Joel Embiid made his closing statement for the MVP award and all but wrapped up the NBA scoring title in the Philadelphia 76ers' 133-120 win over the Indiana Pacers on Saturday.
Embiid put up monster numbers of 41 points, 20 rebounds and four assists, while going 14-of-17 from the floor and 11-of-15 from the free-throw line. It was the first time this NBA season that a player scored 40 points or more and had 20 or more rebounds in a game.
The 28-year-old is currently the league's scoring leader, averaging an astounding 30.6 points per game, just ahead of LeBron James' 30.3 and Kevin Durant's 30.1 points per game.
James Harden had 22 points and 14 assists for Philadelphia, who had a healthy spread of scorers with Tobias Harris and Tyrese Maxey both scoring 18 points, and Danny Green adding 15.
The Sixers remain in the hunt for the Eastern Conference's third seed with the win, moving to the same record as the Boston Celtics at 50-31, while the Milwaukee Bucks are second at 51-30.
A win over the Detroit Pistons on Sunday combined with a Boston loss to the Memphis Grizzlies would move the Sixers into the third seed.
Morant makes timely return for Grizzlies
Ja Morant returned to action after a nine-game absence on Saturday night, as the Memphis Grizzlies secured a comfortable 141-114 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans.
Morant finished with 21 points off seven-of-14 shooting, along with nine assists and four rebounds, while Jaren Jackson Jr. contributed a solid 12 points, nine rebounds and four blocks.
The Grizzlies are set to finish second in the Western Conference, to face the winner of the 7-8 matchup in the play-in between the Minnesota Timberwolves and Los Angeles Clippers.
Warriors continue winning run
The Golden State Warriors claimed their fourth consecutive victory despite an off shooting night from Jordan Poole, defeating the San Antonio Spurs on the road 100-94.
With Stephen Curry yet to return from injury and Klay Thompson rested, Poole had to take on more offensive responsibility and went three-of-19 from the floor in win.
A combined 30 points at nine-of-14 shooting off the bench from Jonathan Kuminga and Nemanja Bjelica was able to counteract it, along with 12 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists from Draymond Green.
Seven-time NBA All-Star Aldridge officially retires
LaMarcus Aldridge, a seven-time All-Star who scored over 20,000 points over an accomplished 16-year NBA career, officially announced his retirement on Friday.
Aldridge has not played this season after appearing in 47 games with the Brooklyn Nets in 2021-22.
The 37-year-old briefly retired following the 2020-21 season after being diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat but returned to the Nets the following September after receiving medical clearance.
And Aldridge channelled one of the great sports stars in his announcement.
"In the words of [Tom Brady], you only get one big, emotional retirement," Aldridge wrote on his Twitter account.
"So, on that note... I'm thankful for all the memories, family and friends I made throughout my career. It was one hell of a ride and I enjoyed every min!"
Aldridge entered the NBA in 2006 as the second overall pick of that year's draft following a standout career at the University of Texas.
He spent his first nine seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers and is the franchise's career leader in rebounds, while his 12,562 points in a Blazers uniform trail only Damian Lillard and Hall of Famer Clyde Drexler.
The power forward made four All-Star teams in Portland and was an All-NBA second team selection in his final season with the Blazers in 2014-15 after averaging a career-high 23.4 points per game.
Aldridge left Portland following that season to return to his native Texans by signing a four-year, $80million contract with the San Antonio Spurs. He earned three more All-Star selections over six seasons with San Antonio and again garnered second team All-NBA honours in 2017-18.
The Spurs bought out Aldridge's contract in March 2021 and he signed with the Nets just days afterward in hopes of winning a first NBA championship, though he played just five games over the remainder of that season due to a rapid heartbeat that led to his temporary retirement.
Aldridge became the 48th player in NBA history to reach 20,000 points during his final season and finished his career with 20,558 points, good for 46th place on the NBA's all-time scoring list.
He is one of only 16 players in league history to record 20,000 points and 1,000 blocked shots in a career.
Giannis says Bucks 'not focused' v Celtics, defeat 'not hard to understand'
Giannis Antetokounmpo was not surprised the Milwaukee Bucks lost to the Boston Celtics due to his team's approach to Thursday's game and warned their rivals would "kick our a**" again if they repeated the performance.
The Bucks retain a two-game lead over the Celtics at the top of the Eastern Conference but suffered a humbling 140-99 defeat in the teams' final meeting of the regular season.
Milwaukee will expect to meet Boston again in the playoffs, and Antetokounmpo hopes they will "change some stuff" for that matchup.
He bemoaned the Bucks' attitude in their home loss, saying: "We know what the deal is. It's not hard to understand. If you're not focused, if you don't play hard, they're going to kick our a**. Simple as that.
"There's no level of concern. It's a fact. Now you have this in your head, and it's up to us to see how we're going to deal with it.
"Are we going to go and play the same way? If we play the same way, we'll have the same outcome.
"We've got to change some stuff. We've got to compete. We've got to have some pride."
The Celtics have lost ground in a month in which they have gone 9-6 – to the Bucks' 11-5 – following a number of unexpected defeats.
But Boston continue to respond well to those setbacks, the latest being this week's loss at an undermanned Washington Wizards.
"We've been pretty consistent all year long for the most part," said two-time All-Star Jaylen Brown. "We probably should be closer to 60 wins at this point, but we're a better team than we were last year. We've won more games than we did last year.
"Overall, we haven't dropped the ball; we might have lost some games, but we haven't let a bad game turn into a bad two weeks or a bad month. We've been able to bounce back."
Jokic injury absence had been 'brewing' as Nuggets toil without two-time MVP
Nikola Jokic sat out the Denver Nuggets' loss to the New Orleans Pelicans as an "ultra cautious" step to protect the two-time MVP ahead of the NBA playoffs.
The Nuggets were beaten 107-88 and have lost their last four matches in which Jokic did not play. He missed this one with a calf injury that appears to be a minor problem.
On this occasion, Denver turned in a largely shabby display in the home loss, proving especially dire from three-point range where their 4-of-28 shooting pointed to a clear deficiency.
Sitting top of the Western Conference, three games ahead of the Memphis Grizzlies, Denver could afford to let Thursday's game get away from them.
The playoffs are approaching, so it was a night where coach Michael Malone felt Jokic needed a rest.
When assessing afterwards how the game went so badly wrong for the Nuggets, Malone said: "Well, Nikola didn't play."
He expanded on his reasons, but it is clear Jokic's unavailability was a major factor behind the team's performance.
Once again, Jokic is a leading contender for MVP honours, chasing a hat-trick of consecutive individual accolades.
The 28-year-old Serbian is averaging 24.9 points per game, plus 11.9 rebounds and 9.9 assists, and it looks to be between him and Joel Embiid for MVP, albeit with Giannis Antetokounmpo a potential dark horse.
Malone, quoted in the Denver Post, said before the game began it was a smart move to give Jokic a rest, following his triple-double against the Philadelphia 76ers earlier in the week.
"Yeah, I think it's just been something kind of brewing a little bit," said Malone.
"He was able to get through the Philadelphia game. In practice yesterday he didn't do a whole lot. Obviously, being ultra cautious with where we're at in the season. If there's any doubt, we're going to definitely err on the side of caution with seven games remaining in the regular season."
Mar 28, 2023 NBA
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