Devin Booker hit a tie-breaking 3-pointer with 1.7 seconds remaining to give the Phoenix Suns a 116-113 victory over the New York Knicks on Sunday that extended their winning streak to seven games.
Booker finished with 28 points and 11 assists and Eric Gordon had 25 points as the Suns continued their winning ways despite star Kevin Durant missing a second straight game with a sore right foot.
Phoenix also overcame a 35-point, eight-assist effort from New York's Jalen Brunson to snap the Knicks' four-game winning streak at Madison Square Garden.
Booker's deciding shot came after the Knicks scored four straight points to pull even, with Brunson hitting a fadeaway jumper with 21.9 seconds left following a Phoenix turnover to tie the contest at 113-113.
Brunson had a chance to force overtime in the final seconds, but his long 3-point try as time expired missed the mark.
The Suns led by as many as 15 points in the first half and owned a 79-66 advantage in the third quarter, but the Knicks went on an 18-5 run later in the period and the game remained tight into the latter stages.
Julius Randle added 28 points for New York and Immanuel Quickley contributed 18 off the bench.
Bucks put forth big rally to win Lillard's first meeting with Blazers
Giannis Antetokounmpo also came through with a tie-breaking basket with time winding down, as his tip-in with 18.5 seconds left helped the Milwaukee Bucks to a stirring 108-102 comeback victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.
The Bucks rallied from a 26-point deficit to win the first meeting between the teams since the Blazers traded franchise icon Damian Lillard to Milwaukee in September. Lillard, who spent his first 11 seasons with Portland and is the Trail Blazers' all-time scoring leader, had 17 of his 31 points in the second half to aid the comeback.
Antetokounmpo finished with 33 points, 16 rebounds and six assists in the Bucks' seventh win in eight games.
The rebuilding Blazers shot 52 percent over the first two quarters to build a 68-52 halftime lead, then extended the margin to 81-55 three minutes into the third quarter.
Milwaukee responded with a 17-2 run, however, and continued to cut into the deficit until Lillard's 3-pointer with 2:53 remaining created a 97-97 tie.
The game remained deadlocked until Antetokounmpo tipped in teammate Bobby Portis' putback attempt to put the Bucks up by a 104-102 score. Lillard then sealed the win by making four free throws in the closing seconds.
Jerami Grant had 22 points in Portland's ninth loss in 10 games, while Malcolm Brogdon recorded 18 points and 12 assists.
Magic get past Hornets for seventh straight win
The Orlando Magic are also riding a seven-game winning streak following Sunday's 130-117 victory over the Charlotte Hornets behind 30 points from both Franz Wagner and Cole Anthony.
Paolo Banchero added 23 points, seven rebounds and eight assists to help Orlando to its longest winning streak in nearly 13 years. The Magic last won seven in a row during a franchise-record nine-game run from Dec. 23, 2010-Jan. 12, 2011.
Anthony scored 18 of his points in the fourth quarter as Orlando gradually pulled away before putting the game out of reach with a 12-3 run that gave the Magic a 120-104 lead with four minutes remaining.
Charlotte got guard Terry Rozier back from a groin injury that caused him to miss the team's previous nine games, but played the second half without star point guard LaMelo Ball after he injured his right ankle late in the second quarter.
Rozier had 22 points on 9-of-15 shooting to go along with nine assists in his return. Miles Bridges led the Hornets, who came in having won a season-high two straight, with 23 points and 10 rebounds.
Kerr demands improvements from Team USA as Olympic opener looms
United States coach Steve Kerr wants to see higher levels of intensity from his team as their Olympics campaign approaches.
Kerr was unhappy with the lacklustre displays from his side in their warm-ups against Germany and South Sudan.
Germany led 71-68 at the end of the third quarter before LeBron James conjured up 11 points in the final four minutes to give the USA a 92-88 win, while South Sudan were 20 seconds away from pulling off one of the biggest shocks in basketball history, before eventually falling to a 101-100 loss.
The USA face a dangerous Serbia side featuring reigning NBA MVP Nikola Jokic on Sunday, and Kerr is adamant that improvements are required if they are to win a fifth consecutive Olympic gold medal.
He said: "It's got to be 40 minutes of force and attention and focus, and we can't let teams outplay us effort and energy-wise like we did the other night against Germany, like we did against South Sudan.
“We have another level. I think we have another two levels that we can get to, but it's a collaboration, always.
"We can show them, 'Let's do this, let's do that. Let's learn personnel.'
"We got to know the shooters, know the non-shooters, all that stuff. So that's where we can help them. Where they can help themselves is just effort and energy play after play, after play. This is different."
Kerr is a four-time NBA champion as a coach, and was part of the triumphant Olympics team in Tokyo in 2021, but the Golden State Warriors boss knows the experience of the Games will only be enhanced if the USA were to come out on top again.
"This should be one of the great experiences of our lives. But the best way to make it an incredible experience is to win a gold medal," he said.
After facing Serbia, the USA will once again go up against South Sudan, this time in a competitive format, before ending the group stage with a match against Puerto Rico.
Durant warns Team USA 'everybody is a contender' in Olympic basketball tournament
Kevin Durant has warned Team USA they will not have an easy ride through the basketball tournament at the Paris Olympic Games, declaring: "Everybody is a contender".
The United States will go in search of a fifth straight men's basketball gold in the French capital, where they open their Group C campaign against Serbia on Sunday.
After that meeting with Nikola Jokic and company, the star-studded USA team featuring Durant, LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Joel Embiid and a host of other NBA stars take on South Sudan and Puerto Rico.
With Steve Kerr having so much talent at his disposal, the roster has been compared to that of the 1992 'Dream Team', who took gold in Barcelona behind the efforts of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Scottie Pippen and other great names.
However, at a press conference ahead of Team USA's 2024 opener, Curry reminded reporters that the class of 1992 only faced nine other active NBA players.
Durant is expecting a much tougher assignment this year, responding to Curry by saying: "Everybody is a contender. Everyone is here for a reason.
"We're playing against 65 or 64 NBA players in Paris. So you know they're the best in the world."
Asked to identify the main players to watch from other nations, the Phoenix Suns forward said: "Giannis [Antetokounmpo] or Jokic."
While Durant adopted a cautious tone, Golden State Warriors star Curry was more bullish regarding the USA's gold medal hopes.
Quizzed on who he was most excited about facing, Curry simply said: "Whoever's in the gold medal game."
Knicks, head coach Thibodeau agree to three-year contract extension
The New York Knicks and head coach Tom Thibodeau have agreed to a three-year contract extension through the 2027-28 season.
New York went 50-32 last season to earn the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference before losing to the Indiana Pacers in the semi-finals of the play-offs.
The Knicks were also ousted in the East semis in 2022-23 and reached the play-offs during Thibodeau’s first season in 2021-22, when he won his second NBA Coach of the Year award.
Prior to 2021-22, New York’s previous post-season appearance came in 2013.
The Knicks have gone 175-143 over the last four seasons under Thibodeau, who earned his first NBA Coach of the Year award in 2011 as a rookie head coach with the Chicago Bulls.
The 66-year-old Thibodeau owns a 527-389 record in 12 seasons as a head coach with Chicago, the Minnesota Timberwolves and New York.
His teams have gone 38-47 in the post-season, and Thibodeau’s only appearance in the conference finals came in his rookie head coach season.
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