A LeBron record. Xmas greetings from Mazzulla. Steph went 0 for 7. Thursday wasn’t boring in the NBA
AP Basketball Writer
LeBron James set a record, which was good. Stephen Curry set a personal record, which was not good.
Detroit faced the biggest early deficit of any team this season. Golden State faced the biggest overall deficit of any game this season.
And Victor Wembanyama showed, yet again, that the unusual is his usual. A look back at a most eventful Thursday in the NBA:
LeBron passes Kareem — again
Another record for LeBron James: He has now played more regular-season minutes than anyone in NBA history, passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
When counting playoffs, James had the minutes record long ago. But this is yet another entry for the glowing resume, which includes — among many other things — passing Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA’s all-time scoring leader as well.
“It’s a pretty cool honor,” James said.
Steph goes 0 for 7
This has never happened before: Stephen Curry played more than 11 minutes in a game and didn’t make a single field goal. The Golden State star went 0 for 7 from the field, 0 for 6 from 3-point range in a 144-93 loss to Memphis.
It was that kind of night for the Warriors. Because …
Warriors trail by 57, lose by 51
… as we were saying, it was a bad night for Golden State. The Warriors trailed Memphis by 57 points in the fourth quarter, then lost by 51.
Both of those numbers — biggest deficit and biggest final margin — were the worst in the NBA so far this season.
“You lose by 51, that’s humbling,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.
But on the plus side …
There also was a winning team in that 51-point game. It should be noted that there have been two games where a team has won by 45 points or more this season.
Memphis won by 51 over Golden State on Thursday. And Memphis also won by 45 over Portland on Nov. 10.
The Pistons dug a really big hole
Credit to Detroit: The Pistons lost by only seven to Utah on Thursday, 126-119.
That means the Pistons played a really — really — good final three quarters. Because the first quarter was awful.
Detroit trailed 48-19 in the first quarter. The 29-point deficit in the opening 12 minutes was the worst by any team in a first quarter so far this season — and the biggest such deficit by any Detroit team since at least 1996.
In that same game, Utah’s Jordan Clarkson and Detroit’s Ron Holland both got ejected for squaring up as if they wanted to fight. No punches were thrown.
Welcome home, KAT
Respect, Minnesota. Timberwolves fans did the right thing and cheered Karl-Anthony Towns in his first game back after being traded to the New York Knicks.
Evidently, they made him feel right at home again. Towns had 32 points, 20 rebounds and six assists and the Knicks blew out the Timberwolves 133-107.
Shai’s streak continues
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 35 points in Oklahoma City’s 105-99 win over banged-up Orlando (which was already without Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner, then lost Jalen Suggs to ankle issues on Thursday).
Gilgeous-Alexander has scored 25 or more points in 16 straight games — with the asterisk there being that the NBA Cup final doesn’t count, since he had only 21 in Tuesday’s loss to Milwaukee.
The 16-game streak is the longest in the league this season.
Merry Christmas. Also, humbug
Celtics stars Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum got fourth-quarter technical fouls in Boston’s loss to Chicago on Thursday night, one where the reigning NBA champions unraveled down the stretch.
Another tech went to Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla, who had some angry words directed toward the referee crew after the final buzzer of the Bulls’ 117-108 win.
“I just hadn’t seen them in a while, so just a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, wasn’t sure I was going to see them before the holiday,” Mazzulla explained afterward with a perfectly straight face. “I just can’t let a moment go by where you wish someone just the best to them and theirs and their families.”
The video does not seem to indicate he was spreading holiday cheer.
Referee injured
Veteran referee Scott Foster evidently got injured in Houston.
The longtime NBA Finals ref left in the third quarter of the Rockets’ home game against New Orleans with an undisclosed injury. He did not return.
Foster has worked nearly 2,100 games in his NBA career.
Wemby has another monster line
Victor Wembanyama became the 23rd player in NBA history to take both 15 3-pointers and 12 free throws in a game. Most everyone else on that list is a guard. Wemby is 7-foot-4.
It was another night at the office for the Spurs star: 42 points, six rebounds, five assists, four blocks, two steals. San Antonio beat Atlanta 133-126 in overtime.
All-Star voting opens
Thursday was the first day of voting for the revamped All-Star Game, which is a three-game, mini-tournament with games to 40 points this season.
It’s new. It’s different. It’s not unanimously liked. Phoenix star Kevin Durant’s first reaction was that he “hated” it.
He backed off, a bit, in an interview on FanDuelTV on Thursday. “I work for the league, basically. I can’t be going up against the league like that,” Durant said. “But that was my opinion.”
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