Kawhi Leonard does not have a timetable for his return to action after a right ankle sprain, says Los Angeles Clippers head coach Ty Lue.
The two-time NBA champion sat out Wednesday's 124-107 defeat to the Golden State Warriors after suffering an injury during Monday's showdown with the Utah Jazz.
Leonard rolled his ankle late in the fourth quarter while attempting to make a block, though the player subsequently had seemed hopeful there would be no lay-off.
The small forward's absence at Chase Center alongside fellow key man Paul George, however, is a blow for the Clippers, with no time frame set for his return.
"[He] woke up with some soreness in his ankle," Lue stated when asked on a prognosis for Leonard's recovery.
"It was a little more than we thought. But he's okay, [he's] feeling better, getting better. We don't know a timetable."
Despite defeat, the Clippers still sit just inside the top six of the Western Conference, having posted eight wins and four losses in November so far.
They next face the Denver Nuggets and the Indiana Pacers in back-to-back home contests on November 25 and November 27, before they travel to face the Portland Trail Blazers on November 29.
Jayson Tatum shook off injury to get the better of Luka Doncic as the Boston Celtics blew out the Dallas Mavericks in a 125-112 victory, having led by as many as 27 points on Wednesday.
Tatum, who had been listed as questionable with a sprained ankle, scored 37 points with 13 rebounds and five assists, while Jaylen Brown contributed 31 points on 13-of-18 field shooting.
Doncic scored a game-high 42 points with eight rebounds and nine assists but gave up five turnovers, and was blocked by Tatum in the fourth quarter.
Tatum and Doncic went head to head in the final quarter after the Mavs closed to 117-107. The Celtics forward first dunked, then made two free-throws after being fouled by the Slovenian, before blocking Doncic's driving lay-up.
Brown drained a three-point attempt after Marcus Smart's assist and suddenly it was 124-107 and game over.
Smart had 13 points with nine assists, while center Al Horford hit four-of-four from three-point range in his 14 points.
The Celtics moved to an NBA-best 14-4 record with the victory, while the Mavs suffered their fifth loss in six road games to fall to 9-8.
Wiggins stars as Warriors get back to winning ways
All-Star Andrew Wiggins enjoyed a season-high game with 31 points including six three-pointers as the Golden State Warriors won 124-107 over the Los Angeles Clippers.
Stephen Curry scored 22 points, making four-of-10 from beyond the arc, with six rebounds and nine assists as the Warriors improved to 9-10.
The result ended the three-game winning run of the Clippers, who were without All-Stars Paul George and Kawhi Leonard. Marcus Morris Sr top scored for the Clippers with 19 points.
Bulls topple Bucks to claim another big scalp
The Chicago Bulls claimed another big scalp only a few days after ending the Celtics' nine-game winning run, with a 118-113 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks.
DeMar DeRozan starred for the Bulls with 36 points and eight assists, while Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo had 36 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists.
Chicago trailed 109-106 with 1:15 remaining before Coby White sunk two three-pointers to sink the Bucks, who gave up 19 turnovers for the game.
Kyrie Irving was thrilled with the Brooklyn Nets' response to the "internet uproar" from Tuesday's 115-106 loss to the short-handed Philadelphia 76ers in Wednesday's 112-98 road win over the Toronto Raptors.
Irving led the way for the Nets with a team-high 29 points, including 19 in the third quarter, as they bounced back after being "embarrassed" by the 76ers who were missing Joel Embiid, James Harden and Tyrese Maxey.
The win improved the Nets to 9-10, fueled by a 39-25 third quarter where Irving scored three triples.
"We're in the business of winning," Irving told reporters after the game.
"We'll take this one, especially after last night's loss, and the whole internet going up in an uproar in terms of how embarrassed we should be, which is true.
"We just wanted to make sure we paid attention to detail tonight. We came out and responded."
Nets teammate Ben Simmons, who had his fifth straight game with 10 points or more, praised Irving for his role in the win.
"Just being Kyrie, that's what we want him to do, just be himself," Simmons said. "Have that confidence to come out and take those shots and be who he is.
"He's an incredible player, an incredible teammate, I'm glad he had a night like tonight."
Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn said his side had learned and applied valuable lessons from losses to short-handed opponents lately, including their 116-103 defeat to the Los Angeles Lakers missing LeBron James along with the 76ers.
"It really was a standard that we have to have for each other," Vaughn said. "A big piece of that is holding each other in a higher standard.
"I thought from the beginning of the game you saw that, a lot more talk from each other, a lot more communication and demand from each other which was great to see."
Kevin Durant was held to only 12 points for the game, but passed Kevin Garnett to be 18th on the NBA all-time points scorers' list.
The Sacramento Kings just keep on winning, defeating the Memphis Grizzlies 113-109 on the road for their seventh straight victory – a feat they have not achieved since 2004.
Their 113 points is the lowest total they have put up during this winning run, having not previously fallen below 120.
The Kings' scoring power, which includes the highest total in a game this season (153 against the Brooklyn Nets) has them as the second-best offense in the NBA at 117.7 points per 100 possessions, trailing only the Boston Celtics (118.2).
De'Aaron Fox was the catalyst on Tuesday, scoring a team-high 32 points on 11-of-21 shooting, including five-of-eight from deep, while adding eight rebounds, six assists and four steals.
Fox's ability to go head-to-head with Grizzlies superstar Ja Morant bodes well for the Kings, as the 24-year-old former fifth overall pick in the 2017 draft appears on track for his first All-Star appearance.
He is averaging a career-high 25.4 points per game at a career-best 55.8 field goal percentage, and he is also top-20 in assists with an average of 6.4.
At 10-6, the Kings are currently occupying the third seed in the Western Conference, and they will look to extend their streak to eight games when they head to Atlanta to take on the Hawks on Wednesday.
Davis' dominance goes to waste
Anthony Davis had one of the most statistically impressive games of his career in the Los Angeles Lakers' 115-105 loss to the Phoenix Suns.
Davis scored 37 points on 11-of-17 shooting, hitting 15 of his 16 free throws, while grabbing 21 rebounds, snatching five steals and swatting five blocks. He is the first player since the league began recording blocks and steals in 1973 to post at least 37 points, 20 rebounds, five steals and four blocks in a game.
For the Suns, Mikal Bridges and Devin Booker scored 25 each, while center Deandre Ayton had 14 points and 15 rebounds before being shoved to the ground by Patrick Beverley late in the fourth quarter, drawing an ejection for the Lakers guard.
Bogdanovic leads unlikely Pistons win
Despite the return of reigning back-to-back MVP Nikola Jokic and second-fiddle Jamal Murray, the Detroit Pistons pulled off an upset 110-108 road win against the Denver Nuggets.
After missing some time due to the league's health and safety protocols, Jokic was back to his dominant best, scoring 31 points on 12-of-16 shooting with 10 assists and nine rebounds, but it was not enough.
Bojan Bogdanovic scored a team-high 22 points on eight-of-17 points for the Pistons, while Alec Burks chipped in 21 points and three steals off the bench, and Killian Hayes set the table with nine assists.
Kevin Durant feels "everybody" wants to see the Brooklyn Nets fail after Ben Simmons' homecoming against the undermanned Philadelphia 76ers ended in a disappointing 115-106 road defeat on Tuesday.
The 76ers were missing Joel Embiid, James Harden and Tyrese Maxey through injury, but they were able to catch fire from deep, shooting 50 per cent from the three-point line (16-of-32).
In a hostile environment for the Nets, the Philadelphia crowd aggressively booed Simmons every time he touched the ball, although he performed well, collecting 11 points, 11 assists, seven rebounds, three blocks and three steals.
For the 76ers, Tobias Harris stepped up into an increased workload and delivered a team-high 24 points on 10-of-21 shooting, while De'Anthony Melton, Georges Niang and Shake Milton combined for 54 points on 12-of-19 from long-range.
It was a golden opportunity for the full-strength Nets to pull their record even at 9-9, but they are now two games below .500 at 8-10.
When asked if he felt the crowd took extra delight in getting one over Simmons and the Nets, Durant said he feels every away crowd has added animosity towards his team.
"It's a lot of emotions [for Simmons coming back to Philadelphia], you always want to play well," he said. "You know the fans are going to be involved… and bring their best.
"But that's at every arena, everybody wants to see our team fail – nobody likes Ben, nobody likes 'Ky' [Irving], nobody likes myself – so it might be like that at every road arena.
"It's just something we've got to deal with, but I thought [Simmons] did a great job at handling it and playing his game. We had a chance to win, but we just didn't."
Durant added that he did not feel the Nets played a poor defensive game, but were too slow to adjust to the 76ers' hot shooting.
"It's the same s***," he said. "They had 20 more shots than us, and seven more three-pointers. That's the game.
"[We have to] just go do it. Just go do what we need to do. Rebound, box out, move the ball, guard up one-on-one.
"They shot 43 per cent from the field, which is not bad. But they shot 50 per cent from the three-point line, and a lot of those were crossover, step-back threes – they're just back-breakers.
"I wouldn't necessarily say we had a horrible defensive night, but they out-rebounded us – 20 offensive rebounds – and they made 16 threes, and it looked bad.
"We would make them shoot a tough shot, they get a rebound and hit a three. We botch a switch maybe, and a guy gets a little bit of space and he shoots over a contest. They knocked them down tonight.
"Early on we should have seen they were hot, so we had to get up into them and force them inside the three-point line.
"But they played free, and they had nothing to lose, so those shots are just going to feel better when they leave their hands. We had to make them miss tonight, and they hit them, you have to give them credit."
Kawhi Leonard's return to the Los Angeles Clippers lasted three games before another injury, with a rolled ankle ruling him out of Wednesday's fixture against the Golden State Warriors.
Leonard missed all of last season after tearing his ACL in the 2021 playoffs, and after returning for two games in October, he proceeded to miss another three weeks with his troublesome knee.
The 31-year-old two-time NBA Finals MVP and two-time Defensive Player of the Year has started each of the Clippers' past three games, averaging 8.3 points in 23.3 minutes as he works his way back into form.
In Monday's win against the Utah Jazz, where the Clippers were already missing Paul George due to a strained hamstring, Leonard landed awkwardly after attempting to block a shot in the fourth quarter, and was subsequently ruled out of the rest of the contest.
After that game, he said: "I just rolled my ankle… but I should be fine".
The Clippers sorely miss Leonard at his offensive best, as they currently boast the second-best defense in the league, but the third-worst offense.
His next opportunity to get back on the floor will be Friday at home against the Denver Nuggets, or if that is too soon, Sunday at home against the Indiana Pacers.
Hugo Lloris fears Lucas Hernandez has suffered an "important injury", dealing France yet another blow as they bid to defend their World Cup crown.
France began their campaign with a 4-1 win over Australia on Tuesday but were without Paul Pogba, N'Golo Kante, Christopher Nkunku and Karim Benzema, who were all ruled out of the tournament.
And left-back Hernandez was added to that injury list after he went down in attempting to stop Matthew Leckie's cross for Australia's shock opener.
The outlook does not look positive for the Bayern Munich defender, but France captain Lloris hopes his team-mates can rally as they have done before.
"It's never good to see one of your team-mates leaving the field in that way," he said. "I believe it's an important injury.
"He's not the first one, but we have to continue to look forward. Unfortunately we could not count on him, but we have a team with other players that we trust.
"We have to stay together and keep believing, keep our focus on that."
Lloris added: "We have important players left on the side for injuries, but luckily we have a lot of talented players in France, players we can trust, because they have the talent, the mentality and the desire to perform at the highest level.
"We try to create something special inside the team day by day. We try to enjoy the moment, not only on the pitch but also off the pitch.
"We have to take it game by game. Obviously it's a World Cup, there's no easy games and we have to be ready to face difficulties. When we face difficulties, we have to make sure that everybody raises their level."
The previous three holders have exited the World Cup at the group stage, but that sequence appears unlikely to be extended now.
Indeed, France's 4-1 win was the biggest in the first game of a title defence in World Cup history.
"We're obviously pleased with the result and pleased with the performance," Lloris said.
"I believe we had a good start in that game, but unfortunately we conceded that goal. We also lost one of our team-mates in this action by injury.
"But the team stayed calm, and we took control of the game and slowly started to dominate and created chances, then we scored one and two.
"Second half, I think we controlled perfectly. It's a good start."
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