NBA Game Notes (Jan. 31, 2025)

Here are the NBA game notes for games that were played on Jan. 31, 2025.

Feb 01, 2025

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 poured in a game-high 42 points, but it wasn’t enough as the Philadelphia 76ers were outscored by the Denver Nuggets 137-134. Maxey went 15-26 from the field (6-11 on 3-pointers) and 6-8 from the free throw line. He also distributed a team-high nine assists and swiped two steals in 39 minutes played.

Second ⭐️

Trey Murphy III scored a game-high 40 points in the New Orleans Pelicans’ narrow 118-116 loss to the Boston Celtics. Murphy III shot a blistering 15-20 from the floor, making 8 of his 12 attempts from 3-point range. He also had five rebounds, four assists, and one steal in 39 minutes of action.

Third ⭐️

Jamal Murray netted a team-high 31 points and dished out 11 assists (matching his season high) as the Nuggets defeated the Sixers. Murray went 12-22 from the field and sank all seven of his free throw attempts. He added six rebounds, one steal, and one block, committing just one turnover in 40 minutes of playing time.

Milestones

James Harden handed out a game-high 10 assists in the LA Clippers’ 112-104 victory over the Charlotte Hornets. He delivered his 8,000th career assist in the first quarter, becoming the 13th player in NBA history to reach that mark.
Spurs center Victor Wembanyama tallied 30 points (5-11 on 3-pointers), 14 rebounds, and six blocks. It’s the fifth time he’s recorded at least five 3-pointers made and five blocks in a game, breaking a tie with Raef LaFrentz for the most such games in NBA history.
The Celtics’ Jaylen Brown scored a team-high 28 points on 11-18 shooting from the field. He became the first player from the 2016 NBA Draft class to reach the 11,000-point milestone.
Brown and teammate Jayson Tatum (27 points) each scored at least 20 points in the same game for the 185th time. That ties the Los Angeles Lakers’ Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Jamaal Wilkes for the 15th-most such games in NBA history by a duo.
The San Antonio Spurs went 24-50 from beyond the arc in a 144-118 rout of the Milwaukee Bucks, setting a franchise record for most 3-pointers made in a game. A franchise-record 11 players made at least one 3-pointer, led by Wembanyama with five.

Streaking

Maxey has scored at least 25 points in each of his last 13 games, the longest such streak of his career by eight games. The only players in Sixers history to record a longer such streak are Allen Iverson (four times, high of 27) and Joel Embiid (five times, high of 23).
Murphy III became the first player in New Orleans Pelicans history to score at least 30 points on 75% shooting from the field in back-to-back games. Only three other active players have accomplished this feat: LeBron James, Domantas Sabonis, and Deandre Ayton.
The Detroit Pistons’ Cade Cunningham scored a game-high 40 points in a 117-102 win over the Dallas Mavericks. He’s recorded a career-high 11 consecutive 20-point games, averaging 29.1 PPG, 5.6 RPG, and 8.9 APG over that stretch.
Wembanyama has blocked at least one shot in 79 straight games, the longest such streak in franchise history (by 18 games) and the longest such streak in the NBA this century.
Wembanyama has recorded at least one 3-pointer made and one block in 36 consecutive games, the longest such streak in NBA history by 15 games.
The Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo extended his double-double streak to 18 games, registering game highs of 35 points and 14 rebounds (tied with Wembanyama). He’s averaging 30.7 PPG, 13.2 RPG, and 5.7 APG over that span, shooting 59.9% from the field.
Antetokounmpo has produced four straight 35-point, 10-rebound games, tying Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (twice) for the longest such streak in Milwaukee Bucks history.
Antetokounmpo and teammate Damian Lillard (22 points) have each scored at least 20 points in the last 12 games they’ve played together, the longest such streak in franchise history by a duo. In fact, no other Bucks duo has produced more than seven such games in a row.
Team(s) with a losing streak of five or more games: New Orleans Pelicans (five).

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Maxey led the nightly scoring brigade, bagging 42 points. He was followed by Cunningham (season-high-tying 40), Murphy III (season-high 40), Antetokounmpo (35), the Phoenix Suns’ Devin Booker (31), Murray (31), and Wembanyama (30).
The Suns’ Nick Richards paced eight players with at least a dozen rebounds last night, collecting 16 boards. The others were Antetokounmpo (14), the Hornets’ Moussa Diabate (14), Wembanyama (14), the Pistons’ Jalen Duren (13), the Pelicans’ Yves Missi (13), the Mavericks’ P.J. Washington (13), and the Chicago Bulls’ Nikola Vucevic (12).
The Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic was the night’s leading playmaker, handing out 13 assists. Also delivering double-digit dimes were Booker (11), Murray (season-high-tying 11), Harden (10), and Tatum (season-high-tying 10).
The red-hot Denver Nuggets shot 54-82 from the field (12-23 on 3-pointers) and 17-18 from the free throw line last night, a true shooting percentage of 76.2%. That’s the highest such figure in the NBA this season and the third-highest such figure in franchise history.