LOS ANGELES: The Sacramento Kings, fuelled by a career-high 39 factors from Harrison Barnes, edged the Golden State Warriors 134-133 on Thursday (Jan 26) as Lakers star LeBron James celebrated his record-setting twentieth NBA All-Star nod with a win.
Domantas Sabonis’s dunk with 22.1 seconds remaining sealed a dramatic win for Sacramento after back-to-back dunks by Jonathan Kuminga gave the Warriors their first lead of the second half at 133-132.
Golden State had an opportunity to shut it out, however Kuminga was denied by Barnes and celebrity Stephen Curry, beneath fierce stress from De’Aaron Fox, and misplaced the ball within the last second.
“Feels good,” Barnes stated of the win in opposition to his former workforce in San Francisco. “We needed to begin this street journey off proper.”
Barnes, coming off a 32-point efficiency in a victory over Atlanta on Tuesday, stated he was “simply making an attempt to maximise alternatives.”
“We really feel like now we have an excellent workforce and the ball’s shifting … so the ball’s discovering me,” he stated.
Sabonis posted his Twenty sixth-straight double-double with 18 factors and 13 assists and Fox added 29 factors for the Kings.
Curry scored 33 factors to guide the Warriors, who had been taking part in their second sport because the dying of assistant coach Dejan Milojevic from a coronary heart assault final week.
In Los Angeles, James scored 25 factors and handed out 12 assists within the Lakers’ 141-132 victory over the Chicago Bulls, which got here hours after James was named an All-Star Sport starter for the twentieth consecutive 12 months — a streak stretching again to his second season within the league.
D’Angelo Russell hit eight three-pointers on the best way to 29 factors, main seven Lakers gamers in double-figures within the dominant victory.
Elsewhere, Pascal Siakam’s triple-double propelled the Indiana Pacers to a 134-122 victory over Philadelphia that snapped the 76ers’ six-game successful streak.
The Boston Celtics routed Miami 143-110 in an Jap Convention last rematch, the New York Knicks thumped the defending champion Denver Nuggets 122-84 and Western Convention leaders Minnesota held on for a 96-94 victory over the Nets in Brooklyn.
The Pacers had been in cost all through in Indianapolis, the place Siakam scored 26 factors with 13 rebounds and 10 assists to guide the cost in opposition to the sluggish 76ers.
“He performs with a whole lot of ardour and power. He matches proper into our mildew,” Pacers heart Myles Turner stated of Siakam.
Philadelphia’s reigning NBA MVP Joel Embiid scored 31 factors, however coach Nick Nurse pulled Embiid and the remainder of his starters for the fourth quarter because the Pacers romped regardless of the continued absence of injured Tyrese Haliburton.
In Miami, Jayson Tatum scored 26 factors to guide seven Celtics gamers in double figures and the Celtics drilled 22 three-pointers in opposition to the workforce that ended their title hopes final season.
After that agonizing exit, Tatum stated the Celtics are fueled by a willpower to “recover from the hump”.
However he refused to get too excited in regards to the gaudy margin of victory over their Jap Convention rivals.
“For those who win by 30 or two, it simply counts as one win,” he stated. “We have nonetheless obtained a protracted approach to go, but it surely’s an effective way to shut out the street journey.”
TIMBERWOLVES HANG ON
At Madison Sq. Backyard, OG Anunoby led the Knicks with 26 factors and got here up with six steals to assist New York stand up to a 31-point, 11-rebound double-double from Nuggets star Nikola Jokic.
Jokic hit the ground in ache after getting Knicks guard Donte DiVincenzo’s hand in his left eye late within the first half. He exited briefly however returned to begin the second half.
Jokic related on 13 of 18 pictures from the ground however sat out the fourth quarter together with the remainder of Denver’s starters with the sport out of attain.
In Brooklyn, it got here right down to the wire, however 27 factors from Karl Anthony-Cities and 24 from Anthony Edwards proved sufficient for the Timberwolves, who had been up by 10 halfway by means of the fourth quarter earlier than the Nets closed the hole with an 8-0 run.
It was tied at 94-94 with 1:11 left to play, however an alley-oop dunk by Rudy Gobert with 58.1 seconds remaining proved to be the game-winner.
