Kevin Durant said his first game alongside James Harden and Kyrie Irving for the Brooklyn Nets "felt perfect" despite a loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Irving returned and the Nets had their 'Big Three' together for the first time following the blockbuster arrival of former MVP Harden, but fell to the Cavs 147-135 after double overtime on Wednesday.
Durant (38 points and 12 rebounds), Irving (37 points) and Harden (21 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds) combined for 96 points, yet it was Collin Sexton (42 points) who inspired the Cavs.
Despite the loss, Durant – who became the second Net ever to post three straight 30-plus point games – was happy with how the game felt alongside his two superstar team-mates.
"It felt right, it felt perfect, it felt like we belong together," he told a news conference.
"It felt like this journey together is going to be fun. It was tough first start, especially it was an up and down game for us, but I like where we are."
The Nets' loss saw them slip to 9-7 and they sit fifth in the Eastern Conference.
But Durant is looking ahead, with the Nets facing the Cavs again on Friday.
"Obviously we'd love to win the basketball game, that's the most important thing and we're definitely disappointed about that, but we have a long season ahead of us, just keep plugging away," he said.
"I like where we are, I like the comradery that we have and we're building.
"The communication from the coaching staff to the players is at a high level so looking forward to keep building, keep grinding, we've got the same team next game."
The Washington Wizards will get more preparation time before their return to NBA action after the team's clash against the Milwaukee Bucks was postponed.
Washington last played on January 11 and finally returned to practice on Wednesday following a coronavirus outbreak.
The Wizards (3-8) were due to face the Bucks (9-5) on Friday, but that clash was postponed by the NBA.
"The game is being postponed due to the number of available players for the Wizards, contact tracing for other players on their roster, and the length of time preceding the game during which the team was unable to practice," an NBA statement read.
Wizards star Bradley Beal said earlier on Wednesday his team were pushing for the game to be postponed.
"We weren't able to get into a gym for a week," Beal said, via ESPN.
"That alters guys' rhythm, shape. That is just like a recipe for injury, honestly. I think we are fighting the league on it."
Washington's next scheduled game is against the San Antonio Spurs (8-6) on Sunday.
Nikola Jokic has become a more aggressive scorer because he was beaten with a pillowcase full of soda cans by Mike Malone, the Denver Nuggets coach joked.
Nuggets center Jokic had 27 points, 12 rebounds and six assists in three quarters as Denver cruised to a 119-101 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder at Pepsi Center on Tuesday.
The 25-year-old has had at least a double-double in each of his 14 games this season and is averaging a triple-double of 25.1 points, 11.4 rebounds and 10 assists – all of which represent career highs.
Jokic's best scoring season was 2018-19 when he averaged 20.1 points per game, and Malone gave a light-hearted response when asked what has motivated the Serbian to become more prolific.
He replied: "I locked him in my office one day and I beat him with a pillowcase full of soda cans and I said: 'You've got to score more!'"
In a far more serious tone, Malone continued: "You know how he is, he's a great player, he's playing at an MVP level. You go back to tonight, 27, 12 and six, only one turnover.
"Early on they were playing him one-on-one, and sometimes I get frustrated because I don't think we give him the ball enough, especially when he's being guarded one-on-one.
"Nikola has seen every possible double-team, and so have we as a team. We space the floor correctly and he is so willing to find the open man, and we had great possessions against the double-team.
"He's always going to take what the defense gives him but he is being more aggressive, which is what we need from him."
The Nuggets are 10-2 against the Thunder since 2017-18, their best record against any Western Conference opponent in that span.
Denver's latest victory saw them improve to 7-7 on the season, but they are yet to hold a winning record this season after never being .500 or worse after their first game in the previous campaign.
Zion Williamson needs to "get in shape" if he is to fulfil his potential in the NBA, according to Hall of Famer Karl Malone.
New Orleans selected Williamson with the first overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft but a meniscus tear in preseason and a season shortened by the coronavirus pandemic meant he played just 24 games in his rookie campaign.
The Duke product is up to 36 games – still less than half the standard season – but former power forward Malone, a two-time MVP who had All-NBA First Team honours on 11 occasions, thinks he need to improve his physique if he is to maximise his abilities.
Williamson is listed at six foot, seven inches and 284 pounds, with Malone pointing to Glen 'Big Baby' Davis as an example of someone who did not live up to their billing due to their size – Davis was 6ft 9in and played at 289 pounds.
"I love Zion Williamson. Zion needs to get into shape. If he doesn't get in shape, we might not ever know his full potential," Malone said on The Players' Tribune's Knuckleheads podcast.
"There's a young man that played at LSU, 'Big Baby' Davis. Big Baby made a comment about eight months ago, he did an ESPN show … he came on that show and he said, 'Look guys, I'm about to get into trouble now with what I'm about to say. I know everybody loves Zion and I love him too. But Zion has the same body type that I had.'
"He was talking about himself. And he said if he doesn't get into shape, we'll never know his full potential. And he did get heat from that."
Williamson had 32 points with five rebounds and three assists as the Pelicans suffered a 118-102 defeat to the Utah Jazz on Tuesday, New Orleans losing for the sixth time in seven games to slip to 5-8 for the season.
This season the 20-year-old is averaging 23.4 points and 8.0 rebounds in 32.6 minutes per game. That ranks him 44th in minutes per game, with his usage percentage of 29.1 enough for 39th in the league.
However, he leads in the league in contested three-points shots per game at 5.9.
Malone added: "I'm still waiting on him to play the whole damn season… and he needs to be averaging 40 minutes per game. Look here, you're a 21, 22-year-old kid. Your a** shouldn't get tired."
Nikola Jokic enhanced his MVP credentials with another double-double in the NBA as the Denver Nuggets eased past the Oklahoma City Thunder 119-101.
Two-time All-Star Jokic led the Nuggets with a game-high 27 points, 12 rebounds and six assists in just three quarters on Tuesday.
Jokic – averaging a triple-double in 2020-21 – has posted a double-double in every game he has played for the Nuggets this season, a league-high 14.
The Nuggets outscored the Thunder 66-43 in the second and third quarters to win for the second time in three games, with team-mate Paul Millsap also putting up a double-double of 13 points and 12 rebounds.
Luguentz Dort had 20 points on eight-of-11 shooting for the visiting Thunder in Denver.
The Utah Jazz, meanwhile, stayed hot with a 118-102 victory against the New Orleans Pelicans.
Donovan Mitchell scored 28 points to go with seven rebounds and four assists to lead the Jazz to their sixth successive win.
Rudy Gobert (13 points and 18 rebounds) and Jordan Clarkson (18 points) also made contributions for the in-form Jazz.
Zion Williamson's game-high 32 points were not enough for the Pelicans, who have dropped six of their past seven games.
Nets at Cavaliers
James Harden, Kevin Durant and the star-studded Brooklyn Nets (9-6) will look to stay hot when they visit the Cleveland Cavaliers (6-7) on Wednesday.
Portland Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic will be re-evaluated in six weeks after undergoing wrist surgery.
Nurkic suffered a wrist fracture in Portland's 111-87 NBA defeat to the Indiana Pacers last week.
Trail Blazers president of basketball operations Neil Olshey announced on Tuesday that Nurkic had surgery to repair the fracture in his right wrist.
Nurkic will wear a splint for four weeks as he faces at least six weeks on the sidelines.
The 26-year-old Bosnian is averaging 9.8 points, 7.7 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game for the Trail Blazers (8-6) this season.
Philadelphia 76ers head coach Doc Rivers said he "expects" All-Star Joel Embiid to return for Wednesday's showdown with rivals the Boston Celtics.
Embiid sat out Saturday's 106-104 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies due to right knee soreness, and the three-time NBA All-Star would have been absent again if Sunday's clash against the Oklahoma City Thunder was not postponed.
But Embiid took part in practice on Tuesday and Rivers is bracing for the 76ers center to make a comeback as two of the Eastern Conference's best teams meet midweek.
"I do expect him to go," Rivers said. "He was in and out of practice today, we didn't let him do a lot of stuff, but he looked pretty good."
Embiid – an early MVP candidate – is averaging 25.0 points, 11.5 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game for the 76ers (9-5) this season.
The 26-year-old has relied on his jump shot even more this season but has instead taken most of them inside the arc.
Embiid – whose 76ers are 9-2 when he plays and 0-3 without him this term – has seen his jump shot field-goal percentage rise 8.2 per cent to 45.6 per cent in 2020-21.
The 76ers have been hampered by the coronavirus pandemic, with Philadelphia left shorthanded since Seth Curry's positive COVID-19 test on January 7.
Philadelphia and Oklahoma City were scheduled to meet at Chesapeake Energy Arena on Sunday, but the 76ers did not have the required eight players available because of contact tracing with the team.
But the 76ers – minus Curry – were back to full strength for Tuesday's practice, much to the delight of Rivers.
"It was nice," said Rivers. "We're not one of those teams that have the luxury of being together for several years. We have so many new bodies, a new system, new coach, everything.
"To have all those games and no practice and then to have all those guys out, and even your shoot arounds are not what you expect them to be, it absolutely has affected us."
Rivers added: "Even on a couple of days we have a somewhat of a practice, we didn't have enough guys to practice. Today was a day we had enough guys, we can change, we can sub in practice and put different units on the floor."
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