What we learned as Nuggets dominate fourth quarter in Kings' third straight loss originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

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SACRAMENTO — Two hours after coach Doug Christie delivered a heated message to reporters gathered at Golden 1 Center, the Kings couldn’t match their coach’s passion on the court and were handled fairly easily 122-108 by the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday.

Domantas Sabonis isn’t yet back to full strength but still was a force for Sacramento, with 19 points and eight rebounds despite being saddled in foul trouble much of the night. Drew Eubanks came off the bench with 19 points and seven rebounds in the Kings’ third consecutive loss.

DeMar DeRozan added 18 points while Zach LaVine and Malik Monk had 12 points apiece.

The Nuggets got control of this one early, scoring 15 points in the first four minutes before many fans had even found their seats. The Kings weathered that storm and took the lead by the end of the first quarter but couldn’t sustain the momentum.

Led by another monster night from Nikola Jokić, the Nuggets didn’t face much resistance after halftime. Jokić had 35 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists.

The Nuggets led 60-56 at halftime before the Kings made a run and got within 85-82 heading into the fourth quarter.

Denver tried to pull away and got some breathing room that lasted momentarily, until Russell Westbrook made three free throws, Sabonis sank a 3-pointer and Monk scored on a layup to get the Kings within 110-99.

That was as good as it got down the stretch. Sabonis fouled out with 3:38 remaining, and the Nuggets (8-2) waltzed their way over the final seconds.

Here are the takeaways from Tuesday:

Battle of the Bigs

Anytime the Kings and Nuggets go at it, it’s must-see TV for fans of ridiculously talented big men.

Sabonis, still a little sore from his rib injury, carried the Kings’ offense early with 11 points in the first quarter when Sacramento flipped a 24-15 deficit into aa 34-33 lead.

Sabonis finished with a respectable line on 8-of-12 shooting. Jokić, as always, was a one-man force for which the Kings had no formula to stop.

No Slowing Down for Russ

One day shy of his 37^th birthday, Westbrook showed without question he still can get down and get it done with the young guys.

The nine-time NBA All-Star guard repeatedly drove through the heart of the Nuggets’ defense, ending each time with an acrobatic score or dishing to an open man in the corner.

His shooting numbers for the night were nothing great (3 of 12), but Westbrook’s influence on the court went beyond scoring. As usual, Westbrook was in triple-double mode all night. He finished with 11 assists and eight rebounds.

Sacramento doesn’t necessarily need this type of offensive night from Westbrook on a daily basis. They brought him in mostly for depth and his veteran savvy. But if can get to the rack like this, the Kings definitely will take it.

Rough Road Ahead

The Kings had hoped to build some momentum on this homestand for team’s upcoming road trip. Instead, Sacramento has lost three straight at Golden 1 Center with another game to go before packing up to leave town for a few weeks.

After hosting the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday, the Kings head to the road for games at Minnesota, San Antonio, Oklahoma City, Memphis and Denver, three of which are unbeaten at home this season.

The Kings are just 1-4 away from Sacramento, so the upcoming trip takes on added significance. They have to win three or more games on the trip to consider it a success. Anything else will make the climb back to respectability a lot more difficult.

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Observations after Edwards has monster night off bench in Sixers' win over Celtics  originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The Sixers shook off another rough third quarter and beat the Celtics on Tuesday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena.

Justin Edwards played a giant role off the bench, scoring 22 vital points in a 102-100 win.

Ironically, the Sixers got their game-winning hoop immediately after Edwards’ one miss. Kelly Oubre Jr. scored the go-ahead put-back layup with 8.7 seconds left. 

Tyrese Maxey had 21 points and nine assists. Quentin Grimes posted 18 points. Andre Drummond tallied a 14-point, 13-rebound double-double.

Jaylen Brown scored 24 points to lead the Celtics. Derrick White added 18.

The Sixers were without Joel Embiid (right knee soreness), Paul George (left knee surgery recovery), Dominick Barlow (right elbow laceration) and Johni Broome (right ankle sprain). 

Next up for the 7-4 Sixers is a trip to Detroit and a Friday night matchup with the Pistons. Here are observations on their victory over Boston:

Early shooting woes

The Sixers scored on their first three possessions and the Maxey-Trendon Watford duo continued to show off its chemistry. Maxey took a Watford handoff and canned an open three-pointer. Watford nailed an early catch-and-shoot jumper assisted by Maxey. 

Though the Sixers soon hit a dry spell, their defense was very successful in the early going against both Brown and White. Each missed several clean looks. Brown started 1 for 7 from the floor and White opened 1 for 8, including a three he air-balled wide left. Payton Pritchard began 0 for 5, too. 

The Sixers were not exactly on fire either and ended the first quarter up 23-22.

VJ Edgecombe defended well but remained cold as a shooter, starting 0 for 5. Edgecombe finished 2 for 11. Over his last five games, the rookie has gone 17 of 61 (27.9 percent) from the floor.

Edwards a big bright spot off bench

Jared McCain checked in late in the first quarter and shared the floor with fellow guards Edgecombe and Grimes.

In his third game of the season, McCain still did not look close to the player he was his rookie season. He missed a mid-range jumper and couldn’t convert a leaner through contact. The 21-year-old was called for a charge when he tried to drive and kick the ball out to Edgecombe on the wing. 

Overall, McCain again appeared to have trouble moving freely and trusting his instincts with the brace on his left knee. He had some shaky moments as a ball handler. Jordan Walsh poked the ball away from McCain a couple of times well behind the third-point line.

McCain logged seven minutes and did not play in the second half. He’s 0 for 9 from the floor so far.

Sixers head coach Nick Nurse used a five-man bench. Edwards was a big bright spot in the first half.

The lefty wing had two long-range jumpers, an and-one layup, two assists and two offensive rebounds. When Maxey checked back in with 5:18 to go in the second quarter, the Sixers held a nine-point lead. Grimes polished off an and-one to make it 41-31. 

Edwards kept rolling and truly caught fire in the fourth quarter (more on that below). He shot an incredible 8 for 9 from the field.

Sixers overcome more 3rd-quarter struggles

Boston managed a mere 41 points in the first half. The Celtics shot 28 percent from the field and 19 percent beyond the arc over the first two quarters. 

Again, the fate of the game seemed like it would largely came down to whether the Sixers could be better than their early-season norm in the third quarter. Going into Tuesday night, the Sixers had an NBA-worst net rating of minus-36.3 in third periods

They added another abysmal third quarter to the list vs. the Celtics.

After a Drummond missed three, Neemias Queta jammed in a dunk. Brown sunk a turnaround jumper. Oubre turned the ball over and White made a triple that lifted the Celtics to a 54-53 lead.

At that point, Maxey grew more aggressive, driving hard and drawing frequent contact. He drained a three to give the Sixers a 66-63 edge.

The Celtics had a lot left in the tank. Brown scored six straight points and White made threes on Boston’s final two possessions of the third. Grimes rather miraculously cut the Sixers’ deficit to 77-71 by hitting a half-court shot at the third-quarter buzzer. That shot meant the Sixers lost the third by 16 points.

After an Edwards steal and slam early in the fourth quarter, the Sixers trailed by three and Maxey subbed back in.

Instead of Maxey, it was Edwards who pushed the Sixers back in front. He believed he could make everything and was correct.

Edwards drained threes on three consecutive possessions to put the Sixers up 93-92.

The game stayed tight down the stretch. Edgecombe appeared to have missed a three long, but he got a high, generous bounce through the hoop to build the Sixers’ lead to 100-96.

They couldn’t extend that advantage. Maxey missed two tightly guarded shots in the paint. Brown got Oubre to bite on a pump fake and drew two free throws with 33.5 seconds left. He split them, knotting the game at 100-all.

Maxey then probed the Celtics’ defense and found Edwards open on the perimeter. He finally missed, but Oubre was there to grab the rebound and score the go-ahead bucket.

The Sixers disrupted the Celtics’ plans on their final play and White threw up a deep heave. Queta had a put-back chance just before the final buzzer, but he couldn’t convert and the Sixers celebrated a nervy win. 

NBA confirms U.S. vs. World 2026 All-Star Game format. What to know originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The wait is over: The NBA on Tuesday announced the reveal of the U.S. vs. World All-Star Game format to be played in 2026.

In the game, two teams of U.S. players and one team of international players (world) will compete in a round-robin tournament featuring four 12-minute games.

NBC and Peacock will broadcast the league’s annual midseason showcase on Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026 at 5 p.m. ET, 2 p.m. PT at the new Intuit Dome, home of the LA Clippers.

As previously done, 24 All-Stars will be selected (12 from each conference). But unlike previous years, players will be selected regardless of position. The process of assigning U.S. players across the two teams will be announced at a later date.

If All-Star voting doesn’t meet the exact quota of 16 U.S. players and eight international players, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver will select players to fit where needed. In such case, a team may have more than the eight-player amount.

The round-robin tournament will start with USA A vs. USA B in Game 1. Game 2 will be World vs. USA A followed by World vs. USA B in Game 3.

The two teams with the best record from the three games will face off in the championship match. If there is a 1-1 split between all three teams, the tiebreaker would be point differential.

Each of the four games will feature just one standard 12-minute period. The winner will be whichever team has the most points after 12 minutes.

It’s the latest format in a line of experiments by the NBA, which includes the classic West vs. East, followed by two team captains based on All-Star voting. A target score was also introduced, followed by a mini-tournament last season in which the then-“NBA on TNT” crew of Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith drafted their rosters, along with a Rising Stars team comprised of rookies and sophomores.

But that format wasn’t well received in the end despite being a fresh tweak, leading the NBA to finally land on the U.S. vs. World idea that has proved intriguing in the past but never actually came to fruition — until now.

NBA confirms U.S. vs. World 2026 All-Star Game format. What to know originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The wait is over: The NBA on Tuesday announced the reveal of the U.S. vs. World All-Star Game format to be played in 2026.

In the game, two teams of U.S. players and one team of international players (world) will compete in a round-robin tournament featuring four 12-minute games.

NBC and Peacock will broadcast the league’s annual midseason showcase on Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026 at 5 p.m. ET, 2 p.m. PT at the new Intuit Dome, home of the LA Clippers.

As previously done, 24 All-Stars will be selected (12 from each conference). But unlike previous years, players will be selected regardless of position. The process of assigning U.S. players across the two teams will be announced at a later date.

If All-Star voting doesn’t meet the exact quota of 16 U.S. players and eight international players, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver will select players to fit where needed. In such case, a team may have more than the eight-player amount.

The round-robin tournament will start with USA A vs. USA B in Game 1. Game 2 will be World vs. USA A followed by World vs. USA B in Game 3.

The two teams with the best record from the three games will face off in the championship match. If there is a 1-1 split between all three teams, the tiebreaker would be point differential.

Each of the four games will feature just one standard 12-minute period. The winner will be whichever team has the most points after 12 minutes.

It’s the latest format in a line of experiments by the NBA, which includes the classic West vs. East, followed by two team captains based on All-Star voting. A target score was also introduced, followed by a mini-tournament last season in which the then-“NBA on TNT” crew of Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith drafted their rosters, along with a Rising Stars team comprised of rookies and sophomores.

But that format wasn’t well received in the end despite being a fresh tweak, leading the NBA to finally land on the U.S. vs. World idea that has proved intriguing in the past but never actually came to fruition — until now.

Warriors receive a glimpse of the harsh truth during powerless loss to Thunder originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The Warriors on Tuesday night got a microscopic view of the truth, seeing and feeling enough to know they are two levels below the NBA elite and perhaps three levels away from being they team they believe they can be.

Even with the return of Stephen Curry, after a three-game absence, the Warriors were so powerless against the defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder that a 126-102 loss tells only a fraction of the story of where the Warriors are three weeks into the 2025-26 season.

To see the Warriors now, by turns listless and ineffective, is to wonder if that 23-8 surge – the post-Jimmy Butler III bump – to close last season was a mirage, a short-term elixir rather than a lasting remedy.

“Everybody was committed to winning, and doing that any way possible,” Draymond Green told reporters at Paycom Center. “And right now, it doesn’t feel that that way.”

It doesn’t look that way, either.

“I think he’s partly correct,” Butler said of Green’s comments. “We’ve just got to get back to doing whatever it takes to win. Everybody is going to have to sacrifice something. I can’t tell you what that sacrifice might be for every individual. It may be different for every individual every single night.

“But we’re got to get back to winning is the main thing, the only thing. It’s going to be up to the collective, as a group, to figure out what is needed to win.”

Eight days into the season, the Warriors were 4-1, with wins over the Los Angeles Lakers, Denver Nuggets, Memphis Grizzlies and LA Clippers. There was a growing belief that they would be a force in the Western Conference.

In the 14 days since, the Warriors are 2-5. This is less a slump than a warning to themselves. 

“I could feel we weren’t in a great place coming back from Indiana and Milwaukee,” coach Steve Kerr said, referring to road losses against opponents with greatly diminished rosters. “You just feel that things aren’t quite clicking. We got a couple of wins [Phoenix and Indiana at Chase Center], but we’re not playing well, and we haven’t been playing well since the second week of the season.”

It’s rare that six minutes and 21 seconds in the first half can reveal so much about two teams, but that’s how long it took for the Thunder to prove in mid-November that they are playing in a different league than the Warriors.

And it revealed how much work the Warriors must do to rejoin that league.

After Buddy Hield drove and dropped a bucket off the glass to give Golden State a 23-21 lead with 3:22 left in the first quarter, OKC commenced to grab the Warriors by their heads and shove them onto the Paycom Center floor. Calling upon their top-ranked NBA defense, the Thunder went on a 23-5 run, taking a 16-point lead (44-28, with 9:01 left in the half) that never was threatened.

While the Thunder was forcing four turnovers and holding Golden State to 1-of-8 shooting from the field during that pivotal 6:21 span, they used 7-of-11 shooting to obliterate what little defense the Warriors offered.

By the time the third quarter rolled around, Kerr had seen enough bad basketball to capitulate. Looking ahead to Wednesday, when the Warriors face the Spurs in San Antonio, the coach pulled Curry, Butler and Green for the rest of the evening. The three veterans joined Al Horford, out with a sore toe, as witnesses to the rout.

The Thunder led by as much as 36, and one of the most vociferous crowds in the league enjoyed being spectators to a public spanking.

The Warriors aren’t bringing the kind of voracious energy that served them so well seven months ago. Furthermore, they look small and slow, which has been a lethal combination in any sport since the advent of competition. The front office isn’t panicking, but it is exploring its options before the Feb. 5 trade deadline.
For now, it’s about making the most of what they have. It hasn’t been good enough, and it’s valid to wonder if it can be.

“You’ve got to fight your way out of it,” Green said. “Anytime you’re in a little rut in this league, it’ll never be easy, never be pretty getting out of it. You’ve got to claw your way out.

“And right now, that’s not the identity of this team.”

It surely wasn’t the identity on Tuesday – and not for the first time. If toughness and intellect don’t pull the Warriors from this pit of sub-mediocrity soon, this season could go off the rails in ways that seemed unimaginable only two weeks ago.

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