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CHICAGO — The Bulls wanted to lose.

The Knicks finally obliged.

Karl-Anthony Towns took over down the stretch Sunday, scoring seven of his team’s final 11 points as the Knicks escaped with a 105-99 win.

The Bulls (24-34) lost their ninth straight — their worst streak since 2019 — and have a clear direction of bottoming out.

Three of their starters were operating on minutes restrictions and didn’t play most of the fourth quarter, while three of their best veterans — Coby White and Nikola Vucevic included — were shipped off before the trade deadline.

Still, the Knicks (37-21) found themselves in a dogfight.

The result felt in doubt until Mikal Bridges buried a corner 3-pointer with 26 seconds left off an assist from Jalen Brunson, who kicked out the pass to his wide-open teammate.

It provided a six-point lead to the Knicks, who were riding Towns for much of the evening.

The center finished with 29 points and 11 rebounds, both team highs.

He knocked down five of his nine trey attempts.

Brunson added 19 points and nine assists.

Landry Shamet scored 16 off the bench.

“Our guys just found a way,” coach Mike Brown said.

Despite the organization’s eyes on the draft lottery, the Bulls settled for a fight early.

Guerschon Yabusele, who was phased out of the Knicks rotation this season and traded before the deadline, started at center for Chicago and produced nine points with eight rebounds in the first half.

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He finished with 11 points and 13 boards in 30 minutes.

The Bulls led by eight in the second quarter and by a point with under three minutes left in the fourth — before KAT took over.

Towns also earned defensive player of the game honors, awarded by the coaching staff, after collecting three steals.

“Not only did he get a double-double, he was great for us defensively,” Brown said.

The Knicks arrived Sunday under less-than-ideal circumstances.

They played a late-night thriller Saturday night — an 8:30 p.m. tipoff against the Rockets — then flew across a time zone to play in the Midwest.

Tired legs and minds probably were a factor.

But the Knicks did enough in the second half to avoid an embarrassing defeat.

“An 8:30 game and then traveling for a back-to-back game, I think, is outrageous,” said Josh Hart, who finished with 11 points and nine rebounds in 33 minutes. “But happy we were able to get the win.”

Towns came out aggressive, following up his strong performance Saturday.

It was an encouraging development amid a largely disappointing season for Towns, who has been dropping hints all season about his discontent with Brown’s system.

Before the game, Brown reiterated that Towns’ offensive role isn’t much different, if at all, and the dip in production is simply a product of the roster changes.

Towns showed Sunday he can thrive in this offense.

“I understand it’s something that we need to talk about, and I’m OK talking about it, but until those numbers change, there’s not much for me to say because he’s getting an opportunity,” Brown said. “We don’t call a ton of plays. Now, you compare his numbers to last year, [backup center Mitchell Robinson] didn’t play in the regular season. KAT averaged 36, 37 minutes a game. Mitch is playing now. Landry didn’t play last year. He’s playing. We’re trying to get him up to 17 to 22, 23 minutes a game. We’ve got Jose [Alvarado] now. … So when you do that, guys’ minutes are going to go down. Not only are guys’ minutes going to go down, but guys’ field goal attempts are going to go down and all the things that you see impact the game statistically.”

The gold banners shimmered in the rafters of Crypto.com Arena on Sunday afternoon. They were shown on the video board repeatedly, on the NBC broadcast, and during the halftime celebration of former Lakers coach Pat Riley who helped hang four of them during his tenure.

The afternoon was supposed to be a celebration for the Hall of Fame coach. A love letter to the Lakers’ Showtime era. A purple-and-gold victory lap against their hated rivals.

Instead, it turned into a public mugging.

The afternoon began with pomp, circumstance and a bronze grin. Riley poised beside his newly unveiled statue, Armani suit pressed, hair slicked back as if time had never dared touch it. The architect of the Lakers’ golden 1980s. The man who beat Boston twice on the sport’s grandest stage. The maestro of flair and fast breaks.

“The time has come to kick some Boston ass,” Riley declared before tipoff, the words hanging in the air like cigar smoke.

They echoed.

Then they boomeranged.

Because by the time the final buzzer mercifully sounded, it was the Celtics who had done the ass-kicking — 111-89, a 22-point dismantling that felt even more lopsided than the scoreboard suggested. On a day meant to celebrate the Lakers’ dominance over their oldest rival, Boston walked into Los Angeles and treated it like a home game.

And at times, it sounded like one, too.

You could hear it in the second quarter when the green jerseys sprinkled throughout the lower bowl began to rise in unison. You could feel it midway through the third, when every made 3 by Payton Pritchard was greeted with a roar that cut through the building. By the fourth quarter, as the Lakers trailed by 20 and fans in gold streamed toward the exits, a full-throated “Let’s go Celtics!” chant echoed through the arena. In Los Angeles no less.

A "Let's go Celtics" chant has broken out at the Crypt. Absolutely ugly loss.

— Michael J. Duarte (@michaeljduarte) February 23, 2026

That is not just a loss. That is a cultural bruise.

The Celtics didn’t just beat the Lakers; they exposed them. Peeled back the layers. Showed the seams.

Jaylen Brown played like a man who understood the symbolism of the afternoon. He scored 32 points and flirted with a triple-double. He attacked switches with surgical precision, bullied smaller defenders in the post and glided through the lane as if the Lakers’ defense were a polite suggestion rather than a professional obligation.

Then there was Pritchard, the sharpshooter who turned this rivalry showcase into his personal shooting clinic. He hit six 3s and scored 30 points. More than any player on the Lakers team, including Luka Dončić and LeBron James. Each jumper felt like another splash of cold water in the Lakers’ face.

“This is how this team kills you,” said Lakers coach JJ Redick of the Celtics. “Jaylen Brown and Payton Pritchard. Pritchard made a lot of them (3-pointers) tonight. He played a great game.”

Redick blamed the Lakers’ lack of offense, not the defense, but make no mistake about it. This blowout loss was about the defense, or lack of it.

It remains the Lakers’ Achilles’ heel, and on Sunday it was exposed again.

Rotations were sluggish. Closeouts were soft. The Lakers were outrebounded on the defensive glass 41-31. And then there’s the elephant in the locker room.

“They made timely shots, and we didn’t,” said James after the loss. “Defensively we held serve as long as we could, but offensively we didn’t give ourselves a chance. We’ve got a lot of room to grow.”

Luka Dončić is an offensive savant, a generational scorer who can bend defenses with a glance. But on this afternoon, the other side of the ball told a harsher story. When he was on the floor, the Lakers were a staggering minus-21. Boston hunted him in space, forced switches and made him defend in isolation. The Celtics didn’t just recognize the mismatch; they exploited it without mercy.

“They were physical. They played great defense. We have to match their physicality on the defensive end,” said Dončić, who was the biggest culprit on that end of the floor. “We need to do better on offense.”

Championship teams have weak links. They just don’t let those links stay weak.

Former Celtic Marcus Smart, now wearing purple and gold, was brought to LA for his defensive prowess and ability to score the basketball when necessary. Instead he went scoreless on Sunday. 0 for 7 from the field. The defensive edge that once defined his game dulled by indecision and missed shots. When he clanked a few more jumpers off the rim in the fourth quarter, you could almost hear the collective sigh. This was not revenge. This was regression.

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By the time the game unraveled, the symbolism was unavoidable. Riley’s statue stood outside, immortalized in bronze, a reminder of an era when the Lakers imposed their will on Boston. Inside, a new generation of Celtics was imposing its.

This rivalry has always been about more than basketball. It’s about legacy. Identity. The tug-of-war between coasts. On Sunday, Boston didn’t just win a regular-season game. They walked into Los Angeles on a day dripping with nostalgia and reminded everyone that banners from the 1980s don’t defend pick and rolls in 2026.

And as the green-clad pockets of fans lingered in the aisles, chanting while seats emptied around them, the message was unmistakable: History is earned every night. It does not arrive with a statue.

On a day meant to honor the past, the present punched Los Angeles in the mouth.

Last night in NYC, the Knicks (37*-21) found another gear to steal one from Houston, while the Bulls (24-34) dropped their eighth straight against Detroit. With both teams on the second night of a back-to-back, we expected fatigue to be a factor. What we didn’t expect was Karl-Anthony Towns (28 PTS, 11 RBS, 5-9 3PT) borrowing the Captain Clutch cape and fending off a late Chicago push. Knicks win, 105–99.

Like bricks? You would’ve loved the start of this one. The Bulls shot 2-0f-11 from the field, while the Knicks missed five of their first six long-range attempts but took a brief 9-3 lead. From there, the Bulls owned the glass, rebounding at nearly a 2:1 clip. New Bull Guerschon Yabusele (11 PTS, 13 RBS!) crashed the glass and connected from deep, playing like someone eager to impress a team he should have worked harder to impress when he was cashing their checks. Another new Bull, Nick Richards (9 PTS, 14 RBS), scored seven points and grabbed three boards in his first seven minutes. For the visitors, Towns scored twice from deep and on an aggressive drive, but then fouled Isaac Okoro (12 PTS) after the Bull had already released his layup. So it goes. The Knicks were losing 27–25 after one.

During the game, I monitor the NBA app for any noteworthy updates to share with you. I’d be derelict in my duties not to pass on this nugget:

Chicago opened the second period with more fire and desire, extending the lead on buckets from Tre Jones and Okoro and steady work inside from Jalen Smith (12 PTS). The Knicks, meanwhile, drifted through one-and-dones and sleepy turnovers. For some reason, Coach Brown—watching the same fatigued team we saw—chose not to play a fresh Tyler Kolek or Mohamed Diawara in the first half. Brown gave time to Ariel Hukporti (4 PTS, 5 RBS) and Jeremy Sochan (2 PTs, 3 RBS, 11 MIN) in the frontcourt, but the backcourt sure looked like they’d appreciate a respite, too.

Towns kept our heroes close with a tip-in, free throws, and a pair of threes to lead all scorers with 17 points by halftime. Great stuff—but there’s always some peccadillo. When KAT committed another offensive foul, the generally even-keeled Mike Breen sounded annoyed to see one . . . more . . . bonehead . . . foul. Later in the period, Breen groused about Karl complaining about another non-call, positing that the big man might fare better with the refs if he didn’t protest every . . . single . . . time. The sentiment is mutual, Mike.

With New York flailing in Q2, Jalen Brunson (19 PTS, 9 AST, 1-6 3PT) returned and settled the offense with a couple of midrange jumpers. Josh Hart (11 PTS, 9 RBS, 5 ASTS) began to turn up his effort, and Landry Shamet’s (16 PTS) two late threes briefly drew New York even, but free throws gave Chicago a 53-52 lead at the break.

By intermission, both teams had shot 43%, yet Chicago was winning from deep (39% to 36%) and in the paint (18–14). The Knicks held a narrow rebounding edge, 27–25, and turnovers were even at six apiece.

After a rest, New York came out with more energy, going on a 13-6 run to start the half. They got threes from Hart, Mikal Bridges, Brunson, and Shamet and built a 13-point lead. Chicago clawed back behind second chances from Yabusele and outside shooting from Smith and Okoro. Late in the quarter, sophomore Matas Buzelis scored on a drive, drained a three, and converted at the line to tighten the differential. The Knicks were up 83–78 heading into the fourth.

Through three quarters, Josh Giddey was mostly a non-factor, with a few assists, rebounds, and a steal. Early in the final frame, things got sloppy, and Chicago got a jolt from a different guard. Collin Sexton, quiet in limited minutes thus far, hit a couple of threes to cut the gap to two points with 4:30 to go, and Richards was a problem inside. Coach Brown sent in Brunson, Bridges, Hart, OG Anunoby, and Huk, but two one-and-done possessions resulted in Chicago taking a one-point lead with three minutes left. Their coach, Billy Donovan, relied heavily on the Giddy-Buzelis tandem and, for a brief moment, it seemed like it might work.

Here’s Karl showing great second effort.

On a Bulls inbounds, KAT committed another maddening foul, but redeemed himself with a big clutch performance. After that mistake, he scored on a go-ahead triple and a charging layup, plus grabbed a timely rebound. Thanks to his efforts, the good guys had a four-point lead when he stepped to the charity stripe with a minute left. To the delight of viewers back in the snowy Empire State, the United Center shook with “Let’s Go Knicks!” chants. That must rankle the ghosts of the 90’s Bulls, no?

On Chicago’s next possession. Giddey quickly drove into Anunoby (9 PTS, 9 RBS, 2 STL, 1 BLK) for his second field goal of the night, plus a free-throw. Following his miss, the Knicks got the ball over midcourt and found Bridges (11 PTS, 5 ASTS, 2 STL, 1 BLK) in the corner for a game-sealing triple.

After the game, Breen interviewed KAT, the player of the game (Brown also named Towns DPOG). Nothing awkward about the interview at all! Mike’s a consummate pro, and Karl deserved the spotlight for preserving this win. And who knows—maybe this is a sign of Towns turning a corner after a rocky season. Better hope so. If the Knicks want to reach the Finals, they’re gonna need him.

Up Next

New York heads to Cleveland for a Tuesday night tilt with a hot Cavaliers club. Safe travels, Knickerbockers.

Box Score

* Should be one more, but someone accidentally deleted the NBA Cup Final from the records.

In between the third and fourth quarters of the NBA All-Star Game, NBC announced that they will be showing “The Quiet Work,” a five-part documentary on Jayson Tatum’s return from the torn Achilles injury that he suffered in Game 4 of the second round playoff series against the New York Knicks.

During the pregame show of the Celtics matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers, NBC ran Episode 1 of the first part titled “Starting at Zero.” Tatum also posted the episode on his YouTube channel for everyone to see.

The episode starts out before Game 4 and shows Tatum’s thought process which is optimistic despite losing Games 1 and 2 at home. After winning Game 3, Tatum said he felt “excited” and thought he was going to have a big game. He would be correct.

The focus then shifts to Tatum’s mom, Brandy Cole, and her thoughts ahead of the game, saying, “as long as we have JT on the floor, we have a chance.”

Tatum would have 42 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals, and 2 blocks on 16-28 shooting from the field and 7-16 shooting from three. He said, “It felt like one of those nights” where he was just in the zone. He continued, “I was playing that well that I thought we were going to figure this out and we were going to win.”

Then comes the 3:05 mark of the fourth quarter where the Celtics are behind 111-104 and Tatum goes down. Tatum said when he lunged for the ball, “it felt like someone kicked me.” Cole said she looked at the scoreboard and saw Jayson down and thought he just needed to get up and shake it off and it didn’t cross her mind that it was that serious sitting three or four rows away from the court.

When Nick Sang, the Celtics physical therapist and athletic trainer, saw Tatum down, he had a feeling something was different. Sang then asked Tatum if he “heard a pop” and Tatum said he could hear it and it sounded like “one of those guns that go off at a track meet.”

He remembered grabbing his leg and begging that it wasn’t something serious. As he is shown being carried off the floor, Tatum said he was in shock, scared, and everything in his life flashed before his eyes. He said, “in that moment, it felt like everything came to an end” in his NBA career. The episode then ends with a shot in a hospital with the sign reading “Surgical Check In.”

The Phoenix Suns played the second night of a back-to-back on Sunday, hosting the Portland Trail Blazers, and the result was an abysmal performance. Phoenix scored just 77 points.

It is easy to understand why when you zoom out. Phoenix was without three of its four highest-paid players, and the absence showed from the opening tip.

What it felt like was the final five minutes of the Orlando game, followed by two overtimes, stretched across an entire night. There was no offensive rhythm, no flow, and no sense of continuity. The shooting issues that have lingered all February stayed right on schedule, and the game never found a pulse.

You can call it expected, even understandable. Still, with so much youth on the floor, you hope someone grabs the moment and makes it theirs. That never really happened. No one stepped forward, no one bent the game in their direction, and the opportunity passed without resistance.

The team shot 36.9% from the field, 25.7% from three, committed 23 turnovers, and didn’t score more than 20 points in any single quarter. Collin Gillespie scored 18 points to lead all Suns’ scorers, and 14 of those came in the fourth. Meanwhile, both Donovan Clingan and Jerami Grant had 23 points for the Blazers, with Clingan adding 12 rebounds.

The loss marked the fewest points scored by the Suns since October of 2017. Phoenix now finds themselves further away from the sixth seed as the loss drops them to 33-25.

Game Flow

First Half

Before a single point was scored, the night started going sideways. Portland All-Star Deni Avdija exited with back tightness. He was questionable on the report, gave it a go, but was unavailable once his back locked up. On the next trip down, Collin Gillespie got tangled up in a foul with Donovan Clingan, braced himself as he hit the floor, and appeared to tweak his right wrist. One possession later, Clingan looked to injure his left thumb.

Three sequences, three issues. The Mortgage Matchup Center, which I have lovingly renamed “The Morg”, kept doing what it has done all week: quietly claiming bodies before the game ever had a chance to breathe.

Both Clingan and Gillespie remained in the game.

It was a brutal offensive start for both teams. When the seven-minute mark rolled around, the scoreboard read 4-2 Suns, and it felt every bit as rough as it looked. Phoenix opened 2-of-13. Portland countered with 1-of-8. 

The first real jolt came when Jalen Green ripped down the floor and finished a transition dunk, his first in a Suns uniform.

With the roster thinned out, the first look off the bench went to rookie Rasheer Fleming, with Jamaree Bouyea right behind him. The youth got real minutes, real responsibility, and a real chance to shape the night. 

Bouyea paced Phoenix with 6 in the first quarter, while the Suns shot 34.8% from the field and 0-of-7 from deep. Portland lived in the same neighborhood, shooting 32% and finishing 2-of-14 from beyond the arc.

After one, it was an ugly 20-20 game.

The second quarter opened, and Khaman Maluach was on the floor.

And wouldn’t you know it? He hit his first three-pointer in his career, a corner ball, scoring the first three-pointer for the team at the same time.

The second quarter continued the same trend as the first quarter in that both teams were having a hard time scoring. Halfway through the quarter, the Suns had the edge 7–6 in scoring.

Portland was the first team to string together a real run, ripping off nine straight points by pushing the pace and attacking the interior. Phoenix responded by circling the perimeter, hesitant to challenge Clingan, and taking turns missing threes. Ryan Dunn struggled mightily through the stretch. On one possession, he grabbed an offensive rebound, retreated to the three-point line, and missed. The next trip down in transition, he pulled up and airballed another three. 

Amir Coffey added some juice off the bench as the Suns were looking anywhere. He made three straight buckets, getting Phoenix to within 2. Portland responded, however, closing the quarter on a 5-0 run, extending their lead to 47-40 at the break.

The Suns were 2-of-19 from three-point range in the first half, with the rookies, Maluach and Fleming, accounting for those makes. The box score wasn’t good, it wasn’t bad. It was ugly. Royce O’Neale was 0-of-5 from the field. Ryan Dunn was 1-of-7. Jalen Green was 2-of-9. 24 of the Suns’ 40 points were scored by the bench, with Bouyea leading the Suns with 8 points.

The best shot of the night? A fan won $10,000 for hitting half court shot.

Second Half

The Suns opened the second half with a shot clock violation on their first possession. If you have a hand, feel free to place the palm of it directly on your face and leave it there for a moment.

Another 9-0 run by the Blazers pushed the lead to 15. The shooting fell apart, the defense followed, and the whole thing felt disjointed. Jalen Green was the lone steady presence. By the midpoint of the quarter, he had scored all 9 of the Suns points.

Soon Phoenix was down by 20 points. Short-handed or not, the team was struggling and failing the test. That test? Seize the moment. Take advantage of the opportunity before you.  

Khaman Maluach looked good, for what it’s worth. He was playing with some give-a-shit.

The Suns shot a putrid 30.4% in the third quarter and were 1-of-8 from three. They were outrebounded 15-8. They scored just 17 points, and entered the fourth down 71-57.

The fourth quarter opened with the Suns finally knocking down a pair of threes, one from Rasheer Fleming in the corner and another from Collin Gillespie. Gillespie followed by drilling two more threes, trimming the deficit to 11 with 7:48 left and briefly giving the building something to lean into.

Things got a little spicy with five minutes left. Ryan Dunn and Donovan Clingan got into a mild shoving match that triggered a review for a hostile act. After a long look, it was ruled that nothing met the criteria. Still, it counted as the most visible life Dunn showed all night. 

A moment later, Clingan missed two straight free throws. Somewhere, Chick-fil-A trays were being mentally claimed.

The game strolled on, and the sun had no offense outside of calling Gillespie in the final quarter. Eventually, the inevitable occurred as the Suns lost 92-77.

Up Next

The Suns welcome the surprising Boston Celtics to the Morg on Tuesday night. We shall see you then!

On paper, no one game is more important than another across 82 games in the regular season. A result in October will matter as much as a result in March.

But we know that’s not true.

For the Lakers, there are two games that always matter more than the rest. There have been many rivalries that have come and gone but the Celtics games have always carried more weight.

After getting blown out in Boston under not-so-great circumstances, Sunday was supposed to be the chance for the Lakers to get some sweet revenge. They were at full strength, at home and haven’t left the state for a game since the very beginning of the month. Everything was set up nicely for, at the very least, a competitive game.

Instead, the fourth quarter featured Jaylen Brown getting MVP chants, Payton Pritchard talking trash after an endless barrage of threes and Neemias Queta slamming home lobs without a hint of resistance.

Utter embarrassment.

With a chance to not only get some revenge but match up with one of the top teams in the league, the Lakers chose the path they are all too willing to head down this year as they let go of the rope entirely. The Celtics bullied them from the very start to win the mental game and then hustled all over the court to win the actual game, too.

If the Lakers didn’t have enough to beat the Celtics, that’d be one thing. But putting forth that effort against that team on your home floor? Absolutely inexcusable.

It matters not how poor the officiating was in the first half. When the rubber met the road, the Lakers completely folded on Sunday, a trait that is starting to become commonplace for them.

So, let’s dive into the loss. As always, grades are based on expectations for each player. A “B” grade represents the average performance for that player.

None of those qualifiers will matter, though, because everyone is getting the same grade after that performance.

LeBron James

34 minutes, 20 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover, 9-21 FG, 1-5 3PT, 1-1 FT, -14

LeBron was one of the victims of a terrible missed call. He spent the rest of the game missing layup after layup.

Grade: F

Marcus Smart

22 minutes, 1 rebound, 4 assists, 4 fouls, 0-7 FG, 0-5 3PT, -4

This is the worst case scenario for Smart. No team is more familiar with his shortcomings than the Celtics, who chose to completely disregard him offensively. He punished them by careening shots off the rim in their direction.

Grade: F

Deandre Ayton

25 minutes, 4 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover, 4 fouls, 2-6 FG, -15

The Lakers are getting the worst version of Ayton, who is not even taking mid-range shots. But at least he is also missing shots at the rim, too.

Grade: F

Austin Reaves

33 minutes, 15 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 4-10 FG, 1-4 3PT, 6-7 FG, -14

Reaves probably wasn’t far off from being an All-Star with the injury replacements earlier this month. He definitely strengthened his case tonight by being the fifth or sixth best player on the floor.

Grade: F

Luka Dončić

33 minutes, 25 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 4 fouls, 9-22 FG, 4-7 3PT, 3-6 FT, -21

Fans who criticize Luka for complaining to the officials too much will be feasting after this game. Valid or not, it’s a miracle he didn’t get a technical.

Grade: F

Jaxson Hayes

The only thing saving him from the same grade as his teammates is that he only played five minutes before exiting the game and not returning with an ankle injury.

Jake LaRavia

24 minutes, 4 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 2-2 FG, -18

LaRavia had maybe the highlight of the game for the Lakers with a big dunk after driving the lane. If you can name one other thing he did in this game other than turn the ball over in the backcourt, that’d be impressive.

Grade: F

Luke Kennard

22 minutes, 9 points, 3 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 2 fouls, 3-4 FG, 1-2 3PT, 2-2 FT, -9

How can a player who is so good at 3-point shooting be so resistant to actually putting up 3-pointers?

Grade: F

Rui Hachimura

21 minutes, 5 points, 2 rebounds, 1 foul, 2-7 FG, 1-4 3PT, -13

Rui did a fantastic job in this game of playing off the other stars to get open looks that he missed repeatedly.

Grade: F

Jarred Vanderbilt

11 minutes, 3 points, 5 rebounds, 1 turnover, 2 fouls, 1-3 FG, 1-1 3PT, -1

The fourth quarter starting with Vando driving the lane, failing to eurostep around his defender and putting up a contested layup with his right hand should have been the point when everyone turned the game off.

Grade: F

Dalton Knecht, Maxi Kleber, Kobe Bufkin

Thirteen months ago, Dalton Knecht scored 13 points with three threes in 14 minutes in a 21-point win over the Celtics, in case you were wondering how dramatically he’s fallen off.

JJ Redick

With the game on the brink of getting away from the Lakers just past the midway point of the fourth, the Lakers had Luka on the floor alone with Reaves and LeBron on the bench. Don’t worry, though, because Redick brought them back in the game after a Brown and-one made it an 18-point game with right around five minutes to go.

Michael Smith, Pat Fraher, Curtis Blair

What was your favorite missed call of the game from this officiating crew? Was it the first missed goaltending? The second? Personally, I think it’s the sequence where Michael Smith missed Brown elbowing Smart in the face, then called technicals on both Reaves and Smart in the aftermath.

Grade: F

Sunday’s inactives: Chris Mañon, Drew Timme, Nick Smith Jr., Bronny James, Adou Thiero

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.

2025-26 Sixers Bell Ringer standings:
Tyrese Maxey – 20
Joel Embiid – 9
VJ Edgecombe – 8
Paul George – 6
Dominick Barlow – 2
Andre Drummond – 2
Jared McCain :’( – 2
Kelly Oubre Jr. – 2
MarJon Beauchamp – 1
Adem Bona – 1
Justin Edwards – 1
Quentin Grimes – 1
Trendon Watford – 1
15th roster spot – 1

The Philadelphia 76ers have snagged their first win in over two weeks, taking down Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves 135-108 on Sunday night.

The Sixers had a decent first half of basketball, seemingly getting more in rhythm as the break approached. They entered the second half with a 10-point lead over the hosting Timberwolves. By then, four Sixers were already into double-digit scoring (Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Quentin Grimes and Kelly Oubre Jr.). The consistent scoring and even effort from the Sixers continued throughout the second half and Philadelphia amassed a lead of more than 20 points.

Tyrese Maxey put up his best performance in what feels like a long time with a game-high 39 points on 18-for-28 field goal shooting. Rookie VJ Edgecombe added a new career-high six triples for 24 points and Quentin Grimes added 19 points with five threes of his own. It was the best widespread effort we’ve seen from this team by a fair margin in weeks.

The Sixers get Monday off before continuing their road trip with a visit to the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday.

Until then, let’s get to the Bell Ringer.

Tyrese Maxey: 39 points, 3 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals, 1 block

Tyrese Maxey got off to a sloppy start in this one with two quick turnovers on bad passes in the first two minutes, and it was looking like it might be another tough night for the guard. After that though, he seemed to settle in, especially toward the end of the second frame. Maxey scored 11 of the Sixers’ last 17 points to close the first half after starting to have success getting downhill and weaving into the paint against a Timberwolves team without a real center available (Rudy Gobert, suspension, and Naz Reid, shoulder soreness, were both out). Maxey shot 8-for-15 from the floor and 2-for-5 from long range in the first half, tying with fellow NBA All-Star Anthony Edwards in leading the floor with 19 points at halftime.

From then on, Maxey seemed locked in, playing with a bit of fire we haven’t seen from him in a little bit. He added 13 more points in the third including two from an absolute poster on Anthony Edwards.

This was one of the best overall Maxey performances we have seen in a bit, with great energy level and body language coming with it. He was aggressive without forcing opportunities that weren’t there. He seemed not to succumb to frustration as much, even if he wasn’t getting the foul calls he wanted. He just stuck to his game and kept doing what worked, taking advantage of the Wolves lack of rim protection on Sunday.

After a really tough few weeks, Maxey might have needed this kind of night personally, mentally, even more than the Sixers needed it.

Maxey finished this one with 39 points on 16-for-28 (57.1%) field goal shooting and 5-for-7 (51.7%) shooting from long range. He also had eight assists, three rebounds, two steals and one block.

VJ Edgecombe: 24 points (career-high 6 triples), 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals

VJ Edgecombe got the night off to a hot start, taking advantage of some open looks to put up 10 points (two triples) in the first frame. The three-point shooting of the rookie would become the cornerstone of his night, with Edgecombe sinking 3-of-4 in the first half. Following halftime, he was completely locked in, looking confident and smooth pulling up from distance whenever he could find or create an open look. It paid off.

Edgecombe ended up with a new career-high six triples on seven attempts. That’s 85.7% shooting from beyond the arc. Not only that, but he was also active on the boards throughout, trailing only Andre Drummond for the Sixers in the category with seven. The rookie also put up a solid defensive performance and committed just one turnover the entire contest, with that single error not occurring until the final minutes of the game with the Sixers up over 20 points.

This performance was another example of Edgecombe seemingly playing beyond his years when it comes to rising up to the moment, too. He got the fourth off to a hot start with a high-flying alley-oop and yet another triple to extend the Sixers’ lead early in the final frame — the beginning of putting the game out of reach for the Timberwolves and finally snapping the losing streak for the Sixers.

Edgecombe finished the night with 24 points, seven rebounds, one assist and two steals.

Quentin Grimes: 19 points, 3 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 steal

Quentin Grimes made a quick impact off the bench for the Sixers early in this one, hitting two threes and grabbing a steal not long after checking in for the first time in the opening frame. Grimes not only was scoring well in the first half, putting up 10 points on 4-for-8 field goal, 2-for-4 three-point shooting, but was contributing well as a playmaker. He had five assists by halftime, with three coming off similar plays ending in finding Adem Bona under the net for open dunks.

This performance was the perfect example of what the Sixers need from Grimes coming off the bench. It doesn’t have to be massive scoring bursts or all highlight reel level plays. He simply provided a consistent offensive boost for the Sixers on Sunday, whether scoring himself or just keeping his head up and making the right passes for some absolute dimes for his teammates. For a team that has been struggling with assists as of late, that playmaking alone is worth its weight in gold… but the five triples certainly didn’t hurt either.

Grimes finished Sunday with 19 points on 7-for-12 field goal shooting and 5-for-8 shooting from three-point range. He also had three rebounds, seven assists and one steal.

Tyrese Haliburton will have to be away from the Pacers for two to three weeks after he was diagnosed with shingles, head coach Rick Carlisle told reporters on Sunday. 

Haliburton has already been rehabbing from a torn Achilles that he suffered last season during Game 7 of the NBA Finals, which has kept him off the court this year. 

“He will likely make a full recovery,” Carlisle said before the Pacers fell to the Mavericks, 134-130. “This happened over the last few days. He was meeting us in D.C. and had some odd symptoms. It’s a unique case, a unique situation. I’ve talked to him a few times, and he’s always in a good mood, so he’ll get through it. But trying to survive at a high level without a guy like that is extremely difficult.”

Shingles is not a life-threatening condition, but the viral infection can cause a painful rash, according to the Mayo Clinic. 

“Shingles can occur anywhere on your body. It typically looks like a single stripe of blisters that wraps around the left side or the right side of your torso,” according to the Mayo Clinic website. 

Carlisle said that it was “a very painful thing.” 

The news is another blow to Haliburton and the Pacers, who have felt his absence hard during this season. 

After falling one win shy of an NBA championship, the Pacers have had one of their roughest seasons in recent memory. 

With Sunday’s loss, the Pacers are 15-43 on the season and went through a franchise-worst 13-game losing streak that was snapped last month. 

The Pacers were also hit with a $100,000 fine earlier this month after the NBA docked them for sitting several players during a Feb. 3 game that “could have played under the medical standard in the Policy, including by playing reduced minutes. Alternatively, the team could have held the players out of other games in a way that would have better promoted compliance with the Policy.”

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Tyrese Maxey had 39 points and eight assists, VJ Edgecombe made a career-high six 3-pointers and finished with 24 points, and the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 135-108 on Sunday night to snap a four-game losing streak — all by double figures.

Maxey made 16 of 28 shots from the field and hit four of Philadelphia's 21 3-pointers. Quentin Grimes had 19 points, which included five 3s, and seven assists. Kelly Oubre Jr. added 18 points and four steals.

Coming off a 126-111 defeat Saturday night at New Orleans, the Sixers were again without center Joel Embiid, who missed his third straight game since the All-Star break due to right shin soreness. Embiid also sat out three of the last five games going into the break with soreness in his right knee.

Minnesota had its three-game win streak snapped. Anthony Edwards scored 19 of his 28 points in the first half for the Timberwolves. Jaden McDaniels added 19 and Julius Randle scored 18.

Naz Ried (shoulder soreness) did not play for Minnesota, and Rudy Gobert served a one-game suspension for accumulating too many flagrant fouls. Gobert, the four-time NBA defensive player of the year, will be suspended two games for each additional flagrant foul this season.

Joan Beringer, a 6-foot-11 center, made his first career start for the Timberwolves. Picked No. 17 overall in the 2025 draft, Beringer had two points and three fouls in five first-half minutes. Ayo Dosunmu started the third quarter in Beringer’s place and finished with 12 points.

Grimes hit a 3-pointer and then found a cutting Adem Bona for a dunk before Maxey drained a fadeaway jumper and a 3 to cap a 10-2 run that made it 35-26 at the end of the first quarter. Philadelphia led the rest of the way.

Up next

76ers: Wrap up a three-game trip Tuesday at Indiana.

Timberwolves: Play at Portland on Tuesday.

___

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA

The Dallas Mavericks broke their ten-game losing streak Sunday night, with a 134-130 win over the Indiana Pacers.

Let’s get to the grades!

Naji Marshall: B+

17 PTS / 2 REB / 2 AST / 1 STL / 0 BLK – 26 MIN

Marshall was back to his old ways, hitting 7-for-10 from the floor in a highly efficient outing despite limited minutes. Two turnovers wasn’t terrible, but relative to only two assists, it stands out. Also, Marshall’s rebounding totals of late have been on the lower end, though playing out of the point guard spot in this one probably didn’t help that cause.

Max Christie: B

16 PTS / 2 REB / 4 AST / 0 STL / 0 BLK – 31 MIN

Christie joined Marshall with some hot shooting of his own (6-for-11; 2-for-4 from deep). His assist total helped his grade, but three turnovers and three fouls did not. Nice solid game overall.

P.J. Washington: A-

23 PTS / 9 REB / 2 AST / 1 STL / 1 BLK – 37 MIN

Washington must have had whatever Marshall had for breakfast, because he too looked like his best self after a sting of “meh” games. Hitting 8-for-14 from the floor was good enough to make him the second highest scorer for the Mavs. He took care of the ball and played solid defense.

Khris Middleton: A+

25 PTS / 7 REB / 7 AST / 1 STL / 0 BLK – 33 MIN

Aside from foul personal fouls, Middleton was across-the-board fantastic. He shot a ridiculous 11-for-15, including 3-for-5 from downtown, for a season-high in points. He led the team in scoring and led the team in assists (tied with Brandon Williams). He also took a clutch charge late in the fourth quarter, and if you’ve been reading long enough you know how positively that single act impacts a grade. Somewhat more seriously though, it was at a pivotal moment in the fourth quarter. Middleton really played a complete game and it’s doubtful Dallas wins without his performance.

Daniel Gafford: B-

8 PTS / 6 REB / 2 AST / 1 STL / 0 BLK – 22 MIN

Gafford was solid, but one can’t help but wonder if he couldn’t provide similar production off the bench at this point. As the starting center, you would think he could be racking up double-doubles, or at least close. Had it not been for 3-for-7 shooting, he easily could have been in double-figure scoring at least. He had the best plus/minus of all the starters with a plus-10, to help boost his grade.

Brandon Williams: B+

15 PTS / 1 REB / 7 AST / 2 STL / 1 BLK – 22 MIN

Williams has been doing work lately. He is staying within himself and putting together solid games again and again. His two turnovers can be forgiven next to his team-leading seven assists (tied with Middleton). He led the team in plus-minus with a plus-15.

Marvin Bagley: A+

12 PTS / 11 REB / 1 AST / 1 STL / 0 BLK – 26 MIN

It’s safe to say I am firmly on the Bagley bandwagon. I debated this grade a bit, however landed with top marks similar to his last outing, as he all but replicated that performance. It’s still a small sample size, but Bagley has obviously outplayed Gafford over the last few games, making the center position a thing of interest.

Final thoughts

This was a fun game and a much needed win. Without Cooper Flagg, Middleton took on the starring role, with plenty of help from Washington, Marshall and Bagley. Dallas inexplicably has one of (if not the) best three point defenses based on percentage allowed, yet to the naked eye they consistently appear to be either disinterested or incapable of stopping the long ball. Indiana hit nine more threes than Dallas, yet Dallas persisted and found a way.

I invite you to follow me @_80MPH on X, and check back often at Mavs Moneyball for all the latest on the Dallas Mavericks.

In the midst of having his statue outside of Crypto.com Arena unveiled, former Lakers coach and NBA legend Pat Riley, still feeling the professional competitiveness against the Celtics, had a simple message.

“The time has come to kick some ass,” Riley said. “To kick some Boston ass.”

The message was delivered but not made good on, with the Lakers falling to their longtime rivals 111-89 after being stifled by Boston’s defense the entire game. 

“We did enough defensively,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “We were just awful offensively.”

The Lakers were held to 22 or fewer points in each of the final three quarters, including 18 in the fourth, and shot 39.1% from the field (34 of 87) for their second-worst shooting percentage in a game this season.

Their scoring total marked just the second time they were held to fewer than 90 points.

“There were opportunities to put more pressure on the rim, particularly in the first half: We took 11 non-paint 2s,” Redick said. “Got some good looks (on 3-pointers), we didn’t knock them down.

“A lot of times when teams are on a deeper drop versus all our guys that play pick and roll, it kind of puts you a little bit in a bind of not having the obvious choice to pass, if that makes sense? So we just got to do a better job of just finding guys and moving the ball.”

Luka Doncic finished with 25 points, five rebounds and three assists. LeBron James added 20 points, five assists and four rebounds, while Austin Reaves recorded 15 points and seven rebounds.

But each part of the Lakers’ Big 3 struggled to get the Lakers’ offense going.

Jaylen Brown led the Celtics with 32 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.

What it means

The Lakers lost the regular-season series to the Celtics, 0-2, for the first time since the 2022-23 season.

The Celtics also beat the Lakers on Dec. 5 in Boston, with the Lakers not having Dončić or James available for the matchup.

The Lakers fell to 34-22 on the season with Sunday’s loss. 

Turning point 

When Marcus Smart missed a 3-point attempt at the 9:32 mark of the fourth quarter.

The Lakers opened the fourth on a 6-2 run, cutting the 13-point deficit they entered the quarter with to nine after back-to-back close-range shots from James and Rui Hachimura with momentum on their side. 

But that momentum quickly went away, with the Celtics going on a 6-0 run (back-to-back midrange shots and a pair of free throws from Payton Pritchard) to take a game-best 15-point lead, 92-77, with just over eight minutes left. 

The Lakers trailed by at least double digits for the rest of the game. 

MVP: Payton Pritchard

Pritchard led the Celtics during the aforementioned stretch that helped seal the victory.

He finished with 30 points, eight assists and four rebounds off the bench. 

“He played a great game,” Redick said.

Stat of the game: 15.4%

That was the Lakers’ 3-point percentage in the second half until Redick pulled his main rotation players with 3:22 left after Pritchard’s 3 put the Celtics up 105-83.

The Lakers made 2 of 13 attempts from beyond the 3-point arc in the first 20 ½ minutes of the second half.

The Celtics didn’t have the hot hand, either, but made three times as many 3s in the same stretch.

The Lakers shot 46.7% on their 3s (7 of 15) in the opening two quarters. 

Up next

The Lakers will close their extended homestand, which started with a win over the 76ers on Feb. 5, when they host the Magic on Tuesday.

They’ll play against the Suns in Phoenix on Thursday and the Warriors in San Francisco on Saturday.

The Milwaukee Bucks couldn’t stay perfect for long out of the All-Star break, losing to the Toronto Raptors, 122-94. Despite trailing by three points midway through the third quarter, the Raptors ended the game on a 60-35 run. The Bucks remain in the 11th seed in the East with the loss. 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

33 minutes, 21 points, 9 rebounds, 5 turnovers, 6/17 FG, 4/7 3P, 5/6 FT, -16

Rollins bounced back after a 2/9 first-half shooting performance, but four of his five turnovers came in the second half. 

Grade: C+

Kevin Porter Jr.

31 minutes, 21 points, 10 assists, 3 steals, 1 turnover, 8/11 FG, 4/6 FT, -16

KPJ was one of two players who finished with more than one assist, and he was an efficient scorer tonight. He also held up well against Brandon Ingram on defense, especially considering the size difference. 

Grade: B+

AJ Green

26 minutes, 3 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1/6 FG, 1/4 3P, -8

Green has fallen back into a rut. The constant pressure from Toronto made it difficult to get open, and in the rare moments he did, he couldn’t convert. 

Grade: D

Kyle Kuzma

19 minutes, 3 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1/3 FG, -6

Kuzma rebounded the ball well in the first half and played solid defense on the numerous wings the Raptors employ. He couldn’t get anything going on the offensive end, much like the rest of his teammates. 

Grade: C-

Myles Turner

25 minutes, 14 points, 4 rebounds, 2 blocks, 6/11 FG, 2/7 3P, -5

Thank goodness for Turner in the first half. He scored 11 of his 14 points and helped keep the Bucks afloat. Credit to Toronto’s defense for limiting him to three shot attempts in the second half. 

Grade: B+

Bobby Portis

18 minutes, 6 points, 7 rebounds, 3/8 FG, -15

BP never found his rhythm. He stayed engaged on the boards, even with his shot not dropping, but it’s never good to pick up a flagrant foul. 

Grade: D+

Cam Thomas

21 minutes, 15 points, 3 rebounds, 2 turnovers, 5/9 FG, 4/4 FT, -18

Thomas excited the fans when he was first introduced at Fiserv Forum. He was limited after his initial eight-point burst, but it was a solid enough home debut for Thomas. 

Grade: C

Jericho Sims

24 minutes, 4 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, 2/3 FG, -18

The Jericho hype train might be pulling back into the station. He did a decent job on the glass, but so many passes or deflected balls just hit him in the hands, and he couldn’t secure them. 

Grade: C-

Ousmane Dieng

14 minutes, 0 points, 5 rebounds, 3 turnovers, 0/4 FG, 0/2 3P, -10

I’m sure it wasn’t the way that Dieng hoped his home debut would go. He never got into a rhythm, sitting out the entire third quarter after playing eight minutes in the first half. 

Grade: D+

Doc Rivers

Another game, another presser where Doc says the Bucks couldn’t do what they were supposed to do. It’s become maddening at this point. Doc said they talked about the bigs screening more to alleviate the pressure on the ball handlers, but said Green probably set the most screens. The Raptors are a good defensive team, but when the game plan isn’t working, how can you not correct it in-game? 

Grade: D

Limited Minutes: Pete Nance

Garbage Time: Gary Harris, Gary Trent Jr., Andre Jackson Jr., Thanasis Antetokounmpo 

Inactive: Alex Antetokounmpo, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Taurean Prince

Bonus Bucks Bits

• Before the game, Doc Rivers offered up some new NBA overtime rules based on watching the United States men’s hockey team beat Canada in overtime 2-1:

“It was really cool to watch, it really was. The way I look at hockey is the three-on-twos and the two-on-ones; it’s just like basketball. I wish we passed like them, it’s really beautiful. But over time, I was sitting there thinking, ‘huh,’ we should start with three-minute overtime four-on-four, then go to double overtime, three-on-three, then to the next one, two-on-two, and the next one, one-on-one. The minute police would have a problem with the one-on-one, because they’d still be playing.” 

• The Bucks turned the ball over 17 times, tied for the fourth most they’ve had this season. Doc Rivers said post-game that they got “man-handled”:

“We got man-handled, bottom line. I’ve probably only said that one other time this year. I thought their physicality completely took us out of the game and turned us into one-on-one players. We stopped moving the ball, playing the way we’ve been. When you look at our assist column, and you see all those ones, it tells you all you need to know.” 

• AJ Green has his jersey retired at the University of Northern Iowa during the All-Star Break. Green told the assembled media the story of how he learned his no. 4 was going to be put in the rafters:

“My best friend was like, ‘hey man, can I call you later or sometime this week?’ He told me it was going to be over Zoom, and I was like ‘why would we ever Zoom, bro?’ He works at UNI, so as it went along, I’m like, something fishy is going on here, but it was cool. He had organized it, my parents were on the call, [and] all the staff at UNI were on the call to let me know. It was special.” 

• Myles Turner sits just two blocks away from 1,500 in his career, with 1,498 after today’s game. He would become the 41st player in NBA history to accomplish that feat.

Up Next

The Bucks will continue their four-game home stand on Tuesday, hosting the Miami Heat. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. Central time and will be televised on FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin.