Happy Monday.
Countdown’s on …
The Lineup
- Must-see from Sunday
- Book is back .. so are the Suns
- Giannis winner + 6️⃣ more games
- Weekend: Tournament time
- LeBron, Embiid and PIE
Lakers-Sixers, 7 ET, NBA TV
Nuggets-Clippers, 10:30 ET, NBA TV
3 more games on the NBA App
Group Play Finales on Tuesday
- MONDAY MORNING MUST-SEE
- Booker for the win: The Knicks tried to force someone else to beat them. They doubled Devin Booker with eight seconds left, forcing him to give the ball up. But Booker immediately got it back, curled along the right wing and rose up for a fadeaway 3 over Julius Randle and RJ Barrett that swished with 1.7 seconds left to seal Phoenix’s seventh straight win
- Giannis’ night of highlights: In addition to his game-winning tip-in with 18.5 seconds left to cap off a 26-point Bucks comeback win, Giannis also had a massive block and blew the minds of a pair of fans simply by tying his shoe in front of them
- Dame reunion: Damian Lillard faced his former team for the first time since being traded to Milwaukee this offseason. He had hugs for coach Chauncey Billups and Anfernee Simons before dropping 31 in the win
- Family time: Al Horford doesn’t keep family time to just pregame and postgame. He swatted Trae Young’s layup attempt right into the lap of his son, sitting behind the basket
- Get hyped: Come for the massive dunk by Jaylen Brown … stick around for the reaction shots throughout the TD Garden crowd
- Wemby being Wemby: Check out this defense-to-offense sequence from the rook: block, rebound, dish, get it back, pull-up 3, splash. When Wemby points, just toss it up and he’ll go get it. He can do that thanks in part to his massive hands, which Nuggets rookie Jalen Pickett could not stop talking about while being mic’d up
- BOOK IS BACK … AND SO ARE THE SUNS
Devin Booker’s return has the Suns scorching up the West standings.
- Before: Phoenix was 4-6 and 10th in the West when Booker was cleared to return from a calf injury on Nov. 15
- After: Phoenix has not lost since, going 7-0 since Booker’s return, to improve to 11-6 and third in the West
- No KD, no Ls: Even with Kevin Durant missing the past two games (foot), the Suns have not missed a beat thanks to Booker, who is averaging 28.9 points, 4.9 rebounds and 8.4 assists during the streak. The Suns are plus-95 in Booker’s 234 minutes on court
☀️ Suns 116, Knicks 113
Recap | PHX 11-6, NYK 9-7
- Booker vs. Brunson: The star guards dueled at the Garden with Brunson scoring 35 points (including the game-tying jumper) and Booker scoring 28 (including the game-winning 3)
- Been there, done that: Game-winning shots are nothing new to Booker. In fact, this was his sixth game-winning field goal with 10 seconds or less in regulation (team trailing or game tied, and the final basket made by the winning team)
- Who has more?: No one since Booker entered the league in 2016. He’s tied with DeMar DeRozan and Russell Westbrook in that time
- Where’s the video?: Here are Booker’s six game-winners
- SUNDAY ROUNDUP: BUCKS RALLY FROM 26 DOWN
Bucks 108, Blazers 102
Recap | MIL 12-5, POR 4-12
- Remember me?: In his first game against his former squad, Damian Lillard and the Bucks trailed by 26 points early in the third. Dame Time had to come a bit early. Milwaukee outscored Portland 53-21 the rest of the way, with 17 coming from Dame, including the game-tying 3
- Dynamic duo: Giannis (33) and Dame (31) combined for 64 points in the win, with Giannis finishing off the comeback with the game-winning tip-in with 18.5 seconds left
- Deja vu: Milwaukee’s 26-point comeback marked the second-largest in franchise history, trailing only a 27-point rally against Chicago … exactly 11 years ago (Nov. 26, 2012). Watch the final 3:07
Magic 130, Hornets 117
Recap | ORL 12-5, CHA 5-10
- The Magic got 30 points apiece from Cole Anthony and Franz Wagner as they won their seventh straight. It’s their longest win streak in nearly 13 years (nine straight from Dec. 23, 2010 – Jan. 8, 2011)
- Brandon Miller scored 20 to lead the Hornets, who lost LaMelo Ball to an ankle injury late in the first half
Nets 118, Bulls 109
Recap | BKN 8-8, CHI 5-13
- The Nets made 25 3-pointers – including a franchise record 16 in the first half – on Sunday. Brooklyn’s 25 3s are the most of any NBA team this season and the second-most in franchise history
⚒️ Nuggets 132, Spurs 120
Recap | DEN 11-6, SAS 3-14
- Nikola Jokic’s near triple-double (39 pts, 11 reb, 9 ast) and a combined 45 points from Michael Porter Jr. (25) and Reggie Jackson (20) helped the Nuggets avoid a three-game losing streak
- Victor Wembanyama (22 pts, 11 reb, 6 stl, 4 blk) joined Kawhi Leonard and David Robinson as the only Spurs rookies with 20+ points, 10+ rebounds, 5+ steals in a game
⚔️ Cavs 105, Raptors 102
Recap | CLE 9-8, TOR 8-9
- After Max Strus exploded for 20 points in the third, Darius Garland took over in the fourth, scoring nine of his game-high 24, getting the friendly home-court roll on his final bucket with 20.6 to play to put the Cavs up four. Clutch FTs from Donovan Mitchell and great defense by Jarrett Allen sealed the win. Watch the final 3:13
Celtics 113, Hawks 103
Recap | BOS 13-4, ATL 8-8
- Jayson Tatum had 34 points, nine boards, four assists and five 3s to lead the Celtics to a wire-to-wire win over Atlanta. Trae Young stayed hot (33 pts, 6 3s) but Altanta’s three-game run scoring 135+ points came to an end
Wolves 119, Grizzlies 97
Recap | MIN 12-4, MEM 3-13
- Anthony Edwards had 24 points to lead the Wolves to a wire-to-wire win over the Grizzlies to stay atop the West
- WEEKEND REWIND: TOURNAMENT TIME ⏪
Tomorrow’s gonna be special.
- Six (of eight) spots in the In-Season Tournament Knockout Rounds are up for grabs on the final night of Group Play
- Sixteen (16!!) teams will be fighting for those spots
- Peep the Group & Wild Card standings
Here’s how we got here.
FRIDAY
- Knicks rally from 21 down: Facing the longtime rival Miami Heat, Jalen Brunson and the Knicks stormed back in a classic at MSG, moving into second place in East Group B and taking the tiebreaker from Miami
- Curry keeps Warriors’ hopes alive: Steph Curry scored 12 of his 35 points in the fourth as the Warriors held off Wemby & the Spurs to avoid elimination
- Kings, Bucks stay perfect: The Kings moved into the top spot in West Group C after beating the (also) previously undefeated Wolves. The Bucks got 30+ from Giannis, Dame and Brook Lopez (1st MIL trio to do that) to edge the Wizards and stay at No. 1 in East Group B
- Statements from Rockets, Magic: Houston stayed alive with a clutch win over the Nuggets, while Orlando gave Boston its first loss of the Tournament
- Suns lead West wild card: After getting 40 from Book to beat the Grizzlies, the 3-1 Suns (+34 point differential) will await their fate on Tuesday
- Pelicans in first: New Orleans got 30+ from Zion and Ingram, to eliminate the Clippers and slide
- Wanna go deeper?: Head to the In-Season Tournament Tracker, peep the Group & wild card standings or browse around the Hub
SATURDAY
- Joel vs. Chet: The MVP vs. Star Rook matchup came through, with Embiid going for 35 pts and Chet dropping 33. Watch their first duel here
- Just a kid from Akron: LeBron played in Cleveland for the first time since becoming the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, and got a standing ovation from the home crowd for it. The Lakers pulled out the W
- Hawks soaring: With Saturday’s 136-108 win vs Washington, Atlanta’s put up 435 total points over three games. They became one of two teams in the past 30 years to score 430+ across 3 games, joining last year’s Kings
- Haliburton leads Tournament MVP Ladder: In the latest update, Matt Peterson has the Indiana rising star atop his rankings. Bron, Dame, Sabonis & Book round out the Top 5
- LEBRON, JOEL AND A SLICE OF ‘PIE’
‘Tis the season.
The season for upstarts to become contenders, for breakouts to make the leap into the MVP race. And, of course, the season for PIE.
Player Impact Estimate. (We know you were all over that one.)
Today, with MVP candidates Joel Embiid (3rd in PIE) and LeBron James (6th) meeting up in Sixers-Lakers (7 ET, NBA TV), here’s how to (quickly) slice up stats for an early look at MVP contenders – and players making the jump.
Haliburton and Bam have both made big jumps year over year, ascending into the PIE elite.
Ok what’s the deal with PIE?
- It’s pretty simple: A lot happens in a game. Points, rebounds, assists, etc. PIE takes what every player contributes … while subtracting stuff like misses, fouls and turnovers
How does the math work?
- Add up the positive stats, like PTS, AST, STL
- Subtract misses, fouls and turnovers
- Divide by the stats that happen across an entire game
MVP x PIE: 8 of the 10 players in the Kia MVP Ladder rank in the Top 11. And the remaining two? In the top 20
Leap Alert: Haliburton ranked 18th last year. Adebayo? 30th.
