NBA Game Notes (March 31, 2023)

Here are the NBA game notes for games that were played on March 31, 2023.

Quick Hitters

Observations on last night’s NBA action:

• Jalen Brunson scored a career-high 48 points and dished out a game-high nine assists (tied) as the New York Knicks dispatched of the Cleveland Cavaliers 130-116. Brunson shot 18-32 from the field with seven 3-pointers made. The Cavaliers’ Donovan Mitchell scored 42 points in the loss, shooting 16-23 from the field with six 3-pointers made. It’s the 11th time Mitchell has scored at least 40 points in a game this season, breaking a tie with LeBron James (2005-06) for the most such games in a single season in franchise history.

• The Sacramento Kings blew out the depleted Portland Trail Blazers 138-114, reducing their magic number to clinch the Pacific Division title to one. The Kings have scored at least 130 points a league-leading 20 times this season. The last team to record at least 20 such games in a season was the 1983-84 Denver Nuggets (26). Four Kings scored exactly 20 points: De’Aaron Fox, Malik Monk, Keegan Murray, and Domantas Sabonis. Sabonis added a game-high 12 rebounds for his 63rd double-double of the season, seven more such games than any other player (Nikola Jokic, 56).

• Stephen Curry (33 points), Klay Thompson (31), and Jordan Poole (27) combined for 91 points as the Golden State Warriors used a fourth-quarter rally to defeat the San Antonio Spurs 130-115. Curry and Thompson each hit seven 3-pointers, while Poole made six. It’s just the fourth time in NBA history a team has had three players each make at least six 3-pointers in the same game. Poole connected on his 200th 3-pointer of the season, making the Warriors just the second team in NBA history to have three players reach that mark in the same season (2016-17 Houston Rockets).