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 ⭐️
Tyrese Maxey recorded his 15th straight 25-point game, scoring a team-high 33 points as the Philadelphia 76ers edged the Dallas Mavericks 118-116. Maxey shot 13-22 from the field, missing just one of his 11 attempts from inside the 3-point arc. He also dished out a game-high 13 assists and swiped a team-high two steals in 40 minutes played.
Second ⭐️
LeBron James produced game highs of 26 points and nine assists (tied with two others) to lead the Los Angeles Lakers in a 122-97 rout of the LA Clippers, the Lakers’ seventh win in their last eight games. James shot 8-13 from the floor (2-4 on 3-pointers) and 8-11 from the free throw line. He added a team-high eight rebounds and a game-high three steals (tied with Kris Dunn) in 31 minutes of playing time.
Third ⭐️
Karl-Anthony Towns scored 27 points and hauled in a game-high 20 rebounds in the New York Knicks’ 121-115 victory over the Toronto Raptors, New York’s seventh win in its last eight contests. Towns went 10-19 from the field (2-3 on 3-pointers) and made all five of his free throw attempts. He also blocked one shot and committed just one personal foul in 39 minutes of action.
Milestones
Chicago Bulls rookie Matas Buzelis scored a career-high 24 points on 10-10 shooting from the floor in a 133-124 win over the Miami Heat. He set a franchise record for most field goals made in a game without a miss, besting the previous mark of nine shared by Artis Gilmore, Trent Tucker, and Andre Drummond.
Buzelis made four 3-pointers, resulting in an effective field goal percentage of 120%. That’s the highest such figure in NBA history by a rookie with at least 10 field goals made in a game.
Towns recorded his 10th career 20-point, 20-rebound game with multiple 3-pointers made. He’s the first player in NBA history to reach that mark. No other player has produced more than seven such games.
The LA Clippers’ James Harden scored just seven points on 2-12 shooting from the floor, but he reached 1,000 points in a season for the 14th time. The only guards in NBA history with more such seasons are Kobe Bryant (16) and Russell Westbrook (15).
Streaking
As mentioned above, Maxey has recorded 15 consecutive 25-point games, the longest such streak of his career (by 10 games) and tying Allen Iverson for the fifth-longest such streak in Sixers history.
Maxey has produced six straight 30-point games, also the longest such streak of his career (double his previous best) and tied for the 10th-longest such streak in Sixers history. He’s averaging 35.5 PPG and 7.8 APG with 53.5/40.0/92.5 shooting splits over that span.
James has scored at least 20 points in each of his last 11 games, the longest such streak in NBA history by a player age 40 years or older. He’s averaging 25.3 PPG, 7.5 RPG, and 9.8 APG with a 52.9% field goal percentage over that stretch.
Team(s) with a winning streak of five or more games: Portland Trail Blazers (five).
Led by Anfernee Simons’ 22 points and seven assists (both game highs), the Trail Blazers blew out the Indiana Pacers 112-89. Portland has won five consecutive games for the first time since May 2021. They’ve won nine of their last 10 games, with six of those victories coming by double digits.
The Cleveland Cavaliers made 11 threes in a 112-105 loss to the Boston Celtics, the 55th straight game in which they’ve hit 10 or more 3-pointers. That ties the Houston Rockets (Oct. 25, 2017 to Feb. 25, 2018) for the third-longest such streak in NBA history.
Miscellany
The Mavericks’ Kyrie Irving was the nightly scoring leader, bagging 34 points. Maxey was next in line with 33 points, followed by the Cavaliers’ Donovan Mitchell with 31.
The Houston Rockets’ Alperen Sengun and Towns shared rebounding honors with 20 boards apiece last night (a season high for Sengun). The Cavaliers’ Jarrett Allen placed third with 18 rebounds.
Maxey was the top playmaker last night, handing out 13 assists. Teammate Joel Embiid was the only other player to deliver double-digit dimes with 10.
The 22-year-old Sengun scored 24 points to go with his 20 rebounds, his first career 20-point,. 20-rebound game. The last Rocket to record such a game before his 23rd birthday was Hakeem Olajuwon on March 19, 1985.
Embiid returned from a 15-game absence to record his eighth career triple-double, racking up 29 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists. It wasn’t all good for Embiid, who went just 4-9 from the free throw line, committed a game-high five turnovers, and posted a rating of minus-12 points in 36 minutes played.
The Brooklyn Nets snapped an 11-game home losing streak, hitting two 3-pointers in the final 10 seconds to stun the Houston Rockets 99-97. D’Angelo Russell connected on the game-winning 28-footer with 3.4 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.