INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Orlando Lovejoy had 21 points and Lance Stone came off the bench to score 16, leading Detroit Mercy to a 70-64 victory over Robert Morris on Monday night in a Horizon League Tournament semifinal.
No. 3 seed Detroit Mercy (17-14) will play top-seeded Wright State in the championship game on Tuesday with an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament on the line.
Lovejoy made 5 of 14 shots and 11 of 12 free throws for the Titans, adding six assists. Stone sank 6 of 12 shots with two 3-pointers. Tyler Spratt had 10 points and Legend Geeter contributed nine points and 10 rebounds.
DeSean Goode finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds to pace the second-seeded Colonials (22-11). Nikolaos Chitikoudis had 13 points and seven assists. Ryan Prather Jr. and reserve Ta'Zir Smith both scored 11.
The Titans outscored Robert Morris 37-28 in the second half.
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Alton Hamilton IV scored a career-high 25 points, Isaiah Moses added 22 and Eastern Washington held off Weber State 84-79 on Monday night in a Big Sky Conference Tournament quarterfinal.
No. 3 seed Eastern Washington (14-18) will play seventh-seeded Idaho in a Tuesday semifinal. The Vandals beat the Eagles twice, including in the regular-season finale to end EWU's eight-game winning streak. Top seed Portland State plays fourth-seeded Montana in the other semifinal.
Hamilton made 8 of 10 shots with two 3-pointers and both of his free throws for Eastern Washington. He added five rebounds. Moses had eight assists and his three-point play with 37 seconds left gave the Eagles an 82-76 lead. Johnny Radford totaled 12 points and four rebounds off the bench.
Tijan Saine Jr. led the sixth-seeded Wildcats (16-16) with 27 points. Nigel Burris added 14 points and Viljami Vartiainen scored 13.
Hamilton made all six of his first-half shots and scored 18 to guide Eastern Washington to a 46-32 lead at the break. Hamilton had the first four points in a 16-0 first-half run for the Eagles.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — James Reimer stopped 16 shots for his first shutout of the season and 32nd of his career, and the Ottawa Senators beat the Vancouver Canucks 2-0 on Monday night.
Ridly Greig scored in the second period for Ottawa, and Brady Tkachuk added an empty-netter with 1:20 remaining, extending his point streak to seven games — six of those after he helped the United States win Olympic gold in Milan.
Kevin Lankinen made 22 saves for Vancouver, which opened an eight-game homestand.
Ottawa has points in seven straight games (5-0-2) and 11 of 12 (9-1-2) as it chases an Eastern Conference wild-card spot.
Greig collected a pass from Shane Pinto at the bottom of the faceoff circle, moved the puck to his forehand and fired a shot past Lankinen midway through the second.
The Canucks challenged the play, arguing Pinto made a hand pass before the goal, but the call was upheld after a video review.
Making his first start since Feb. 5, Reimer improved to 4-3-1 on the season and earned his first shutout since April 8, 2025, when he was with Toronto. The 37-year-old signed with Ottawa as a free agent on Jan. 12.
Tim Stutzle assisted on Tkachuk’s goal, stretching his point streak to 13 games (eight goals, nine assists).
Ottawa defenseman Jake Sanderson was sidelined with an upper-body injury suffered in Saturday's win over Seattle. Coach Travis Green said the 23-year-old is “week to week.”
That it came on the night when he tied Wilt Chamberlain’s NBA record for consecutive games (126) with at least 20 points only bolsters his late-season argument. And that he won the game with a silky, step back 3 with just 2.7 seconds left added yet another MVP moment to his highlight reel — something voters tend to weigh with significance.
“Tremendous poise, confidence — he doesn’t change his mindset regardless of the circumstance,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said after the 129-126 Thunder victory. “He doesn’t break a sweat.”
If there’s a paradigm of consistency in the NBA, it’s Gilgeous-Alexander. He appears to glide across the floor, unbothered, to get to his spots. He seems to know exactly what defenses will try to do against him.
And as the Thunder have confronted injuries all season long — they rank second in the NBA in games missed and were without three starters (Jalen William, Chet Holmgren, Isaiah Hartenstein) against the Nuggets — it’s Gilgeous-Alexander who is carrying this team to greatness.
Despite the time missed because of injury, the Thunder are 51-15, which is the best record in the NBA.
Just to show how quickly things change: a little more than two weeks ago, after carrying the Pistons to a massive win over the Knicks at Madison Square Garden, Cade Cunningham had seized momentum on the national stage.
In fact, I wrote then that Cunningham should be the MVP favorite and would be deserving of the award, if the season ended that day. The season, of course, didn’t, and Detroit has sputtered since that game, losing five of its subsequent nine games.
The Pistons are currently on a four-game losing streak and Cunningham’s play has been slightly uneven in recent weeks.
Realistically, if Cunningham had any edge over Gilgeous-Alexander at the time of that Knicks game (Feb. 20), it was that SGA was at the time sidelined with an abdominal strain.
But in the five games Gilgeous-Alexander has played since returning from the injury that forced him to miss nine games, he’s averaging 30.8 points, 8.4 assists, 4.8 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game.
By late Monday night, just minutes after Gilgeous-Alexander’s game-winning 3, Fan Duel and Draft Kings each lowered their futures odds for Gilgeous-Alexander winning MVP to -800. That’s a fairly pedestrian figure, especially since he was -275 and -260 in those books, respectively, just one week ago.
Realistically, the only thing that can get in SGA’s way is his health. He has played 54 of a possible 66 games for the Thunder, which means he can miss no more than five through Oklahoma City’s final 16 contests to remain eligible for postseason awards.
“I think with what he has already done, he’s an all-time great,” Thunder center Jaylin Williams told reporters after the game. “He’s just adding onto it. I think every game, every situation, he just continues to impress. When you’re the best in the world, it’s hard to continue to impress. He’s doing it night in and night out.”
Mar 9, 2026; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard James Harden (1) reacts after a play during the second half against the Philadelphia 76ers at Rocket Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images | Ken Blaze-Imagn Images
“The beauty of it is we got another one tomorrow,” is how James Harden ended his media scrum after Sunday’s disappointing loss to the Boston Celtics. The Cavs didn’t make up for that performance, but this was a good response.
Like Sunday, the Cavs started the game unable to buy a three-point shot. They made just one of their first 10 attempts, but this time, they didn’t bury themselves in the process. They found ways to still get to the basket and the free-throw line. Instead of a 10-point quarter, they mustered 26.
And when they actually started hitting their outside shots in the second quarter, they broke the game wide open.
The Cavs don’t have many tough opponents left on their schedule; they do, however, need to figure out who’s in their rotation for the playoffs. That’s what a game like this was for.
“I told the guys in there, this is going to be a fight to be in the playoff rotation,” head coach Kenny Atkinson said postgame. “We got so many good players. We’re deep. Who’s going to be a star in his role?”
Role players not coming through against Boston is one of the things that did them in. Keon Ellis was one of the players who struggled. He didn’t score in 24 minutes and finished the game with a plus/minus of -15.
Ellis responded well on Monday, scoring 19 points on 5-9 shoooting which included going 4-7 from three. He showed that he can make an impact offensively, which is what he’ll need to continue doing if he’s going to get substantial playoff minutes.
The three-point shot is going to be the swing skill for Ellis. If he’s making that, they can always find room for him on the court. But there are other ways he can influence the game on that end.
“We’re just discovering his offensive capabilities,” Atkinson said. “I saw a couple of things that I haven’t seen him do yet. Come off a DHO (dribble-hand-off), get in the lane, shoot the flooter. I didn’t even know he had that.”
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Harden scored his 29,000th career point. That’s a remarkable accomplishment, even though less than 0.1% of his points have come in a Cavalier uniform. It speaks to his incredible longevity and how he’s been able to continually reinvent his game in a league that has evolved drastically since he entered it 17 years ago.
“[It’s a ] testament to his resiliency,” Atkinson said. “It’s so hard in this league to do it for so long, so consistently. This version we’re seeing of James…[is a] complete player and playmaker. And what he’s given us so far is everything we need to win.”
A good portion of those 29,017 career points came out of the pick-and-roll. Harden has been able to develop instant pick-and-roll chemistry with nearly every big he’s played with.
Atkinson credits this to Harden being in the 99th percentile in decision-making. He simply always makes the right play.
“He knows where the defense is in (on the pick-and-roll), he knows how to kick it out,” Atkinson said on Sunday. “When they’re out, he throws the lob. He knows the timing. And that’s rare in my experience to be around a player who’s almost perfect in terms of his decision-making.”
Evan Mobley may be the exception to this general rule for Harden. The duo hasn’t been able to replicate the success Harden has had with Jarrett Allen. That comes down to how both Mobley and Harden operate in the pick-and-roll.
Mobley neither sets hard screens nor rolls hard. More often than not, he slips the screen before there’s real contact and then floats in the midrange and tries to find an angle to receive a dump off. That can work in some contexts — and has mostly paired well with an explosive downhill attacker like Donovan Mitchell — but it hasn’t with Harden.
Harden will always make the right play. But there isn’t a right play to come from this, given how deliberate Harden is in these actions. By the time he’s ready to take advantage of the opening, the defense has already recovered, nullifying the screen entirely.
This is why the starting offense has felt so static at times the last two games with Allen sidelined. Harden has still initiated the offense with the pick-and-roll with the big, but it hasn’t gone anywhere. Instead of getting things going to the basket and reacting from there, they end up wasting four or five seconds trying to set it up, and then have to resort to something different.
This issue isn’t that Mobley doesn’t know what he needs to do as the big with Harden, it’s just not his game.
This play is a good example of that. Mobley tries to set a solid screen on Harden’s defender, but doesn’t create much separation. He compounds this by not rolling to the basket as hard as he needs to, which led to Mobley getting cut off in the restricted area.
Mobley is never going to be a physically imposing screener like Ivica Zubac. That isn’t changing overnight. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t ways to make this duo more effective.
“Evan is not used to rolling all the time,” Atkinson said. “I saw them talking tonight about screening angles. I think James can help him be better on the roll.”
This is an example of how Harden can do so.
Instead of being deliberate in waiting for the screen to materialize — like he did in the first example — Harden is more aggressive about getting around the screen quicker. This helps the contact that Mobley makes to be effective enough to get the defender on Harden’s back hip. And once that happens, there’s a mismatch he can use to generate open looks.
Even though Mobley isn’t the prototypical Harden pick-and-roll partner, there are still ways to make it work.
“I’ve talked to James about that,” Atkinson said. “Just getting those two together and talking to Evan about how he wants the screen angle, when he wants him to slip out, when he wants him to hold. And with Evan, he can mix in the pop (three-point shot) too.”
It can be easy to focus on what Mobley doesn’t do well, and understandably so. The flaws in his game, like this, can be quite clear. But that shouldn’t overshadow what he does well.
Mobley is a gifted scorer who’s continually added elements to his offensive game. He’s a more well-rounded offensive weapon than most bigs Harden has had success with. There’s something there that Harden can work with. They just need time to figure it out.
“I want them to get together and work on it more,” Atkinson said. “I think that could be a really lethal combination.”
CHICAGO (AP) — Frank Nazar scored a power-play goal with 2:24 left in overtime to give the Chicago Blackhawks a 3-2 victory over the Utah Mammoth on Monday night.
Andrew Mangiapane scored his first goal as a Blackhawk since being acquired in a trade from Edmonton last week, and Andre Burakovsky lifted the puck on his stick lacrosse style and flicked it into the net to tie the game at 2-2 late in the second period. It was his first goal since Jan. 7, a span of 19 games.
Drew Commesso, making his third start of the season and first since Jan. 10 when he had his first career shutout in a 3-0 win over Nashville, made 22 saves. Connor Bedard had two assists for Chicago, including one on Nazar's winner.
Barrett Hayton and Dylan Guenther scored for Utah, which is battling for a wild-card playoff spot in the Western Conference and had won the first three games of a five-game road trip. Vitek Vanecek had 23 saves.
Guenther has now scored a team-leading 30 goals this season, the first time in his career he has reached that mark. He has scored in three of four games on the road trip, with six points in those contests (3 goals, 3 assists).
Chicago, which had lost three in a row including a 4-3 setback to Dallas on Sunday night, has now won all three meetings with Utah this season, with the teams' fourth and final game of the season scheduled for Thursday night.
Chicago played without Spencer Knight (illness) and Oliver Moore, who left Sunday’s game in first period.
Up next
Mammoth: Visit the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night.
Blackhawks: Visit the Utah Mammoth on Thursday night.
LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 24: Luka Doncic #77 of the Los Angeles Lakers dribbles the ball during the game against Anthony Edwards #5 of the Minnesota Timberwolves on October 24, 2025 at Crypto.Com Arena in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2025 NBAE (Photo by Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
The Lakers (39-25) look to keep their winning ways going against the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves (40-24) on Tuesday. This is the final match between the two teams this season, as L.A. looks to sweep the regular season series.
With less than five weeks until the regular season concludes, the standings race, especially in the competitive Western Conference, will heat up. The Lakers have won five of their last six games and are sitting in the fifth seed. Their next opponent? The current third seed in the same conference.
The Timberwolves will be a good test for this Lakers team as they’ve been playing well as of late. They’ve won eight out of their last 10 games led by Anthony Edwards, who is currently averaging 29.6 points per game. Edwards has also been getting consistent help from Julius Randle, Jaden McDaniels, Naz Reid and Rudy Gobert. Overall, the Wolves average 118.6 points per game (fifth-best in the league) and rank in the top 10 offensively and defensively.
The Lakers can absolutely go toe-to-toe with the Wolves, especially on offense. Luka Dončić — who is in a very good groove right now, scoring-wise — will definitely be able to match Edwards’ production. The biggest X-factor in this one will be whose supporting cast will outplay the other. Austin Reaves, in particular, has played well in the two games between the Lakers and Wolves in this one.
Speaking of those two games — which both happened in October — the Lakers didn’t have LeBron James in any of those either, so by default, they already know what to expect. There’s also no doubt that the Wolves are much better this time around compared to October and have the same goal as the Lakers, which is to stay in a decent position in the standings. There’s a good chance that this is going to be a thriller.
That said, it’ll be interesting to see if Los Angeles attempts to win this one similarly to how they did in their last two games against Minnesota by attacking the paint and limiting Rudy Gobert’s presence. Hopefully that will be the case and the Lakers’ win the possession battle as well as control the pace as they have over their last two games.
Let’s see if the Lakers can make a statement and improve their chances of climbing up the Western Conference standings in a massive game against the Timberwolves on Tuesday.
Notes and Updates
Only LeBron James (right hip contusion and left foot arthritis) is written on the report.
As for the Wolves, Kyle Anderson (right knee soreness) is questionable.
According to Michelle Gardner of the Arizona Republic, part of the USA TODAY Network, the reports that surfaced Monday afternoon of the Sun Devils and Hurley expected to "part ways" at the end of the season are "premature."
There were multiple reports Monday that mentioned the Sun Devils and Hurley are expected to go their separate ways at the end of the season, which could be as soon as Tuesday afternoon in the Big 12 tournament, after 11 years in Tempe.
Hurley entered the 2025-26 season on the final year of his contract and already under heat after the Sun Devils finished with losing records in back-to-back seasons.
Hurley's contract, which was obtained by the USA TODAY Sports Network, is set to run through June 30 with the Sun Devils. This means, even if the Sun Devils don't elect to renew Hurley's contract, there will be some money going to him if he is let go by the athletic department. Hurley is owed approximately $900,000 if he is fired.
The Sun Devils have only made it to the NCAA Tournament three times under Hurley, and have finished with a winning record in four seasons. Hurley, the former Duke guard and brother to Connecticut coach Dan Hurley, has only won 20 or more games four times and has not led the Sun Devils to a conference title.
Since the Sun Devils moved to the Big 12, they are 29-35 overall and 11-27 in Big 12 play. The best win for Arizona State under Hurley in the Big 12 came just last week against No. 16 Kansas and Darryn Peterson in Tempe. It marked just the 15th win over a ranked team in his 11-seasons, and the ninth over a top-15 ranked team.
Arizona State opens up Big 12 tournament play on Tuesday, March 10 at 12:30 p.m. ET against Baylor at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri as the No. 12 seed in the bracket.
Bobby Hurley record at Arizona State
Here's a season-by-season breakdown of how Arizona State has fared under Hurley:
Every MVP winner has a signature moment during the season. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander may have just had his on Monday night against Denver.
First, with a third-quarter step-back 3-pointer, Gilgeous-Alexander reached 20 points — his 126th straight game with at least 20 points, tying Hall of Famer and legend Wilt Chamberlain for the most consecutive 20+ point games in league history.
That record likely falls on Thursday night when the Thunder host the Celtics.
SGA wasn't done. In what was a back-and-forth final minute, with MVP frontrunners Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic trading wild buckets, it was the Thunder star who had the final say with a 3-pointer with 2.7 seconds left on the clock.
CLEVELAND (AP) — James Harden scored 21 points to become the ninth player in NBA history with more than 29,000 career points, Keon Ellis added 19 off the bench, and the Cleveland Cavaliers cruised to a 115-101 victory over the short-handed Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night.
Donovan Mitchell had 17 points and six assists, and Evan Mobley had 15 points and eight rebounds for the Cavaliers. Harden reached the milestone with a free throw in the first quarter, finishing the game with 29,017 points in 17 pro seasons.
Cleveland is 8-1 at home since Jan. 23, with its lone loss Sunday to surging Boston, and has won 18 of its last 24 overall. The Cavaliers are in fourth place in the Eastern Conference, one game behind New York.
Quentin Grimes scored 17 points and Cameron Payne had 12 points for Philadelphia, which has lost two in a row and four of its last five to slip into eighth in the East. Justin Edwards added 14 points.
NETS 126, GRIZZLIES 115
NEW YORK (AP) — Day’Ron Sharpe matched a season high with 19 points, Ochai Agbaji added 18 and Brooklyn beat the injury-plagued Memphis for their second straight victory.
Nolan Traore added 17 points for the Nets, who were coming off an improbable 107-105 win at Eastern Conference-leading Detroit on Saturday night that snapped a 10-game skid.
The Nets, who rested leading scorer Michael Porter Jr., had six players score in double figures. The Grizzlies had only eight players available.
Rayan Rupert scored a career-high 20 points and Javon Small added 19 for Memphis, which has lost four straight and 11 of 14.
THUNDER 129, NUGGETS 126
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander drilled a step-back 3-pointer with 2.7 seconds left to cap a frantic final minute on a night he matched Wilt Chamberlain’s record for consecutive 20-point games, and Oklahoma City beat Denver.
Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 35 points and a career-high 15 assists, becoming the second player in NBA history to have those totals and zero turnovers. He also had nine rebounds. In the third quarter, Gilgeous-Alexander reached the 20-point mark for the 126th straight game, equaling Chamberlain’s streak from 1961-63.
With Oklahoma City leading 126-122, Denver’s Nikola Jokic hit a 3-pointer and Oklahoma City’s Jaylin Williams was called for an off-ball foul fighting through a screen. Jamal Murray made the free throw with 8.5 seconds remaining to tie the game.
Gilgeous-Alexander responded, elevating over Spencer Jones for his second 3 in the final 14 seconds. Denver’s Aaron Gordon missed a 61-foot heave at the buzzer.
The Thunder are 6-0 since Gilgeous-Alexander returned from an abdominal strain that sidelined him for nine games.
Williams scored 29 points and Ajay Mitchell, in his return after missing 20 games with an abdominal strain and a sprained left ankle, added 24 points.
Jokic had 32 points, 14 rebounds and 13 assists. It was his 24th triple-double of the season and the 188th of his career. Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 28 points and Gordon added 23 points and 10 rebounds for the Nuggets.
JAZZ 119, WARRIORS 116
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Brice Sensabaugh scored 21 points, two-way player Blake Hinson made the go-ahead 3-pointer in the final minute, and Utah outlasted Golden State.
Hinson made four 3-pointers including a shot from beyond the arc on the right wing with 29.9 seconds remaining to shock the Warriors, who were without Stephen Curry and several other rotation regulars.
Kyle Filipowski contributed 19 points and 15 rebounds for Utah, which had lost eight of nine games.
De’Anthony Melton, who led the Warriors with 22 points, made a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 117-116, but Elijah Harkless, another two-way player, clinched the game for the Jazz with two free throws to reach a career-high 16 points.
CLIPPERS 126, KNICKS 118
INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Kawhi Leonard scored 29 points, Bennedict Mathurin added 28 points, and Los Angeles beat New York to climb back to .500 for the first time since early November.
The Clippers are 32-32 and have won five of their first six games in March as they try to improve their potential position in the NBA Play-in Tournament. They began the season in a 6-21 tailspin.
It was Leonard’s 42nd straight game with 20-plus points, the second-longest active streak in the NBA and third-longest in team history.
Mathurin scored 22 in the second half off the bench as one of five Clippers in double figures. Darius Garland had 23 points and seven assists in his second start.
Karl-Anthony Towns led the Knicks with 35 points on 13-of-17 shooting, 12 rebounds and seven assists before fouling out in the final seconds. Jalen Brunson added 28 points and OG Anunoby had 22 points.
NEW YORK (AP) — Day'Ron Sharpe matched a season high with 19 points, Ochai Agbaji added 18 and the Brooklyn Nets beat the injury-plagued Memphis Grizzlies 126-115 on Monday night for their second straight victory.
Nolan Traore added 17 points for the Nets, who were coming off an improbable 107-105 win at Eastern Conference-leading Detroit on Saturday night that snapped a 10-game skid.
The Nets, who rested leading scorer Michael Porter Jr., had six players score in double figures. The Grizzlies had only eight players available.
Rayan Rupert scored a career-high 20 points and Javon Small added 19 for Memphis, which has lost four straight and 11 of 14.
The Grizzlies were missing Ja Morant (left elbow), Scotty Pippen Jr. (right toe soreness), Santi Aldama (knee), Ty Jerome (calf), Cedrix Coward (right knee), newcomer Taj Gibson (reconditioning), Taylor Hendricks (right thumb soreness) and Brandon Clarke (calf). Zach Edey and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope are out for the season.
Brooklyn led by single digits throughout the third quarter before taking control early in the fourth. Traore made a 3-pointer that put the Nets ahead 101-90, and Agbaji followed with two buckets off feeds by Ziaire Williams for a 15-point lead.
Brooklyn had a 67-40 advantage in bench points.
Earlier Monday, the Nets announced that Egor Demin will miss the rest of the season with plantar fasciitis in his left foot. The 6-foot-8 rookie averaged 10.3 points in 52 games.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 09: Jahmai Mashack #21 of the Memphis Grizzlies dribbles against Nolan Traore #88 of the Brooklyn Nets during the first half at Barclays Center on March 09, 2026 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Brooklyn Nets picked up their second win in a row tonight, and while they played winning basketball by all accounts, it felt like the Memphis Grizzlies set it down on the ground for them and walked away.
The Nets held Michael Porter Jr. out tonight for rest. They also started Drake Powell, who spent the last week and a half with Long Island. By putting him alongside Nolan Traoré, Danny Wolf, Noah Clowney, and Nic Claxton, the Nets started three rookies for a third time this season. Progress.
However, the Grizzlies had an even stronger handicap. If you’re a Nets fans infatuated with the Memphis Hustle, this was the night for you to come to the Barclays Center! Memphis’ list of inactives included Ja Morant, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Zach Edey, Brandon Clarke, Taylor Hendricks, Scotty Pippen Jr., Santi Aldama, Ty Jerome, Taj Gibson and Cedric Coward. That left them with only eight players available, three being two-ways. Their rotation also lacked a true center, as they opened with 6’9” GG Jackson at the 5.
Claxton relished his opportunity as the only adult in the room. Most of Brooklyn’s early offensive sets centered around him as he scored six of Brooklyn’s first eight points.
Nevertheless, Memphis controlled the contest early on, starting it 6-of-8 from deep. Rayan Rupert, one of the aforementioned two-ways, led everyone with eight first period points while shooting 2-4 from three. He and Memphis’ rag tag crew even went up on Brooklyn by as many as 10 in that frame.
However, the Nets closed it on an equally sized run to retake the lead, and they held theirs for far longer. Ben Saraf, running around like a penguin on melting ice beforehand, hit Ziaire Williams with a perfect pass to set up a the high-arching three that capped it off…
Ben Saraf finds Ziaire Williams at the last second. Nice job to lead him to the spot with the pass. pic.twitter.com/SNITv29LiU
It was Ochai Agbaji’s turn in the secon. He snagged seven points for the Nets in the period’s first three minutes, leveraging his speed and size on the break. The 6’5” 25-year-old wing also hit a triple in that stretch, bringing himself to 13-of-29 on threes in Brooklyn. He finished tonight with a season high 18 points on 8-of-9 shooting.
“Yeah, he took advantage of his minutes in the last two games, especially against Detroit, a very good team and physical,” Fernández said. “I thought defensively, he was one of our best players, especially protecting the rim and being our low man. He had four actions where he went vertical and protected the rim. And then tonight, the efficiency, 8-of-9 with 18 points, very clean game for him. It’s always good to have guys come in and be that efficient.”
However, if we’re going to talk about shooting from deep, we should really start with Traoré. He hasn’t shied away from the arc this year, but he hasn’t exactly threatened defenses from there either, coming into the game shooting 32.2% on 2.9 attempts per game.
Perhaps the Memphis defense read into those numbers too much. Perhaps Traoré wanted to save his makes for later in the season. Either way, he started the game a perfect 3-of-3 from deep and quickly helped the Nets build their won double digit advantage. He finished with 17 points shooting 6-of-9 from the field and 4-of-5 from three. The Nets also shot 17-of-33 on triples for the evening, giving them their highest mark from there in a game all season.
But even as Brooklyn continued the crisp outside shooting, they never forgot about their advantage on the interior. Brooklyn continued to attack the paint in transition and the halfcourt, posting a +12 advantage there in the first half. Just behind Traoré, who had 11 points by then with an assist and block, Brooklyn’s bigs in Claxton (10) and Sharpe (9) were their team’s second and third leading scorers at halftime.
Fernández took time to appreciate the team’s ability to attack the Memphis defense on both fronts after the game.
“Day’Ron was very efficient. Nic, pretty efficient,” Fernández said. “But, you look at the paint points, 56 is not crazy. I think DayD was very efficient. I think all the shots, like you shoot 55% from the field and 51% for three, that’s pretty good. So, short handed, eight players, probably smaller, but I think overall, it was not just throwing it into the post all the time. Day’Day ducked in a couple times, did a great job, dunked in transition, all that stuff, so yeah, it was good.”
“Great team effort,” Sharpe added. “Everybody’s playing hard, playing together. We always preach about by sharing the ball. They was smaller, so me and Nic was getting on the ball paint and kicking it out. Everybody was capitalizing off of that.”
The Nets likely would have led by more than eight at halftime had they not turned it over 10 times and allowed Memphis to shoot 9-of-20 from deep. But even with the first half spotlighting the Nets’ perimeter defense as the barrier separating them from a win, they either still couldn’t see it, or couldn’t get around it at first.
The Grizzlies began the second half 3-of-6 from deep and quickly cut the lead to one less than four minutes into the third. A Danny Wolf at center experiment midway through the period went awry too, as Memphis even swung back against Brooklyn inside, managing to win there in the period 14-10.
And again, the Grizzlies got close, but not back in front of the Nets. Each time they inched closer, Brooklyn hit a timely shot to stay up one or two possessions. Wolf even redeemed some of his rough defensive sequences at the other end, or at least by heaving the ball into it…
Sharpe then took it from there. Coming in for Wolf to begin the fourth, he added seven points in less than three minutes to lead Brooklyn on a 14-4 run. In the process, Sharpe showed he can put the ball through the rim with feel and force, hitting a three before doing this moments later…
“The three, I already knew it was going in as soon as I shot it,” Sharpe said. “And the dunk, I just gotta dunk it. I didn’t even think he was gonna jump, but he jumped, so I just put it on his head.”
When the dust settled after Sharpe’s seismic boom, the scoreboard showed the Nets up by more than two touchdowns. Powell, Agbaji, and Jalen Wilson, who played his first non-garbage time minutes in over two weeks, all mixing in threes as the fourth bled down also provided the plenty of lead insurance.
It was even enough for Chaney Johnson, one of Brooklyn’s own two-ways, to get his first career minutes as a pro. He played the game’s final five minutes alongside E.J. Liddell, grabbing four points and a steal.
There’s not many to choose from, but this was likely Brooklyn’s biggest “team” win of the season, and not just because the Long Island guys got some burn.
While Sharpe led everyone with 19 points on 8-11 shooting, Ziaire Williams also pitched in 11 points off the bench and finished as a +22. Wilson only scored six points, but finished as a +31 in 22 minutes, which ranks as a career-high figure for him. Wolf had a 14/9/2 line, registering a block and a steal too. Noah Clowney was the sixth Net in double figures with 10 points, but Powell and Claxton were right behind with nine apiece.
With the win, the Nets also surrender the third-best odds to win the draft lottery this May to the Washington Wizards. Sure, there’s plenty of time for them to make that ground back up, but we can’t talk about two Nets wins in a row without acknowledging that.
While lots of fans will surely care about draft pick positioning, Day’Ron Sharpe made it clear postgame he doesn’t…not that his play left anything up for debate.
“We trying to win every game,” he said. “Well, I know, like us as a team, we’re every game, so it felt great for us to get the last win and to get a win today. Nobody likes losing, so just always trying to win, always bring good energy in the locker room.”
Final: Brooklyn Nets 126, Memphis Grizzlies 115
Milestone Watch
Day’Ron Sharpe tied his season high of 19 points tonight against the Grizzlies (fourth time) to go with five rebounds, two assists, two steals and one block. In tandem with Ochai Agbaji (season-high 18 points), it is the first time this season that multiple Nets have scored 18+ off the bench in the same game.
Jalen Wilson +31 plus/minus tonight against Memphis is the second-highest plus/minus by a Net this season (Ben Saraf, +32 on 12/6/25 vs. WAS)
Waiting on the final results around the league, but it looks like the Nets will wind fourth in the Tankathon rankings.
Next Up
The Nets beat the Pistons on Saturday, so that automatically means they’re better than them now and should be favored in this game. This one tips off at Tuesday in the Barclays Center at 7:30 p.m. ET.
Mar 9, 2026; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Philadelphia 76ers forward Justin Edwards (11) goes for a loose ball against Cleveland Cavaliers guard Keon Ellis (14) during the first half at Rocket Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images | Ken Blaze-Imagn Images
2025-26 Sixers Bell Ringer season standings: Tyrese Maxey – 22 Joel Embiid – 9 VJ Edgecombe – 9 Paul George – 6 Kelly Oubre Jr. – 4 Jared McCain :’( – 3 Dominick Barlow – 2 Andre Drummond – 2 Jabari Walker – 1 MarJon Beauchamp – 1 Adem Bona – 1 Justin Edwards – 1 Quentin Grimes – 1 Trendon Watford – 1 15th roster spot – 1
The woefully shorthanded Sixers stood no chance against the Cavaliers on Monday, falling 115- 101.
The Sixers were without their top four scorers for this one — Joel Embiid (oblique), Tyrese Maxey (finger), Paul George (suspension) and VJ Edgecombe (back) were all sidelined.
Their absences were felt early and often as the Sixers could not find consistent offense and were forced to play zone defense until garbage time. A new Sixers addition made an impact in the final quarter, but there was not much else to point to in this one.
No rest for the weary either as the Sixers play tomorrow to close the back-to-back hosting the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday evening.
Grimes was one of if not the only Sixer who could operate the offense at a respectable level provided the injury report. He took advantage of it both as a playmaker and scorer, when points were extremely difficult to come by.
Quentin Grimes leading the floor with 14 points on 5-8 FG shooting as we inch towards halftime pic.twitter.com/Om4KpYnFJ3
He did most of his damage in the first half with strong drives and solid shooting. He started the game with a pair of threes which got the Sixers out to an early advantage, which he parlayed into determined attacks into the teeth of the Cleveland defense. He added a few dimes including a great look to Adem Bona underneath the basket following good ball movement from the Sixers.
While Grimes made a strong impact in the first, Payne shook off some shooting woes late in the second quarter. Following a nice finish in the paint, he drained a pull-up three from the top of the arc after missing his first five attempts from deep.
There was also a ridiculous moment caught by Ky Carlin of Sixers Wire that may or may not have been intentional from the Cavaliers’ scoreboard graphics department.
Very strong shooting for Justin Edwards throughout this one, and helped create some tension for the Cavs in the fourth. In what has been an up-and-down campaign for Edwards, Monday’s showing was one of his better two-way performances. He picked off a couple errant passes, one of which he converted for a transition layup.
Terry did made the most of his opportunity, especially during his stint in the fourth. He grabbed a couple offensive rebounds which turned into points, and initiated the offense with athleticism that stood out. He made his defensive presence known despite the score, and was the main engine in making things appear closer at the final buzzer. He should be a candidate for more minutes with the Sixers guard depth depleted.
Mar 9, 2026; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Philadelphia 76ers guard Cameron Payne (20) drives to the basket against Cleveland Cavaliers guard Keon Ellis (14) during the first half at Rocket Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images | Ken Blaze-Imagn Images
All grades are based on our usual expectations for each player.
James Harden
21 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds, 29 minutes
Chef Harden was cooking tonight. This was one of those games where Harden felt two steps ahead of the defense. His step-back jumpers and dimes to the corner were so much fun to watch.
Grade: A
Donovan Mitchell
17 points, 3 rebounds, 6 assists
The Cavs didn’t need Mitchell to exert himself too much on the second night of a back-to-back. He shot just 4-11 from the floor, but worked his way to the free-throw line for nine attempts. Cleveland’s double-digit lead allowed Mitchell to coast for most of the night.
Another strong showing from Mobley, who has been stringing these games together since returning from his calf injury. Mobley is back to being a supreme downhill threat while being an all-world defender.
Grade: A-
Jaylon Tyson
11 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists
Tyson felt much more comfortable against the Sixers than he did versus Boston. He had plenty of easy catch-and-shoot opportunities, as well as converting a tough finish in the lane during the fourth quarter.
Grade: B+
Dennis Schroder
4 points, 2 assists, 1 rebound
There’s a trend emerging. Schroder can be very helpful in small doses. The more his usage increases, the larger the risk. But the Cavs got just the right amount of Schroder tonight.
Grade: C+
Sam Merrill
5 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds
I’m not sure if Merrill fits in the starting lineup. It increasingly feels like Jaylon Tyson should be in this position, as both players would likely benefit from this change. Merrill was 1-6 from the floor tonight. That said, he did dish out five assists.
Grade: C+
Keon Ellis
19 points, 2 rebounds, 1 steal
Ellis was on fire tonight. He nailed three three-pointers in the first half, building an early lead for his team while demoralizing the Sixers’ bench. There’s nothing to complain about when Ellis is burying threes and playing lockdown defense.
Grade: A+
Dean Wade
13 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists
Wade shot 3-of-6 from three tonight and provided his usual defensive impact. That’s everything you want from Wade.
Grade: A+
Thomas Bryant
8 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block
Bryant got back on track tonight with a 2-5 three-point shooting performance. This is closer to what we’ve grown accustomed to.
Mar 8, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; The opening tipoff between Los Angeles Lakers center Deandre Ayton (5) and New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Being the starting center of the Lakers is always going to bring an inherent pressure with it. After embracing that pressure coming into the season, Deandre Ayton has faded into the background.
With each subpar game, the focus on him intensifies. Recently, those games have come with more frequency for Ayton.
Sunday, though, was a big test for the Lakers and one that they passed with flying colors with an impressive win over the Knicks. Many players stepped up in the victory with Ayton included among them. His box score might not be his most gaudy of the season at six points and eight rebounds.
However, he was impactful defensively, fought for loose balls on both ends of the floor and generally played at a high level.
“He was great,” head coach JJ Redick said. “I thought the pursuit of the basketball, loose balls, going to block shots. There was a couple of times where he was outside the play, shot goes up, he goes and pursues the rebound. I thought he played really hard tonight. He was great.”
Effort level has waned throughout not just Ayton’s time in LA but also his NBA career. It will certainly continue to wane even after the Knicks game. But that game showed how important he can still be for the Lakers.
According to NBA’s matchup data, Karl-Anthony Towns shot just 1-6 from the field with Ayton as the primary defender. In fact, no player made more than one field goal on Ayton, including when he was switched onto guards like Jalen Brunson or Josh Hart.
Again, the Lakers can’t realistically expect Ayton to perform like this every game, no matter how much they may want that to be the case. In an ideal world, they can get this level of production from Ayton. But there’s a career’s worth of data for Ayton to suggest that isn’t going to happen.
