Steve Nash implored the Brooklyn Nets to "care more" after falling to their fourth straight loss, with Ben Simmons revealing the side met for a players-only meeting to discuss problems.
Indiana Pacers recorded a 125-116 victory on Saturday, the fourth time in six games the Nets have conceded 125 points or more, as Nash's side dropped to 1-5 this season.
Brooklyn host the Pacers again on Monday and Nash outlined his frustrations with the Nets as he urged his team to show more commitment.
"It was a disaster," coach Nash said. "How else do you say it? I didn't see the will, didn't see the desire, or the connectivity necessary to get stops and get rebounds.
"We just got to make a bigger commitment and it's got to mean more and we got to care more.
"We have to look deep inside ourselves and what we want to do. What do we want to accomplish? Do we want to give up on this because it's been difficult early or do we want to stay the course and start to build something?
"We've had a lot of really good days here early in the season and we've lost a couple of games; it shakes our mentality, it has shaken our mentality hard.
"And we're not seeing the same competitive spirit, same purpose, and if we don't clean that up it's not going to get better. It's the only way to get out of difficult positions is to have character and competitive spirit."
The Nets have been largely reliant on Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving thus far, the pair scoring 61 points at Barclays Center, and the former acknowledged Brooklyn must improve soon.
"It was a s***ty night," Durant said. "Excuse my language, it was a bad night. We're p***ed. We enjoy basketball.
"We like to win, though, so of course when we lose the games it's going to be a sombre mood in the locker room. But it will change once we start playing some good basketball.
"We got a lot of basketball to be played ahead of us."
While Nash urged his team to up their effort levels, Simmons suggested the Nets are confronting their problems after a meeting between the players following the defeat.
"It was honest," Simmons said of the meeting. "We had a conversation. Obviously, I'm not going to talk about it, but it was honest.
"That's what winning teams do. Hold each other accountable, be able to be open and talk to your team-mates, and respect that and be men."
Stephen Curry scored 31 points with 11 rebounds in his annual homecoming that ended in an overtime defeat for the Golden State Warriors, losing 120-113 to the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday.
Golden State had led by four points in the final minute of regulation, before P.J. Washington hit a jumper, followed by a Dennis Smith Jr layup to tie the game.
Curry missed a tough three-point attempt to win the game at the end of regulation time, and airballed another shot in overtime. The Warriors point guard finished with three-of-13 from beyond the arc, making 10-of-22 from the field.
The Hornets, who were without LaMelo Ball and Terry Rozier, were rampant in overtime, with Washington finishing the game with 31 points and Jalen McDaniels draining a crucial triple. Gordon Hayward made a strong contribution with 23 points and four assists.
Golden State shot at 29.5 per cent from three-point range, with Klay Thompson battling on one-of-seven shooting from beyond the arc in his 11 points.
Jordan Poole made four-of-11 attempts in his 24 points off the bench for the Warriors, who are 0-2 on the road this season and 3-3 overall.
Clutch Embiid lifts 76ers to back-to-back wins
Joel Embiid scored 25 points but none were better than his tiebreaking three-point shot as the Philadelphia 76ers made it back-to-back wins with a 114-109 victory over the Chicago Bulls.
Embiid drained his wide-open three-point shot to put the 76ers up 112-109 with 18.1 seconds remaining in the game as Philadelphia improved to 3-4 after their 1-4 start to the season.
The 76ers center had seven rebounds and four assists, while James Harden contributed 15 points on two-of-13 field shooting with 11 assists, while Tyrese Maxey scored 14 points after posting a career-high 44 on Friday.
Nets woes worsen with Pacers shock
The Brooklyn Nets' defensive woes continued as they fell to a fourth straight loss, going down 125-116 to the Indiana Pacers for whom rookie Bennedict Mathurin scored a career-high 32 points.
The Nets conceded another big score, averaging 124.5 points against during their four-game losing skid, with Kevin Durant contributing 26 points with five rebounds and four blocks.
Kyrie Irving, who has come under fire for appearing to show support to an antisemitic film this week, responded on the court with 35 points including five triples with six assists.
Kyrie Irving is being met with severe backlash, including from owner of the Brooklyn Nets Joe Tsai, after sharing a link on social media to a movie "full of anti-Semitic disinformation".
On Thursday, Irving tweeted out a link to a movie on Amazon Prime called 'Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America' – his tweet remains up as of Saturday - and he also shared the same image to his Instagram story.
The 2018 movie is based on a 2015 book of the same name, and includes troubling assertions.
In a team statement, the Nets said: "The Brooklyn Nets strongly condemn and have no tolerance for the promotion of any form of hate speech.
"We believe that in these situations, our first action must be open, honest dialogue.
"We thank those, including the ADL [Anti-Defamation League], who have been supportive during this time."
Tsai also released his own statement that he posted on his personal Twitter account.
"I’m disappointed that Kyrie appears to support a film based on a book full of anti-semitic disinformation," he said.
"I want to sit down and make sure he understands this is hurtful to all of us, and as a man of faith, it is wrong to promote hate based on race, ethnicity or religion."
He then posted a follow-up tweet saying "this is bigger than basketball".
Irving is yet to comment on the situation, which is sure to dominate the lead-up to the Nets' home game against the Indiana Pacers on Saturday.
With Joel Embiid out of the line-up for the Philadelphia 76ers' trip to take on the Toronto Raptors, it was third-year guard Tyrese Maxey rising to the challenge to set a new career-high points total in the 112-90 win.
Maxey, who prior to Friday had only ever scored more than 33 points once – a 39-point effort against the Denver Nuggets as a rookie – set a new personal-best with 44 points against the Raptors.
He was incredibly efficient, hitting 15-of-20 from the field and nine-of-12 from three-point range, while also leading the 76ers with eight rebounds and chipping in four assists.
Former league MVP James Harden was happy to cede the responsibility to his less-experienced running-mate, finishing with just 11 points, four rebounds and four assists as he assumed a supporting role.
It was also a breakout performance for De'Anthony Melton, who was given his first start in a 76ers uniform after being acquired in the offseason and made his presence felt defensively, snatching five steals to go with his 13 points, six assists and five rebounds.
Speaking to the media after the game, Maxey said his big night was simply the product of the offense running smoothly.
"It was [about] getting good looks," he said. "We got to the paint, sprayed off for threes, got in transition, and once you get stops, the game becomes way easier honestly, for not just myself, but for all of us.
"We were getting to the paint and driving and kicking, creating, generating offense for everybody. That’s why I got open threes, why [Melton] got open threes, Tobias [Harris] got open threes.
"I just know how good we can be, I know how talented we are, but we’ve got to match our talent with the energy that we play with, and defensive tenacity.
"Tonight we knew it was going to be extremely hard without Joel. That made guys step up, that made guys do things they don’t normally do."
Teammate Matisse Thybulle was thrilled to see Maxey shine, but he said it was no surprise.
"Every time he gets an opportunity, he does something big with it," he said. "You could even take it back to the COVID games we were looking at our bench, like who’s gonna be the one to step up?
"Tyrese Maxey did – and it’s like, time after time – Tyrese is the one that steps up, shows up big and he does it, obviously, as an individual, but for the team, and we all benefit from it."
Head coach Doc Rivers also enjoyed the show, and he pointed to it as an indicator of how well the 76ers adjusted without their star center.
"I just think he’s a heck of a basketball player," he said. "We came into the game knowing Joel wasn’t gonna play… we talked to [the rest of the team] this morning about trying to find matchups and then spacing the floor and attacking.
"They are a great help-defensive team and they can’t stop it. Us getting into the paint sucked everybody in, and that’s where we got shots. I thought we were ready for that and I thought we did a good job."
After starting the season with three consecutive losses, the 76ers have now won two of their past three to take a 2-4 record into their road trip against the Chicago Bulls on Saturday night.
Paolo Banchero showed exactly why the Orlando Magic took him with the first overall pick in this year's NBA Draft, nearly posting his first career triple-double as his side defeated the Charlotte Hornets 113-93 on Friday.
With last year's fifth overall pick Jalen Suggs and starting point guard Cole Anthony both missing through injuries, Orlando opted to not start a traditional point guard and instead let their new star run the show.
He looked right at home as the focal point of the Magic's offense, scoring 21 points on eight-of-14 shooting while adding 12 rebounds and seven assists to deliver their first win of the season.
Even more impressive was the fact that almost all of that production came in the first three quarters, as Orlando built an 82-53 lead heading into the fourth and Banchero sat out the final nine minutes.
Through six career games, Banchero is averaging 24 points, 7.6 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game, and is yet to score less than 20 points in a contest.
Lakers lose again despite James' best efforts
LeBron James' 28 points, seven rebounds, five assists and four steals were not enough to bring an end to the Los Angeles Lakers' winless start to the season, falling to 0-5 after a 111-102 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
James shot 10-of-24 from the field and one-of-six from deep, and in his first game off the bench since his rookie season, Russell Westbrook was plagued by similar issues.
Westbrook shot six-of-17 for his 18 points, while also missing half of his 10 free throws and committing five turnovers.
For the Wolves, Anthony Edwards led the scoring with 29 points on 11-of-22 shooting, while Rudy Gobert was seven-of-11 for 22 points and 21 rebounds to lift their record to 4-2.
Antetokounmpo mounts case for third MVP
With two MVP trophies already in his display case, Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo made it clear why he is one of the favourites yet again this season with a powerhouse performance in a 119-108 win against the New York Knicks.
Antetokounmpo led the Bucks in made field goals (11), made free throws (seven), points (30), rebounds (14) and assists (nine) in a true virtuoso showing. He was supported well, with six teammates making their way into double figures, including 12 points and 12 rebounds off the bench from Bobby Portis.
With the win, the Bucks are now 4-0, and the only remaining unbeaten team.
LeVert and Mitchell drop 41 each in overtime Cavaliers win
Caris LeVert and Donovan Mitchell of the Cleveland Cavaliers went head-to-head with star Boston Celtics duo Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown and emerged 132-123 winners in overtime.
While Brown and Tatum had 32 each at a combined 22-of-41 from the field (54 per cent), the Cavs pairing played even better, scoring 41 each off a combined 27-of-47 (57 per cent).
Second-year phenom Evan Mobley also had a big hand in the win, chipping in 19 points (seven-of-12 shooting) with 10 rebounds, three assists and two blocks.
Just two weeks after they exercised his third-year option, the San Antonio Spurs on Friday surprisingly waived second-year shooting guard Joshua Primo.
In a statement from Spurs Sports & Entertainment CEO R.C. Buford, he said: "It is our hope that, in the long run, the decision will serve the best interest of both the organization and Joshua."
The 19-year-old Primo was the 12th overall selection in the 2021 NBA Draft and averaged 5.8 points in 50 games – mostly off the bench – during his rookie season. He appeared in the Spurs' first four games this season and averaged 7.0 points, 4.5 assists and 3.3 rebounds as his role began to expand.
Primo’s release was particularly curious because the team picked up his third-year option two weeks ago, meaning his contract has been guaranteed for $4.1million this season and $4.3m next season. He can now be claimed on waivers, and if he clears, he can become an unrestricted free agent.
San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich was asked about the decision to waive Primo before the team’s game against the Chicago Bulls on Friday, but he declined to answer, stating the organization will not be commenting any further.
The Golden State Warriors' offense, led by the Splash Brothers, was at its destructive best in Thursday night's 123-110 victory over the Miami Heat.
In a strong four-quarter performance, the Warriors scored between 29 and 32 points in all four periods, led by iconic backcourt duo Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.
Curry was the game's top-scorer with 33 points on 13-of-22 shooting, hitting seven of his 14 three-point attempts.
Thompson also got up 14 three-point attempts as the Warriors – who play at the fastest pace in the league at 111.7 possessions per game – were determined to let it fly from deep.
The second Splash Brother hit five of his 14 attempts, while going one-of-five from two-point range for 19 points of his own. They were supported strongly by Andrew Wiggins, who grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds to go with his 18 points (five-of-10 shooting).
For the Heat, Jimmy Butler was terrific on both ends, leading his team with 27 points on an incredibly efficient eight-of-13 from the field (four-of-seven from deep, made all seven free throws), while adding eight assists, six rebounds and six steals.
The win means the defending champions are 3-2 through their first five games, while Miami fell to 2-4.
The Baniac delivers again
Memphis Grizzlies wing Desmond Bane is in a rich vein of form, and he led the way with 31 points in a 125-110 win against the Sacramento Kings.
It is the second consecutive game Bane has top-scored for the Grizzlies in a win, after dropping 38 to tie with teammate Ja Morant and set a new franchise record for points by a duo (76) in their victory over the Brooklyn Nets.
Against the Kings, Bane stayed red-hot as he made 11-of-18 field goal attempts, including six-of-eight from long range in a true sharpshooter's performance.
One of the best shooters in the entire NBA, Bane now boasts a career three-point percentage of 43.3 per cent on 5.6 attempts per game.
Thunder collect another win over the Clippers
The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Los Angeles Clippers for the second time in the past three days with a 118-110 triumph.
Los Angeles were missing stars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George when they rolled into Oklahoma City for a two-game road trip, and were still without Leonard as George returned to the lineup.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (24 points on 10-of-23 shooting) and Luguentz Dort (21 points on nine-of-15) carried the offensive load for the Thunder, while George was much less effective for the Clippers.
George could only muster 10 points on four-of-12 shooting, while center Ivica Zubac grabbed a game-high 18 rebounds with his 12 points. After starting their season with two wins, the Clippers have now lost their past three.
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