven assists, five rebounds, and two steals, committing just one turnover in a career-high 54 minutes played.
Third ⭐️
Jalen Brunson scored a game-high 43 points as the New York Knicks beat the Milwaukee Bucks 122-109, handing the reeling Bucks their sixth loss in seven games (including the last four in a row). Brunson went 16-32 from the field and 9-11 from the free throw line, adding eight assists and six rebounds. He was charged with just one turnover in a game-high 39 minutes of action.
This newsletter is produced by a team of one, but provides more “NBA statistical goodness” (Marc Stein) than most, if not all, major media outlets. Sign up using the “Spring Special” link below and you’ll get 25% off your first 12 months.
Milestones
Maxey and teammate Joel Embiid have each produced three 50-point games for the Sixers this season. It’s the first time in NBA history a team has had two players record three or more 50-point games in the same season.
Jaylen Brown scored a team-high 26 points on 10-17 shooting from the field in the Boston Celtics’ 124-107 win over the Portland Trail Blazers. He became the first player from the 2016 NBA Draft Class to reach 10,000 career points (10,009 and counting).
Giannis Antetokounmpo produced team highs of 28 points, 15 rebounds, and eight assists in the Bucks’ loss to the Knicks. Antetokounmpo attempted 11 free throws, raising his season total to 780. That breaks the franchise record for most free throws attempted in a season, surpassing his 772 attempts last season.
The Indiana Pacers recorded 27 assists in their 117-115 victory over the Miami Heat, increasing their season total to 2,411. They broke the franchise single-season record of 2,398 assists set in 1991-92.
The Washington Wizards succumbed to the Toronto Raptors 130-122, dropping their franchise-record 64th game of the season. They had shared the previous mark of 63 losses with the 2000-01 and 2008-09 squads.
Streaking
Sacramento Kings center Domantas Sabonis fell one assist shy of a triple-double, scoring 18 points to go with game highs of 20 rebounds and nine assists in a 107-77 rout of the Brooklyn Nets. Sabonis has recorded a double-double in 61 consecutive games, the NBA’s longest such streak since Wilt Chamberlain’s 83-game run from Nov. 22, 1967 to Nov. 22, 1968.
Donte DiVincenzo scored 26 points with eight 3-pointers made in the Knicks’ win over the Bucks, the 36th consecutive game in which he’s made multiple threes. It’s the longest such streak in franchise history (by 15 games) and the seventh-longest such streak in NBA history.
The Bucks’ Damian Lillard scored 23 points and made one 3-pointer in that contest, extending his streak of regular season games with at least one 3-pointer made to 148. It’s the third-longest such streak in NBA history, trailing only 268-game and 157-game runs by Stephen Curry.
Luka Doncic tallied 37 points, 12 assists, and nine rebounds in the Mavericks’ overtime victory over the Rockets, shooting 12-21 from the field with four 3-pointers made. It’s the 68th straight game in which Doncic has scored at least 15 points with one 3-pointer made, the longest such streak in NBA history.
Spurs rookie Victor Wembanyama compiled 33 points, 18 rebounds, seven blocks, and six assists in a double-overtime loss to the Sixers (he also committed a career-high nine turnovers). Wembanyama has recorded at least 10 points and one block in each of his last 37 games, the second-longest such streak by a rookie since the NBA began tracking blocks in 1973-74. The rookie record of 41 such games in a row is held by David Robinson (1989-90).
Antetokounmpo has scored at least 20 points in each of his last 21 games, averaging 30.4 PPG, 12.4 RPG, and 7.0 APG with a field goal percentage of 61.8% over that span.
Team(s) with a winning streak of five or more games: Boston Celtics (five) and Philadelphia 76ers (five).
Team(s) with a losing streak of five or more games: Utah Jazz (12) and Houston Rockets (five).
Do you have a friend or family member who loves the NBA as much as you do? Please consider sharing this free post with them.
Miscellany
Maxey led all scorers yesterday with his career-high 52 points. He was one of 14 players to score at least 30 points, the others being Irving (season-high 48), Brunson (43), the LA Clippers’ Paul George (39), Doncic (37), the Phoenix Suns’ Bradley Beal (33), Wembanyama (33), the Wizards’ Deni Avdija (32), the Golden State Warriors’ Klay Thompson (32), the New Orleans Pelicans’ CJ McCollum (31), the Raptors’ Immanuel Quickley (season-high 31), the Minnesota Timberwolves’ Naz Reid (31), the Chicago Bulls’ DeMar DeRozan (30), and the Los Angeles Lakers’ Rui Hachimura (30).
Sabonis was yesterday’s top board man, hauling in 20 rebounds. Nine more players snagged at least a dozen rebounds: the Portland Trail Blazers’ Jabari Walker (18), Wembanyama (18), the Timberwolves’ Rudy Gobert (16), Antetokounmpo (15), the Trail Blazers’ Deandre Ayton (14), the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Josh Giddey (season-high-tying 13), the Indiana Pacers’ Myles Turner (season-high-tying 13), the Mavericks’ P.J. Washington (season-high-tying 13), and the Miami Heat’s Bam Adebayo (12).
Giddey and Quickley were the top playmakers, dishing out 13 assists apiece yesterday (a season high for Giddey). Doncic (12), the Rockets’ Fred VanVleet (12), the Wizards’ Jordan Poole (12), the Lakers’ D’Angelo Russell (11), and the Charlotte Hornets’ Vasilije Micic (10) also handed out double-digit dimes.
Brunson has recorded nine 40-point games this season, breaking a tie with Bernard King (1983-84) for the third-most such games in a single season in Knicks history. The franchise record of 13 games with at least 40 points was set by King in 1984-85.
Sabonis’ 74 double-doubles this season are the most since Moses Malone also logged 74 in 1980-81. Since the ABA-NBA merger, only Malone (77, 1978-79) and Truck Robinson (76, 1977-78) have recorded more double-doubles in a single season.
Giddey recorded his 11th career triple-double in the Thunder’s 121-118 win over the Hornets, scoring 20 points to go with his game highs of 13 rebounds and 13 assists. He broke a tie with Lenny Wilkens for the third-most triple-doubles in franchise history.
Wembanyama has produced at least 30 points, 10 rebounds, and five blocks in four games this season, tying Shaquille O’Neal (1992-93) for the second-most such games by a rookie since the NBA began tracking blocks in 1973-74. Robinson holds the rookie record with seven such games in 1989-90.
Wembanyama recorded at least five 3-pointers made and five blocks in the same game for the second time this season. The only other player in NBA history to post multiple such games in a single season is Raef LaFrentz with four in 2001-02. Wembanyama is the only rookie in NBA history to produce even one such game.
Zion Williamson had 29 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists, and a career-high five blocks as the Pelicans eclipsed the Suns 113-105. Williamson is the third player in franchise history to record at least 20 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, and five blocks in a game, joining Anthony Davis (four times) and DeMarcus Cousins (Dec. 29, 2017).
The LA Clippers trailed the Cleveland Cavaliers by 21 points at halftime before rallying for a 120-118 win. That ties the second-largest halftime deficit overcome to win a game in franchise history, trailing only a 30-point comeback on Jan. 25, 2022 versus the Washington Wizards. It’s also tied for the second-highest halftime lead the Cavaliers have relinquished in a loss.
The Clippers reached 50 wins for just the sixth time in the franchise’s 54-season history. All six of those occurrences have come in the last 12 seasons, although this is their first 50-win season since 2016-17.
The Boston Celtics have won 25 of their last 29 games, outscoring their opponents by 467 points over that span (an average of +16.1 PPG). That’s the largest point differential over any 29-game span in franchise history. In fact, only two teams in NBA history have recorded a larger such figure over a single-season span of 29 games: the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers and the 2015-16 San Antonio Spurs.
The Celtics will finish at least 40 games above .500 for the 13th time in franchise history, four more such seasons than any other franchise (Los Angeles Lakers, nine).
The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 127-117, moving into a tie with the idle Denver Nuggets at the top of the Western Conference standings. The Timberwolves and Nuggets square off Wednesday night in Denver.