‘It’s not good’: Two superstars hurt in one day after KD blow, fears for Dallas ace — NBA Wrap

In New Orleans, a flurry of late scoring from C.J. McCollum led the Pelicans to a 113-106 victory over the Dallas Mavericks as Luka Doncic was held to only 15 factors.

McCollum completed with 32 factors – 13 of them coming within the closing 4 minutes of the sport – because the Pels claimed a deserved win.

But most worryingly for the Mavericks, Doncic will endure an MRI on Thursday (US time) to determine how extreme his left thigh pressure is.

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Asked how the thigh, which has been bothering him for a while, felt Doncic informed reporters: “It’s not good.”

“I think it was the second game after the All-Star break. Something like that.”

Doncic awakened the morning after that recreation, a win over the Spurs, and it all of a sudden harm.

He observed the thigh getting worse as the sport progressed in opposition to New Orleans which triggered the decision for scans.

“Yeah, I think we all can see he is not moving well,” his coach Jason Kidd mentioned.

“Shooting, defence, it’s affecting everything. He’s trying to fight through it and help his teammates, but he had to leave there. Hopefully it’s not something serious. We have a couple days here before we play Memphis, so hopefully he’s back soon.”

Meanwhile Zach Lavine poured in 29 factors because the Chicago Bulls ended the Denver Nuggets’ eight-game house unbeaten streak with a 117-96 victory in Colorado on Wednesday.

The Bulls, who’re languishing simply outdoors the play-in locations in eleventh place within the Eastern Conference, took management with a 36-point third quarter to upset the runaway Western Conference leaders.

The Nuggets have been near-invincible in Denver this season, with a league-best 30-4 house document and had been unbeaten in eight at their Ball Arena fortress earlier than Wednesday.

But a gutsy Chicago efficiency ended with Denver on the flawed finish of a uncommon blowout as Lavine completed with 29 factors from 12-of-18 capturing and Nikola Vucevic added 25 factors with 14 rebounds.

Denver’s reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic was held to 18 factors. In different video games, Phoenix shrugged off the late damage absence of Kevin Durant — who had been because of make his house debut — to trounce the Oklahoma City Thunder 132-101.

Suns followers had been desirous to get their first glimpse of Durant at their house venue since his blockbuster commerce from Brooklyn final month.

But the 34-year-old famous person was dominated out shortly earlier than tip-off after rolling an ankle as he tried a layup in the course of the warm-up.

In Durant’s absence, Devin Booker took heart stage for Phoenix, erupting for 44 factors with Terrence Ross including 24 from the bench and Chris Paul chipping in with 18.

Phoenix coach Monty Williams mentioned Durant had suffered an ankle sprain. “We have to wait and see how he responds to treatment and we’ll probably get some more imaging just to make sure we’re all on the same page,” Williams mentioned.

“He was out there working his tail off getting ready for the game and he twisted his ankle — that’s life.”

In Boston, Jayson Tatum scored 30 factors because the Celtics snapped their three-game dropping streak with a 115-93 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.

Tatum spearheaded an excellent all-round offensive effort for the Celtics, who had suffered a string of collapses throughout their latest mini-slump which included defeats to Cleveland, the New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets.

But there was little signal of Boston’s issues persisting in opposition to Portland because the Celtics received again into the profitable groove in decisive style.

Boston, who had been knocked out of first place within the Eastern Conference final week, led from early within the first quarter and by no means appeared again, surging 27 factors clear within the fourth earlier than wrapping up an encouraging win.

All of Boston’s starters completed in double figures with Tatum’s 30-point haul main the way in which whereas Derrick White added 21 factors.

Al Horford completed with 17, Jaylen Brown added 11 and Marcus Smart 10. At the opposite finish, Boston’s defence restricted Damian Lillard to 27 factors whereas solely two different Portland starters broke single digits.

Tatum was happy Boston had managed to maintain Portland at arm’s size following latest defeats the place they blew large leads.

“We were up 15 or so in the second and we kept that lead — we haven’t done that lately,” Tatum mentioned.

“In the third quarter we pushed the lead out and didn’t let them back in the game, which is something we’ve struggled with the last couple of games.”

Boston now depart for a six-game street journey the place they may look to construct on Wednesday’s win.

“We’ve got to get back on the right track,” Tatum mentioned.

“We slipped up a bit losing three in a row, and we’ve got to get back to playing how we know how to play.”

In Florida, Cleveland held off a late rally on the street in Miami to increase their latest profitable streak to 3 video games.

The Cavaliers, who’re fourth within the Eastern Conference standings with a 42-26 document, accomplished a 104-100 win because of 25 factors from Darius Garland and 18 from Donovan Mitchell.

Jimmy Butler led Miami’s scorers with 28 factors whereas Tyler Herro had 22 for the Heat, who’re seventh within the East.

NBA SCORES

Thunder 101, Suns 132

Bulls 117, Nuggets 96

Mavericks 106, Pelicans 113

Cavaliers 104, Heat 100

Trail Blazers 93, Celtics 115

Hawks 122, Wizards 120

Raptors 100, Clippers 108