Giannis Antetokounmpo flexed his muscles with 41 points and 17 rebounds as defending champions the Milwaukee Bucks took down the Houston Rockets 123-114 in the NBA.
The Bucks snapped Houston's seven-game winning streak behind a monster performance from Finals MVP Antetokounmpo on Friday.
Antetokounmpo also had five assists, three steals and two blocks as he became Milwaukee's all-time blocks leader, surpassing Alton Lister (804).
The Bucks have had five 40/15/5 games since the three-point era (1980) – Antetokounmpo has all five.
Khris Middleton and Bobby Portis had 21 points apiece for the Bucks, who improved to 17-10 this season.
Christian Wood (21 points and 13 rebounds) had a double-double, but it was not enough for the Rockets (8-17), while Garrison Matthews (23 points) and Armoni Brooks (21 points) also impressed.
Houston had been 6-0 with Matthews in the starting line-up but his bid to join Chris Paul (first 15) and Jason Terry (first nine) as the only players in the last 30 years to have the Rockets win their first seven starts with the team fell short.
Durant grounds Hawks, LeBron leads Lakers
Kevin Durant led the way again for the Brooklyn Nets, who outlasted the Atlanta Hawks 113-105. Durant scored 31 points. James Harden added 20 points and 11 assists for the Eastern Conference-leading Nets. Trae Young had 31 points and 10 assists for the Hawks. He joined Russell Westbrook and Michael Jordan as the only players with at least 25 points and 10 assists in five consecutive games since the NBA merger in 1977.
With Anthony Davis (knee soreness) absent, LeBron James inspired the Los Angeles Lakers to a 116-95 victory over the lowly Oklahoma City Thunder. James was 13-of-20 shooting for 33 points. In 15 games this season, James has scored 30 or more points in seven of them.
Burks has game to forget
The New York Knicks opted for Alec Burks over star recruit Kemba Walker in their rotation, but he endured a horror outing in the 90-87 defeat at the Toronto Raptors. Burks missed all seven of his shots from the floor, finishing with just a point in 37 minutes.
The Boston Celtics went down 111-90 to the high-flying Phoenix Suns as Marcus Smart went one-of-13 from the floor – missing all five of his three-point attempts – in a four-point performance.
Toronto FC v CF Montreal: Courtois accepts blame amid ongoing winless streak
Laurent Courtois has accepted that it is on him to find a winning formula as CF Montreal look to snap their winless run against Toronto FC.
Montreal were beaten 3-1 by Columbus Crew in midweek and are now without a victory in six games in all competitions.
That includes a three-game losing streak in MLS, leaving them 13th in the Eastern Conference, and Courtois is eager to get back on track.
"It's up to me to find the winning formulas and discern the phases of the game," head coach Courtois said after the loss to Columbus.
"We have to grit our teeth and find solutions. The difficult times we are going through help me identify my group. I want to know the players better.
"From all the negative aspects we can observe, I can identify a few individual aspects to improve the game or the team itself."
Monreal's rivals Toronto have themselves lost back-to-back games ahead of Saturday's Canadian Classique at BMO Field.
Nashville SC scored twice late on to snatch a 2-0 win in the Reds' most recent match, but acting head coach Jason deVos admits there can be no excuses.
"The last ten minutes, two mistakes cost us and that's the cruelty of football sometimes - that it's a 90-minute match and you need to put in a 90-minute performance in," he said.
"The players are aware of that. They know where the growth areas are for us as a team."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Toronto - Federico Bernardeschi
Bernardeschi missed the loss to Nashville but will hope to start this weekend in a fixture he has fond memories of.
The Italian has scored in each of his two home games against Montreal, making him the third Toronto player to score in two successive home games against them after Jozy Altidore and Michael Bradley.
Montreal - Joel Waterman
Montreal have conceded three or more goals five times across their 12 MLS games this season, which is tied with San Jose Earthquakes for the most in MLS.
They quite simply need to sharpen up at the back, with Joel Waterman needing to step up and hope others around him also do so.. The centre-back led the way for interceptions (three) and clearances (four) against Columbus, yet it was still not enough.
MATCH PREDICTION: DRAW
Montreal have won five successive matches against Toronto, following a run of neither side ever winning more than three on the spin in this fixture.
Toronto have won seven and drawn one of their eight matches in which they have held opponents under two goals since September, while they have lost all 13 in which they have shipped two or more.
Keeping the opposition quiet is therefore key, and this could present a chance to do just that against a Montreal side with fewer points (five) than any side in MLS since mid-March.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Toronto - 39.6%
Draw - 28.5%
Montreal - 31.9%
New England Revolution v Philadelphia Union: Porter urges players to cut out errors
Caleb Porter accepts New England Revolution must cut out the individual errors if they are to return to winning ways against Philadelphia Union.
The Revs went down 4-2 to New York Red Bulls last time out to make it four defeats in their last five games, and eight losses in 11 overall this season in MLS.
New England are bottom of the Eastern Conference, but Porter hopes lessons have been learned ahead of hosting Philadelphia on Saturday.
"Three of the four [goals NYRB scored] were individual mistakes that are easily correctable," Porter told The Blazing Musket. "We've gone to the training ground and corrected a few of those situation.
"But it's just individuals in those moments have to be better. It wasn't a bad team-defending performance, but three of the four goals we gave up were routine."
The Union have double the number of points compared to their opponents, having played one game more, as they occupy ninth place in the East.
The Us are themselves not in great form, though, as they lost 2-1 at home to New York City FC in their most recent game - a contest overshadowed by a raccoon that entered the field.
They have just two points from the past 18 on offer, meanwhile, and head coach Jim Curtin admits it is on him and his players to turn things around.
"The guys fight until the end, and we have to find a way to get out of this," Curtin said. "We're the only people that are going to get us out of it.
"The people in that locker room, the coaches, the players, they recognise that. They've shown they can beat anybody, and we're the only ones that can dig us out of this now."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
New England Revolution - Carles Gil
Gil got the Revs temporarily on level terms against New York Red Bulls, with that his 100th regular-season goal contribution in MLS. That makes the Revs' attacking midfielder the seventh European player to reach that milestone, and the second Spaniard after David Villa.
Philadelphia Union - Julian Carranza
Carranza was on target for the Union in their midweek loss to New York City, coming from one of nine attempts he had on target. The former Argentina age-grade international has now registered four-or-more shots in four MLS career matches.
To put that in perspective, the two other players to have done so in the club's history - Conor Casey and Andrew Wenger - have done so in a combined two games (one each).
MATCH PREDICTION: DRAW
Philadelphia have won 12 matches against the Revs across all MLS competitions, which includes MLS is Back, since 2018 - their best return against any single opponent across that period.
New England's tally of seven points from their opening 11 games is their worst-such return at this stage of a campaign in club history, with only two out of 17 teams in the post-shootout era (since 2000) managing to reach the playoffs from this position.
However, there is some hope for them this weekend as the Union's one point across their past five matches is their fewest across any five-game span within a single season since April 2017.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
New England Revolution - 36.1%
Draw - 28.8%
Philadelphia Union - 35.1%
Conley return completes Timberwolves as they force Nuggets decider
Mike Conley Jr. said his return had completed the Minnesota Timberwolves after they crushed the Denver Nuggets to force a Game 7 in the teams' Western Conference semifinal series.
The Nuggets had the chance to eliminate the Timberwolves at Target Center on Thursday after going 3-2 up in the series, but the hosts roared back to tie things up with a 115-70 rout.
Anthony Edwards led the way with 27 points and Jaden McDaniels added 21 on 8-of-10 shooting, with the Timberwolves' win the second-largest NBA Playoff victory by a team facing elimination in history.
Edwards put the team's improvement down to the return of guard Conley, who missed Game 5 after suffering from soreness in his right Achilles tendon.
Asked what had changed for Minnesota, Edwards said: "We got Mike Conley back. That was it."
Conley said: "Obviously I wanted to play the last game. I just couldn't move at all. Tonight it was a no-brainer.
"I was going to try to find a way. We're just better when we're a complete team."
MVP Nikola Jokic had 22 points and nine rebounds for the defending champions, who were stunned by a 20-0 first-quarter run from the third-seeded Timberwolves.
Asked how Denver would look to forget about the loss, Jokic said: "I think we shouldn't.
"I think we need to let it sink in. It's a great loss. They destroyed us, and we should learn from it."
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