Derrick Rose said he is "playing with joy" after helping to spark a superb New York Knicks revival in their 113-98 defeat of defending NBA champions the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday.
The Knicks were slow out of the blocks at Fiserv Forum and trailed 38-19 by the end of the first quarter in Milwaukee.
But New York came roaring back, with Julius Randle scoring 32 points and finishing with 12 rebounds, while RJ Barrett had 20 points.
Rose was also influential off the bench, putting up 23 points including 10 in a second quarter in which the Knicks outscored the Bucks 37-25, while he drained a crucial three-pointer in the third shortly after a Barrett lay-up had put the visitors in front.
"I'm playing with joy. It ain't happiness, it's joy," Rose said. "I feel happiness is temporary. Joy is everlasting.
"I've been through a lot. I'm in a great place and I'm on a very talented team. I don't have to score, I don't have to score 30 points.
"I don't have that burden. I can go out there and play the game and try to affect the game by passing or just pushing the ball. So, I'm in a great place."
After being drafted first by hometown team the Chicago Bulls in 2008, Rose became the youngest MVP in 2011 at the age of 22.
However, a series of serious knee injuries hampered his progress and he left Chicago for an unsuccessful first stint with the Knicks in 2016 before also representing the Cleveland Cavaliers, Minnesota Timberwolves and Detroit Pistons.
Rose returned to New York in February and was a key reason for their run to fourth in the Eastern Conference last season. Now 33, he contested suggestions his performance against Milwaukee was "vintage".
"What's vintage about it? I wasn't shooting threes, not pulling off shots like I am now, if you want to say it, it's whatever," he said.
Randle had 16 points and eight rebounds in the first half and he hailed the character in the team to complete such a resounding comeback.
"It showed a lot about the character of our team," he said. "NBA games are long. What's special about our team is we fight. We have a lot of high character guys."
Head coach Tom Thibodeau hopes his side do not find themselves in such precarious positions too often, though credited the team for their resilient fightback.
"Obviously, you don't want to get down like we did, but we did," he said. "It's a long game. You've got to keep fighting and get it to a manageable number.
"Once we got going a little bit and we made a couple hustle plays, it galvanised us and gave us energy."
The Los Angeles Clippers trailed by 20 at one point in Friday's game at the Minnesota Timberwolves and their best player missed 80 per cent of the shots he attempted, yet they still managed to run away with their third straight victory.
Confidence is growing for a team that started the season in a 1-4 slump, and Friday's stunning 104-84 defeat of the Timberwolves was the latest building block.
The Clippers outscored Minnesota 57-27 after half-time, the fewest points by any team in a half so far this season, as they became the fourth team in the last 25 years to trail by 20 before winning by 20.
"To be down 20 on the road and come back and win by 20, just shows a lot about our team – about our character, our resilience, not giving up," Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue told reporters. "We could’ve easily gave in by winning Wednesday’s game and kind of giving into this game, but our guys kept fighting and kept competing, and that’s what you love to see."
On the heels of a 126-115 win in Minnesota on Wednesday, the Clippers got by on a poor shooting night by making sure the Timberwolves shot even worse.
Los Angeles limited the home team to 34.8 per cent shooting from the field, including a stunning 17 of 52 (32.7 per cent) showing from three-point range, while out-rebounding Minnesota 62-42 and forcing 21 turnovers.
In a normal game, stats like that would have produced a far more lopsided win, but the Clippers needed every bit of that defending Friday.
Paul George made just four of 20 from the field and the Clippers knocked down only six of 28 shots from three-point range (21.4 per cent).
George and his team-mates ended up doing most of their damage from the free-throw line, where they had 32 attempts to Minnesota's seven. George made 13 of 14 from the line to account for the bulk of his 21 points.
"My guys, they get all the credit tonight," George said. "They kept us alive, they kept me going, it was a group effort."
Reggie Jackson added 20 points and Ivica Zubac contributed 14 points and 14 rebounds for Los Angeles.
"I thought Big Zu was a force down low in the paint tonight," Lue said. "I thought Zu was phenomenal."
The Clippers (4-4) return home to face the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday.
Undeterred by a dreadful first quarter, the New York Knicks stormed back for a 113-98 road win against the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday.
Trailing the defending NBA champions 38-19 after the opening period, the Knicks found their rhythm behind Julius Randle's game-high 32 points.
Derrick Rose came off the bench to score 23 and RJ Barrett added 22 for the Knicks as they improved to 6-3 overall and 4-1 on the road.
"Obviously, you don't want to get down like we did, but we did," Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau told reporters. "It's a long game. You've got to keep fighting and get it to a manageable number. Once we got going a little bit and we made a couple hustle plays, it galvanized us and gave us energy."
Giannis Antetokounmpo had 25 points and Grayson Allen 22 for the Bucks, but Milwaukee's other three starters combined for just 15 points as the champs shot 40.2 per cent from the field and were out-rebounded 59-37.
The Bucks (4-5) have lost four of their last five games and are 1-4 at home.
Clippers fight back to down Timberwolves
The Los Angeles Clippers mounted an impressive comeback of their own, trailing the Minnesota Timberwolves by 21 at one point before rallying for a 104-84 victory. Paul George had 21 points, 11 rebounds and four assists to lead the Clippers (4-4), while Karl-Anthony Towns had 20 points and eight rebounds for Minnesota (3-5).
Kevin Durant's 29 points and 10 rebounds lifted the Brooklyn Nets (6-3) to a 96-90 road win against the Detroit Pistons (1-8). First overall draft pick Cade Cunningham's shooting woes continued as he went six-for-17 from the field but the rookie led the Pistons with 17.
Stephen Curry made just five of 15 shots from the field, all but two of those attempts coming from three-point range, but the Golden State Warriors (7-1) still rolled to a 126-85 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans (1-9) thanks to 26 points from Jordan Poole.
Morant misfires in loss to Wizards
Ja Morant has been one of the NBA's most effective scorers so far this season but the Washington Wizards (6-3) shut down the Memphis star in a 115-87 rout of the Grizzlies (5-4). Morant entered the game averaging 27.0 points and shooting 52.2 per cent from the field but made just four of 17 shots Friday on the way to an 11-point night.
New York's newly elected mayor has no plans to change the city's coronavirus vaccination mandate, saying it is up to the NBA and Kyrie Irving to find a solution that will get the Brooklyn Nets star back on the court.
The 29-year-old remains unvaccinated and is therefore ineligible to play home games at Barclays Center or games at the New York Knicks' Madison Square Garden.
Under current city restrictions, people in New York must have at least one coronavirus vaccine to enter indoor arenas, and mayor-elect Eric Adams told CNN on Friday the policy will remain in place when he takes office January 1.
"New York City is not going to change their rule," Adams said. "It is up to the NBA and Kyrie to come to a full understanding on how to keep him on the Nets and to continue to look at all of our athletes that are coming here. Again, I think the NBA and Kyrie [are] going to come to a conclusion on this."
Asked about Adams' remarks after the Nets' 96-90 road win against the Detroit Pistons on Friday, Brooklyn head coach Steve Nash said he was not surprised.
"I didn't expect the mayor to change the mandate," Nash told reporters. "We've just got to focus on our team. If we could have Kyrie back, we'd all be ecstatic, but we focus on our team, we keep building, we keep growing and hopefully we'll be a really good team at the end of the year."
After a sluggish start to the season, the Nets have won four in a row and sit at 6-3 following Friday's victory.
Irving would be eligible to play in most road games but the Nets said three weeks ago that Irving would not be with the team in any capacity until he can be a full participant.
The seven-time All-Star has played just 74 regular season games in two years since joining the Nets, missing long stretches due to injury issues and personal reasons.
Last year, on the same team as high-profile team-mates Kevin Durant and James Harden, Irving scored 26.9 points per game. That dropped to 22.7 points in the playoffs as he was again restricted.
The Detroit Pistons and Philadelphia 76ers are headed in different directions once more this season, with the Sixers' win on the road on Thursday defined by two young players at different stages in their development.
Philadelphia claimed a 109-98 victory, their fifth straight triumph, in Detroit despite having to use an eight-man rotation for the second successive game.
The shorthanded 76ers were without Furkan Korkmaz because of a wrist injury and former Pistons forward Tobias Harris was again sidelined due to COVID-19 protocols.
Seth Curry racked up 23 points while Tyrese Maxey continued to excel filling the void left by Ben Simmons as he finished with 20 points.
Maxey, playing on his 21st birthday, produced a pivotal third-quarter effort, his nine points in the period giving the 7-2 Sixers the lead after they had trailed 66-63 half-time.
"I wasn't ready to be doing that when I was 21, that's for sure," Curry said. "But once you get out there, everyone is the same age.
"He's been growing a lot, he’s been learning. Coach is tough on him. I know at times a lot of us veterans are tough on him, yelling at him, trying to get the ball, or expecting a lot out of him, but he's taking it in strides, not complaining about it, and he's putting in the work.
"He's competing and I'm glad he’s rolling with us."
"He was great," said coach Doc Rivers of Maxey. "He looked at me and I'm like 'What're you looking at me for? I don't have anybody'. You're the youngest, it's his birthday today, I figured use it and so he did."
Maxey, in his second season in the league, was an efficient eight of 12 shooting, but Pistons rookie Cade Cunningham was not as clinical, though he did post 18 points and 11 rebounds.
The first overall pick missed 13 of his 17 field goal attempts and is 17.9 per cent from the field for his first three games for the 1-7 Pistons having missed preseason and the start of the season with a sprained ankle.
Yet Cunningham believes he is progressing even after another poor shooting display.
"I feel a lot more comfortable with the ball, but I obviously haven't been efficient shooting in my first three games," he said.
"I didn't have a training camp, but the guys are supporting me and they keep getting me the ball."
Pistons center Isaiah Stewart added: "We're telling him to just keep shooting the ball. The shots he's missing right now are shots we've seen him make a lot. Those are going to turn into points pretty soon."
Frank Vogel says the Los Angeles Lakers will show "big-picture patience" while having a "small-picture sense of urgency" after they slumped to a 107-104 defeat to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Lakers, missing LeBron James due to an abdominal strain, opened up a commanding 19-point lead in the second quarter at Staples Center on Thursday.
Oklahoma roared back to end the Lakers' three-match winning run, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scoring 11 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter as the Thunder secured only their second victory of the season.
Head coach Vogel says the Lakers will not feel sorry for themselves with the likes of James absent and will learn from their defeat to Oklahoma.
"We don't worry about stuff we can't control, we all want to win every game badly," said Vogel. "We want it to be perfect right now.
"We have big-picture patience but small-picture sense of urgency to get this right, right away and to win these games in the short term. We fell short tonight, it's disappointing but we'll get to work tomorrow and get better from it."
Vogel warned his players they must be consistent throughout matches after a strong first half was in vain.
"It's a long game, they are going to keep playing. Early leads don't really mean anything in the modern NBA," he added.
"You got to keep playing, we learned our lesson last week, but they made their run in the second quarter and it's a 48-minute game, you've got to play quarters."
Anthony Davis scored a game-high 29 points, claimed 18 rebounds and provided five assists as the Lakers slipped to 5-4.
Last season's NBA Finals runners-up the Phoenix Suns took down the Houston Rockets 123-111 for their third consecutive win on Thursday.
Devin Booker inspired the Suns with 27 points while Landry Shamet added 19 points off the bench in Phoenix.
Chris Paul contributed 13 assists, nine points and five steals for the Suns (4-3), who moved above .500 for the first time this season.
Paul is averaging 12.0 assists and 2.4 steals per game in 2021-22. Entering the contest, this season had marked the fifth time in the last 25 years a player has averaged at least 11.0 assists and 2.0 steals over his first six games of a season – the Suns All-Star has been responsible for four of the five, per Stats Perform.
Christian Wood (18 points and 15 rebounds) and Kevin Porter Jr. (20 points) starred but the lowly Rockets (1-7) dropped their fifth straight game.
Celtics cool red-hot Heat
The Boston Celtics (4-5) have struggled for form this season, though they made a statement with a 95-78 win over the Miami Heat (6-2). Miami – top of the Eastern Conference prior to the game – had their worst scoring performance since January 2016.
The Philadelphia 76ers (7-1) moved to the top of the east thanks to a 109-98 win at the struggling Detroit Pistons (1-7). Seth Curry produced another stellar shooting display – going nine of 14 from the field – for 23 points. MVP runner-up Joel Embiid had 19 points and nine rebounds as he collected his 3,000th career board in his 268th game – the only 76er in history to reach the mark sooner was Hall of Famer Charles Barkley (253 games).
Lakers streak snapped
Playing without injured superstar LeBron James, the Los Angeles Lakers (5-4) had their three-game winning streak ended after being stunned 107-104 by the Oklahoma City Thunder (2-6).
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