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 ⭐️
Devin Booker scored a season-high 47 points as the Phoenix Suns needed overtime to knock off the Utah Jazz 135-127. Booker shot 18-33 from the field (3-10 on 3-pointers) and 8-9 from the free throw line. He also recorded a game-high 11 assists, six rebounds, and one steal in 49 minutes of playing time.
Second ⭐️
Jordan Poole poured in a career-high 45 points, but it wasn’t enough as the Washington Wizards fell to the Cleveland Cavaliers 134-124. Poole went 16-32 from the floor (although just 4-17 on 3-pointers) and made nine of his 11 free throw attempts. He added a game-high five assists (tied with three others), four rebounds, and one steal in 37 minutes played.
Third ⭐️
Malik Beasley scored a career-high 36 points to lead the Detroit Pistons to a 125-112 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. Beasley shot 13-23 from the field, sinking nine of his 19 attempts from 3-point range. He was charged with just one turnover and one personal foul in 38 minutes of action.
Milestones
Booker now has five career 40-point, 10-assist games, breaking a tie with Gail Goodrich for the most such games in Phoenix Suns history.
Beasley tied the Detroit Pistons record for most 3-pointers attempted in a game with 19, matching the mark he set earlier this season (Dec. 19, 2024). He made nine of those attempts, one shy of the franchise single-game record.
Beasley made his 200th 3-pointer of the season, becoming just the second player in franchise history to attain that milestone. He joins Saddiq Bey, who did so in the 2021-22 campaign. Beasley needed just 52 games to reach that mark, 25 fewer than Bey.
The Sixers’ Kyle Lowry dished out three assists, moving into a tie with Tim Hardaway for 19th place on the NBA’s career leaderboard with 7,095.
Streaking
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 25 points (14-14 free throws) and six assists in the Oklahoma City Thunder’s 121-109 win over the Toronto Raptors. Gilgeous-Alexander has scored at least 20 points in 45 straight games, the longest such streak of his career and the third-longest such streak in franchise history.
Gilgeous-Alexander has scored at least 25 points in each of his last 19 games, matching the longest such streak of his career. He’s averaging 35.6 PPG and 5.8 APG with 55.9/34.8/93.5 shooting splits over that span.
The Sixers’ Tyrese Maxey recorded his 17th consecutive 25-point game, registering team highs of 27 points and seven assists. He tied Trae Young for the fifth-longest such streak in NBA history by a player with a listed height of 6 feet 2 inches or shorter.
The San Antonio Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama tallied 16 points, 11 rebounds, and five blocks in a 117-116 loss to the Charlotte Hornets. He’s blocked at least one shot in 82 straight games, the longest such streak in franchise history (by 21 games) and the longest such streak in the NBA this century.
Wembanyama went just 1-9 from beyond the arc, but that was enough to extend his streak of games with at least one 3-pointer made and one block to 39 games. It’s the longest such streak in NBA history by a whopping 18 games.
Finally, Wembanyama has produced 10 straight double-doubles, the longest such streak of his career. He’s averaging 22.3 PPG, 11.6 RPG, and 3.8 BPG over that stretch.
The Cleveland Cavaliers made 16 threes, led by Darius Garland and Max Strus with five apiece. It’s the 57th consecutive game in which they’ve made 10 or more 3-pointers, the third-longest such streak in NBA history.
Miscellany
Booker paced all scorers with his season-high 47 points last night. Also scoring at least 30 points were Poole (career-high 45), Beasley (career-high 36), the Spurs’ Stephon Castle (career-high 33), and the Cavaliers’ Donovan Mitchell (33).
The Jazz’s Walker Kessler was the night’s top board man, hauling in a career-high 22 rebounds. The Hornets’ Moussa Diabate and the Milwaukee Bucks’ Bobby Portis tied for second place with 15 boards apiece, while the Suns’ Nick Richards and the Miami Heat’s Kel’el Ware collected 14 each.
The Jazz’s Isaiah Collier was the leading playmaker last night, handing out a career-high 13 assists. Next in line was Booker with 11 dimes, followed by the Hornets’ LeMelo Ball, the Atlanta Hawks’ Dyson Daniels, the Bucks’ Damian Lillard, and the Raptors’ Immanuel Quickley with 10 apiece (a career high for Daniels).
Booker has scored at least 45 points in a game 17 times. No other player in Phoenix Suns history has produced more than two such games.
Castle recorded his first career 30-point game, going 10-15 from the floor and 10-11 from the free throw line. He’s the first rookie guard in San Antonio Spurs history to make at least 10 field goals and 10 free throws in a game.
The Oklahoma City Thunder’s Chet Holmgren made his return after a 39-game absence, blocking four shots and posting a game-best rating of plus-22 points in just 22 minutes played.
The Atlanta Hawks defeated the Milwaukee Bucks 115-110, and for the second time this season four Hawks recorded a double-double: Mouhamed Gueye (15 points, 12 rebounds), Dyson Daniels (15 points, 10 assists), Onyeka Okongwu (14 points, 12 rebounds), and Vit Krejci (11 points, 10 rebounds). The only other team to achieve that feat even once this season is the Memphis Grizzlies on Nov. 2, 2024.
The Oklahoma City Thunder improved to a league-best 41-9 on the season, picking up their 33rd double-digit win. The only team in NBA history to record more such wins through their first 50 games of a season is the 2015-16 San Antonio Spurs with 34.