Category: Basketball

In their first NBA Cup game, the Milwaukee Bucks followed a terrific first half with a disappointing second half and lost to the wounded Toronto Raptors, 121-107. The Bucks led most of the game and at one point were up 15; their first-half defence was great, which let them get out and score easily in transition. However, the second half, in which the Raptors scored 70 points, was what got the home side. Now, it doesn’t take much for me to get invested in the Bucks—whatever stage they’re at—but for whatever reason, this loss made me feel pretty damn bleak. Against a team without most of its primary offensive engines, Milwaukee should have been able to pull it out, and losing was really disheartening. Read our full summary of the game here and catch a six-minute audio recap on the Bucks+ podcast, Bucks In Six Minutes, below.

Player Grades

Ryan Rollins

14 minutes, 10 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 2 steals, 5 turnovers, 3/3 FG, 1/1 3P, -12

Annnnnd we’re back to the bad version of Rollins. The issue in this one was obviously his turnovers; the Raptors like to apply heaps of pressure to the ball handler, so you have to stay composed with the ball. Rollins was rushed and, at times, just plain nonchalant; I mentioned in the Rapid Recap one instance in the fourth where he threw a left-handed whip pass across the middle of the floor that ended up in a layup down the other end. The other problem was Rollins’ defence. There were a few instances where his positioning was off, and he allowed his man to reject the screen and knife into the lane; Jenkins threw his hands up in disgust on one of them.

Grade: D

Tyler Herro

35 minutes, 23 points, 5 rebounds, 10 assists, 3 turnovers, 7/16 FG, 1/5 3P, 0

Herro’s best playmaking game as a Buck, with five assists in the second quarter alone. The team had much more direction and flow when Herro was on the floor—evidenced by him being one of just two Bucks without a negative plus/minus—which they completely lost when he was off the floor.

Grade: B+

Jaime Jaquez Jr.

27 minutes, 14 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block, 4/10 FG, 2/7 3P , 4/4 FT, -6

Jaquez started like a house on fire, scoring half of his points in the first few minutes of the game. I liked his use of “stampede cuts” in this one as well, where the player starts moving to the rim before the ball reaches their hands, catching their defender off guard. Jaquez had a few nice instances using stampedes to get into the lane and create. Unfortunately, his three-point shooting failed him for the most part.

Grade: C-

Kyle Kuzma

32 minutes, 13 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 3 turnovers, 6/9 FG, 1/4 3P, +3

Overall, Kuzma played a solid game and, in particular, a great first half; he scored all 13 of his points on 5/6 shooting in the first, which included some very instinctive tip-ins. I liked how active he was as a screener, sprinting into the screen and getting himself in the right spots to receive the ball and finish around the rim. Additionally, Kuzma was basically their only credible defender for RJ Barrett, and for the most part, he did a good job with that assignment. BUT, as I seem to say every game, Kuzma did some enraging stuff too. He did his nightly drive to the rim with no vision for what else was going on, and most of his turnovers seemed to be live-ball. Moreover, I’ve noticed a trend where he makes a mistake and then gets pissy at his teammates for some reason, as if it were their fault.

Grade: C+

Myles Turner

23 minutes, 0 points, 7 rebounds, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 2 turnovers, 0/7 FG, 0/4 3P, -4

Good golly. I don’t know, man, sometimes I want to shake Turner, but as Zac replied to me, “He’d probably break; his hands seem to shatter on every rebound or catch attempt.” Like, why is it so hard for a seven-footer like him to play more physically? The Raptors made Turner look like a child last night, which I was hoping wouldn’t happen because Toronto was meant to be one of the trade suitors for him! Myles, this was your audition, SMH.

Grade: F

Kel’el Ware

13 minutes, 4 points, 3 rebounds, 1 block, 2/7 FG, 0/4 3P, 0

Another rough game for Ware, who seemingly can’t hit a three in a Bucks uniform, down to 20% on the year. Also not great to see him throw a fit on the sidelines after getting subbed off.

Grade: D-

Kasparas Jakucionis

10 minutes, 3 points, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 1/2 FG, 0/1 3P, -9

Kind of a nothing-y game from Jakucionis. Again, he didn’t do much wrong, but his niche of finding angles and getting into the lane looked harder against a gritty squad like the Raptors. KJ did make a great cut in the first half for his only field goal, though, which I loved.

Grade: C-

Brayden Burries

38 minutes, 21 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 block, 1 turnover, 8/14 FG, 1/5 3P, 4/6 FT, -5

Burries had his “I’ve arrived” game. I mean, we can talk about the scoring and athleticism around the rim, but I’m more interested in how he seems to grab every rebound in sight. It’s surreal to watch. Grabbing six boards in the first quarter, Burries had this “I’m not losing tonight, so jump on my back” vibe about him. The kid just has this nose for the ball and a will to pursue it like very few players I’ve seen. Burries is showing he’s a winner, and I can’t wait for him to gain confidence from this game and give us more like it in the future.

Grade: A+

AJ Green

24 minutes, 12 points, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 4/9 FG, 4/8 3P, -19

Whenever the Raptors looked like they were about to get the game out of reach, Green would hit a three. One thing I will always appreciate about Green is that, despite his unassuming nature, he is never scared of the moment. Hit two huge ones in the fourth.

Grade: B

Nate Ament

15 minutes, 7 points, 1 block, 3/5 FG, -11

Ament got two of his three buckets in transition, while the other came on a nice baseline cut where he smartly waited for the defender to jump, then calmly put in the and-one. Not many other notes, other than that I thought Ament’s minutes were generally quite positive.

Grade: B-

Jericho Sims

7 minutes, 0 points, 0/0 FG, -7

Sims was forced into extended minutes because Turner had early foul trouble and Ware looked borderline unplayable at times. He did his job defensively, but you could tell the Raptors were happy to double all on-ball screens Sims set because they didn’t trust his decision-making out of the short roll, which is a strategy we saw from opponents last year too.

Grade: C

Taylor Jenkins

Based on Jenkins’s postgame comments, the team clearly wasn’t doing much of what they had been instructed to do in practice. His decision to close with no centre was the right one, but that then made it tough to rebound. Part of the issue is that the Bucks are leaning on flawed veterans; you don’t want to turn to Kuzma to close as a two-way wing, but there aren’t many other great options, especially when you needed someone beefy enough to deal with Barrett. Jaquez is a fine player, but he’s a seventh man on a good team. Turner is a great locker room guy, but he drives you mad with his lack of physicality. I say this to reiterate that Jenkins is working with a rough set of cards right now, and I struggle to think another coach could have got a different result with this same group of personnel.

Grade: C

DNP-CD: Ousmane Dieng, Caris LeVert, Gary Trent Jr.

Inactive: Kam Jones, Cormac Ryan, Pete Nance, Bogoljub Markovic,

What We Learnt

Milwaukee’s centre rotation might be the league’s worst when both play poorly.

Bonus Bucks Bits

• Jenkins was hot in his postgame presser, cutting off a reporter’s question about what he saw from his struggling offence in the second half: “We were getting stops in the first half. We were playing fast. We didn’t have to call sets. But then we just gave up second-chance opportunities, fouled them way too much, and they were taking the ball out of the net, so we couldn’t play as fast as we needed to.”
• Jenkins also mentioned that the Bucks didn’t “tag up,” which means that when the shot goes up, all five players get to their man, which, when done right, impedes the opponent’s ability to advance the ball up the floor and score in transition.
• Jenkins said that after the game, Turner owned his bad performance to the group.
• The broadcast showed a stat that over the last three games, Herro had scored 0 points in the first quarter and 62 in all other quarters. Crazy.
• Speaking of Herro, I noticed he subbed back in earlier than usual in the fourth, which resulted in him breaking the ~30-minute pseudo-limit he had seemingly been operating under previously.

Up Next

The Bucks return to Fiserv on Sunday night to face the Boston Celtics. Watch at 7:00 p.m. CST on MY24.

Some members from Generation Z might believe that the history of the Cleveland Cavaliers started and ended with a man named LeBron James (not once but twice). They couldn’t be more wrong. The Cavs joined the NBA in 1970 and accumulated plenty of interesting anecdotes through the years, especially early on. For example, they scouted the players for their expansion Draft with the help of trading cards that assistant coach Jim Lessig discovered while shopping for a few gallons of milk.

On that understandably subpar inaugural roster was also a man named Gary Suiter, whose biggest contributions were eating hot dogs in the stands during warmups and calling the front office disguised as a fan, lobbying for more playing time for—you guessed it—Gary Suiter. When the well-known bachelor tried to shake down the Cavs for bigger travel expenses by hiring a prostitute to play his wife, even the desperate Cavaliers had enough and kicked him out.

Later on, though, basketball really took off in Ohio. The Cavs featured some really exciting teams, especially when the aforementioned James came to town and then came again to actually win a title. Other teams that are fondly remembered in “The Land” are the squads from the late 1980s and 1990s that featured stalwarts like Mark Price, Ron Harper, Brad Daugherty, or Craig Ehlo. Exactly: the guy who is mostly remembered for crumbling to the floor after Michael Jordan’s famous first “shot”, one of the most iconic images in league history.

Facing familiar faces on the Cavaliers

How history and Cleveland will remember the current iteration of Cavaliers remains to be seen, yet it might very well be decided this year. The headliners on Kenny Atkinson’s team are mostly unchanged from last year’s Eastern Conference Finals sweep at the hands our Knickerbockers. That result could be described as another conquered mountain ledge on the Knicks’ way to the NBA summit, or seen as just another failure by a Cavs’ core that’s been trying to win it all for about three years now.

At the heart of that core has been Donovan Mitchell and he is still the headliner at Rocket Arena this season. The stocky highflyer is scoring an efficient 22.5 points per game while probably sporting one of the more explosive games in the league these days. Fans are lamenting his decision making though, criticizing his constant hero ball and what they get for a massive $273 million dollar deal he signed in the summer. Next to Mitchell, a now 37-year-old James Harden runs the point for the Cavaliers, which might also impact “Spida” negatively. The former MVP is showing his age early on, only connects on 38 percent of his shots, and looks disinterested doing it every second night out.

THE ENDING OF REGULATION IN CAVS-KNICKS. ABSOLUTE MADNESS. pic.twitter.com/Synu1jsCY5

— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) May 20, 2026

Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen still form Cleveland’s frontline—with all their shortcomings, yet also with plenty of talent. The ultra versatile Mobley has taken his physique and his game to another level in recent years, sports a much better jumper from the outside, and the former Defensive Player of the Year isn’t moved off his spots as easily he used to be. If you want a big to switch effortlessly on Jalen Brunson, he’s your man. His current season has been particularly promising with shooting splits of 56/48.6 (we’ll ignore the 63 percent from the line this time around). Allen is kind of there: big, athletic, and skilled, yet you won’t see him in any Strongman or Tough Mudder competitions any time soon.

A new supporting cast for Kenny Atkinson

After their four starters from last year, Cleveland has mixed it up a bit. They got emerging defensive specialist Peyton Watson from Denver (he is struggling early on with barely 10 points per game), found the talented Meleek Thomas (13.0 points) in the second round of the NBA Draft, and subscribed to the “Super Mario” Hezonja (8.6 points) experience. Sharpshooter Sam Merril and Jaylon Tyson are leftovers from last season and still contribute fairly consistently.

Even if Cleveland got a bit longer and a bit more athletic, you still have to wonder where all of this is really going. They are good but how good really? Can they really compete with the top teams in the East? So far there is just a lot of “meh” in their profile. Standing at 5-4 they rank 9th in offensive rating and 14th in defensive rating. They play with a solid yet unspectacular pace (thank you, James Harden) and are average at best on the boards or from the field. Cleveland doesn’t turn the ball over, which is good, yet doesn’t force any turnovers either, which is bad (only the Bucks and Knicks make the opponent cough the ball up fewer times than Cleveland).

To be fair, Cleveland is a team that for the most part knows who it is, and such groups can take a little time shaking off the rust, especially after a long last season—we as Bocker buddies know all about it. The Cavaliers, just like the Knicks again, have a lot of things going for them, but it seems like Cleveland unlike New York also has a definitive ceiling. I’d mostly call it James Harden as he has never shown that he can be the ultimate difference maker in the postseason, at least not in a good way. Until then of course the Cavaliers are a perfectly fine, quality opponent, especially at home. They just proved it in their NBA cup last night against the Philadelphia 76ers, dismantling the fighting Nurses 119-95.

Let’s hope our Knicks fare a little better tonight and that the biggest historical significance of this game is another win for the good guys. At the very least we don’t have to worry about any of our players binge eating in the stands before the game, I guess. As funny as that would be.

Game Details

Who: New York Knicks (4-4) at Cleveland Cavaliers (5-4)
Date: Saturday, November 7, 2026
Time: 8:00 PM ET
Place: Rocket Arena, Cleveland, OH
TV: MSG, NBATV
Follow: @ptknicksblog and bsky

CLEVELAND — The opposite of love isn’t hate, it’s apathy.

LeBron James has gotten many receptions from Cleveland Cavaliers fans over his 24 seasons in the league. None have been as half-hearted and uncarring as Friday’s.

There’s always been a certain buzz in the arena when James plays in Cleveland. That has been the case since he was in high school.

That juice, however, was lacking in his first trip back home in a Philadelphia 76ers uniform. There were empty seats before tip-off. The ovation for him when he was announced in the starting lineups was positive, but hardly more than respectful. No tribute video was played, as has been the case for the last eight seasons. There were smatterings of boos and cheers throughout the night, but nothing more than what any other high-profile player gets at Rocket Arena. And a good number of fans were content heading out while James was still on the court.

In short, LeBron was just another guy participating in one of 41 home games against the Cavs.

LeBron James receives a positive reception from Cleveland during player introductions. pic.twitter.com/t4q94ZneSr

— Jackson Flickinger (@JacksFlickinger) November 7, 2026

“At this point it’s become normal,” Donovan Mitchell said of James’s return. “My first year, you see it, and now it’s just, we’re playing the Sixers, to be honest. You obviously understand that the stands are going to be packed and obviously cheer for him, and rightfully so. He’s a champion, he’s from here, and he deserves all that and more for what he’s done for the city. At this point it’s just regular. … For us it’s normal.”

The normality of this reception stands in stark contrast to what we saw last year. Then, the crowd showered him with praise all game, ultimately moving him to tears. At the time, it seemed unfathomable that he would receive anything but love in the building he called home for 11 years. This summer, however, changed that.

James chose to leave the Los Angeles Lakers in free agency at the end of June. He then spent the first three weeks in July dragging his feet, leading those within the city and organization to believe he was returning to Cleveland. But then James threw a curveball and decided to go to a city he had no previous connection with and build a super team with the 76ers.

LeBron has earned the right to ring chase at the age of 41. But that comes with consequences, especially when you choose a conference rival over returning to a good team back home that also has a chance of winning a championship.

We saw the fallout of that choice on Friday night. There wasn’t the pain and vitriol from 2010. There wasn’t the love in all of his returns since 2018. Just emptiness.

LeBron understandably preferred this reaction to what he got when he first returned as a member of the Miami Heat. “Nothing can get as worse as December 2, 2010, from a reception standpoint,” James said. “I’ve seen the end of the depths of hell when it comes to a reception here.”

That night in 2010 was an absolute disaster. Cleveland should’ve handled that moment better. They have deserved all of the blame and condemnation that has come from how they handled that. Yet, hate comes from a place of passion. It comes from pain, an emotion that’s real. Fans cared about what happened that night.

On Friday, I’m not sure if anyone cared too much anymore. There was appreciation, but there wasn’t undying love. There was frustration, but not enough to actually voice that displeasure. Just a tiredness of a decades-long relationship that keeps oscillating back and forth, without either side really being sure how much they mean to the other.

That uncarrying is the saddest place a relationship can find itself, especially one as personal as this. Arguably no professional athlete has meant more to a region than LeBron to Northeast Ohio. The journey from being the teenage prodigy from Akron to delivering the first professional championship in over half a century for a sports-starved region is truly impossible to put into words.

The relationship between LeBron and northeast Ohio will continue in some form beyond this. Maybe that appreciation is there if he plays future games in Cleveland. And most likely, that outpouring of love will return for the inevitable statue and jersey retirement ceremonies.

But then again, that isn’t guaranteed. James’s choice to presumably end his career in a different uniform could just be the straw that broke the camel’s back. The rift that caused both sides to continue drifting apart forever.

Friday could have been LeBron’s last professional game in Northeast Ohio. Nothing about the future is guaranteed. And if so, there couldn’t have been a more pitiful way for things to end in Cleveland.

Luka Doncic has been nothing but extraordinary to start the Lakers’ season. He is hitting shots from all over the court with little or no separation between the defender and himself. The rest of the Lakers are feeding off his energy and playing inspired hoops. And the Lakers are winning! If Luka keeps this up, it will be a season for the ages. We can all thank ex-Mavericks GM Nico Harrison for what might turn out to be the most lopsided trade in the history of professional sports.

Dave Ring
Manhattan Beach

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With all his logo threes, and fancy assists, Luka Doncic is the Caitlin Clark of the NBA.

Vaughn Hardenberg
Westwood

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Last weekend a letter concluded the only name for a Lakers team that plays hard and entertains every night is “Showtime Lakers.” That nickname belongs to the Laker teams from the 1980s, just like “Phi Slama Jama” belongs to the early 1980s University of Houston basketball team.

Regardless of a funny, informal nickname for this season’s Lakers, so far the starting unit has been great fun to watch. Not only has Luka Doncic been on a scoring tear, but Luka has been getting back on defense and even raising his hand when a foul is called on him.

Ken Feldman
Tarzana

Not-so magical

I guess Rob Pelinka and JJ Redick forgot that LeBron James is no longer with the Lakers. How else can you explain the waiving of Dalton Knecht and keeping Bronny James. Am I the only one that noticed Bronny was sent down to the G League and Dalton had a successful debut with the Knicks?

Stan Shirai
Torrance

Comparison

USC fans have wondered whether Lincoln Riley could measure up to a certain coach across town. After his performance in the Coliseum tunnel and his postgame news conference after the Ohio State game — cursing out Buckeyes’ staffers one minute, reading a prepared statement about “internal joy” the next — we now have our answer: Riley can be every bit as unhinged as Mick Cronin.

Wes Wellman
Santa Monica

Time to change

As much as it pains me to say this as a lifelong Chargers fan, please trade Justin Herbert so he can salvage what is left of his once-stellar career (a la Drew Brees). I can no longer bear to watch the countless acknowledged injuries and unacknowledged concussions he sustains each game with this poorly coached team. You are destroying one of the “greatest quarterbacks” in our time.

Diane Hom
Claremont

It’s a coin flip

The most intriguing question on the L.A. sports scene remains: Which UCLA Bruins team will be anointed No. 1 in the country first, undefeated footballers or basketballers?

Marty Zweben
Palos Verdes Estates

Greed is not good

LIV Golf Chief Executive Officer Scott O’Neil sure served up a heaping helping of atta-boy accolades. Lost in all that, LIV burned through $6 billion in under five years. Mr. O’Neil’s long list of accomplishments is lipstick on the pig. From inception that tour’s financial sensibilities were wack — $100 million, $200 million, $300 million signing bonuses before a stroke was played. Greed killed that beast.

David Griffin
Westwood

Friendly reminder

Thank you Bill Dwyre for reminding us that the game is played by the players and not by the announcers.

Does Joe Buck deserve $17 million a year, and should Troy Aikman even care, or know how much his partner is making? The guy’s a Hall of Fame quarterback, and as such, should be able to deal with life’s unfairness, if whatever he makes can be considered unfair.

Again, this is an insult to the workers, all of them, who barely can make ends meet. Both these guys should be grateful that life is unfair, but not if you’re making millions of dollars for flapping your lips about a game.

Ron Brumel
West Los Angeles

Sure shot

When I open my L.A. Times in the morning, I go directly to the sports section and search for Bill Plaschke’s column. I love his style and especially his wit. So he has a prediction miss or two here and there, but no one puts a smile on my face more than him. Keep it up Bill, we all need more laughter in our lives.

Carol Lindsey
Camarillo

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Email: sports@latimes.com

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On the final game of the Spurs recent home stand, Victor Wembanyama had a historic game. The reigning Western Conference Player of the Week scored a career-high 52 points, grabbing 24 rebounds and tallying 8 blocked shots.

After the game Wemby was seen signing autographs for fans with the game ball in tow. Moments later in the locker room, he handed off the momento to Mitch Jihnsion to commemorate the head coache’s 100th win.

How great is this:

TV cameras caught Victor making a point to grab the 🏀 before leaving the floor amid the excitement. Most would assume that it was for his career-high 52-point performance.

But no.

Victor secured it for his head coach, who secured win #100.

That’s a leader. https://t.co/sT203Nw5HN

— Nate Ryan (@nateryansports) November 5, 2026

Johnson, who took over for legendary Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, accumulated 32 wins while sitting in for Pop six games into the 2024-2025 season after he’d suffered a stroke. In his first full season as head coach, the Spurs won 62 games on their way the NBA Finals. After two losses to start the season,. the Spurs started a winning streak that as of Wednesday was six sicx in a row.

Johnson is t6he sixth Spurs coach to hit 100 wins with the Silver & Black.

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Maybe it was because it was an NBA Cup game. Maybe it was because Jayson Tatum was visiting his old stomping grounds. Maybe it was because the Celtics caught fire from 3. Mix that all together with a few notable absences from the Hornets roster and we got a 119-80 Boston blowout at The Spectrum Center on Friday Night.

Why the Celtics won

Before being drafted in 2023, Hornets’ Brandon Miller called Paul George his GOAT. You can certainly see the similarities. The lanky 6’9 swingmen are both three level scorers with the biggest difference being the decade-plus between them.

Unfortunately, Miller left the game in the second half with a groin soreness with 8 points, a rebound, assist, steal, and block.

His idol put up similar numbers. Miller hit just 3-of-10; George was worse at 3-of-11.

However, the mutual admiration society doesn’t end there. Tatum once posted back in 2015 when he was at Chaminade that he was “Baby PG” and even boasted that he thinks that he was the first college player to wear the PG1s at Duke.

And whenever the Celtics travel down to North Carolina, it’s always going to be a special trip for Tatum. Even though The Hive is 150 miles away from Cameron Indoor Stadium, Tatum just has superpowers playing in Charlotte. Out of the 29 other NBA teams, Tatum averages the most points against the Hornets at nearly 30 per game. And in an NBA Cup game where point differential matters, the defending Player of the Week scored 34 points in just 29 minutes. He was 11-for-11 from the free throw line and 5-of-8 from behind the arc and neared triple-double territory with eight rebounds and nine assists without playing a minute in the fourth quarter.

Numbers game: 24

The Celtics flirted with the NBA record for most threes in a game at 29, a feat they tied on Opening Night in 2024 against the Knicks. Boston had 17 at halftime and had it not been a blowout, they might have hit at least five more.

Good things come in 3's 👌👌👌 pic.twitter.com/69DkkwQKJt

— Boston Celtics (@celtics) November 7, 2026

Instead, they settled for the NBA Cup record at 24 (on 44 attempts).

Must C’s

Up the eastern seaboard, the Maine Celtics opened their G League season against the Westchester Knicks in blowout fashion as well 123-94. Rookie Dillon Mitchell had six dunks and a triple, including this alley-oop from Milos Uzan.

Air Mitchell 🛫 pic.twitter.com/Vxl5kVac3L

— Maine Celtics (@MaineCeltics) November 7, 2026

Uzan and Chris Cenac Jr. had 21 a piece in the win.

Who said what

“Just trying to channel my anger into love.” — head coach Joe Mazzulla to CelticsBlog’s Noa Dalzell on his mid-game hug with Neemias Queta

Mazzulla called a timeout because Queta fell down (again) and instead of just yelling at him, he gave him a hug.

The Celtics lead the way in their NBA Cup group after their blowout win over the Hornets 🔥 pic.twitter.com/tLH5Ozil1u

— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) November 7, 2026

After two games, the Celtics are 2-0 with a +53 differential. After the Hawks beat the Wizards 139-132 on Friday night, Boston stands alone at the top of the Eastern Conference’s Group C. They’ll continue this leg of their road-heavy November with a stop in Milwaukee on Sunday and then the marquee face-melter on Tuesday against the 76ers.

Friday’s win over the Hornets was every Celtics fans’ dream. Boston took an early lead and instead of letting Charlotte back into the game, they continued put the beatdown on the Hornets until they were up by as many as 46 points.

As sick as it is to get a worry-free Celtics win every once in a while, this one hit different. The fact that they were able to dominate an Emirates NBA Cup game like this simply means more — literally.

POINT DIFFERENTIAL! pic.twitter.com/hlrZwBdyot

— Sam LaFrance (@SamLaFranceNBA) November 7, 2026

Boston sits head and shoulders above Group C now with a perfect 2-0 record and a +53 point differential. That second part is the key. If the first three runs of the Cup taught us anything, it’s that the points matter.

If you remember, the standings are decided by record, then head-to-head record, and then point differential. Anytime there’s a three-way tie, it goes straight to the points.

Boston is in full control of their fate at this point. Win their remaining games, and they’ll move onto the knockout stage — it’s that simple. As well all know, though, it isn’t always that easy with the Cs. In fact, they’ve never swept group play in the tournament. They love to lay an egg in some game that they have no business losing.

Their remaining matchups in the group are against the most formiddable teams — the Wizards and Hawks. These are two games Boston should win, but again, nothing is guaranteed.

In that case, we’re all thinking about points again.

If the best record in Group C is 3-1, then Boston could still win the group. But if it’s solely on head-to-head record, the other 3-1 team would likely be the one that beat them.

So… the Wild Card would be their only path forward.

After going down to Charlotte and bringing 48 minutes of pain to the hosts, the Cs hold the best point-differential in the Eastern Conference. The Cavaliers (+24), Heat (+20), and Pistons (+16) are the only other teams who are positive double-digits.

Granted, most teams have only played one Cup game, so they’ll have an extra chance to make up ground in that area. But Boston is looking good for now.

All of this is to say that as long as the Celtics win one more Cup game and don’t lose by a billion if they do drop one, then they should be on track to keep climbing towards their first ever deep run in the competition.

Frankly, if they don’t advance, it’ll be extremely disappointing.

As much as some fans don’t care for colorful courts and shenanigans that come with the Cup, it does add a lot of flare to these November nights and half a million bucks into the pockets of the players. Plus, if the Celtics are in a competition, you should want them to win every single time. The more trophies the franchise collects, the better.

Luka Doncic is hooping like he intends to run away with the MVP trophy. Making a point by scoring more points to start a season — 361 in nine games — than anyone since Wilt Chamberlain scored 472 in 1962.

Generational scoring run or the new normal? Could this historic meteor shower be the standard?

“I feel like that,” Doncic said, adding he thinks he can maintain his current 40.1-points-per-game tear. “But as long as we win, I’m good.”

And if he’s this good when the playoffs roll around, this undeniable, brushing off elite defenders Toumani Camara and Jrue Holiday en route to 53 points in Friday’s 124-118 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers, then the Lakers could totally go on a Luka Magical run and win it all.

But if Doncic is not this good, the Lakers aren’t 8-2 right now, and they’re not sitting in first in the Western Conference standings out of the gate … with 72 more games to go.

There’s ability, there’s inevitability, bankability.

Read more:Luka Doncic scores 53 as Lakers avenge loss to Trail Blazers

And then there’s sustainability.

The Lakers are going to need to employ some serious conservation measures to get this version of Doncic — whose seven consecutive 35-points or better games put him on par with Elgin Baylor and Kobe Bryant as the only Lakers to stack so many in regular-season history — to the starting line that matters.

They need to write to Santa Claus and ask for a serviceable backup center. They need Austin Reaves to really rock and roll with the units that don’t include Doncic — who has the highest plus-minus and the highest on/off rating in the NBA — and to keep his turnover tallies low. They need to not just beat but blow out bad teams, to give Doncic a fourth quarter off sometimes.

And they need coach JJ Redick — who boasted in September that the Lakers’ “naturally deeper roster” would result in a longer rotation — to trust the process.

Even if the amount of “my bad” from his backups costs the Lakers some regular-season wins, it will, on occasion, make more sense to punt than to go for it. Like when you’re readying a less-experienced, less-familiar team for future battles. And wanting to reduce wear and tear on your engine.

A proven power-lifter, the 27-year-old Doncic is this season handling the heaviest workload (39.8% usage rate) in the NBA and in his career, while logging 35.9 taxing minutes per game.

He’s being challenged, pressed and trapped. He’s accelerating and decelerating and accelerating again. He’s charge-taking, pump-faking, piling up hoops-and-harms. Manipulating defenses and defending like he’s taken some slander personally. Arguing with officials and heaving vibey buzzer-beaters from all over the building, including a 61-footer that completely altered the complexion of Friday’s game, giving the Lakers momentum for the first time entering intermission.

And, no, he doesn’t need to play heavy minutes to prepare to play heavy minutes in the playoffs. He also doesn’t need to be wrapped in bubble wrap, but ideally he’d ramp up for the anchor leg instead of sprinting for the full marathon.

Remember what happened last season, after Doncic set the league on fire in March, averaging 37.5 points per game as the Lakers went 15-2 and announced themselves as challengers? He suffered a Grade 2 hamstring strain on April 2 that sidelined him for the rest of the season and doused the Lakers’ hopes.

And look around now; the league is a cautionary tale of the tape. Anthony Edwards, Chet Holmgren, Ja Morant, Tyrese Haliburton, Jalen Williams are among the stars who’ve been lost to injuries.

The Lakers — who are starting the season by playing four weeks without a single two-day break between games — don’t want to be included in the discussion about what’s ailing the NBA’s highest-usage talent this season.

It might be that the game has evolved to become more grueling, that teams are averaging more possessions per game, that possessions are shorter and that defenders are picking up ball-handlers sooner.

But it’s not, Portland coach Micah Nori said, because guys aren’t in shape: “They all have individual trainers, and they all work extremely hard, and they put in a lot of time — essentially 12 months out of the year. Back in the day, no disrespect to those guys, but that’s why training camp was so long, because they needed training camp to get back in shape. And so now they’re never out of shape, and I don’t know if that has any bearing … but that’s the only difference I see.

That includes Doncic. “He is the best shape I’ve ever seen him in,” Nori said, proclaiming the Lakers’ star his (way-too-early) favorite for MVP.

Forget about that, though.

Shohei Ohtani being dead set on chasing the Cy Young Award killed the Dodgers’ chances at a three-peat. And Doncic doing too much and earning his first MVP honor wouldn’t do anything for the Lakers’ championship chances if he’s spent by the time the postseason starts.

He’s much too valuable for that.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

The Cleveland Cavaliers, like a few other teams, found themselves completely preoccupied this summer with courting LeBron James. In the process, they were unwilling or unable to give Dean Wade a financial commitment.

“I kind of thought I’d probably just come back,” Wade said after playing his first game in Cleveland this season. “Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.”

Perhaps the Cavs would have elected to move on from Wade either way. He had run his course in Cleveland, and the Cavs clearly wanted to find an upgrade at small forward. That’s certainly part of the equation.

But it also seems possible that Cleveland was holding out for LeBron — and Wade leaving was a product of that waiting game.

Regardless of how it happened, Wade says he’s happy with the end result.

“Philly’s awesome, this team is always great, high-character people,” said Wade. “It’s weird going to a new place with me, like 1,000 new faces and stuff. But after a couple of weeks, it gets a lot easier. So I’m pretty happy with my decision.”

Wade played seven seasons with the Cavaliers, going from an undrafted prospect in 2019 to a starter in the playoffs. This was his first time entering Rocket Arena as an enemy.

“It was weird; emotions were high, and it was pretty hard to stay focused,” said Wade. “But it was good. I was happy to see everybody.”

The Cavs leaned on Wade for his defense throughout the last seven seasons. But his progression from a fringe NBA player to a legitimate rotational piece is worth remembering. He’s a developmental success story that helped bolster the Cavs for nearly a decade.

“Above all, you loved the person, loved the family; they’re just incredible,” Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson said of Wade. “Great for our culture, obviously the player, he’s a heck of a player, helped us a lot even before I got here, a major player for the team — happy he landed in a good spot.”

Wade is now playing a similar role in Philly, while the Cavs are hoping Peyton Watson will be everything they’ve needed at small forward. It’s a breakup that has zero hard feelings on either end.

The Cleveland Cavaliers won’t have much time off after defeating the Philadelphia 76ers last night. They’ll be welcoming the New York Knicks to town for a rematch of the Eastern Conference Finals.

The Knicks have gotten off to a slow start this season. They’ve struggled to close out games, with all four of their losses being decided by single digits. They’re also just 1-3 against teams that have a winning record so far, with their lone victory coming against the Detroit Pistons.

The Knicks have many of the same players from their title run, but they haven’t been able to recapture that magic so far this season. We’ll see if the Cavs can take advantage of that in their first meeting of this campaign.

Who: Cleveland Cavaliers (5-4) vs. New York Knicks (4-4)

Where: Rocket Arena – Cleveland, OH

When: Saturday, Nov. 7 at 8 PM

TV: DAZN, NBA TV, NBA League Pass

Point spread: Knicks -4.5

Cavs injury report from Friday vs. 76ers: Sam Merrill – Left Friday with elbow injury, Jarrett Allen – QUESTIONABLE (knee), Peyton Watson – QUESTIONABLE (hamstring), Tyrese Proctor – QUESTIONABLE (ankle), Jaylon Tyson – OUT (ankle), Nae’Qwan Tomlin – OUT (back), Khalifa Diop – OUT (G League), Ernest Udeh, Jr. – OUT (G League)

Knicks injury report: Josh Hart – OUT (ankle)

Cavs expectedstarting lineup: James Harden, Donovan Mitchell, Meleek Thomas, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen

Knicks expected starting lineup: Jalen Brunson, Landry Shamet, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, Karl-Anthony Towns

Cavs jersey:White Association Edition uniform

Previous matchup: The Cavs were sept in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Here’s a look at both teams’ regular-season impact stats via Cleaning the Glass.

	Offensive Rating	Defensive Rating	Net Rating
Cavs	117 (6th)	113 (17th)	+4 (11th)
Knicks	114.3 (13th)	107.9 (4th)	+6.4 (8th)

Observations after Sixers suffer blowout loss to Cavs, fall in NBA Cup  originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The Sixers couldn’t rekindle the magic of their comeback home-opening win over the Cavaliers.

They fell Friday night in NBA Cup action, suffering a 119-95 defeat in Cleveland. The Sixers dipped to 8-2 and the Cavs improved to 5-4. 

The Sixers’ top scorers were Jaylen Brown (20 points), VJ Edgecombe (19 points) and Tyrese Maxey (17).

The Cavs got 23 points from Donovan Mitchell and 22 from Evan Mobley.

The Sixers’ injured players included center Adem Bona (cervical spine sprain). Cleveland was down big man Jarrett Allen (right knee contusion). Sam Merrill sat out the second half with a right elbow injury. 

With Friday’s loss, the Sixers are 1-1 in Eastern Conference Group B of the NBA Cup. Their next Cup game is scheduled for Nov. 25 against the Heat. 

The Sixers will conclude their three-road trip Sunday afternoon against the Bulls. Here are observations on their blowout loss to Cleveland:  

Nightmare start for Embiid, Sixers 

After a missed Merrill three-pointer, the Sixers steamed ahead on the fast break and Edgecombe opened the scoring with a slam.

The Cavs replied with a 15-0 run kickstarted by six straight Mitchell points. Much like in the Sixers’ Oct. 22 win over Cleveland, they were many levels below their best in the first quarter. 

The Sixers began 0 for 4 from three-point range, including two LeBron James misses. The Cavs were also the better team in transition and limited the Sixers’ chances to attack in the open floor by taking excellent care of the ball in the early going. Edgecombe was called for his second foul with 7:34 left in the first quarter. 

Meanwhile, Joel Embiid expressed his frustration about a couple of early no-calls. Embiid’s larger problem was that he couldn’t hit any sort of shot besides free throws. 

He went 0 for 9 from the floor in the game. The seven-time All-Star finished with six points and seven rebounds.

Embiid has had a subpar shooting start to the year, especially from three-point territory — he’s now 3 for 28 (10.7 percent) — but Friday was the kind of extreme night that’s bound to happen here and there over the course of a long season. 

Of course, it’s notable that Embiid’s been playing through right foot plantar fasciitis and the Sixers have been keeping a close eye on his minutes. We’ll see how the team manages his availability moving forward and whether Embiid is able to bounce back next time out.  

James didn’t play anywhere near his finest game either. He had eight points on 3-for-12 shooting, eight rebounds, three assists and six turnovers.

As a team, the Sixers were 36.5 percent from the field and 25 percent beyond the arc.

Edgecombe shrugs off foul trouble 

Jabari Walker rejoined the Sixers’ rotation as the backup center with Bona sidelined. Anfernee Simons, former Cav Dean Wade and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope all remained rotation fixtures.

With Walker and Caldwell-Pope on the court next to three starters, the Sixers cut their deficit to single digits in the second quarter. Walker threw down a fast-break dunk that cut Cleveland’s lead to 48-41. He gave the Sixers some good defensive possessions when switched on to James Harden and provided his usual physical, high-effort work on the glass.

Edgecombe was fantastic in the second, sinking three triples, racking up 15 points and nabbing three steals. 

Many second-year players would have a tough time finding a rhythm after encountering early foul trouble, but Edgecombe was great as soon as he checked back in and delivered a ton of valuable buckets in the Sixers’ comeback push. 

Cavs polish it off in 2nd half

The Sixers pulled to within 66-63 when Maxey picked a steal and threw a pretty one-handed bounce pass to Edgecombe for a dunk.

With Embiid and James offering little as scorers, Brown hit several shots that helped the Sixers stay in the game. After his 30-point performance last time out against the Pistons, Brown reached the 20-point mark for a third consecutive game.

Still, the Sixers’ offense never got rolling. The Cavs maintained their lead and extended it late in the third quarter. By early in the fourth, the Sixers trailed by over 20 points.

Embiid didn’t play the fourth quarter and logged 25 minutes. He’s had zero made field goals on just one other occasion in his career, back in Nov. 2019 against the Raptors.

Even with their tremendous first nine games, the Sixers knew they’d hit speed bumps throughout the year. They’ll try to get back on track Sunday in Chicago.

LOS ANGELES — Luka Dončić stepped up to the free throw line in the third quarter.

The Lakers’ NBA Cup court plastered in gold. The crowd an ocean of the same color. Dončić was engulfed, but instead of the sound of waves flooding the senses, it was the MVP chants, each growing louder than the next.

Dončić made his first, marking his 40th point of the game and 20th in the quarter, capping off a 34-15 run in the frame that brought Los Angeles back from a 16-point deficit and gave them an 87-75 lead over the Portland Trail Blazers.

It was a run that put the Lakers in front heading into the final frame and helped them exact revenge on a Blazers side that handed them one of their two losses as they won 124-118 on Friday.

“Anytime you start a half down, you want to get to momentum early,” head coach JJ Redick said of the third quarter. “We were playing from behind the first half, so I thought it was really important to get off to a good start, and we did that. … for the most part, it felt like we had control of the rest of the game, and a lot of that had to do with how we defended in the third quarter.”

It’s impossible to gloss over Dončić in this game, who finished with 53 points on 17-of-33 shooting from the field, passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the 10th-most 50-point games in NBA history. The Lakers made their run and took control in the third quarter, but the momentum shifted when Dončić drained a shot from the opposite 3-point line as time expired in the first half.

“[That shot] changes the whole energy,” Dončić said postgame. “In the team and in the gym. That was an important shot to make. So that’s why I decided to make it.”

LUKA JUST SANK IT FROM 3/4 COURT 🤯

Bruce Springsteen can’t believe what he just witnessed! pic.twitter.com/D0a9aSnwuX

— NBA (@NBA) November 7, 2026

At the time, the Lakers had made just three of their 23 3-point attempts and were enduring what looked like the game where the offense inevitably regressed to the mean. Instead, including Dončić’s heave, Los Angeles made eight of their last 14 deep shots en route to a much-needed win.

Redick has preached patience and steady incline as a team all year, but a win like this for sole position at the top of the Western Conference — and on NBA Cup night no less — was a clear measure of their resilience.

And yet, Redick thinks they’re still building.

“I think we’re already a really together group,” he added Friday. “You don’t become a resilient team in 10 games, five games, 20 games. It takes a full season to build that resiliency. … But, the fact that this is a very together group and we’ve already shown a level of resiliency, it’s exciting, it’s promising and I want to continue building on that.”

Much of this lands on Dončić’s shoulders. He’s having a historical season, one of the best we’ve ever seen, but he’s a product of the team around him. It’s a roster he had his hands all over, collectively crafted around his needs at every corner, a point driven by Portland head coach Micah Nori before they clashed on Friday.

Nori says it’s Dončić‘s MVP to lose, “hands down,” but because of everything around him. The shooting, the defending, Walker Kessler’s rolling. It’s all working in unison.

Portland coach Micah Nori on what he’s seen from Luka Doncic so far this season:

“He’s in elite shape, he’s playing with a great amount of confidence, he’s got shooters around him, and he has a rolling big.

For him, it’s a perfect offensive storm. And, uh, he’s the MVP right…

— Connor Moreno (@cmorenoNBA) November 7, 2026

The Lakers have 72 games to go. It’s not always going to be like this. But again, a night like Friday works wonders for the marathon Redick is trying to run.

“We all want good results,” he said. “This is going to be a long process and it’s going to take time for us to become a great basketball team. I like that our guys have responded to some adversity. Tonight was a great example, where we get down pretty big early and we just stick with it.”

You can follow Connor on Twitter at @cmorenoNBA.

The San Antonio Spurs are on a roll. The Spurs extended their winning streak to seven games after defeating the Sacramento Kings 124-109 on Friday. Now they’ll face one of the NBA’s hottest teams, the Portland Trail Blazers. It will be the first time these two teams meet since the Spurs defeated the Blazers in the first round of last year’s playoffs.

Portland looks a bit different than they did last season. Damian Lillard is back from an Achilles injury, averaging 20.1 points per game. Deni Advija continues to be one of the league’s underrated stars. The Blazers lost a close one, 124-118, to the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night, but have so far been one of the best teams in the league.

Both teams will be in the second game of a back-to-back, so fatigue will be a consideration. The Spurs have shown they have a solid game plan for the Blazers, but with both teams on short rest, this one could go either way. A win over a red-hot Portland squad would be a signature win in the early stretch of the season.

San Antonio Spurs (7-2) vs. Portland Trail Blazers(6-2)

November 7th, 2026 | 9 PM CT

Watch: DAZN | Listen: WOAI (1200 AM)

Spurs Injuries: To be released at 1 p.m. CT

Trail Blazers Injuries: To be released at 1 p.m. CT

What to watch for:

Defending inside and out

The Blazers have the best offensive rating in the NBA (121.9). That’s thanks in large part to their ability to get into the paint and then convert on kick-out three-pointers. Advija is one of the best downhill players in the NBA. Toumani Camara is one of the best spot-up shooters in the league. As a whole, Portland makes the fifth most three-pointers per game at 15.4. The Spurs are faced with a tough challenge – stop the Blazers from getting easy shots at the rim and close out hard on shooters.

Crash the glass

It feels like the Blazers’ identity for the last few seasons has been a hard-nosed, physical squad. Donovan Clingan is one of the best rebounding bigs in the league, and Robert Williams III causes a lot of problems with his motor and athleticism. Then they have physical wings like Jrue Holiday and Advija who are problems on the glass. The Spurs have not been truly tested in the rebounding battle this season. But with a smaller, guard-filled lineup, San Antonio has to focus on winning the battle on the boards to win this game.

Three-point shooting

San Antonio hit 50% of their threes against the Kings on Friday. The Spurs need those shots to fall to open up their downhill attacking offense. The Blazers will likely put Clingan on Stephon Castle, daring him to make threes, just like they did in the playoffs last season. San Antonio can offset this by using him as a screener or putting the ball in his hands in the pick-and-roll to get Clingan moving around on the perimeter. Regardless of defensive scheme, the Spurs will have to hit three-point shots to come away with the win in Portland.

With the Spurs on a six-game win streak and the Kangz being, well, the Kangz, the good guys unsurprisingly walked away with a 124-109 victory on Friday night.

Both sides traded blows from the tip, energized to play their first NBA Cup match of the season. It didn’t take long, though, for San Antonio to pull ahead, as the guards took advantage of Sacramento’s lack of interior defense (or defense, period), to drive to the basket or lob it up to Wemby for easy dunks. However, in typical Spurs fashion, they took their foot off the gas and let the Kings go on a mini run to get back in the game. Soon after, San Antonio became more intentional with their offensive sets, running some nice plays that used Vassell’s gravity and passing ability to find open cutters. The Spurs reasserted their dominance in the game.

Still, Wemby had a fall just before halftime that made everyone hold their breath. The big fella landed on Domantas Sabonis’ foot on his way down from shooting a three, grabbing his ankle while rolling on the court. He appeared to be in quite some discomfort and stayed down for a minute before walking to the Spurs bench on his own power, seemingly able to shake it off. It marked the end of a dominant first half for the Alien, as he finished with 19 points in two quarters alone.

Thankfully, Wemby’s extraterrestrial abilities seem to have extended to his healing abilities. He started the second half and was no worse for wear, although the two teams came out flat to start the third. The offense on both ends was sloppy and stagnant, forcing Mitch Johnson to call a timeout when the Kings cut the lead down to 14. The message was heard once again; the good guys locked back in and began moving the ball more, finding open shooters who converted on their free looks. Garbage time began early in the fourth, with both teams emptying their benches. San Antonio cruised to a comfortable 124-109 victory, securing their first NBA Cup win of the season.

Game notes

• Wemby finished the night after logging just 26 minutes, putting up a dominant stat line of 30 points, 14 rebounds, and 2 blocks. After a slow start to the season, he’s playing arguably the best basketball of his career in the last two weeks, and this might be a sign that he’s leveling up even more. The ankle is something that should be monitored, though, as swelling often happens in the days after the initial injury. Wemby had a similar-looking ankle roll in his rookie season that forced him to miss a few games after finishing the contest in which the injury occurred.
• The Spurs were fortunate that they played Sacramento, allowing Wemby to play fewer minutes after his ankle tweak. Remember, point differential counts in the NBA Cup, so teams oftentimes play their stars big minutes even if a win is guaranteed. San Antonio sits second in Group C following Friday’s victory, as their +15 differential is just behind Golden State’s +17.
• The game was so out of reach that the backups’ backups got some playing time. Carter Bryant, David Jones Garcia, and Tarris Reed all checked in with 3 minutes to go. Barnesy had a hot shooting night too, pouring in 11 points in under 20 minutes of action. Hindsight is always 20/20, but I do wonder if Mitch should’ve stuck with the usual backups. San Antonio was up by over 20 points before the third stringers checked in, and they might’ve finished with a higher point differential than Golden State’s had they stuck with the second unit.
• The Kornet minutes remain an issue, even against the Kangz. The veteran finished as a -10 in just 18 minutes, while Wemby was a +31 in 26 minutes. I’m honestly not sure which stat is more impressive.

Play of the game

It’s just the Kangz, Steph! They’re already dead!

STEPHON CASTLE OMG 😱😤

📺 @DAZNpic.twitter.com/E78x3XUB2p

— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) November 7, 2026

Next game: @ Blazers on Saturday

The Spurs will look to make it 8 in a row as they face off against the hot 6-1 Blazers on Saturday. Tip-off is once again at 9pm CST (sigh).

Ziaire Williams approached Austin Reaves from behind during his walk-off interview with NBA on Prime, put his hands on his shoulders and yelled, “Fifty ball.”

There was one problem.

It was Luka Dončić who had scored 53 points in the Lakers’ 124-118 win over the Trail Blazers on Friday night at Crypto.com Arena.

“I’m the wrong white person.”

This moment pic.twitter.com/d7iivfZh5Q

— NBA on Prime (@NBAonPrime) November 7, 2026

“I’m the wrong white person,” Reaves, who had 25 points, retorted as he shook his head in disbelief.

Did Williams seriously confuse his two teammates?

“Deadass,” Williams said, flashing a smile in the Lakers’ locker room.

Dončić had some lighthearted fun with the mixup as well.

“That was very disrespectful to me,” Doncic said jokingly.

It was a funny moment following an impressive come-from-behind win for the Lakers, in which they turned a 16-point deficit into a 16-point lead.

In Friday’s game, Dončić (361 points) passed Michael Jordan (347) for the most points scored in the first nine games of season since the NBA-ABA merger.

It’s the most points anyone has scored in the modern NBA since Wilt Chamberlain in 1962-63.

It was Dončić’s 11th career 50-point game. He surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and tied Allan Iverson for 10th most 50-point games in NBA history.

Dončić is averaging an NBA-leading 40.1 points, 7.7 rebounds and 7.6 assists for the Lakers, who are in first place in the Western Conference with an 8-2 record.