Khris Middleton was happy to get minutes under his belt despite defeat after he played his first game since April for the Milwaukee Bucks against the Los Angeles Lakers.
A rampant pair of performances from Anthony Davis and LeBron James – who scored 44 points and passed Magic Johnson on the all-time NBA assists list respectively – saw the visitors downed 133-129.
But even with the loss, it marked a major landmark for the Bucks as they welcomed back forward Middleton to their line-up, having seen him sidelined since April's playoffs.
With 17 points and seven assists, the 31-year-old kept himself busy throughout, and expressed his delight at getting back on the floor with the rest of his team-mates.
"It felt really good to be back out there with the guys competing, playing," he said. "[I've got] a range of emotions.
"[I've] been through a lot these last couple months - happy, sad, anxious, nervous. To finally get out there and play and get a lot of those nerves past me, it felt pretty good."
The Bucks head to the Charlotte Hornets as part of a back-to-back on Saturday, but head coach Mike Budenholzer suggested Middleton will not be played again so quickly in succession.
"To have Khris back is huge for us," he added. "[It is] pretty impressive how seamlessly he got back into the game, [at] both ends of the court.
"We talk a lot about how Khris, he's just a basketball player. He's a smart player [who] just understands the game. [He is] not overly reliant on athleticism or things like that.
"For him to come back and be able to catch a good rhythm – he's got to keep working but a big step for us tonight to get Khris Middleton back."
T.J. Warren ended a two-year exodus from the court after making his Brooklyn Nets debut in Friday's 114-105 win over the Toronto Raptors.
The small forward, who last played on December 29, 2020 with the Indiana Pacers, has been out since with a succession of surgeries for a left foot injury.
With Kyrie Irving's 27-point haul leading the hosts to victory at Barclays Center, Warren scored 10 and posted four rebounds over a 17-minute spell off the bench.
To finally get back on the floor, however, was the big success of the night for the 29-year-old, who was delighted to put his injury nightmare behind him.
"It almost felt like a dream," he said. "As soon as I checked in, it kind of hit me like, 'Wow, this is real.' Once I got up and down it was just like, 'All right, this is basketball.'.
"It was just super fun to be out there and compete with the guys."
Team-mate Kevin Durant was also happy to see Warren, who signed with the Nets in July, tick off a major milestone on his road back to the top of the professional game.
"He's a poised guy," he added. "He showed that he belongs out here. It felt like he didn't really miss too much of a [beat]. Two years he missed? It didn't feel like that.
"But we still got to be patient with him. We still understand that he had tough injuries, and he spent a lot of time away from the game, but he looked great to me."
The Nets will next face the Boston Celtics on Sunday, as they look to strengthen their hand in the Eastern Conference in the run-up to Christmas.
LeBron James moved up to sixth on the all-time assist leaderboard as he dished 11 in the Los Angeles Lakers' impressive 133-129 win against the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday.
James also had 28 points on 12-of-27 shooting, eight rebounds and two steals to go with his assists, and he was supported in spectacular fashion by Anthony Davis.
Davis had a season-high 44 points (18-of-27 shooting), 10 rebounds and three blocks, in what was his third-most points in a Lakers uniform, and the most since January 2020.
With James' ninth assist of the game – the 10,142nd of his career – he passed fellow Lakers legend Magic Johnson on the all-time list, now trailing only Mark Jackson (10,334), Steve Nash (10,335), Chris Paul (11,071), Jason Kidd (12,091) and John Stockton (15,806).
Speaking after the contest, James made sure to convey his respect for Johnson and his impact on the game.
"It means a lot, obviously," he said. "The way Magic approached the game, it was very infectious.
"His teammates loved playing with him because of the joy he played with, and the ability to pass the ball and get other guys involved. He was always excited about seeing his teammates be great. I always admired that in him.
"What’s even more humbling and super-duper cool is the fact that I’m doing it in a Laker uniform, and knowing how much Magic means to the Laker franchise."
Earlier in the week in an interview with ESPN, James reflected on the legacy he hopes to leave behind.
"To know that I'm in the conversation, or about to get to a point that I'm breaking a record that he set for this franchise – and I'm not comparing myself to Magic with this franchise, what he did, sheesh," he said.
"Him, [James] Worthy, Kobe [Bryant], Shaq [O'Neal], those guys are synonymous with this franchise. But it's just pretty cool, always, when I'm able to see my name with some of the greats that have played this game.
"Listen, when you talk about just one-name guys when you're talking about sports, you got Ali, Jordan, Magic, Bird. Those names are just synonymous with sports."
Turning his attention back to the win against the Bucks, James said he felt this was the most connected this Lakers team has felt since the addition of Russell Westbrook.
"I will say I feel like tonight is the most complementary, and the best game with all three of us on the floor together that we've played on both sides of the floor," he said.
"We all felt in a rhythm. We all felt we were making impactful plays throughout the whole game."
The victory was the Lakers' seventh from their past nine fixtures, reviving what was looking like being a lost season and inching closer to .500, now 9-12 – only two games behind the current Western Conference eighth seed, the Golden State Warriors.
Khris Middleton is set to make his return from injury for the Milwaukee Bucks against the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday.
The three-time NBA All-Star underwent a procedure to repair torn ligaments in his wrist in July and has yet to play for the Bucks this season.
Middleton's last appearance was back in April when he sprained the medial collateral ligament in his left knee in Game 2 of the opening round of the playoffs against the Chicago Bulls.
The Bucks went on to lose to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semi-finals in the absence of Middleton.
According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the Bucks are about to have one of their star men back, though, when they host the Lakers at Fiserv Forum.
The Bucks sit second in the East having amassed a 15-5 record through 20 games of the 2022-23 NBA season, three games back on the 18-4 Celtics.
It was a familiar story for the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday as Luka Doncic was the best player on the court, but it was not enough, going down 131-125 against the Detroit Pistons in overtime.
In front of their home fans, the Pistons rode hot-shooting nights from Bojan Bogdanovic and Killian Hayes, combining for 52 points on 20-of-27 shooting to overcome the Slovenian star's brilliance.
Bogdanovic had 30 points with four assists, four rebounds and two steals, while Hayes had 22 points, eight assists and four rebounds, while starring in the overtime period.
Doncic, the league-leader in points per game, raised his average to 33.5 with his 35 points on 13-of-25 shooting, adding 10 assists an five rebounds, but he hit just two of his six free throws, proving costly.
With Doncic essentially being a one-man show in Dallas, the Pistons used that against the Mavericks in overtime, consistently trapping him as soon as he crossed mid-court to force a quick pass, deciding they would live with whatever resulted from other players shooting the ball.
The Pistons approached their offense in the complete opposite fashion, with six players attempting between 10 and 15 field goal attempts each, and their unpredictability forced the Dallas defense to play one-on-one.
Taking advantage of his hot hand, Hayes put the game to bed as he turned a 125-125 tie into a win with back-to-back pull-up three-pointers to stick the dagger into the visiting Mavs.
The tanking Pistons are now 6-18, while the Mavericks, who are coming off a Western Conference Finals appearance, fall to 10-11.
The Atlanta Hawks learned Thursday that their 125-108 win over the Orlando Magic on Wednesday came at a cost.
De'Andre Hunter exited in the first quarter with a right hip flexor strain and will be re-evaluated in one week, while John Collins will miss at least two weeks due to a left ankle sprain sustained on a dunk attempt just before halftime.
Tests on Collins' ankle on Thursday confirmed the severity of the sprain, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania.
Hunter is third on the Hawks in scoring at 14.9 points per game, while Collins ranks fourth at 12.3 points per contest and second in rebounds at 7.5 per game.
While Atlanta’s lineup took a hit with the injuries to Hunter and Collins, reinforcements are on the way with Bogdan Bogdanovic expected to make his season debut soon, following his knee surgery in the offseason.
Bogdanovic averaged 15.1 points last season and his 169 made three-pointers were second on Atlanta behind Trae Young.
In addition to the imminent return of Bogdanovic, the Hawks also may have caught a break with the timing of the injuries to Hunter and Collins. Atlanta has the easiest strength of schedule this month, with its 14 December opponents sporting a .422 combined winning percentage.
Wednesday’s win snapped a season-worst three-game losing streak for Atlanta, who own a one-game lead over the Washington Wizards for first place in the Southeast Division.
The Golden State Warriors (11-11) have a golden opportunity to climb back above .500 when they host the 9-12 Chicago Bulls on Thursday.
Both teams entered the season with lofty expectations, but have sputtered out of the gates, struggling in areas they are meant to excel in.
With four championships since 2015, the Warriors have been widely regarded as the greatest shooting team the game has ever seen, but the underlying factor of their greatest years has always been their defense.
Boasting the league's best defensive efficiency in their 2014-15 championship season, second-best for their 2016-17 title, and 11th for their 2017-18 crown – the Warriors rediscovered their dominance on that end of the floor this past season to finish as the second-best defense en route to another ring.
That has cratered this campaign, with Golden State currently allowing 113.4 points per 100 possessions for the 21st-ranked defense.
What that means is that some of the Warriors' point totals from their eighth-ranked offense are going to waste, having scored over 110 points in seven of their 11 losses so far.
Meanwhile, the Bulls have committed to offensively-minded scorers DeMar DeRozan, Nikola Vucevic and Zach Lavine as their core trio, but currently own the 22nd-best offense.
In a clash between two sides struggling to establish an identity, the result could simply come down to which side's X-factor shows up – or more specifically, which one shoots the lights out.
PIVOTAL PERFORMERS
Golden State Warriors - Klay Thompson
Klay Thompson is a Warriors legend, a future Hall-of-Famer and one of the greatest shooters in the history of the NBA – but he has never been less efficient than he is right now.
However, when Thompson is feeling it this season, the Warriors win. Shooting 35.5 per cent from the field and 32.5 per cent from deep in losses, Thompson's numbers skyrocket to 43.7 per cent from the field and 44.7 per cent on three-pointers in the 10 wins he has played in.
Only the Boston Celtics score a higher percentage of their points from three-pointers (41.7 per cent) than the Warriors (41.2 per cent), so it makes sense that when their secondary sharpshooter catches fire, good things happen.
Chicago Bulls - Zach Lavine
While the Warriors rely on a heavy dose of three-pointers to put up their points, the Bulls are the opposite, leading the league in their percentage of points that come from the mid-range (14.6 per cent).
This is primarily due to DeRozan's affinity for the mid-range, and in turn, it leaves them 28th in the percentage of points that come from the three-point line (27.4 per cent).
To outgun the Warriors, you need to score big, and the Bulls' best bet to get hot from deep is Zach Lavine.
Making 2.8 threes per game, he is the only Bulls player averaging more than Coby White's 1.5, and his win/loss splits are eerily similar to Thompson's.
He is hitting 3.6 threes at 43.9 per cent in wins, and 2.1 threes at 26.4 per cent in losses, indicating his outsized importance and responsibility for the interior-heavy Bulls offense.
KEY BATTLE - Can the Bulls slow down the Warriors' ball movement?
While the Bulls' offense has been disappointing, their defense has actually been a pleasant surprise, climbing from the 23rd-ranked unit last season up to the 11th-best this time around.
Golden State's porous defense and second-highest pace in the league could provide a perfect environment for the Bulls to put up a big score, so it may come down to if they can force Stephen Curry to beat them by himself.
While Curry has been spectacular, averaging 31.4 points, the Warriors lead the league in assists per game at 29.7, so if the Bulls can figure out how to force the Warriors into isolations and restrict their quick passing, they can force the reigning champions to play the game out of their comfort zone.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
This will be the first meeting between the Warriors and Bulls this campaign after two fixtures in the 2021-22 season – resulting in two convincing Golden State wins.
The champions-in-waiting hammered the Bulls 119-93 last November, before following it up with a 138-96 thrashing in January, making it 10 consecutive victories against Chicago dating back to 2017.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
