Anthony Davis felt great on his return from a foot injury but concedes it was a "long five-and-a-half weeks" on the sidelines.
The All-Star returned for the Los Angeles Lakers for the first time since December 17 as they won 113-104 over the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday.
Davis, who had been sidelined with a fractured bone spur and stress reaction in his right foot, played 26 minutes off the bench in his return, scoring 21 points with 12 rebounds and four blocks.
The center had been in near career-best form prior to the injury, averaging 27.4 points per game as well as a career-high 12.1 rebounds, with his successful return a major boost for the Lakers who improved to 23-26 with Wednesday's win.
"I felt great. I felt good out on the floor," Davis told Spectrum Sportsnet after the game. "The foot feels fine. It was good to be out there with the guys battling. It was good because it was a close game. We really had to battle until the last four, five minutes, it was a good test for me going into this road trip.
"Overall, I'm happy to be back on the court with these guys. It's been a long five-and-a-half weeks, so it feels good to come back and get the win and ultimately be back out on the floor."
Davis checked into the game with 4:22 left in the first quarter, playing on a managed workload.
"Anytime you come back, that first game, that first practice whatever, you're always tender," Davis said. "You want to test it out, see how it feels in live action, in a real game where it matters.
"That's the ultimate test and for that first 30 seconds to a minute I wanted to see if I felt anything or if anything would flare up. When I didn’t feel anything, my mind was like, 'it's time to go'."
Lakers head coach Darvin Ham reassured that they were confident Davis has fully recovered from the issue, having endured numerous injuries in recent seasons.
"He's gone through some rigorous therapy, weight training, weight-bearing exercises, activity on the court - both individually and some group workouts," Ham told reporters prior to the game.
"We would save him from himself if we thought there was any type of threat or harm that he could do to himself.
"He had these boxes that he had to check, and he's checked all of them, so we feel comfortable with him appearing tonight."
Kerr credits Green with willing Warriors to victory as Curry lauds unmatched 'competitive spirit'
Steve Kerr credited Draymond Green with "willing" the Golden State Warriors to victory in their comeback win over the New Orleans Pelicans.
Green scored eight points and provided 13 assists, four turnovers and two steals to help complete a 120-109 turnaround triumph for the reigning NBA champions at Chase Center.
Golden State were trailing by 17 points after a lacklustre first half, but Green sparked the team into life, earning the credit from his coach.
"Draymond willed us to victory tonight," said Kerr. "Just the intensity, the frustration early with the way we were playing.
"Mad at the world, yelling at everybody – their bench, our bench – and frankly, we deserved it."
Green's first spark came late in the second quarter when he picked up his 17th technical foul for a shove on Brandon Ingram.
The pair exchanged words, amongst some shoving, and were issued Ts.
He will be fined $5,000 if the technical foul does not get rescinded over the next 24 hours - which Green thinks it will be - but if it does not, the Warriors forward believes it was worth it.
"It was perfect," said Green. "Perfectly executed. We looked dead those first 18 minutes. We had to find some energy somewhere.
"It wasn't just going to come, especially after losing the game like we did last game [99-96 to Minnesota Timberwolves].
"That can carry over. I felt like it did. I knew we had to do something and do it fast before the game got out of hand."
Green almost picked up another technical foul 20 seconds later after colliding with Herbert Jones but following more shoving and a video review, no Ts were assessed.
"I've got to play with the same intensity I try to play with each and every time I step on the court," added Green.
"I can't worry about that. For me, if I'm going to change my intensity level, then why be out there?"
Following Green's clash with Jones, Stephen Curry got involved in the scrum yelling at Pelicans players and giving some shoves.
"He knows that guys are backing him up," said Curry. "I'm sure [Green] wouldn't go out on an island like that if he didn't have that confidence.
"There are times when I've got to keep him in check and bring him back in when it's turning in the wrong direction in the sense of staying focused on just winning."
The Warriors outscored the Pelicans 74-46 in the second half, shooting 70 per cent to help complete their second-biggest comeback of the season.
Curry scored or assisted half of the points Golden State won after half-time.
Green said: "When I turned it up a notch, [Curry] turned it up another two notches.
"We all hopped in line and followed him, and he was locked in. No one was stopping him."
The Warriors are now sixth in the Western Conference, holding just a half-game advantage over the Timberwolves in seventh with five rounds left of the regular season.
"It feels like we've been in a playoff vibe for a couple of weeks now," said Curry.
"The only difference is you're playing a different team every night. But it's the same kind of adrenaline rush that we're getting. Every game does matter.
"We have a competitive spirit that's unmatched. And it's been that way for a decade."
Brown bemoans 'everything going wrong' as Celtics team bus stuck in traffic before defeat
Jaylen Brown did not want to make excuses but acknowledged "everything was going wrong for us" after the Boston Celtics' upset loss at the Washington Wizards.
The Celtics had the opportunity to close to within one win of the Milwaukee Bucks and the number one seed in the East on Wednesday.
Instead, they went down 130-111 to a Wizards team missing Bradley Beal and Kyle Kuzma.
One of the Celtics' team buses was stuck in traffic for around an hour before the game, and although Boston recovered to make a solid start, it was the first sign of the troublesome night that was to come.
"Tonight it just seemed like everything was going right for Washington; everything was going wrong for us," Brown said.
"On top of all the stuff that was happening before the game... but I'm not one to make no excuses."
The Celtics had recovered from a run of three straight defeats in early March to win seven of the next nine before visiting the Wizards.
While Boston are now 2.5 games back, Brown knows they cannot afford this one-off defeat to become part of a slump.
After the Bucks play the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday, they welcome the Celtics to Wisconsin the following night.
"Games like this are not supposed to happen. You're supposed to win," Brown said. "But it's over with now, nothing we can do about it.
"I'm not concerned, because the way my brain works is you have just got to look forward to what's next.
"You don't want one bad night to turn into three bad nights or a bad week. Nobody wants to see that. We don't want to see that, so you don't harp on it.
"Obviously, we dropped the ball. But now you have just got to refocus and get ready for the next one."
Curry ignites crucial Warriors comeback, Mitchell drops 44 in Cavaliers loss
The Golden State Warriors played an inspired second half to recover from a 20-point deficit and defeat the visiting New Orleans Pelicans 120-109 on Tuesday.
As usual, the Warriors were led by reigning NBA Finals MVP Stephen Curry with a game-high 39 points on 14-of-25 shooting, hitting eight-of-15 three-point attempts while adding eight rebounds, eight assists and three steals.
It was a rough start for Golden State as they found themselves trailing 63-43 late in the second quarter, but some early shenanigans between Draymond Green and the entire Pelicans team seemed to spur some life into the Warriors defense after the break.
In typical Warriors fashion, they exploded in the third quarter in front of their home fans, putting together a 39-26 period to cut the lead to four going into the last.
They ratcheted up the defense even further down the stretch, holding the visitors to just 20 points while piling on 35 of their own as Curry, Klay Thompson and Jordan Poole all drained deep triples to blow the roof off Chase Center.
Despite the loss, it was another strong showing from Pelicans centrepiece Brandon Ingram. After his first career triple-double on Thursday and a career-high 13 assists on Saturday, Ingram again looked every bit of an All-NBA initiator with a team-high 26 points (nine-of-22), eight rebounds and seven assists.
A loss for the Warriors would have seen them drop to 39-38 and potentially swap spots with the eighth-seeded Pelicans, but they instead improved to 40-37 and leapfrogged the sixth-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves (39-37) in the process.
Mitchell's 44 not enough for Cleveland
Donovan Mitchell dropped 44 points on the road but it was not enough as the Cleveland Cavaliers fell 120-118 to the Atlanta Hawks.
Mitchell shot 15-of-33 with five rebounds and five assists, while Darius Garland added 27 points (10-of-22) and Evan Mobley chipped in 20 points (10-of-13), 15 rebounds, four assists and four blocks – but the Hawks had all the answers.
Atlanta had seven players score double figures, led by Dejounte Murray's 29 (11-of-22). Trae Young ran the show with 10 assists on an off-shooting night (four-of-15 for 16 points), and the Hawks' bench delivered in a big way.
Backup center Onyeka Okongwu had a wildly efficient 20 minutes with 21 points (five-of-five from the field and 11-of-12 free throws), nine rebounds and three blocks, and trade deadline acquisition Saddiq Bey had 11 points, 10 rebounds and three assists.
Hornets win a shootout in Oklahoma City
The Oklahoma City Thunder received 30-point efforts from Josh Giddey, Jalen Williams and Isaiah Joe – but still lost 137-134 to the surprisingly in-form Charlotte Hornets.
Giddey had one of the best statistical games of his career with 31 points (14-of-22), 10 rebounds and nine assists; rookie Williams had 31 points (11-of-16), four assists and four steals; and Joe hit six-of-11 threes and 11-of-18 overall for his 33 points.
But P.J. Washington was not going to let the Hornets lose, scoring a career-high 43 points on 16-of-24 shooting as he added six rebounds and five assists in an eye-opening performance from the well-rounded six-foot-seven 24-year-old.
It was a standout showing off the bench for the spectacularly bouncy 22-year-old second-year center Kai Jones, collecting the first double-double of his career with 12 points (five-of-five) and 14 rebounds in 22 minutes.
The loss for the Thunder means they slipped to 37-39, still inside the play-in tournament placings, but now tied with the 11th-ranked Dallas Mavericks.
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