Doc Rivers compared James Harden's showing against the Detroit Pistons to something akin to prime Magic Johnson.
Harden finished with 20 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists in a 123-111 win for the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday.
In the process, Harden surpassed 24,000 career regular-season points, becoming the 27th player to hit that landmark.
And Rivers believes Harden deserves to be compared to the very best.
"I hate to you use this example, but when he's playing like this, it's like having a scoring Magic Johnson on the floor," Rivers told reporters.
"When he runs our team with this kind of pace and he scores and gets assists, we're really good."
The Sixers needed others to step up in the absence of Joel Embiid, and Tyrese Maxey also delivered alongside Harden, scoring 23 points.
"Our defense was pretty good, we took care of the ball and I think everyone competed hard," Maxey said.
"Even someone like Paul Reed comes in and gets nine points and eight offensive rebounds. He plays with so much energy that the other team can't keep up."
Philadelphia are 24-15 for the season and sit fifth in the Eastern Conference, which is propped up by the 11-32 Pistons.
"That's a team playing for a championship and we shot ourselves in the foot," said a frustrated Pistons coach Dwane Casey.
"We had 22 turnovers – the same number we had in the last game against them. We can't give them points like that."
Kevin Durant went down injured before Royce O'Neale scored the game-winning two-pointer with 3.2 seconds left as the Brooklyn Nets edged the Miami Heat 102-101 on Sunday.
Durant exited late in the third quarter with a right knee issue after Jimmy Butler fell on him, but the Nets did enough without him to improve to 27-13 overall and second spot in the Eastern Conference. Brooklyn have won 18 of their last 20 games.
Butler put the Heat ahead 101-100 with a dunk with 1:12 remaining, but O'Neale had the final say with a putback after Kyrie Irving had missed a 30-foot three-point attempt.
Irving top scored for Brooklyn with 28 points, including six-of-15 from three-point range with six assists, while Nic Claxton contributed strongly again with 13 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks.
Durant managed 17 points on five-of-11 shooting from the field with five rebounds in his 30 minutes on the court.
Butler top-scored for the Heat with 26 points, but shot nine-of-21 from the field with two turnovers, while Tyler Herro finished with 24 points before limping off late.
Bam Adebayo was also limited by a right-hand contusion, scoring 10 points with eight rebounds.
Harden records triple-double in 76ers win
James Harden recorded a triple-double and became the 27th NBA player with 24,000 career points as the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Detroit Pistons 123-111.
Harden finished with 20 points on seven-of-14 shooting, including three-of-five from beyond the arc, 11 rebounds and 11 assists.
Tyrese Maxey also came to the fore for the Joel Embiid-less 76ers, while Pistons guard Killian Hayes had a game-high 26 points, with four three-pointers.
Suns slump to sixth straight loss
The Cleveland Cavaliers consigned the short-handed Phoenix Suns to their sixth straight defeat with a 112-98 victory as Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland scored 22 points each.
Mitchell, who scored a season-high 71 points in last weeks' OT win over the Chicago Bulls, made seven-of-12 from the field, while Garland dished off seven assists in a fine display.
The Suns were missing their backcourt of Chris Paul and Devin Booker but were within one point at three-quarter time before fading.
Duane Washington top scored for Phoenix in 25 minutes off the bench with 25 points including five triples.
Kevin Durant is set to undergo an MRI after exiting the Brooklyn Nets' 102-101 win over the Miami Heat on Sunday with a knee injury.
Durant sustained the injury with 1:05 remaining in the third quarter when Jimmy Butler fell back into the Nets forward after having his shot blocked by Ben Simmons.
The 2014 NBA MVP remained in the game initially but appeared concerned by the knock and headed for the locker room when the Nets called a timeout 30 seconds later.
"He didn’t finish the game," Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn told reporters. "Just right knee, he'll get evaluated tomorrow. Then hopefully we'll have some more info for you.
"Most likely it will include imaging just to make sure we're good."
Durant had injured the MCL in his left knee in January last year, missing approximately a month and half while rehabbing.
The 12-time NBA All-Star is averaging 30.0 points, 6.8 rebounds and 5.4 assists this season for the Nets, who have rallied after a slow start to be 27-13 and second in the Eastern Conference.
"He's in good spirits as we all are," Nets team-mate Kyrie Irving said of Durant. "The strength of our team is us picking each other up.
"Just being ready for whatever's thrown at us... I think one of the greatest qualities of our team is our bench and the way we support each other, despite who's in the lineup.
"Now it's time to go out and exemplify that until we find out the timeline with K and when he could be available again. So we just got to be mature about it."
Luka Doncic will miss his fourth game of the season after being ruled out of Sunday's road game against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Doncic, who is leading the league in scoring at 34.0 points per game, has played in 37 of the Mavericks' 40 games this season. They are 23-14 in those 37 games and 0-3 when Doncic has not played.
He is officially listed as out due to left ankle soreness after putting up 34 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in Saturday's win over the New Orleans Pelicans.
It has been yet another spectacular campaign for the 23-year-old Slovenian superstar, who has a Rookie of the Year and three All-NBA First Team selections from his first four seasons.
Doncic has taken yet another step forward on both ends, posting career highs in points, field goal percentage (49.9), three-point percentage (35.5), made free throws per game (8.4) and steals (1.6).
He will be joined on the sideline by Dorian Finney-Smith (adductor strain), Josh Green (elbow sprain) and Maxi Kleber (hamstring tear).
The Mavericks entered Sunday's action sitting fourth in the Western Conference, just 3.5 games behind the Denver Nuggets in first place.
LeBron James has expressed his frustration at the lack of trade movement for the Los Angeles Lakers following the 136-134 victory against the Sacramento Kings.
A fifth consecutive win saw the Lakers improve to 19-21, a game back of the 10th seed Utah Jazz, who occupy what would be the final place in the Western Conference play-in tournament.
That is still well below the expectations that surround James and the Lakers franchise, and their inactivity in the market has raised eyebrows, as has the apparent reluctance to trade the 2027 and 2029 first-round picks that some feel can be used to improve the roster.
With the February 9 trade deadline on the horizon, James made it clear his patience on the matter is waning, telling the Athletic: "I play the game. I worry about who's in the locker room. I can't do nobody else's job.
"Listen, you guys know. It's not rocket science. I'm doing what's best for my guys in the locker room. That's all I can worry about.
"Y'all know what the f*** should be happening. I don't need to talk."
The Lakers were reportedly considering trading Russell Westbrook and both first-rounders to the Indiana Pacers in exchange for Myles Turner and Buddy Hield but elected to wait for a deal that would have a greater impact upon the team.
Despite the loss of key players and poor early-season form, the Lakers sit just two wins off sixth place and are 7.5 games adrift of Western Conference leaders the Denver Nuggets.
The Los Angeles Lakers are "trending in the right direction" after beating the Sacramento Kings on Saturday, according to coach Darvin Ham.
An awful start to the season saw them lose 10 of their first 12 games, but the Lakers' form has evened out and their 136-134 win over the Kings made it five victories in a row to move them on to 19-21 for the campaign.
LeBron James posted 37 points as well as eight rebounds and seven assists as the visitors secured their latest win at Golden 1 Center.
Ham pointed to his team's struggles earlier in the season – including two defeats to the Kings – as partly responsible for their recent upturn, saying after the game the Lakers are "trending in the right direction and learning from our mistakes."
He added: "A couple of months back we'd have lost a game like this, and back then sitting here with you guys in post-game pressers telling you as much as it hurt, we need to go through this process, we need to learn, trial by fire.
"All those experiences are causing us to be more conscious on offense, not just throwing away possessions late in the game.
"At the end of the day, everything we have gone through this season I think has been a huge education for us."
Thomas Bryant, who scored 29 points along with claiming 14 rebounds, also praised his team-mates for their resilience.
"It says a lot about the confidence, the strong resiliency that we try and bring each and every night out," the former Washington Wizards center said.
"I know each and every last one of those guys are proud of each other out there."
Chicago Bulls' All-Star guard Zach LaVine says he "feels like me again" after scoring a combined 77 points in back-to-back games capped by his side's 126-118 win over the Utah Jazz on Saturday.
LaVine starred with 41 points including 11 three-pointers in Friday's 126-112 win over the Philadelphia 76ers, following that up with 36 on 12-of-21 shooting against the Jazz.
That marks the best form that the 27-year-old has achieved this season after undergoing arthroscopic left knee surgery in the offseason.
"First couple of back to backs, I played and didn't feel great," LaVine told reporters.
"[Now] I feel great. Legs feel healthy. Felt springy at the beginning of the game. It's good to feel like me again."
On Friday, LaVine hit 11 of his 13 three-point attempts (84.6 per cent), joining Stephen Curry as the only players in NBA history to hit at least 11 three-pointers in a game at over 80 per cent efficiency.
LaVine shot another six-of-12 from beyond the arc against the Jazz, including three in a row to push the Bulls' lead to eight.
Bulls head coach Billy Donovan encouraged LaVine to take on more three-point attempts.
"For us to generate more threes, he can be a big part of that," Donovan said.
"Then he's got to find a balance between shooting those threes and obviously getting downhill and either getting to the basket or passing and creating offense for others."
Chicago's win over the Jazz made it three in a row, along with eight victories from their past 11 games, during which they have the fourth best offensive rating in the NBA.
"It always helps when your best players are playing well and you're focused on the other end," LaVine said.
"We're playing well. We're making big plays. I'm not saying we're playing perfect, but we're competing.
"We're coming to each game with a certain type of energy and confidence and we need to keep taking it game by game. We're not trying to look ahead and get ahead of ourselves."
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