The much-anticipated NBA showdown between the top two teams in the East – the Boston Celtics and the Brooklyn Nets – suffered a massive blow with the injury to Kevin Durant.
Nevertheless, it will still be an intriguing matchup as the Nets start life sans Durant against the league-leading Celtics, who extended their winning streak to four straight games.
Meanwhile, the Milwaukee Bucks will hope to gain ground on the Nets for the No 2 seed as they take on the Miami Heat. And out West, LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers host Luka Doncic in a blockbuster superstar duel.
Read on below as SBOTOP spotlights the top three games from the NBA’s upcoming six-game slate.
Boston Celtics @ Brooklyn Nets
The Boston Celtics have bounced back quite nicely from their humiliating defeat to the OKC Thunder as they’ve won four games in a row.
Boston beat out the short-handed New Orleans Pelicans 125-114 last night in the first game of their back-to-back. Jaylen Brown led the way with 41 points on 15-of-21 shooting with 12 rebounds, while Jayson Tatum also had a double-double with 31 points and 10 boards.
Reigning Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart has missed the last two games with a knee injury and it remains to be seen whether he will be able to make his return against Brooklyn. But Malcolm Brogdon stepped up in Smart’s absence as he had 20 points off the bench in the win over the Pelicans.
As for the Nets, they suffered a major blow as Kevin Durant sprained his knee in their last game against the Miami Heat and will miss the next few weeks.
The Nets still went on to beat the Heat as they improved to 14-1 in their last 15 games. Kyrie Irving had 29 points and will now be the undisputed No 1 option on offence with KD out.
Irving struggled in the first game against his old team this season as he was limited to just 18 points on 7-of-21 shooting. The Nets went on to lose that game 103-92 as the Celtics’ duo of Brown and Tatum combined for 63 points and 21 rebounds.
Milwaukee Bucks @ Miami Heat
Giannis Antetokounmpo is finally falling back down to earth. After going on one of the most dominant runs of his career – 39.1 points, 14.9 rebounds, 5.5 assists per game over an eight-game stretch, including a regular season career-high 55 points against the Wizards – Giannis has now scored in single digits in two of his last three games.
Antetokounmpo was limited to a season-low 7 points in last night’s 114-105 win over the Trae Young-less Atlanta Hawks. Although, he did also have 18 rebounds and 10 assists.
Jrue Holiday led the way with 27 points for the Bucks against the Hawks, but it remains to be seen whether he will play on the second night of a back-to-back, which he hasn’t done since early November.
Speaking of not playing, the Heat were without nearly their entire starting lineup as Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, Kyle Lowry, and Caleb Martin all missed their most recent game against the Thunder. But Jimmy Butler was available and he scored 35 points, including the game-winning free throw, to lead the Heat to victory.
Butler went an incredible 23-of-23 from the free-throw line and the Heat as a team went 40-of-40 to set a new NBA record for most free throws in a game without a miss.
Lowry, Herro and Martin have already been ruled out for the Bucks matchup, although Bam Adebayo is probable to play, which is a huge boost for the Heat.
Dallas Mavericks @ Los Angeles Lakers
The Mavs’ five-game road trip is off to a bad start. They lost heavily in their first two games against the Thunder (120-109) and Clippers (113-101) as they fell to 23-19, which is still fourth in the West.
After missing the Thunder game, Doncic exploded for 43 points, 11 rebounds, and 7 assists in a losing effort against LA.
The Mavs’ frontcourt depth has been significantly affected by the injuries to Dorian Finney-Smith and Maxi Kleber. And now, Dwight Powell has picked up a hip issue and is questionable to play against the Lakers.
That is certainly promising news for the Lakers, who are expected to get LeBron James back after he sat out their 122-109 loss to the Nuggets. Prior to that defeat, the Lakers had been on a five-game winning streak, with LeBron averaging 38 points, 9 rebounds, and 8 assists in four games. Russell Westbrook has also been playing much better of late, averaging 21.8 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 10 assists over his last four games off the Lakers bench.
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