The Philadelphia 76ers confirmed star pair Joel Embiid and James Harden were sitting out Monday's game with the Eastern Conference-leading Miami Heat.
Embiid was out with back soreness and Harden was missing as part of his right hamstring recovery amid the 76ers' sequence of three games in four nights.
Philadelphia head coach Doc Rovers had replied "possibly" when asked on Friday if either of the pair could be rested during their busy run of games.
However, Harden said after Sunday's 93-88 loss to the Toronto Raptors he was expecting to face the Heat.
The Heat lead the East with a 47-24 record, with the 76ers third ahead of Monday's games at 43-27.
Embiid is in MVP contention this season, averaging a league-high 29.8 points, 11.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists.
Harden, who switched to the 76ers from the Brooklyn Nets in February, is averaging 22.5 points, 7.8 rebounds and 10.2 assists across the season.
Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard will miss the remainder of the NBA season, the team confirmed on Monday.
This news comes despite Lillard progressing well through the reconditioning phase of his rehabilitation, following successful surgery in January to repair a lingering abdominal injury.
Lillard has met "several key performance benchmarks" and will continue end-stage rehabilitation over the next few weeks, the team added.
The 31-year-old first missed a game this season due to the injury in November and also missed game time in December as a consequence. The team officially called it lower abdominal tendinopathy.
In 29 games this season, Lillard averaged 24.0 points, 7.3 assists and 4.1 rebounds while shooting 40.2 per cent from the floor.
Three and a half games outside a play-in place in the Western Conference, the 12th-placed Trail Blazers are 26-44 on the year and 14-27 without Lillard.
Brooklyn Nets superstar Kevin Durant has said Kyrie Irving is "frustrated" at still not being allowed to play home games for the team.
New York City mayor Eric Adams recently removed restrictions requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination to enter establishments including bars, restaurants and sports arenas, but the mandate for private sector employees remains in place.
As a result, Irving – who is unvaccinated – is only able to attend home games as a spectator, which he recently did when the Nets beat the New York Knicks at Barclays Center.
After Monday's shootaround, Durant said Irving thought restrictions on him would have been lifted by now, stating: "He's frustrated in not being able to play.
"He figured this stuff would be rolled back by now, we'd be way past this. But it's the situation we're in, we've got to deal with it, he's got to deal with it. We're trusting that it'll get figured out there soon.
"I have no clue what may happen, but I'm just trusting that things will work itself out. But I'm sure he misses playing in front of a home crowd and the home crowd; vice versa, they miss him. So, hopefully we get it figured out soon."
Irving has played 19 games for the Nets this season, all on the road, averaging 27.7 points per game, and recently hit 60 in his team's win at the Orlando Magic.
Mayor Adams said at the time that allowing Irving to play home games "would send the wrong message" to the people of New York, despite wanting to see the Nets win an NBA championship.
Durant – who returned from a knee injury at the start of March and is averaging 29.4 points this season – added there is no judgement of Irving from him or his team-mates.
"We love Kyrie as a human being," he said. "I don't think we were ever upset at him as much as people on the outside were. We get that it may affect the outcome of some basketball games, but that's not the only reason why we love Kyrie as a person, because of what he can bring to the court.
"He made the decision [not to be vaccinated] for himself, so you've just got to respect it and move forward. We weren't coming in here every day p***ed off at him because he wasn't around."
When asked if being without Irving would have an impact on their championship aims, Durant said: "We'd be missing a huge piece of our team, but we've still got to go out there and play the game.
"We've been saying that no matter who's on the floor, you've still got to go out there and play and hoop. We'd love to have Kyrie out there, being out there, but if they aren't, the rest of the guys have just got to go play and live with the results. I think we're all comfortable with that."
Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone has slammed his side claiming that they "gave in and quit" in Sunday's 124-104 loss to the Boston Celtics.
The Nuggets trailed 68-43 at half-time after a 46-21 run to the Celtics, leading to Malone benching several starters for the third quarter, including MVP Nikola Jokic who shot eight-of-23 from the field for his 23 points.
Malone was livid with his side, who slipped to a 42-30 record and seventh spot in the Western Conference.
"To me, it appeared we just kind of gave in and quit. I didn't want to reward that behaviour," Malone told reporters after the game.
"I thought the bench unit was at least going out there and competing and fighting."
Malone added: "If somebody’s kicking our ass and we’re fighting and competing, and they’re better than us, so be it,"
"They’re a very good team, but if we’re getting our butts kicked, and we’re just taking it, possession after possession, heads are dropped, body language giving in, I’m not going to reward that behaviour.
"There’s principles in life, and that goes against every principle inside my body."
Jokic was well down on his usual output with eight rebounds and four assists along with his 23 points, while starters Aaron Gordon (13 points, four rebounds), Monte Morris (seven points, four rebounds and four assists), Will Barton (eight points and five rebounds) and Jeff Green (six points and one rebound) struggled for impact.
"Tonight I can't point to one thing we did well," Malone said.
Jokic added: "Overall, they had a really good defensive game and I had a really bad offensive game."
Jayson Tatum, who was serenaded with "MVP" chants from the Celtics crowd, was joint top scorer with 30 points along with Jaylen Brown.
Boston's win improves their record to 44-28 and fourth in the east, having won three in a row and 10 of their past 12 games.
Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said his team needs to appreciate a decreased margin for error with Stephen Curry injured, after their 110-108 home loss to the San Antonio Spurs.
Curry is in a race to return to the court before the playoffs begin in April, and the Warriors felt his absence, getting out-shot from long range by the 28-44 Spurs, currently 11th in the Western Conference.
The Warriors have been undermanned all season with their big-man stocks as James Wiseman, the second pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, is yet to make his season debut.
Coach Kerr stressed this point, and pointed out that he did not feel like his team brought the requisite intensity before it was too late.
"We have to understand – and I told the guys this at half-time and after the game – that we're undermanned," he said.
"There's 11 games left now, and we're looking at the playoffs, and there's gotta be a sense of urgency.
"There's gotta be a sense of competitive fight that we take to the other team from the very beginning of the game, and I did not see that until we were really late in the game.
"We were great in that fourth quarter, fighting like crazy, but we need to fight like crazy from the start."
The ascending Boston Celtics added another scalp to their resume, holding reigning MVP Nikola Jokic to his season-worst shooting percentage in a 124-104 win over the Denver Nuggets on Sunday.
In a stunning year-on-year improvement, the Celtics have been the best defence in the NBA this season after finishing 17th in that department this past season.
With new coach Ime Udoka going all-in on a switching defensive system, it was theoretically going to be tested against the best passing big man in league history, and arguably the league's most dominant offensive force.
However, Jokic was bottled up similarly to everyone else the Celtics have played in 2022, going 8-of-23 (34.7 per cent) from the field in the blowout loss.
Jokic, who is shooting 57 per cent from the field for the season, had previously had his worst shooting performance when he went 6-of-17 (35.3 per cent) in an early-December loss against the Chicago Bulls.
Boston's two superstar wings combined for 60 points, as Jayson Tatum posted 30 points (11-of-17 shooting, 6-of-10 from three) with seven assists, while Jaylen Brown had 30 points (12-of-19 shooting, 3-of-6 from three) with six rebounds.
The ascending Boston Celtics added another scalp to their resume, holding reigning MVP Nikola Jokic to his season-worst shooting percentage in a 124-104 win over the Denver Nuggets on Sunday.
In a stunning year-on-year improvement, the Celtics have been the best defence in the NBA this season after finishing 17th in that department this past season.
With new coach Ime Udoka going all-in on a switching defensive system, it was theoretically going to be tested against the best passing big man in league history, and arguably the league's most dominant offensive force.
However, Jokic was bottled up similarly to everyone else the Celtics have played in 2022, going 8-of-23 (34.7 per cent) from the field in the blowout loss.
Jokic, who is shooting 57 per cent from the field for the season, had previously had his worst shooting performance when he went 6-of-17 (35.3 per cent) in an early-December loss against the Chicago Bulls.
Boston's two superstar wings combined for 60 points, as Jayson Tatum posted 30 points (11-of-17 shooting, 6-of-10 from three) with seven assists, while Jaylen Brown had 30 points (12-of-19 shooting, 3-of-6 from three) with six rebounds.
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