The stars Kyrie Irving, of the Brooklyn Nets, Stephen Curry, of the Golden State Warriors, and the Slovenian Luka Doncic, of the Dallas Mavericks, excelled on Monday in the NBA by achieving one of the highest scores of the day in wins of their respective teams.
The Nets defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 121-104, who played without their stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
Irving led Brooklyn in scoring with 26 points as the Nets rallied from falling behind in the third quarter to outscore the Lakers 36-22 in the fourth quarter.
The New York quintet had two performances from substitutes Patty Mills and Cameron Thomas, both with 21 points each coming off the bench.
LeBron sat out with a sore left ankle, while Davis, who recently returned from a 20-game absence with a sprained right foot, will be sidelined as the team continues to manage his return.
LeBron needs 117 points to surpass Kereem Abdul-Jabbar’s record of 38,387 points.
The four-time NBA champion is averaging 30.2 points; 8.5 rebounds and 7.1 assists per game this season.
The Lakers will face the NY Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday.
Curry also shines
In Oklahoma City, the Warriors subdued the Thunder 128-120, thanks to the excellent offensive work of Curry, who overflowed with 38 points.
Curry made 8 of 14 3-pointers (24 points), while fellow sharpshooter Klay Thompson helped him hit 28 points, including 6-of-14 3-pointers.
Center Draymond Green scored just seven points, but recovered nine balls under the boards and dished out 12 assists.
For Oklahoma, the shooting men were Canadian Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey with 31 and 21 points, respectively.
In Philadelphia, Paolo Banchero led a second half comeback as the Orlando Magic overcame a 21-point deficit to defeat the Philadelphia 76ers 119-109.
Rookie Banchero, the No. 1 pick in last year’s draft, had 29 points with nine rebounds and three assists to give Orlando the win.
Banchero had scoring support from German brothers Franz Wagner and Moritz Wagner, who combined for 41 points as Orlando silenced the Philadelphia home crowd with a second-half scoring barrage.
The Sixers fell to third in the Eastern Conference standings after the loss.
Orlando broke out after halftime with a 42-point third quarter to take the lead and then closed on a 19-8 fourth-quarter offensive run to seal the win.
Moritz Wagner finished with 22 points off the bench, while his younger brother Franz added 19.
Cameroonian Joel Embiid led the Sixers scoring 30 points, while star James Harden and Tobias Harris each added 17 points.
"I am very proud of these young people"Orlando coach Jamahl Mosley said of his team.
Banchero said Mosley had cheered the locker room at halftime. "He turned us on. He just told us that we need to play better, play harder, that we are a very good team, we must act like one.".
For his part, Sixers coach Doc Rivers had few complaints after his team’s loss, describing Orlando as worthy winners.
In one of the games in the background, the Dallas Mavericks beat the Detroit Pistons 111-105, thanks to the excellent offensive work of the Slovenian Luka Doncic, who overflowed with 53 points.
Doncic has five career games with 50 or more points, four of them this season. The Slovenian scored a career-high 60 points against the NY Knicks in a game last December 27 that ended in overtime.
Sacramento 118, Minnesota 111
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — De’Aaron Fox had 32 points and Trey Lyles scored eight of his 11 points in overtime as the Sacramento Kings beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 118-111 on Monday night.
Domantas Sabonis had 17 points and 13 rebounds for the Kings before fouling out. Keegan Murray chipped in with 13 points and 13 boards.
Lyles took over as center in place of Sabonis and started overtime with a three-pointer. He dunked Rudy Gobert on a three-point play and had another open dunk with 37.8 seconds left in overtime to give the Kings a five-point lead for the win.
Sacramento split the two-game series after losing 117-110 on Saturday.
Anthony Edwards had 33 points and eight boards for the Timberwolves and reached the 30-point mark for the fifth time in his last six games. Gobert added 19 points and 14 rebounds.
Washington 127, San Antonio 106
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Deni Avdija had a career-high 25 points, Bradley Beal scored 21 points and the Washington Wizards ended a 22-game losing streak against the Spurs in San Antonio with a 127-106 win on Monday.
Kristaps Porzingis had 17 points and nine rebounds after a fast start with the Wizards, who last won in San Antonio on Dec. 11, 1999. Washington has six straight wins, the longest streak since it won six games in 2015.
Keldon Johnson had 26 points, Jeremy Sochan added 17 and Zach Collins 16 for the Spurs, who have lost six straight and are 2-13 in January.
Phoenix 114, Toronto 106
PHOENIX (AP) — Mikal Bridges scored 29 points, Deandre Ayton had 22 points and 13 rebounds and the Phoenix Suns rallied late in the game to beat the Toronto Raptors 114-106.
The Suns won for the sixth time in seven games despite playing without star Devin Booker for that entire series. Neither team managed a margin of more than 10 points in a night that included 16 lead changes and five ties.
Chris Paul finished with 19 points and nine assists.
Fred VanVleet led Toronto with 24 points and nine assists. Gary Trent Jr. added 21 points, while Pascal Siakam added 19.
Portland 129, Atlanta 125
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Damian Lillard scored 42 points, Anfernee Simons hit a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 34 seconds to go before the final buzzer and the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Atlanta Hawks 129-125 on Monday night.
Dejounte Murray had 40 points, eight rebounds and six assists for the Hawks, who played without star point guard Trae Young.
Lillard had six assists in his fifth 40-plus game this month. Jerami Grant had 22 points and Simons finished with 21, including the key basket that put the Trail Blazers ahead 124-121.
Bogdan Bogdanovic led Atlanta with 23 points coming off the bench.