NBA Game Notes (Dec. 27, 2024)

Here are the NBA game notes for games that were played on Dec. 27, 2024.

Dec 28, 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 ⭐️

Jaylen Brown poured in a season-high 44 points as the Boston Celtics routed the Indiana Pacers 142-105. Brown shot 16-24 from the field (6-11 on 3-pointers) and made all six of his free throw attempts. He also contributed five rebounds, a game-high four steals, and three assists, committing just one turnover and zero personal fouls in 37 minutes played.

Second ⭐️

Nikola Jokic scored a team-high 27 points (tied with Jamal Murray) to go with game highs of 14 rebounds and 13 assists in the Denver Nuggets’ 149-135 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Jokic went 12-19 from the floor, although he missed all three of his 3-point attempts. He also swiped a team-high three steals and was charged with only one turnover and one personal foul in 36 minutes of action.

Third ⭐️

Jaren Jackson Jr. scored a team-high 33 points to lead the Memphis Grizzlies to a 132-124 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans. Jackson Jr. shot 11-21 from the field (4-6 from 3-point range) and 7-7 from the free throw line. He added five rebounds, a game-high four steals (tied with Desmond Bane), and a game-high three blocks (tied with Yves Missi) in 35 minutes of playing time.

Milestones

Victor Wembanyama tallied a team-high 19 points, seven rebounds, and a game-high six blocks in the San Antonio Spurs’ 96-87 win over the Brooklyn Nets. He blocked his league-leading 100th shot of the season in the first quarter. The only player in franchise history to reach that mark in fewer games than Wembanyama’s 26 is David Robinson (twice).

Streaking

Wembanyama went 3-6 from long range to go with his six blocks, extending his streak of games with at least one 3-pointer made and one block to 22 games. That breaks a tie with Kristaps Porzingis (Jan. 3, 2018 to Oct. 29, 2019) for the longest such streak in NBA history.
Wembanyama has blocked at least one shot in 65 consecutive games, the longest such streak in Spurs history. Since the NBA began tracking blocks in 1973-74, no other player has produced such a streak longer than 33 games before their 21st birthday.
The LA Clippers’ Norman Powell scored a team-high 26 points in a 102-92 win over the Golden State Warriors, his career-high fifth straight 25-point game. He’s averaging 28.2 PPG with 51.5/43.9/88.5 shooting spilts over that span.
Team(s) with a winning streak of five or more games: Cleveland Cavaliers (six) and New York Knicks (six).
Team(s) with a losing streak of five or more games: New Orleans Pelicans (nine).
The Cavaliers went 23-48 from 3-point range, their fourth consecutive game with 20 or more threes made. That matches the longest such streak in NBA history held by the Boston Celtics (March 12-18, 2024).
The Cavaliers have scored at least 120 points in each of their last five games, snapping a tie for the longest such streak in franchise history. They’ve also made 15 or more 3-pointers in each of those games. The only other franchise to record at least 120 points and 15 threes made in five straight games is the Celtics (twice).
The Cavaliers have scored at least 100 points with 10 threes made in 35 straight games, tying the Golden State Warriors (April 4, 2021 to Nov. 12, 2021) for the third-longest such streak in NBA history.

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Brown was the night’s leading scorer, bagging a season-high 44 points. Seven more players scored at least 30 points: the Houston Rockets’ Alperen Sengun (season-high 38), the Phoenix Suns’ Kevin Durant (35), the Pelicans’ Trey Murphy III (season-high 35), the Warriors’ Jonathan Kuminga (career-high 34), Jackson Jr. (33), the Cavaliers’ Donovan Mitchell (33), and the Pelicans’ CJ McCollum (32).
Jokic and the Spurs’ Jeremy Sochan were the top board men last night, hauling in 14 rebounds apiece. The Knicks’ Josh Hart and the Celtics’ Jayson Tatum were next with 13 boards each, followed by Sengun with 12.
Jokic was also the top playmaker, handing out 13 assists last night. Also delivering double-digit dimes were the Nets’ Shake Milton (season-high 12), the Nuggets’ Jamal Murray (season-high-tying 11), and the Celtics’ Payton Pritchard (season-high-tying 10).