The Milwaukee Bucks underlined their NBA title favouritism as they reached 50 wins for the season with a commanding 116-104 road victory over the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday.
Giannis Antetokounmpo backed up Monday's 40-point return against the Sacramento Kings with 36 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists at the Footprint Center.
The Bucks have won 20 of their past 22 games, including a 15-game winning streak during that stretch, while the Suns have now lost three consecutive games.
Milwaukee's record is 50-19, pulling clear of the Boston Celtics (47-22) in second in the Eastern Conference, while the 37-31 Suns remain among the mayhem in the tight Western Conference playoffs race.
The Suns had rallied from a 57-48 half-time deficit to take the lead in the fourth quarter but the Bucks steadied, with Antetokounmpo's block on Devin Booker's two-point attempt among the highlights.
Bucks center Brook Lopez added 21 points with 10 rebounds, while Jrue Holiday chipped in with 12 points, six rebounds and five assists.
Booker top scored for the Suns, still missing Kevin Durant due to an ankle injury, with 30 points on 13-of-27 shooting, while Chris Paul added 11 points with eight assists. Phoenix only made eight three-pointers for the game.
Nuggets fall to fourth straight defeat
The Western Conference-leading Denver Nuggets slumped to their fourth straight defeat despite a third-quarter rally, going down 125-110 to the Toronto Raptors.
Fred VanVleet scored 36 points on 13-of-22 shooting including eight triples as the Raptors flew out of the blocks with a franchise-record 49-point first quarter, improving their record to 33-26.
The Nuggets fall to 46-23 amid their slump, with Nikola Jokic scoring 28 points with eight rebounds and seven assists, while Michael Porter Jr added 23 points with five three-pointers.
Lakers hit franchise record in key win over Pels
Anthony Davis produced a bounce-back display after his "terrible" showing two nights ago with 35 points and 17 rebounds as the Los Angeles Lakers won 123-108 over the New Orleans Pelicans.
Malik Beasley added 24 points, shooting seven-of-12 from beyond the arc, as the Lakers moved closer to .500 with a 34-35 record to boost their playoffs hopes.
Beasley's three-point shooting helped the Lakers achieve a franchise record for threes made in a half, with 15 as a team before half-time.
All-Star Luka Doncic has been ruled out for a third straight game for the Dallas Mavericks as he continues to recover from a thigh injury sustained last week.
Doncic will miss the Mavs' game against the 17-50 San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday with a left thigh strain.
Fellow All-Star guard Kyrie Irving is listed as questionable due to right foot soreness, having missed the past two games as well.
The Mavs have lost those past two games, both against the Memphis Grizzlies, without their star duo, putting pressure on their playoffs hopes.
Dallas have fallen below .500 with a 34-35 record, slipping down to eighth in the tight Western Conference, having lost six of their past eight games.
Christian Wood (foot) and Tim Hardaway Jr (calf) are also listed as questionable for Wednesday's game, potentially further depleting the Mavs' offensive options.
Doncic avoided serious injury after an MRI on his thigh came up clear last Thursday having exited Wednesday's defeat against the New Orleans Pelicans due to the injury.
It had been expected that the Slovenian would return to the court one the discomfort and pain subsided but his prolonged absence will not help their playoffs aspirations.
Doncic is ranked second in the NBA for points per game at 33.0, behind only Joel Embiid (33.4) this season.
The Golden State Warriors' NBA title defence has so far been beset by problems – primarily the absences of key personnel.
Even now, there remains no return date for Andrew Wiggins, who has played only 37 of 69 games this season and missed the past 12 for personal reasons.
Stephen Curry is back now but has sat for 26 games this year.
Although the Warriors' most-used lineup in the 2022 playoffs – including both Wiggins and Curry – has again been their most-used lineup in this regular season, it has started just a third of their games.
Yet that does not explain a quite remarkable trend that has developed across this campaign and now causes the Warriors real concern as they go on the road against the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday.
Golden State have won their past eight home games, the longest active streak in the NBA, yet they have lost their past eight road games, also the league's longest active streak.
This form extends beyond the past month, too.
Ahead of Tuesday's games, the Warriors possess the fourth-best home record at 29-7, actually improving on last year's winning percentage after a 31-10 performance at Chase Center en route to taking the title.
However, on the road, only tanking duo the San Antonio Spurs and the Houston Rockets are worse off than the Warriors, who are an alarming 7-26.
Those contrasting records are still good enough to have the Warriors fifth in the Western Conference, but they are 1.5 games behind the fourth-placed Phoenix Suns, meaning Golden State are set to miss out on home advantage for every round of the playoffs. Clearly, that is an issue.
The Warriors' eight-game losing streak on the road has included each of their prior three games in Los Angeles this season, beaten by the Clippers on Valentine's Day ahead of defeats to the Lakers in consecutive road games. All of their eight straight losses have come against Western Conference rivals.
Now, this latest game at the Clippers – who are sixth in the West with an identical record to the Warriors – marks the start of a five-game road trip, with eight of Golden State's final 13 matchups away from San Francisco.
Their home record may have kept them competitive to this point, but hopes for success in the postseason will require vast improvement on the road moving forward.
PIVOTAL PERFORMERS
Los Angeles Clippers – Kawhi Leonard
As for several Warriors stars, this has been another stop-start season for Leonard, yet he has started seven of the Clippers' eight games since the All-Star break and is finally building momentum again.
Leonard had averaged 22.1 points prior to the All-Star break but has scored 31.0 points per game since then. That is tied for the sixth-best mark in that time, along with Curry.
Golden State Warriors – Klay Thompson
Curry has actually averaged more points on the road this season (30.3) than at home (28.9), but he has lacked support in away games because the same has not been true of team-mate Thompson.
The 33-year-old has scored 24.8 points at home but just 19.0 on the road. However, he has still averaged 24.6 points in those rare road wins.
Golden State will need Curry and Thompson to turn up together to get their road form back on track.
KEY BATTLE – Fast start vital
As much as any Clipper, the Warriors will be battling themselves in the first quarter. Their slow starts in road games have been ever so costly.
Golden State have trailed through the first quarter of 17 games on the road this season. They are an incredible 0-17 in those games.
The Warriors must either make a rapid start or rediscover the sort of championship grit that would allow them to recover when they are up against it on their travels.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
The Warriors are 2-1 against the Clippers this season, although those two wins have of course come in San Francisco.
Since 2019, Golden State have won just one of five road games against the Clippers. They had won eight of nine such matchups prior to that in a series they have dominated 137-94 all-time.
Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant has entered counselling in Florida, with the timeline for his return to action still uncertain.
Morant remains away from the Grizzlies following an incident in early March where he posted an Instagram Live video that appeared to show him flashing a handgun inside a Colorado nightclub.
Glendale police confirmed it had decided not to lay charges on Morant for the incident, citing a lack of evidence, while the NBA's investigation is ongoing.
According to a report from ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski and Tim MacMahon, Morant sought out counselling as part of his efforts – as Morant had previously put in a statement: "[T]o get help and work on learning better methods of dealing with stress and my overall well-being."
The Grizzlies made it three wins in a row despite Morant's absence on Monday as they beat the Dallas Mavericks 104-88 at American Airlines Center.
After the game, Memphis head coach Taylor Jenkins said: "Outside of what I have said in the past, being respectful to the nature of the situation, I think I said on the outside that he is taking time and responsibility to get better himself so that he can be better for our team. I am not going to really comment further until there are other updates necessary."
Jenkins also confirmed he has been in regular communication with the player, saying: "Yes, he and I have been communicating every couple of days trying to get him in the appropriate space, but also just keeping him up to speed on what the team is doing, and how he is doing as well."
On a return date, he added: "Not ready to comment. We need to get through the next couple of days he is out, at least for the Miami [Heat] game [on Wednesday], and then we will know more beyond that."
Mike Budenholzer hailed a "really special" game from Khris Middleton and described a scuffle that marred the closing moments as "unfortunate" as the Milwaukee Bucks won 133-124 against the Sacramento Kings.
Three-time All-Star Middleton's 31 points were a season-high, shooting nine-of-15 from the field and adding nine assists. He was the perfect sidekick for Giannis Antetokounmpo, who ended up scoring 46 points on 19-of-28 shooting, with 12 rebounds and four assists.
It was Antetokounmpo's sixth game this season with at least 45 points, while no other player has more than Luka Doncic and Joel Embiid's four.
Sacramento's Domantas Sabonis had 23 points, 17 rebounds and 15 assists, completing his 10th triple-double of the season.
The game's final stages saw tensions boil over as Sacramento's Trey Lyles and Milwaukee's Brook Lopez were ejected after an ugly melee.
That set-to broke out with 15.4 seconds remaining, sparked by a shove on Antetokounmpo by Lyles, with Lopez stepping in and squaring up to the Kings man, leading to a mass grappling match at courtside.
Budenholzer said that moment was "just unfortunate" as he preferred to look at the positives from a fine road win.
"I think it was a great game, a lot of good things happened," Budenholzer said. "I was so impressed by Sacramento and the way they played, and it was good for our guys to fight back in the second half. I'm really not going to say anything about what did or didn't happen. To me, it was unfortunate."
At one point in the game, Lopez needed patching up as blood flowed from a wound on his face. He and the Bucks came back strongly after trailing 49-33 to get the win, improving their NBA-leading record to 49-19 for the season.
While Antetokounmpo was excellent on his return from a three-game hand injury lay-off, Budenholzer saved his highest praise for Middleton.
"Khris was really special," the Bucks coach said. "He had a stretch in the third quarter, he had a stretch in the fourth quarter. Down the stretch the ball was in his hands; the execution, the decision-making, the shot-making was high level, and it's good to see. We've just got to continue to grow, the execution down the stretch was good.
"I think the first half was not our best and down the stretch with the ball in his hands, we do that a lot, and it's like falling into a good old habit. And he and Jrue [Holiday] and Giannis were good. Everybody played together and executed and Khris sometimes is that guy that's at the point of it."
Lopez and Sabonis fought a running battle that Budenholzer likened to a prize fight.
"We were just talking in the locker room. It was like a 15-round heavyweight boxing match," the coach said in his post-game press conference.
"Sabonis was incredibly impressive and I feel the same way about Brook. They're just two great players going at each other. His best stuff against Brook's best stuff. The whole game was a match-up to watch, Brook and Sabonis going against each other, and I think everybody got their money's worth.
Giannis Antetokounmpo refused to let his Milwaukee Bucks lose to the Sacramento Kings on Monday, dragging them back from an early deficit and carrying them to a 133-124 road win.
After missing the past three games while nursing a hand injury, Antetokounmpo started like a house on fire, scoring 15 points in the first quarter.
Despite his early heroics, the Kings led by five at quarter-time, and they jumped out to a 49-33 advantage after a 17-6 start to the second period.
From that point on, the Bucks responded with a 50-29 run, taking the lead as Antetokounmpo racked up a gaudy stat-line of 40 points, 10 rebounds and three assists by the end of the third quarter.
A wildly entertaining fourth period saw the teams combine for 80 points, with Khris Middleton scoring 14 of his 31 in what was his best game of the season.
The three-time All-Star's 31 points were a season-high, shooting nine-of-15 from the field and adding nine assists.
He was the perfect sidekick for Antetokounmpo, who ended up scoring 46 points on 19-of-28 shooting, with 12 rebounds and four assists. It was his sixth game this season with at least 45 points, while no other player has more than Luka Doncic and Joel Embiid's four.
The win is the Bucks' 20th from their past 22 outings, improving their league-leading record to 49-19, while the 40-27 Kings fell to third in the West, overtaken by the 41-26 Memphis Grizzlies.
Warriors ride Klay's 30-point half
Golden State Warriors sharpshooter Klay Thompson delivered another memorable performance as he shot his side to a 123-112 home victory against the Phoenix Suns.
Thompson had 18 points in the first quarter, and reached half-time with 33 on 12-of-18 shooting, hitting eight of his 12 three-point attempts.
He would score only five more points in the second half, as Jordan Poole picked up the slack down the stretch with 20 points (eight-of-16) and six assists off the bench.
Devin Booker was strong for the Suns with 32 points on 12-of-20 shooting, while Deandre Ayton piled up 27 points (13-of-19) and 12 rebounds in the losing effort.
The result pulls the Warriors (36-33) to within 1.5 games of the fourth-seeded Suns (37-31).
Edwards and 'Slow-Mo' put on a show
Anthony Edwards looked every bit of a franchise superstar as his Minnesota Timberwolves overcame a 41-point performance from Trae Young to defeat the Atlanta Hawks 136-115.
The former top overall draft pick shot 12-of-25 from the field for a team-high 32 points, eight rebounds, five assists, two blocks and a steal. He was supported in spectacular fashion by Kyle 'Slow-Mo' Anderson, with 14 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds for his second triple-double of the season.
Young was terrific for the Hawks, shooting 15-of-25 from the field and adding seven assists, but supporting pieces De'Andre Hunter and Dejounte Murray shot a combined 11-of-32.
Minnesota (35-34) are now just one game behind the sixth-seeded Los Angeles Clippers (36-33).
Anthony Davis labelled his own performance "terrible" as he blamed himself for the Los Angeles Lakers' 112-108 loss to the New York Knicks on Sunday.
The Lakers missed the chance to get back .500, with the narrow defeat leaving them 33-35 in the battle for playoffs spot in the West.
In LeBron James' absence, Davis was critical of his own ability to lead the side, managing 17 points and 16 rebounds but shooting one-of-five from the free-throw line.
Davis also had four assists, two steals and a block, but his eight-of-18 field shooting left a lot to be desired, with the power forward stating "my play" was the reason for the loss.
"I played terrible," Davis told reporters. "Couldn't find my shot: free throws, layups, everything. The guys did their job. I didn't do my job."
Davis had little impact down the stretch with the game up for grabs, shooting one-of-four from the field.
"I just missed a lot of shots," he said. "I don't think they did anything special. A lot of times one-on-one, they doubled a couple of times."
The Lakers' three-game winning streak may have been halted, but there was some good news with James, who was out of a walking boot and rejoined the team.
The four-time MVP has not played since February 26 and will be re-evaluated next week, potentially offering the Lakers a major boost in their push for the playoffs if they can stay in contention in the meantime.
"It's also good for him to unplug a little bit," Lakers head coach Darvin Ham said about James' break. "Not be detached necessarily, but just mentally get a little bit of a calming to everything that's transpired over the year.
"It's not just about him getting healthy, it's about him being in a good place mentally and spiritually, so we get the best version of him when he returns."
The Lakers (33-35) are 11th in the Western Conference, which is tightly contested from the fourth-placed Phoenix Suns (37-30) down to the 12th-placed New Orleans Pelicans (33-35).
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