LeBron wills the Lakers to the In-Season Tournament semifinals, while the Bucks’ historic night punches their ticket to Vegas.
Pacers. Bucks. Lakers. Pelicans.
The In-Season Tournament Semifinals are set.
Anybody feeling a Vegas trip?
THE LINEUP ?
- ? LeBron Takes Over
- ➡️ Lakers Beat Suns To Advance
- ? Bucks Catch Fire, Move On
- ? Vegas Basics & Clincher Photos
- ? Jokic: Unprecedented
? Semifinals Start Thurs | Grab Tix
? Spurs-Wolves, 7:30 ET, ESPN
? Nuggets-Clippers, 10 ET, ESPN
? 9 More In NBA App
1. BRON ON FATHER TIME: ‘TRYING TO GIVE HIM ONE LOSS’
King Holds Court: In a win-or-go-home game, facing a longtime rival, with a trip to Vegas on the line, one of the greatest players in the history of the game delivered a new masterpiece.
- LeBron James put up 31 points, 11 assists, eight rebounds and five steals for the first 30-10-5-5 line he’s had since 2008
- Laker History: He became the first Laker since Magic Johnson in 1987 to go 30-10-5-5
- What He Said: “You got the greatest competitors in the world fighting for something. So let’s fight.”
Age, Just A Number: Playing the most minutes of anyone in the game (40:10), James dominated, keeping the Lakers in the game defensively then taking over late.
- 15 In 4th: The 38-year-old scored 15 of the Lakers’ first 19 points in the final quarter
- Only One Ever: LeBron became the oldest player in history to go 30-10-5-5
- First Since Kobe: Kobe Bryant was the last Laker to have 20+ pts, 10+ ast & 5+ stl (2004)
- Postgame: LeBron said he’s trying to give Father Time ‘one loss‘
Feeling caught up? Watch LeBron’s best work.
- LBJ’s game, in five minutes
- Eye candy on his season-high 5th steal
- The King’s dime to Prince
- Just too strong
- Back-to-back buckets to put Lakers up 5 late
2. LAKERS HOLD ON, HEAD TO VEGAS UNDEFEATED
? Lakers 106, Suns 103
? Recap | LAL 13-9, PHX 12-9
James’ historic line helped keep the Lakers undefeated in the In-Season Tournament, as L.A. also got 27 from Anthony Davis and 20 from Austin Reaves – including an ice-cold 3 in the closing seconds.
- Reaves Is Him: With the Lakers up 102-101 and 15 seconds left – including 9 on the shot clock – Reaves saw a shot he liked and hit it, drilling a clutch step-back 3 to make it 105-101
- Pure Emotion: The mic caught Reaves letting it all out after the bucket. Watch it here. With volume on
Greats Meet: The game marked the 38th matchup between Bron and KD, and the first time since KD moved into the Top 10 in scoring. Durant had 31 himself, including 10 in the fourth, while Devin Booker added 21
- Clutch Genes: Durant (35.3) and James (34.4) trail only Michael Jordan (36.8) in ppg in win-or-go-home scenarios (min. 5 games)
- Good To See You: After not sharing the court for five years, Bron & KD have now met three times this season. They’ll face off again on Feb. 25
Back And Forth
- Everything went down to the wire. Watch the final 4:14 here
- Suns’ Red-Hot 3rd: The Lakers led 59-47 at the half, but Phoenix rallied for a 35-24 third quarter to trail by just one going into the fourth
- James Takes Over: Bron scored or assisted on all 19 Lakers points to open the fourth, putting L.A. up 102-97. Durant and Booker’s buckets made it 102-101 with 30 seconds left, but Reaves’ trey made it 105-101
- Final Stretch: After a KD make and a timeout, the Lakers inbounded the ball with 7.4 seconds left, and called timeout to preserve possession. Davis made one of two FT’s after a foul, and a KD trey fell short at the buzzer
Must-See
- KD’s Hesi: Would be so smooth even if he weren’t 7-feet tall
- LeBron In The Tunnel: We talked to Bron postgame after the Lakers protected home court
- KD’s Very Vibey Warmup: Makes you wanna dance
- Courtside In L.A.: Druski pulled up. So did Kim K
3. BUCKS CATCH THE HOTTEST OF HANDS, MOVE ON
? Bucks 146, Knicks 122
? Recap | MIL 15-6, NYK 12-8
Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard combined for 63 points – on one of the best shooting nights in Bucks history – as Milwaukee advanced to the In-Season Tournament Semifinals.
Can’t Miss: The Bucks shot 60.5% from 3-point range, hitting 23-for-38 from beyond the arc. That’s better than they shot from inside the arc. Here’s every trey.
- How Good Is That? Real good. Especially in a game like this. Only two teams have ever shot better from 3 in win-or-go-home history (min 15 attempts). The 2002 Celtics & 2009 Magic
- What About 30+ Attempts? As far as win-or-go-home games go, that makes it the best 3P% night ever
- For Milwaukee, it marked the second-best 3P% in franchise history (min 35 attempts)
- Giannis’ 35-pt, 10-ast, 8-reb night tied Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most 35-10-5 games in franchise history, with five
The Difference: After leading 75-72 at the half, Milwaukee pulled away in the third quarter, opening the final frame at 112-96
Julius Randle (41 pts, 5 ast, 6 reb) tied Bernard King for the second-most 40-5-5 games in Knicks history
Must-See
- Giannis Soars: Watch the Greek Freak swoop in for this inbound oop (then watch it from the baseline)
- Wild Sequence: Randle hits DiVincenzo for 3, then Brunson steals the inbound and hits the and-1
- Viva Las Vegas: Giannis couldn’t help but sing after picking up the big W
- Lillard’s Ready: We caught up with a smiling Dame postgame, who said he can’t wait to get to Vegas for the first time this time of year
4. VEGAS BASICS, AND 4 GREAT CLINCHING PHOTOS
Just three games remain in the inaugural In-Season Tournament.
And each one’s going down in Las Vegas. Pick up tickets here
What’s at stake? The NBA Cup, a share of the prize pool and eternal bragging rights as the first-ever In-Season Tournament champions
Tournament Hub: Stay up to date here
Thursday’s Semifinals
- Pacers-Bucks, 5 ET on ESPN
- Lakers-Pelicans, 9 ET on TNT
Saturday’s Championship
- East Winner vs. West Winner, 8:30 ET on ABC
It’s gonna be, in a word, a vibe.
Just like these four photos of the four teams who’ll be there.
Tyrese Haliburton disappears into the frenzy in the Pacers’ clincher.
The Pelicans had to go on the road to advance. They responded by improving to 3-0 over the Kings this year.
Ticket. Punched.
Reaves. Cold. Look at Bron in the background, too.
5. JOKIC DOES SOMETHING NEVER DONE BEFORE (AGAIN)
“A kid from a small town in Serbia, who grew up not just to be the league’s best player, but its most unique player.”
That was narrator Jamal Murray describing teammate Nikola Jokic in Episode 2 of “Bring It Home”, the docu-series on Denver’s title run.
History, Again: Jokic came into Monday’s games leading the NBA in total points, rebounds and assists
- No player in NBA history has ever led the league in all three stat categories that late in the season
- While Joker was overtaken in points and assists on Monday and Tuesday, he’s still top three in all three categories
Today, ahead of Nuggets-Clippers (10 ET, ESPN), we look behind the numbers.
Three Things To Know: Jokic’s most famous superpower, passing, started early in his career and has just gotten better. His 9.8 apg matches his career-high
- All-Timer: Jokic is widely regarded as the greatest passing big man ever. Here’s 1 hour of his best dimes to prove it
- What makes him different? For one, he’s a master of angles – often ones nobody else sees
- This Year: His assists are creating nearly 25 points a game, third in the league
You Might Not Know: He scores in a way that’s unlike any other big man. Especially near the hoop.
- No Dunks, No Prob: Joker has just four dunks all year. Four. On 81 makes inside the restricted area
- Those 81 buckets rank him 10th in the NBA. The rest of the Top 10 dunk 36% of the time inside the circle. Jokic? Less than 5%
- Instead, he utilizes a wide array of floaters, hook shots, scoop shots and runners to score his points in the paint (17.6 ppg, 3rd in NBA). The Nuggets call it the Magic Touch
- Not to mention the Sombor Shuffle, Jokic’s signature, virtually un-guardable shot from the perimeter
Boarding Up: He’s leading the league in rebounding, at 12.3 rpg. While he finished second the last two years, he’s never led the NBA in boards
- If he were to finish Top 10 in points per game (he’s eighth), and Top 5 in apg & rpg, he’d be just the third player to ever do it (Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor)
