Kevin Durant was relieved to play a leading role in ending the Phoenix Suns' three-game losing streak against the Houston Rockets.

He registered a career-high 16 assists to go with 27 points and 10 rebounds in his 18th career triple-double on Wednesday, giving the Suns a 129-113 win.

Durant shot 9 of 16 from the field and 3 of 7 from 3-point range as Phoenix snapped a three-game losing run with its first road victory since Nov. 26.

Eric Gordon also scored 27 points in his first game back in Houston since being traded in February. He had 17 points in the Suns' 43-point second quarter.

The Suns are back in action against the Charlotte Hornets on Friday and Durant is thrilled to go into a six-game homestand – their longest of the season – with a key road win behind them.

"It was amazing to get back on the winning side," he said.

"It sucks losing. Having a tough stretch in the NBA is one of the worst feelings you can have, regardless of how many games we play in a season."

Phoenix is 15-15 after winning just three of their last 10 games, putting them 10th in the Western Conference.

"Kevin just got into an aggressive mode to score or pass," added Suns coach Frank Vogel.

"Taking the ball in the backcourt, running a high volume of pick and rolls and just being aggressive. He really led us."

Devin Booker had 20 points for the Suns and there were 16 points from Grayson Allen.

Alperen Sengun had 24 points and Jalen Green added 23 for the Rockets, who have lost four of six following a five-game winning streak.

The Rockets fell to 15-14 after Gordon made his mark on his return to Houston, sinking seven 3-pointers.

"It was great to be back here – I had a lot of good memories and a lot of fun here and it was a major turning point in my career, coming to Houston," said Gordon.

Kevin Durant registered a career-high 16 assists to go with 27 points and 10 rebounds in his 18th career triple-double on Wednesday, leading the Phoenix Suns to a 129-113 win over the Houston Rockets.

Durant shot 9 of 16 from the field and 3 of 7 from 3-point range as Phoenix snapped a three-game losing streak with it first road victory since Nov. 26.

Eric Gordon also scored 27 points in his first game back in Houston since being traded in February. He had 17 points in the Suns’ 43-point second quarter.

Alperen Sengun had 24 points and Jalen Green added 23 for the Rockets, who have lost four of six following a five-game winning streak.

Gilgeous-Alexander, Williams help Thunder win

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams scored 36 points apiece and Williams sank a pair of key 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to lift the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 129-120 victory over the New York Knicks.

Chet Holmgren added 22 points on 9-of-14 shooting as the Thunder followed Tuesday’s triumph over Western Conference-leading Minnesota with their fifth win in six games.

Williams scored 17 points on 6 of 7 from the field in the fourth quarter, including eight points and two 3s during a 10-2 run after the Knicks cut their deficit to five with 4:37 remaining.

Julius Randle had 25 points and Jalen Brunson added 24 for New York, which had won three of four.

Antetokounmpo, Bucks handle undermanned Nets

Giannis Antetokounmpo had 32 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists and the Milwaukee Bucks pulled away for a 144-122 win over the short-handed Brooklyn Nets.

Khris Middleton added 27 points and 10 boards and Cameron Payne and Malik Beasley each hit five 3-pointers as the Bucks improved to 10-2 this month.

Milwaukee shot 23 of 51 from 3-point range and 58.4 percent (52 for 89) overall to bounce back from a Christmas Day loss to the Knicks.

The Nets rested three starters (Spencer Dinwiddie, Nic Claxton and Cam Johnson) and barely played two others one night after a victory in Detroit extended the Pistons’ losing streak an NBA-record 27.

Ja Morant says the Memphis Grizzlies are well aware of their own potential after claiming a fourth straight win.

The Grizzlies beat the New Orleans Pelicans 116-115 in overtime on Tuesday, and they are now 4-0 since Morant returned from his suspension.

Morant finished with 31 points, while Desmond Bane scored 27 as Memphis fought back from a double-digit deficit.

For Morant, it was merely more evidence that the Grizzlies know how good they can be.

"We know what we're capable of," Morant said.

"We told ourselves, we've been here before. We were very confident.

"Being able to come back and win four games now and continue to take this momentum to the next game, and the next day, is big time for us."

Morant had been named the Western Conference's Player of the Week prior to tip-off against the Pelicans, having averaged 28.8 points since his return to action.

"A lot of credit to my teammates," Morant added.

"Obviously, without them on the floor, I won't have the gaps I have, the lanes I have and them always telling me to be aggressive allows me to go out and deliver for us."

It was another damaging defeat for the Pelicans, who have lost three of their last four games after going on a four-game winning run.

"For three-and-a-half quarters, our game-plan discipline was at a high level," said Pelicans coach Willie Green.

"As the game started to get a little close, we get tired, and we started to turn the ball over, not execute as well and we let them right back into the game.

"This crap hurts, losing games like this. But it's a part of it and we have to learn from these moments."

The Detroit Pistons have lost 27 consecutive games and there are few positives to take from the situation, says Cade Cunningham.

Detroit went down 118-112 to the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday, etching their name into the NBA records books in the process.

The Pistons have now lost more games successively in a single season than any other team in the history of the competition. The Philadelphia 76ers hold the overall record, with 28 straight defeats, though that skid was spread over the 2014-15 and 2015-16 campaigns.

And Cunningham, who had 41 points, says there is nothing positive to glean from the scenario.

"I don't think what I said was positivity, I think it's just being real," Cunningham told reporters after attempting to rally the Pistons troops in the locker room.

"There's nothing positive about this situation right now that we put ourselves in, so that's why we have to dig deep and get ourselves out of it.

"You can't get away from it. It weighs on us every day, I mean everywhere. It weighs on us."

Coach Monty Williams said he shoulders the blame.

"Again, when you look at records, you think of coaches, but I'm sure the players don't want that attached to the name on the jersey," he said.

"Was it heavy? It's been heavy for a while. That's just the nature of this kind of losing streak and it's not gonna change because we're grading the level of it, we've got to do what we've got to do to change it.

"Nobody wants this kind of thing attached to them. I was brought in here to change this thing and it's probably the most on me than anybody. The players are playing their hearts out, I’ve got to put them in a position where they don’t feel tight or heavy but it’s where we are – that’s the reality of the situation.

"I don't think anyone in our locker room has been through this. I don't have a reference point. I've been through tough playoff losses, and this is relative to that. When you lose a playoff game, this kind of feels like that.

"Basketball is a body of work you take a lot of pride in, and you take pride because you want to win. We just haven't done that."

Detroit's fans made their feelings known during the game, chanting "Sell the team!"

It was a chant that did not sit well with the Pistons' Jaden Ivey, who said: "We have the right people in this locker room and most importantly, I just heard the fans talking about sell the team and just in my mind it's like what we talked about, who is with us? Whose really with us?"

"The crowd was amazing, I thought, but there's some that [I'm wondering] who is really with us?

"Chanting 'sell the team,' I thought it was a bit much because we're growing and obviously the record and a lot of people expected us to be better in this upcoming point of the season, but we're gonna continue to row the boat and we're gonna forget what everybody else says, stay together and play for each other."

Next up for the Pistons is a clash with the league-leading Boston Celtics on Thursday.

The Detroit Pistons etched their name into the history books Tuesday, setting the NBA single-season record with their 27th straight loss, 118-112 to the Brooklyn Nets.

Cam Johnson scored 24 points and Mikal Bridges added 21 for the Nets, who handed the Pistons their 26th consecutive loss on Saturday.

Cade Cunningham poured in 37 of his 41 points in the second half and shot 15 of 21, but Detroit broke a tie with the 2010-11 Cleveland Cavaliers and 2013-14 Philadelphia 76ers. The 76ers hold the overall mark at 28 straight losses, a skid that started in 2014-15 and carried over into 2015-16.

The Pistons’ next chance to end the streak is Thursday at league-leading Boston.

Cunnigham made a pair of layups to draw the Pistons within 112-110 with less than a minute remaining, but Dorian Finney-Smith sank a baseline 3-point to put the Nets up 115-110 with 38 seconds left.

Alec Burks then missed a 3-pointer and Bridges hit two free throws for a 117-110 advantage.

Grizzlies win in OT, improve to 4-0 since Morant’s return

Ja Morant scored 31 points and the Memphis Grizzlies rallied for a 116-115 win in overtime against the New Orleans Pelicans to improve to 4-0 since he made his season debut a week earlier.

Desmond Bane scored 27 points, including a key 3-pointer in the final minute of regulation and the clinching free throw with 4 seconds left in overtime.

Jaren Jackson Jr. added 19 points, redeeming his missed free throw at the end of regulation with a pair of baskets late in OT that gave Memphis the lead for good.

Morant has averaged 28.8 points in four games since he returned from his 25-game NBA suspension after the Grizzlies were 6-19 in his absence.

Zion Williamson had 23 points and 11 rebounds for the Pelicans, who also lost a double-digit, second-half lead to Memphis in the previous meeting.

Kings’ Fox scores 43 in loss to Trail Blazers

De’Aaron Fox had 43 points but it wasn’t enough as Anfernee Simons scored 29 to lift the Portland Trail Blazers to a 130-113 win over the Sacramento Kings.  

Duop Reath added a career-high 25 points and grabbed nine rebounds off the bench for the Blazers, who got 19 points from Malcolm Brogdon and 17 and 11 assists from rookie Scoot Henderson.

Fox was 16 of 26 from the field and 7 of 15 from long range while adding eight rebounds and four assists. Domantas Sabonis scored 34 points, but no other Sacramento player was in double figures.

The Detroit Pistons broke the record for the longest losing run in an NBA season as they fell to a 27th straight defeat against the Brooklyn Nets.

Having won two of their first three matches this season, the Pistons continued their losing run on Boxing Day as they went down 118-112.

They will match the overall record of 28 defeats – set by the Philadelphia 76ers across two seasons in 2015 – if they lose at the Boston Celtics, who have the NBA’s best record, on Thursday.

Beleagured Pistons fans, who have repeatedly called on owner Tom Gores to sell the team, were given hope of ending the run as they opened a 14-point lead in the first quarter.

Having surrendered that advantage to trail 61-54 at half-time, they hit back to lead 97-92 in the fourth quarter as Cade Cunningham scored 41 points.

Thirteen straight points from the Nets swung the game their way and secured the Pistons an unwanted place in the record books.

LeBron James feels the Los Angeles Lakers are not "where we want to be" after they were beaten by the Boston Celtics on Monday.

James' assessment of his team's performances came in the wake of a 126-115 defeat to the Celtics on Christmas Day, a loss that dropped the Lakers to 16-15 on the season.

The defeat was the Lakers' fifth in their last six games, leaving them ninth in the Western Conference.

James knows his team must do better if they are to make it into the postseason come the end of the regular season, telling reporters: "I don't think we're healthy right now.

"I don't think we're where we want to be to compete versus the top teams until we continue to get better and better.

"For us, we're still trying to figure our situation out as far as how we want to continue to attack each game."

For the Celtics, Jayson Tatum finished with 25 points, eight rebounds and seven assists as he helped his team move up to 23-6 on the season.

Tatum believes he has learned a lot from James, paying tribute to the four-time MVP after Monday's game, saying: "He's been the most complete player in the game for a very, very long time.

"There's a lot that you can learn from a guy like him. Obviously, the way that he thinks the game, [he is] two, three steps ahead of everybody else.

"And as a younger player, just always trying to find ways to impact the game. You're not always going to make shots, but [you] still want to be the best player and dominate the game in different ways every single night. So that's what I tried to do tonight."

The New York Knicks beat the Milwaukee Bucks for the first time in four attempts this season on Christmas Day, as Jalen Brunson starred with 38 points at Madison Square Garden.

The Bucks managed their third win over the Knicks in as many games on Friday, triumphing 130-111 in Manhattan, but there was to be no repeat three days later as the hosts clinched a 129-122 success.  

Brunson led the way with 38 points, the most by a Knicks player on Christmas Day since Bernard King's record 60-point haul back in 1984, to prove Giannis Antetokounmpo's 32 points redundant.

Brunson admitted the Knicks' previous struggles against Milwaukee made Monday's win more enjoyable, saying: "We've struggled against this team throughout this year and the fact that we came out with a win today… it's special.

"I like the way we had a lead no matter how much they cut the lead down. We stayed poised and figured out a way to keep it and win."

In addition to Brunson, Julius Randle (24), RJ Barrett (21) and Immanuel Quickley (20) all scored at least 20 points for the hosts as they improved to 17-12. 

"We had a lot of guys in double figures and a lot of assists," Quickley said. "It was fun to play like that when everybody is moving and touching the ball. 

"I think our defense really bled into our offense, so that has got to be the way, every night."

While the Bucks saw their seven-game winning streak come to a halt, former MVP Antetokounmpo chose to remain upbeat after the spoils were shared over the teams' weekend double-header.

"It was kind of like a playoff matchup," he said. "We've played this team four times in the past month, month and a half. Two times in the past few days.

"It's a good test for us. We're going to play teams in the playoffs twice on the road, so being able to win the first one, lose the second one, it's good. We'll learn from it."

Jaime Jaquez Jr. enjoyed a "special" Christmas Day as he stepped up in Jimmy Butler's absence, scoring a career-high 31 points for the Miami Heat as they overcame the Philadelphia 76ers.

Butler was ruled out for a third straight game with a calf injury, but Miami maintained their 100 per cent record in those contests with a 119-113 victory at Kaseya Center.

The Sixers – who were themselves without Joel Embiid due to a sprained ankle – erased a 21-point Miami lead in the third quarter, but Jaquez scored 10 of his points in the fourth to put the visitors away.

That made the 22-year-old the first rookie to manage at least 25 points and 10 rebounds on December 25 since Patrick Ewing for the New York Knicks in 1985, and he was delighted to see his hard work pay off on the big stage.

"It's definitely special," Jaquez said. "Great to get a win, a career night, on Christmas... I grew up watching these games. 

"To be able to play and have a career night, I just go back to all the hard work, late nights in the gym, just preparing for moments like this."

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, who is now 9-0 on Christmas, said of Jaquez's performance: "I don't think I called one play for him tonight, literally. 

"I mean, they were in his zone most of the second half. But throughout the rest of the course of the game, I definitely did not call one play for him. 

"He did it with offensive rebounding, transitions, cuts, timely threes, just a lot of plays in between, so you don't really think that it's a 30-point game."

Tyrese Maxey endured a difficult outing for the Sixers, shooting 4-for-20 and finishing with just 12 points, well down on his season average of 25.9.

The star guard lamented his poor shooting as he said of the Miami defense: "They did the normal stuff that I see when I'm out there without Joel.

"The blitzing, the hard showing, but for the most part, I got some really good looks and some shots that I make I don't know, four or five times out of 10. So I guess it was just one of those days."

Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr described officiating standards as "disgusting" after Nikola Jokic made 18 free throws in the Denver Nuggets' Christmas-Day win over his team.

Jokic made all 18 of his free throw attempts as the Nuggets posted their fifth successive win, which represented a career-high tally as he finished with 26 points in his team's 120-114 success.

Ten of those came in the third quarter as Jokic drew foul after foul from the Golden State defense, prompting Kerr to lash out at what he sees as a league-wide problem.

"I have a problem with how we are legislating the defense out of the game," Kerr said after the Warriors slipped to 15-15.

"We are enabling players to B.S. their way to the foul line. If I were a fan, I wouldn't have wanted to watch the second half of that game. It was disgusting. 

"It was just baiting refs into calls, but the refs have to make those calls. The players are really smart in this league. 

"For the last decade, they've gotten smarter and smarter. We have enabled the players, and they are taking full advantage. It's a parade to the free throw line, and it's disgusting to watch."

Four-time NBA champion Stephen Curry, who was held to 18 points, echoed Kerr's sentiments as he said: "It does cater to the guys who can sell calls. 

"There is physicality, but it's tough because it is inconsistent, at times, on either side.

"On a night like tonight, when you feel there is physicality on one side and then ticky-tack on the other, it changes the complexity of the game. 

"I'm not saying we don't foul, but consistency is key when understanding how you can defend."

Jokic, though, denied actively trying to sell calls and said aggression became key to his performance after a slow start.

"I was missing shots, so I was just trying to be aggressive in another way, maybe play a little more physical" Jokic told ESPN.

"It just happened to be that kind of night. This is the most I've ever had."

Dallas Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said the team can never take Luka Doncic for granted after he brought up 10,000 career points in their Christmas-Day win over the Phoenix Suns.

Doncic reached the milestone in style, scoring 50 points in a 128-114 road win as he became just the fourth player in league history to post a half-century of points on Christmas Day, after Bernard King, Wilt Chamberlain and Rick Barry.

Having entered the game 11 points short of bringing up five figures, he has reached 10,000 points in just 358 games. Only Chamberlain, Michael Jordan, Elgin Baylor, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson and George Gervin have done so in fewer outings.

Doncic's big moment came early on when he hit a 34-foot three-pointer in the first quarter, and Kidd heaped praise upon his talisman after his dominant outing.  

"As I've always said, we can't take him for granted when he's feeling it," Kidd said. "You're just trying to get him the ball as much as possible. 

"You're also trying to figure out how to get him some rest because we weren't going to take him out there in the second half, so we needed to ask him or someone to be able to run the offense.

"I thought he did a great job of letting other guys bring the ball up, but when he's going like that, you've got to get him the ball, and you trust your quarterback's going to do the right thing."

Asked how it felt to reach the landmark, Doncic said: "Always, when this kind of award comes with a win, it's even more fun.

"It was a tough road game, and we won. So, outside of the 10K and 50 points, we won the game. So, I'm really happy.

"I love playing in these environments, especially away. It's fun for me. When you make a shot, the whole gym is quiet, so that's the best feeling in the world."

Doncic's mammoth performance proved Grayson Allen's 32-point haul for the Suns redundant, with Kevin Durant also tacking on 16 for the hosts.

Phoenix are now 14-15 and sit 11th in the Western Conference, having lost five of their last six games including each of their last three in a row.

Star guard Devin Booker said of the Suns' slump: "We just have to get it together. 

"That's on me, that's on coach, that's on KD, all the leaders that we have in here to make sure that we're prepared."

In a Christmas Day slate full of noteworthy performances, Luka Doncic was the star atop the Christmas tree.

Doncic scored 50 points, eclipsing 10,000 for his career, and added six rebounds and 14 assists as the Dallas Mavericks beat the Phoenix Suns 128-114 in the NBA’s Christmas night cap.

Doncic went 8 of 16 from 3-point range and made all 12 of his free throw attempts as he reached the 10,000-point milestone in 358 career games, the seventh-fastest in NBA history.

Rookie center Dereck Lively II added 20 points and 10 rebounds for his fifth double-double, while Derrick Jones Jr. contributed 23 points.

Grayson Allen led the Suns with 32 points while Kevin Durant (4 for 11) and Devin Booker (6 for 14) had poor shooting nights.

Celtics get first Christmas win over Lakers

Kristaps Porzingis had 28 points and 11 rebounds, Jayson Tatum scored 25 despite an off shooting night and the Boston Celtics beat the Los Angeles Lakers 126-115.

The Celtics’ win was their first ever against the Lakers on Christmas Day, overcoming a 40-point, 13-rebound performance from Anthony Davis.

LeBron James had 16 points, nine rebounds and eight assists as the Lakers dropped to 2-6 since winning the NBA’s inaugural in-season tournament.

Jokic shines in win over Warriors

Nikola Jokic flirted with a triple-double and made all 18 of his free throw attempts, leading the Denver Nuggets to a 120-114 win over the Golden State Warriors.

Jokic had 26 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists for the defending champions as the Nuggets won a season-high fifth consecutive game and improved to 12-2 at Ball Arena this season.

Jamal Murray led Denver with 28 points.

The Warriors’ leading scorer was Andrew Wiggins, who netted 22 off the bench.

Atlanta Hawks small forward De'Andre Hunter will undergo a non-surgical procedure on his injured right knee on Tuesday and be re-evaluated in two weeks.

Hunter has missed the Hawks' last two games due to the knee injury and the team announced the plan for his treatment on Monday.

Hunter, who has started all 24 games he's played this season, missed three straight contests in mid-December but then returned to play the next three before being shut down following Atlanta's win at Houston on Wednesday.

He had an MRI on Saturday that revealed the inflammation.

The injury update means he'll miss at least six games, and the earliest he would return would be against the Philadelphia 76ers on January 10 in the opener of a five-game home-stand.

Atlanta will get Jalen Johnson back for Tuesday's game against the Chicago Bulls after he's been sidelined since November 25, when he sustained a left wrist injury. He is fifth on the team in scoring, averaging 14.1 points.

Hunter is fourth on Atlanta in scoring with an average of 14.9 points, and averages 4.1 rebounds.

The Hawks have lost their last two games since Hunter's latest setback to drop to 12-17 on the season.

They are 1-4 when Hunter doesn't play and 4-8 in games he plays and scores 14 or fewer, compared to going 7-5 in games when he has at least 15 points.

LeBron James scored a season-high 40 points as the Los Angeles Lakers ended their four-game losing run against the Oklahoma City Thunder, then hailed a big win for a team which had found themselves in "desperate times".

The Lakers struggled for form in the aftermath of winning the inaugural NBA in-season tournament earlier this month, losing four in a row ahead of Saturday's trip to Paycom Center.

That slide led Anthony Davis to describe the game as a "must win" for the Lakers, and they held off a late Thunder resurgence to improve to 16-14 with a 129-120 triumph,

James was 13 of 20 from the field throughout a dominant performance, hitting five three-pointers without missing while also adding seven rebounds and seven assists.

Speaking after the game, the NBA's all-time leading scorer said: "We needed this win. We didn't want to end the road trip on a losing effort. 

"We came here on a tough back-to-back, started the game well then just lost energy, ran out of steam. 

"This was one of the first must-win games of the season for us. We understand how well this team had been playing, but we were able to play a really good game."

On his own 40-point haul, the 75th of his storied career, James said: "It helped us get this win versus a good team in the Western Conference, one that we really needed. 

"We were desperate for this win and desperate times call for desperate measures.

"To know I can go out and still make game-winning plays, can affect the game in multiple ways and can still close out a game in the fourth quarter when our team needed it… it's always a good feeling, for sure."

The Thunder had trailed by 26 points but cut that deficit to eight midway through the fourth quarter, only for James to score 11 points in the final four minutes and 30 seconds to get Los Angeles over the line.

The result dropped the Thunder to 18-9, though they still sit third in the Western Conference and coach Mark Daigneault expects them to learn from the defeat.

"They came out like a team that was desperate for a win," Daigneault said of the Lakers. "I didn't think we came out poor or sloppy or soft or anything like that.

"We just didn't amp it up to the level that we needed to, in that first half especially. We allowed them to get into a groove. 

"I thought that was really the game right there. So it's a good lesson for us."

San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said Victor Wembanyama's absence from Saturday's defeat to the Dallas Mavericks was precautionary after the rookie was injured in a "freak" incident involving a ballboy.

Wembanyama did not play after rolling his right ankle during his pre-game warm-up, sustaining the injury when he stepped on a ballboy's foot following a driving layup.

The number one draft pick's absence was keenly felt as the Spurs fell to 4-24 with a crushing 144-119 defeat, Luka Doncic scoring 39 points in a triple-double within just three quarters for the Mavs.

With Wembanyama having missed Tuesday's defeat to the Milwaukee Bucks after experiencing pain in the same ankle, Popovich said the Spurs couldn't afford to take any risks, much to the 19-year-old's annoyance. 

"If it was a playoff game, I probably would've played him," Popovich said after the defeat. 

"He's not happy about it, but I would rather err on the conservative side since it's the same ankle that you just got a time limitation on. 

"But it was just a freak, freak accident before the game. You see it on the film, and you can't believe it."

Wembanyama is averaging 18.5 points, 10.7 rebounds and three blocks for the Spurs in his maiden campaign, with Saturday's game just the third he has missed.

For the Mavs, Doncic added 12 rebounds and 10 assists to his 39 points before departing near the end of the third quarter, recording his 36th 30-point triple-double, one shy of the league's record holder LeBron James.

It was his sixth triple-double of the season, while he is now just 11 points shy of 10,000 for his NBA career, a figure he will be confident of bringing up against the Phoenix Suns on Christmas Day.

More importantly, the result ended a three-game losing streak for a Dallas side still deprived of Kyrie Irving due to a heel injury, leading Doncic to praise the team's togetherness. 

"We still have some injuries, so we've got to still keep it together," he said. "Everybody's got to stay together and have a next-man-up mentality."