The Indiana Pacers overcame a double-digit deficit and an injury to star point guard Tyrese Haliburton to rally for a thrilling 133-131 win over the Eastern Conference-leading Boston Celtics on Monday.
Indiana earned its seventh win in eight games despite trailing by 11 points in the third quarter and playing the entire second half without Haliburton, the team's top scorer who had to be carried off the court after slipping and straining his left hamstring late in the second quarter.
Bennedict Mathurin helped offset Haliburton's absence with 26 points off the bench, while Buddy Hield scored 10 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter to help the Pacers also withstand a season-high 40 points from Boston's Jaylen Brown.
Brown finished 17 of 26 from the field on a night the Celtics played without leading scorer Jayson Tatum due to a sore left ankle. Boston lost for only the second time in its last 10 games and was coming off a 118-101 home win over the Pacers on Saturday.
The Celtics did hold a 74-63 lead early in the third quarter before Indiana put forth a 17-6 run to tie the game and later take a slim 103-101 edge into the fourth.
The game remained tight up until the very end, when Mathurin was fouled by Kristaps Porzingis on a 3-point try with 0.6 seconds on the clock. He made the first two free throws before deliberately missing the third and leaving the Celtics with not enough time to get a good shot off.
Fast start helps Jazz extend Bucks' slump
The Pacers closed the gap on first-place Milwaukee in the Central Division after the struggling Bucks were handed a 132-116 defeat by the visiting Utah Jazz.
Five Jazz players had at least 19 points and Utah led from nearly start-to-finish to deal Milwaukee a fourth loss in five games. The Bucks' lead over Indiana and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Central is now down to 3 1/2 games.
Utah hit 11 3-pointers in the first quarter to take a 41-23 lead after 12 minutes, then shot 54.2 per cent in the second to build a commanding 77-46 half-time advantage. John Collins and Jordan Clarkson led the Jazz with 12 first-half points.
Clarkson and Lauri Markkanen each finished with 21 points for Utah, which had its lead reduced to seven points midway through the fourth quarter before pulling away again late.
Collins, Collin Sexton and Keyonte George all had 19 points in the Jazz's eighth win in 10 games, while Kris Dunn dished out 13 assists.
Milwaukee did get a 25-point, 10-rebound, 11-assist triple-double from Giannis Antetokounmpo on a night in which it played without fellow star Damian Lillard, who was away from the team due to a personal matter.
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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