The short-handed Brooklyn Nets slumped to their 13th defeat from their past 15 games as Jayson Tatum led the Boston Celtics to a 129-106 victory on Thursday.
Tatum scored 30 points including four three-pointers along with seven rebounds and four assists for the Celtics who have won 10 of their past 11 games.
The Celtics' hot form is in contrast to the Nets, who have slumped to a 31-29 record in the absence of the injured Kevin Durant, unavailable Kyrie Irving and unfit Ben Simmons.
Boston led from start to finish, opening up a 35-22 quarter-time lead, with good support from big men Robert Williams III (12 points and 11 rebounds) and Al Horford (11 points and 13 rebounds).
Seth Curry top scored for the Nets with 22 points but only made two-of-seven from beyond the arc, while Patty Mills struggled with one point from 28 minutes, shooting none-of-nine from the field.
Morant hurt in tight loss
Ja Morant airballed a game-tying three-point attempt in the dying seconds and had a third-quarter injury scare as the Memphis Grizzlies lost 119-114 to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Morant finished with 20 points and eight rebounds but seemed to pick up a leg injury on a drive which impacted his final quarter. D'Angelo Russell scored 23 of his 37 points in the fourth quarter for the Timberwolves.
The ladder-leading Phoenix Suns had no issues without Chris Paul as they extended their winning streak to eight games with a 124-104 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder. Devin Booker scored 25 points with five rebounds, 12 assists and a career-high six steals.
Stephen Curry was benched late after 18 points and 14 assists as the Golden State Warriors won 132-95 over the Portland Trail Blazers, while Nikola Jokic had 25 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists in the Denver Nuggets' 128-110 triumph over the Sacramento Kings.
Trae wayward in Hawks loss
Trae Young struggled as the Atlanta Hawks went down 112-108 to the Chicago Bulls. The Hawks guard made three-of-17 from the field in his 14 points for the game. For the Bulls, who have won six in a row, in-form DeMar DeRozan scored 37 points while Zach LaVine returned from injury with 20 points.
Brooklyn Nets head coach Steve Nash concedes his side must have urgency to arrest their slide after Thursday's 129-106 loss to the Boston Celtics left them with a 31-29 record.
The Nets were billed as title contenders earlier this season but have endured a tough midseason period, winning only two of their past 15 games with Kevin Durant out injured, Kyrie Irving unavailable for home games and James Harden traded out.
Harden swapped places with Ben Simmons from the Philadelphia 76ers, with the new acquisition still yet to debut as he re-conditions having not played this season.
Nash admitted having a healthy roster would go a long way to fixing his side's issues but conceded they needed urgency as their season slips away.
"We understand the situation we're in. We know there's urgency," Nash said at the post-game news conference.
"We're not going to have half a season to figure this thing out. We're up against the clock.
"Our guys have been great. There's a lot of pressure and circumstances that make it difficult as you're dropping in the standings but their spirit has been outstanding.
"That's the spirit of taking it day-by-day game-by-game trying to improve. At the same time, we recognise the situation we're in."
Jayson Tatum starred for the in-form Celtics with 30 points and seven rebounds, while the Nets' best were Seth Curry (22 points and seven rebounds), Bruce Brown Jr (15 points, seven rebounds and five assists) and Kessler Edwards (13 points and five rebounds) off the bench.
Nash was pressed on ways to fix their struggles without their key players, with no timeframes on Durant and Simmons' availability but he reverted to a healthy roster.
"That's number one, two, three and four really," Nash said. "We could've played better tonight, but we can play better on nights when we have everybody too.
"In this league, you flip it, take four of the Celtics starters out, it's a different look."
Seth Curry does not want an apology from Ben Simmons as the pair start a new chapter with the Brooklyn Nets.
Curry and Simmons were team-mates on the Philadelphia 76ers, although the former first overall pick had not played this season.
Simmons has now cited a difficult period with his mental health as his reason for staying away from the 76ers until a trade was agreed with the Nets.
The Australian was the subject of intense criticism following the team's playoff defeat to the Atlanta Hawks last season, in which he was deemed to have shirked responsibility and passed up shooting opportunities.
With James Harden leaving the Nets for the 76ers, Curry and Andre Drummond joined Simmons in the deal going the other way.
It means Simmons must now play with team-mates he abandoned earlier in the season, but Curry does not see that as a problem.
"Business is business," Curry told ESPN on Thursday ahead of the NBA's resumption after the All-Star break.
"I said from day [one], even when he was out early in the season, people were asking me if I feel like, if Ben comes back, should he apologise to us or whatever?
"I understand the business; he doesn't need to apologise to anybody. When he's on the court, I know he's going to do his job and he's going to do what he does. So I understand the business.
"He was doing what he felt was best for himself business-wise and personal-wise. And the team's going to do the same thing as far as making trades or whatever, so I understand it, I've been around it; I don't take anything personal.
"When we're on the court, we're team-mates. Everything's fine, and we depend on each other to do good things. There's been nothing negative he's done to me personally, so I'm fine."
With another NBA All-Star weekend in the books, Thursday sees the league back in regular season action, with one of the more intriguing games taking place at Barclays Center when the Brooklyn Nets entertain the Boston Celtics.
They played in the same venue earlier this month, with Boston easing to a 126-91 victory, which the Nets will be eager to avenge this time.
Somewhat surprisingly given the strength of their respective rosters, Celtics star Jayson Tatum was the only player representing either team to play in the All-Star game, scoring eight points during his 20 minutes on court for Team Durant.
Kevin Durant missed the game in Cleveland with a knee injury and is likely to be out of this clash as well.
Nets general manager Sean Marks recently said Durant and new arrival Ben Simmons could be ready to play in the coming weeks, but the visit of the Celtics is likely to come too soon for both.
Steve Nash's team currently sit eighth in the Eastern Conference on 31-28, having fallen away dramatically in the last month, losing 11 games in a row until beating the Sacramento Kings on Valentine's Day.
Injuries have played a big part in the dip in form, but back-to-back wins against the Kings and the New York Knicks suggested they could be about to turn things around, even with a defeat to the Washington Wizards in their last game before the All-Star break.
The Celtics, meanwhile, have been going in the other direction, winning nine games in a row before a loss to the Detroit Pistons ahead of the break, and they find themselves sixth in the East on 34-26.
Coach Ime Udoka has led his team to a five-game winning streak on the road and will be looking to make it six in Brooklyn.
He will be reliant on Tatum and Jaylen Brown to pick up where they left off. The Celtics' star duo combined for 57 points and 20 rebounds in the recent 135-87 thrashing of the Philadelphia 76ers.
The impact of guard Derrick White could also be crucial after his recent arrival from the San Antonio Spurs. He has made a respectable start to life with Boston, averaging 12.3 points per game in his four outings.
The restart of the league signals the beginning of what will no doubt be a tense run in a tightly contested Eastern Conference, and both these teams will be looking to get off to a perfect start on Thursday.
PIVOTAL PERFORMERS
Brooklyn Nets – Patty Mills
It's a home game, so Kyrie Irving (vaccination status) cannot play, and with James Harden gone and no Durant or Simmons yet, the pressure will once again fall on Mills to be his team's main man.
The Australian narrowly missed out on the three-point finals at All-Star weekend but is enjoying a career-best season for points (13.4 average per game) in Brooklyn after moving from San Antonio last year.
His three-point shooting is what has been letting him down in recent times, going five games in a row scoring single figures for points, before hitting 22 in the loss to Washington before the All-Star break, including five of seven from beyond the arc.
Boston Celtics – Jayson Tatum
Tatum has been his team's standout player this season, and the momentum from featuring in the All-Star game could see him raise that level even higher.
Only three players in the league have scored more than his 1,439 points this season (DeMar DeRozan - 1,547, Trae Young - 1,475, Giannis Antetokounmpo - 1,443), while only DeRozan (566) and Nikola Jokic (516) have hit more than his 500 field goals.
Interestingly, Tatum took more of a back seat when Boston beat Brooklyn earlier this month, with Brown and Marcus Smart (both 22) scoring more than his 19 points.
KEY BATTLES – Make a better start, Brooklyn
The recent game between these two saw the Celtics race out to a 35-16 lead after the first quarter. It was always a big ask for the Nets to do anything from there.
Where Brooklyn will likely look for success is in mid-range, where no team in the league has a higher percentage of field goals from (48.7). However, only four teams have a lower percentage of mid-range field goals allowed than Boston (39.9 per cent).
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Although the Celtics won at Barclays Center earlier this month, the Nets had won the previous four meetings between the two, including at TD Garden in November, and all three encounters last season.
Zion Williamson's failure to welcome CJ McCollum to the New Orleans Pelicans added to a "pattern of behaviour" that shows the former first overall pick to be "a detached team-mate".
That is the view of JJ Redick, a former Pelicans team-mate.
Injuries have limited Williamson to just 85 games in the NBA since he was drafted in 2019, meaning the discussion around the forward has instead centred on his commitment to the Pelicans.
The team have made moves to try to build a competitive team in the absence of a potential superstar, who averages 25.7 points for his career.
But McCollum, the latest recruit from the Portland Trail Blazers, said at the weekend he was yet to speak with Williamson directly.
And Redick, speaking on Tuesday, was able to offer an insight into life alongside the 21-year-old, whose status remains unclear as he waits to play his first game this season following a foot injury.
"This just shows a complete lack of investment in your team, in the organisation, in the city," Redick told First Take.
"I get that he's hurt and away from the team, but you just traded for one of the 50 best players in the league – a guy that's supposed to be paired with you. Reach out and say, 'hello'.
"This is a pattern of behaviour with Zion that we are seeing again and again. I was his team-mate; I can describe him as a detached team-mate – that is an accurate statement."
Redick, who joined the Pelicans at the same time as Williamson and left in March 2021, said: "Yes, he's been amazing when he's been on the court – 100 per cent.
"He's amazing to watch. There's no one that can do what he does on a basketball court.
"But as a team-mate, there is a pattern of behaviour; as a fully invested individual in New Orleans, there's a pattern of behaviour. This is worrisome."
Luka Doncic took criticism of his weight at the start of this NBA season to heart and has since been "unstoppable", according to Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.
For the second season running, Doncic was the preseason MVP favourite; for the second season running, the Mavs superstar was accused of turning up for work out of shape.
Doncic himself acknowledged he "maybe" relaxed "too much" after leading Slovenia in a sensational deep run at the Tokyo Olympics.
The 22-year-old vowed to "trim down" and "do better" and has done exactly that – reportedly now at a similar weight to his rookie year.
The Mavs were 17-18 up until the end of December, with Doncic featuring in only 21 games and averaging 25.6 points, 8.5 assists, 8.0 rebounds and a plus/minus of -4.0.
In 2022, the team are 18-6, carried by their main man's 29.3 points, 9.4 assists and 10.3 rebounds per game, along with a plus/minus of 9.1. He has not missed a game since January 7.
This calendar year, Doncic ranks third for total points (674), second for total assists (217) and sixth for total rebounds (236) – a response, Cuban suggests, to early-season criticism.
"I think he was humbled a little bit," Cuban told The Ticket. "I think he didn't like being called out for his weight and other things, and it finally clicked that there's a level of discipline that's required.
"All athletes at his level go through it at some level, where things are just easy and you're always used to being the best and you're always used to getting all the accolades.
"Then when something doesn't go according to expected, it makes you reconsider.
"He knows what he needs to do, and it finally clicked that if he's going to be the best – and I know he wants to be the best – there's certain things he has to control.
"Once he got a handle on those things, it's just been 'Katie, bar the door'. He's just been unstoppable."
Phoenix Suns' All-Star guard Chris Paul will be sidelined for six to eight weeks due to an avulsion fracture in his right thumb, according to ESPN.
The 36-year-old sustained the injury in Wednesday's 124-121 win over the Houston Rockets yet played two minutes for Team LeBron in Sunday's All-Star Game.
Paul has been a key part of the ladder-leading Suns who have a 48-10 record, averaging 14.9 points, 4.5 rebounds and an NBA-best 10.7 assists.
The NBA regular season ends on Sunday April 10, meaning Paul may be out until the playoffs commence, with the Suns well placed for a high seeding.
"We've dealt with a lot already this year," Suns head coach Monty Williams, who led Team LeBron on Sunday, told reporters after the game.
"We've lost multiple guys due to injury this year, and we've had things outside of basketball invade, so to think you're going to go through an NBA season and not have adversity, it's silly.
"You hate it, but you're prepared for it. This is different, because it's Chris. But with that in mind, it's also an opportunity to strengthen our team and give other guys confidence in certain areas, and when he does come back, I think we'll be that much better."
He added: "We're just gonna take it day by day, and see how he heals up as we go forward."
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
