Bradley Beal and the Washington Wizards recovered from a horrific start to storm back and defeat the Minnesota Timberwolves 114-106 away from home on Thursday.
The Wizards trailed 30-10 in the first quarter, and after trimming the margin to eight points at half-time, the Timberwolves again extended their lead to 87-69 with two minutes remaining in the third period.
Washington put together a 17-2 run over the next four-and-a-half minutes, bringing themselves right back into the contest, and they would end up winning the final period 38-19.
Beal had 15 of his game-high 35 points in the final 5:14, finishing with shooting figures of 14-of-28 from the field and four-of-eight from deep, while adding six rebounds, five assists and three steals.
No other Wizard scored more than 16 points, while Timberwolves young gun Anthony Edwards went toe-to-toe with Beal.
Edwards scored a team-high 34 points on 11-of-26 shooting with three steals, although his six turnovers hurt. Rudy Gobert was also solid for Minnesota, grabbing 19 rebounds to go with his 17 points and three blocks.
The win is the Wizards' fourth from their past five outings, improving to 28-30 to have them sitting ninth in the Eastern Conference, while the Timberwolves dropped to eighth in the West at 31-30.
Clippers leapfrog the Suns into top-four
The Los Angeles Clippers won an enticing Western Conference showdown against the Phoenix Suns 116-107 despite a rough shooting performance from star Kawhi Leonard.
Leonard, who has been boasting blistering shooting splits of 51/45/92 since the beginning of the new year, finished just five-of-18 from the field on the road against the Suns for 16 points, although he salvaged a decent outing with 10 rebounds, four assists, two blocks and a steal.
Paul George picked up the slack with 26 points (nine-of-19 shooting), six rebounds and five assists, while Terance Mann matched him with 26 points on 10-of-12 shooting.
With the win, the Clippers (33-28) moved up to fourth in the West, taking the place of the Suns (32-28).
No Giannis, no worries for Lopez and the Bucks
The Milwaukee Bucks lost their two-time MVP after suffering a game-ending wrist injury, but Brook Lopez did his best Giannis Antetokounmpo impression during a 112-100 road win against the Chicago Bulls.
Antetokounmpo played only nine minutes, scoring two points before crashing into the basket support while attempting a chasedown block, but Lopez responded with a season-high 33 points (13-of-18 shooting), seven rebounds and four blocks.
Jevon Carter also impressed with 22 points (nine-of-13 shooting), six rebounds and six assists, while undrafted rookie A.J. Green hit five three-pointers off the bench.
Two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo was ruled out of the Milwaukee Bucks' clash with the Chicago Bulls on Thursday in the second quarter after suffering a wrist injury.
The injury occurred as Antetokounmpo raced back and attempted to block a fast-break lay-up, crashing into the stanchion underneath the ring hands-first.
He immediately began feeling for his wrist, and after exiting the game and heading back to the locker room, the Bucks confirmed he would not return.
Antetokounmpo finished with two points, seven rebounds and three assists, and was plus nine in his nine minutes.
The 40-17 Bucks came into the game with the league's second-best record, trailing only the Boston Celtics (42-17).
Joe Mazzulla has been appointed the permanent head coach of the Boston Celtics.
Mazzulla becomes the 19th full-time head coach in the franchise's history and he has also agreed an extension to his contract, though details were not confirmed.
The 34-year-old took over the Celtics on an interim basis in September following the suspension of previous head coach Ime Udoka.
Mazzulla has had an impressive impact on last season's NBA Finals runners-up, leading them to a league-leading record of 42-17.
The announcement from the Celtics came on Thursday following Wednesday's 127-109 win over the Detroit Pistons.
Mazzulla was hired by the Celtics in 2019 as an assistant coach following two years in his first head coach role with division two college Fairmont State.
He spent two of his first three seasons on the Celtics bench under former head coach and current president of basketball operations Brad Stevens, before retaining his role when Stevens was promoted and Udoka was brought in as the new head coach.
Stevens said following the announcement: "As he has shown, Joe is a very talented coach and leader. He has a unique ability to galvanize a room around a mission.
"We are thankful for the work he has done to help get us to this point, and excited that he has agreed to lead us into the future."
It was also announced last month that Mazzulla and the rest of Boston's coaching staff had earned the right to coach Team Giannis at this year's All-Star Game, which takes place in Salt Lake City on Sunday.
LeBron James likes what the new-look Los Angeles Lakers have "brewing" following some shrewd business before last week's trade deadline.
Five players made their home debuts for the Lakers in a 120-102 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday.
D'Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt were all in the starting line-up as the rebuilding Lakers moved to 27-32, sitting 13th in the Western Conference.
James made his return from injury after seeing Russell Westbrook, Juan Toscano-Anderson, Damian Jones, Patrick Beverley and Thomas Bryant move on.
The Lakers superstar, who scored 21 points after recovering from foot soreness, feels there is a nice blend to the roster after so many changes.
He said: "I think we're going to continue to build off tonight," said James. "I think our skill sets all kind of fit each other."
James expressed his gratitude to the contribution the players who departed made but is happy with the new faces that have arrived.
"First of all, I shout out and salute the guys that left," James said. "Russ, Pat, JTA, DJ and Thomas. Those five guys. We all started the season together and tried to work to make some things happen and be the best that we could be out on the floor.
"So I salute those guys and their commitment to us trying to be as good as we could be on the floor. And right now, I mean, I like the guys that we have coming in. It's going to take some time for us to get to know one another, but I know that they play the game at a high level."
James added heading into the All-Star break: "We got a lot of work to do still. And every game is going to be tough for us, especially going down the stretch, knowing the type of push that we need to make.
"I want the guys to enjoy the break but don't get 100 per cent detached because we want to come back and try to keep this thing going.
"I feel really good about what we have brewing, but it's going to take a lot of commitment from us going down the stretch so I'm looking forward to that."
Joel Embiid is unsure if he will be fit for the All-Star Game on Sunday after making history in the Philadelphia 76ers' win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Embiid scored 29 points, took 14 rebounds and provided five assists as the 76ers beat the Cavaliers 118-112 at Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday.
The center became the fastest 76ers player to reach the 10,000 points milestone in his 373rd game, beating the record of 378 that was held by Allen Iverson.
Embiid is due to feature in the All-Star showpiece at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City on Sunday, but is not certain to showcase his talents due to the sore left foot that has been troubling him.
Asked if he will play this weekend, he replied: "I'm not sure. I'm not healthy. I haven't been healthy for the past three weeks, or a month.
"I was just trying to get to the All-Star break without missing games and stuff. But I feel like I've reached the point where I need to follow the doctor's advice. ... Back then he said I should have been sitting for two weeks, so we'll see how the next few days go, and go from there."
Embiid says the prospect of claiming the MVP award on Sunday as an injury replacement for Kevin Durant will not tempt him to take any risks with his fitness.
"I haven't been healthy," he said. "I've been having this lingering foot issue. According to the doctors, which needs a lot of rest and staying off my feet."
Embiid expressed his pride at reaching a huge milestone.
He added: "It's great. I'm extremely lucky. But then again, I've put in a lot of work to be able to put myself in those positions, no matter what it is on the floor. To be able to make something happen.
"I'm just proud it contributes to winning. It doesn't matter how much you score. As long as you win, that's what matters."
Philadelphia are third in the Eastern Conference, above the Cavaliers at 38-19 after a fourth successive victory.
Mikal Bridges scored a career-high 45 points in his third game for the Brooklyn Nets since his trade for Kevin Durant as they won 116-105 over the Miami Heat on Wednesday.
The Nets had dropped four of their past five games since trading Kyrie Irving to the Dallas Mavericks, with the injured Durant following him out the exit door last week.
Bridges shot 17-of-24 from the field, making four-of-six from beyond the arc with eight rebounds and five assists.
The Nets became the first team in NBA history to have four players score 45 points or more in a single game in one season.
Cameron Johnson, who also joined the Nets from the Phoenix Suns alongside Bridges, added 18 points with three assists.
The Nets had trailed 56-52 at the main break, but Bridges broke the game open with 15 straight points.
Bridges finished the game with 17 points in the fourth quarter, comfortably eclipsing his previous career-best return of 34 points.
Bam Adebayo had 24 points with 13 rebounds and six assists for the Heat, while Max Strus scored 18 points as the Heat fell to 32-27.
The win lifted the Nets to 34-24, although Ben Simmons' woes continued with only two points, four rebounds and assists in 20 minutes.
Embiid brings up milestone amid double-double
Joel Embiid brought up his 10,000th career as he recorded a double-double as the Philadelphia 76ers won their fourth straight in a 118-112 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Embiid finished with 29 points with 14 rebounds and five assists, while James Harden also managed a double-double with 19 points and 12 assists. Harden assisted and scored in 27 of 38 first-quarter points.
The 76ers led 63-38 at half-time, although Donovan Mitchell fought hard for the Cavaliers, scoring 25 second-half points, before finishing with 33.
LeBron returns as Lakers win
LeBron James scored 21 points on his return after three games out with a foot injury as the Los Angeles Lakers won 120-102 over the New Orleans Pelicans.
Anthony Davis scored a game-high 28 points with 10 rebounds and five assists as the Lakers improved to 27-32 to boost their playoff hopes, while D'Angelo Russell added 21 points. The Lakers never trailed after a 38-point opening quarter.
Brandon Ingram top scored for the Pelicans, still missing Zion Williamson, with 25 points, while Jonas Valanciunas had 12 points with 11 rebounds.
Four-time major champion Rory McIlroy believes the PGA Tour needs to take a leaf out of the NBA's book and build itself around star athletes.
The 33-year-old Northern Irishman, who has fiercely defended the PGA Tour amid the rise of LIV Golf, said the organisation could look at other professional sports leagues as models to rebuild itself for growth.
The PGA Tour is weighing up format changes like making at least some of the designated events limited-field, no-cut tournaments.
Tiger Woods spoke about the challenges of the PGA Tour's direction on Tuesday ahead of this week's Genesis Invitational in California, with McIlroy weighing in on Wednesday.
"If you look at the NBA's trajectory over the last 20 years, they've built that league around their best players and their stars, not around the 12th guy on the team," McIlroy told reporters.
"But because they've built that league up around the stars, the 12th guy on the team does way better than he used to, so that's sort of the way I've been trying to tell it."
McIlroy insisted that any PGA Tour changes would not "screw" the lower-ranked, bottom-half players who he sensed had concern around format adjustments that could squeeze them out of tournament fields.
"I've had tons of conversations with guys that are worried about what events they're going to play next year and all that," McIlroy said.
"The one thing I said, look, no one's trying to screw the bottom half of the tour here. If anything, we're trying to lift it up.
"The best players should be playing in them because ultimately the PGA Tour needs to be built around the best players because that's what will maximise the value of the product.
"But that doesn't mean that there's not great storylines further down that list, which we're all very cognisant of."
McIlroy can regain his number one ranking at the Genesis Invitational but laughed that status has been passed around "like a hot potato" in recent times, with last week's Phoenix Open winner Scottie Scheffler re-claiming it.
"Yeah, of course I care about it," McIlroy said. "I think it's a really cool thing to be ranked number one in whatever you do, but I think it just goes to show the level of depth and the level of talent that's out here.
"I literally have one average week, it wasn't even a bad week, just an average week, and there's always someone waiting to overtake you or to come and try to take that mantle from you. I think it's a great thing for the game.
"I've got a chance to get it back this week. You know, hopefully it's a bit of a sort of hot potato thing where me, Scottie and Jon [Rahm] sort of pass it around a little bit because it means we're all playing great golf."
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