Three Stars
Here are my “three stars” from yesterday’s NBA games, with the “first star” considered the top performer.
First ⭐️
Cooper Flagg scored a game-high 29 points (tied with Giannis Antetokounmpo) to lead the Dallas Mavericks to a 113-109 victory over the Miami Heat. Flagg made 12 of his 23 attempts from the field, including two 3-pointers. He also recorded a game-high 11 assists (tied with Antetokounmpo), six rebounds, a game-high five steals, and a game-high three blocks (tied with Zaccharie Risacher) in 40 minutes played.
Second ⭐️
Anthony Edwards erupted for a game-high 47 points, but it wasn’t enough as the Minnesota Timberwolves fell to the Cleveland Cavaliers 127-125 in overtime. Edwards went 19-34 from the floor, although he hit just five of his 15 attempts from 3-point range. He added four rebounds, four assists, a team-high two steals, and a team-high two blocks (tied with Joan Beringer) in 41 minutes of action.
Third ⭐️
Alperen Sengun produced game highs of 29 points and nine assists as the Houston Rockets improved to 4-0 with a 120-110 win over the Atlanta Hawks. Sengun was very efficient, going 11-15 from the field and 6-8 from the free throw line. He also contributed nine rebounds, a game-high six steals, and one block in 37 minutes played.
Milestones
At 19 years and 309 days old, Flagg became the first teenager to record at least 20 points, 10 assists, and five steals in a game since the NBA began tracking steals in the 1973-74 season.
The Heat’s Giannis Antetokounmpo recorded his 57th career triple-double, compiling 29 points, 14 rebounds, and 11 assists. It was his 474th career 25-point game, breaking a tie with Adrian Dantley for 20th place on the NBA’s all-time list.
Nikola Jokic had 19 points and 11 assists in the Denver Nuggets’ 134-114 loss to the Golden State Warriors, his 250th career points-assists double-double. No other center in NBA history has even recorded 80 such games.
Jokic snagged his 9,000th career rebound, becoming the 61st player in NBA history and the seventh active player to attain that milestone. He’s just the third player in league history to reach career totals of 18,000 points, 9,000 rebounds, and 6,000 assists, joining LeBron James and Russell Westbrook.
Devin Booker increased his career total to 4,580 free throws attempted in the Phoenix Suns’ 125-114 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, breaking a tie with Kevin Johnson atop the franchise’s all-time list. He is also the Suns’ career leader in free throws made with 4,001.
Streaking
The Warriors’ Stephen Curry hit all three of his attempts from beyond the arc to extend two 3-point streaks. He’s made at least one 3-pointer in 95 straight games (eighth longest in NBA history, tied with Klay Thompson) and multiple 3-pointers in 34 straight games (also eighth longest, tied with himself).
The Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander tallied 26 points, the 154th consecutive game in which he’s scored at least 15 points. It’s the seventh-longest such streak in NBA history.
Team(s) with a winning streak of five or more games (dating back to last season): Houston Rockets (five).
Miscellany
Edwards now has 31 career 40-point games, as many as the next three players on the Timberwolves’ all-time list combined: Karl-Anthony Towns (13), Kevin Love (10), and Andrew Wiggins (eight).
The Chicago Bulls were destroyed by the Boston Celtics 134-99, becoming just the second team in NBA history to suffer two 35-point losses within their first four games of a season. The 2017-18 Phoenix Suns were the first team to achieve this ignominious feat.
The Memphis Grizzlies moved to 4-0 with a 110-105 victory over the Utah Jazz. It’s just the second time in franchise history they’ve opened a season with four straight wins, the first such occurrence coming in the 2014-15 season (when they started 6-0).
As far as feats go, is ignominious the worst kind?