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Nightly Pulse: NBA News & Highlights from Jan. 3

Stay up to date on the latest NBA news, scores and storylines tonight with our Nightly Pulse live blog.

NBA.com Staff

🏀 Tonight’s NBA Scores (Jan.3) 🏀

Top NBA storylines tonight👉📝

  • Thunder tie franchise record with 14th straight win: The Thunder and Knicks squared off Friday night with both teams looking to extend impressive winning streaks. New York had the edge through three quarters but Oklahoma City took over in the fourth to make it 14 consecutive W’s. If the Thunder win Sunday against the Celtics, it’ll be a franchise record and also tie them with the Cavaliers for the longest winning streak in the Association this season.

  • Spurs outlast Nuggets in statement win: The Spurs-Nuggets showdown Friday in Denver did not disappoint. Massive outings from both Victor Wembanyama and Nikola Jokić. Several late-game lead changes. Clutch performances. The Spurs ultimately fought back from a five-point deficit late in the fourth quarter to notch their 18th victory. Safe to say we’re looking forward to the rematch in San Antonio on Saturday.
  • Career night for CJ McCollum: McCollum stole the show in front of the home crowd with a tremendous performance against the Wizards. The vet turned back the clock and dropped 50 points on Washington. He made 10 3’s and became one of three players in NBA history to have 50 points and 10 made 3’s in less than 35 minutes played. Not too shabby.
  • Orlando rookie Tristan da Silva has best game of young career: Just two nights removed from being shut out of the scoring column, da Silva bounced back with his best offensive performance to date. He notched 25 points on 9-for-13 shooting and added four rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals in the win over the Raptors.

⭐🌟Top NBA Performers🌟⭐

  • CJ McCollum, New Orleans Pelicans: 50 points (10 3PM) to tie a career-high.
  • Nikola Jokić, Denver Nuggets: 41 points, 18 rebounds, nine assists. It was his fourth game with at least 40 points and 10 boards.
  • Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio Spurs: 35 points, 18 rebounds, two blocks.

DeRozan, Monk shine as Kings hold off Grizzlies

The Kings flirted with disaster Friday, letting a 15-point lead evaporate as the Grizzlies briefly re-took the lead in the fourth quarter. Sacramento locked in the rest of the way and managed to hold off Memphis for a much-needed 138-133 win.

DeMar DeRozan fell just short of a 30-point game, finishing with 29 on 10 of 18 shooting. Malik Monk paced the scoring with a game-high 31 points.

👽Wemby in elite company through 100 games

San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama played in his 100th career game Friday night. Here’s how his performance thus far stacks up in league history. (Spoiler: pretty well)

🐻 Grizz making a game of it

The Grizzlies have clawed their way back from a 15-point deficit early in the second half to pull within two possessions with time starting to wind down in Sacramento. Jaylen Wells and Jaren Jackson have fueled the Memphis comeback with 27 and 20 points, respectively. Catch the end of this Western Conference showdown on NBA League Pass.

🌕 West Coast score updates

  • The Kings have built a 15-point lead over the Grizzlies early in the third quarter. Four Kings starters have already scored in double figures and Trey Lyles has gone a perfect 4-for-4 from deep off the bench.
  • The Lakers and Hawks are locked in a close battle through the first half. Anthony Davis is trending towards notching yet another double-double for the Lakers while Jalen Johnson has started 5 of 6 from the floor for the Hawks.

🤩Spurs make statement in Denver

The San Antonio Spurs trailed by five points with just over two minutes remaining but managed to claw their way to a 113-110 win on the road against the Nuggets. Things got all the more tense for the Spurs when they committed what appeared to be a costly turnover with 0:17 remaining. However, the Spurs managed to force a turnover via a Victor Wembanyama steal, who dished it ahead to Devin Vassell for a dunk to punctuate the win.

The stars showed out with Nikola Jokić falling one assist shy of another triple-double but still mustered 41 points and 18 boards. Wemby was stellar for San Antonio with 35 points, 18 boards and two blocks.

Don’t look now, but the Spurs are just two games off the pace for the 6-seed in the West.

🍿 Drama in Denver ⛰️

Two of the best bigs in the game are showing out in Denver tonight with Nikola Jokić and Victor Wembanyama turning in electrifying performances. Jokić is up to 39 points and 18 boards while Wemby has answered with 35 and 18 for his own part.

The Nuggets are hanging onto a two-point lead as we enter the final minutes of the fourth quarter. Catch the exciting finale on League Pass.

⬆️ Cavs become first team to 30 wins

The Thunder’s win streak is garnering plenty of attention, but the Cavaliers are playing at an elite level right now as well. They have won nine straight to get to 30-4 on the year, becoming the first team to reach that marker this season.

The Mavericks did not have an answer for Evan Mobley, who had 34 points to notch his second-highest scoring total on the year. Caris LeVert and Georges Niang had strong contributions off the bench, combining for 32 points.

🍔50-burger for McCollum

New Orleans’ CJ McCollum put on a show in front of the home crowd by dropping 50 points on the Wizards, tying his career high. McCollum went 18-for-27 from the floor, including 10-for-16 from beyond the arc. His 10 made triples is tied for the most in a game by a player this season, joining Tyler Herro and former teammate Damian Lillard.

Check out this wild stat on just how rare McCollum’s performance was tonight.

🎪Ridiculous shot from LeVert

Cleveland’s Caris LeVert is having one of his best games of the season and he punctuated it with an absurd circus shot in transition to help pad the Cavs’ lead over the Mavs.

Would you care for another angle? We would.

🌧️Thunder extend win streak to 14

Though the Knicks appeared to be in control through three quarters, it was the Thunder who finished strong to keep their win streak alive Friday while extinguishing New York’s nine-game run.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was his usual productive self with 33 points and seven assists while Isaiah Hartenstein controlled the glass with 14 boards. However, the unsung hero for OKC was Aaron Wiggins, who had a huge fourth quarter in his own right en route to notching a season-high 19 points.

The Thunder have now tied the franchise record for consecutive wins with 14, which occurred in the 1995-96 season when the team was in Seattle. They’re also one win shy of tying Cleveland for the longest winning streak in the NBA this season.

☘️Celtics soar past Rockets

The Celtics went into Houston and routed the Western Conference’s No.3 seed Friday night with a 109-86 victory. The C’s had the three-ball going all night as they canned 19 of 39 attempts from beyond the arc, including four triples apiece from Jayson Tatum and Payton Pritchard. Derrick White led the way in that facet of the game with a 6-for-12 showing from deep.

Thunder storm back vs Knicks

The game of the night was set to take place in Oklahoma City tonight with the streaking Thunder taking on a similarly hot Knicks squad. Two lengthy win streaks are at stake and the two sides are locked in an epic battle.

The Thunder have come back to tie it after trailing by as many as 14 points. Tune in for the thrilling conclusion now on NBA TV.

🎢Pels, Wizards trading buckets

Fans have been treated to an entertaining rollercoaster of a game at the Smoothie King Center on Friday with the Pelicans and Wizards locked in a back-and-forth battle. There have been 24 lead changes as of the midway point of the fourth quarter and neither team has led by more than 10 points at any juncture.

CJ McCollum has helped the Pels start to pull away with a game-high 37 points. Big man Yves Missi has notched a double-double with 10 points and 10 boards in 28 minutes of work.

👽 Wemby from way downtown

Victor Wembanyama is taking over in Denver with 18 points and 12 boards with time still to go in the first half. The Spurs have raced out to a 10-point lead thanks in large part to Wemby’s contributions.

🫣Down to the wire in Detroit

The Pistons held off the Hornets to notch their first win of the season over Charlotte in three tries. Both teams were shorthanded as LaMelo Ball was out for Charlotte while Jaden Ivey was sidelined as he begins the rehab process for a broken left fibula on New Year’s Day.

Tobias Harris led the way for the Pistons with a 24-point, 10-rebound double-double. Rebounding machine Jalen Duren pulled down 14 rebounds, including seven on the offensive glass. Duren’s seven offensive boards marked the third time this season in which he’s pulled down that many on that end. His personal-best was when he had 12 offensive rebounds on Nov. 18 against the Bulls, which is the highest mark in the NBA this season.

Wemby elevates in Mile High City

San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama rises high for the slam in the early goings of Friday’s matchup with the Nuggets in Denver. Through six minutes, Wembanyama is up to seven points and four rebounds already.

Knicks use 2nd quarter run to fuel halftime lead

The Knicks embarked on a 23-10 run to close half Friday in Oklahoma City and lead 66-54 at the break. New York outscored OKC 36-21 in the second quarter overall.

New York is doing this despite Karl-Anthony Towns being the only starter that has yet to score in double figures. Towns has been a force on the glass, however, pulling down 13 boards in 20 minutes.

☘️ Celtics lead Rockets at half

Boston takes a nine-point lead into the locker room after an impressive first half in Houston. Boston has gotten balanced production from several players as four C’s have scored in double figures thus far, led by Payton Pritchard’s 14 points off the bench.

🔨 Missi don’t miss

Pelicans big man, Yves Missi, skied for the slam to finish off the alley-oop and give the Pels the lead over the Warriors. The Pelicans and Wizards are locked in a close battle thus far with 10 lead changes already in just 1.5 quarters of action. Catch the game now on NBA League Pass.

🤯 SGA. OMG.

Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander hit the spin move and got to the cup for the finish. The Thunder lead 33-30 over the Knicks after one quarter of action. Catch the action now on NBA TV.

🍿Marquee matchups in action

This window of games features some of the best inter-conference matchups a hoops fan can ask for this season. The Thunder and Knicks are going toe-to-toe in OKC midway through the first quarter while the Rockets and Celtics are squaring off in Houston.

Catch the action on NBA TV and NBA League Pass.

😤 Jalen Suggs. Heart and hustle

Orlando’s Jalen Suggs went all out to create the turnover, which the Magic cashed in for a trey from Caleb Houstan. The Magic are up by double digits over the Raptors through one quarter. Orlando is feeling it from beyond the arc with nine made triples on 14 attempts (64.3%).

Per the team, the nine made 3-pointers in the first quarter tie a franchise record for a single quarter.

✍️ History in OKC

The Thunder (13 straight wins) host the Knicks (nine straight wins) tonight, which marks the first time since 2000 that two teams with winning streaks of at least nine games squared off. That game featured the Lakers and Trail Blazers and Los Angeles prevailed 90-87. Shaquille O’Neal led all scorers with 23 points.

👔 Friday night fits

The Thunder are rolling into the arena ahead of tonight’s marquee matchup against the Knicks.

Houston, we have fits off

🕷 Spida threads

📰Required Reading

🔑 Key NBA Storylines Tonight

  1. Jokić vs Wemby square off for first time this season: Two of the best bigs in the league will go toe-to-toe for the first of three meetings between the Spurs and Nuggets this season. Jokić notched his 14th triple-double of the season in his last outing while Wembanyama is coming off a historic December in which he became the first player in NBA history to record 300 points, 100 rebounds, 50 blocks, 50 assists and 40 three-pointers in a calendar month.
  2. Winning streaks on the line in OKC: The Western Conference’s top seed, the Thunder, will host the Eastern Conference’s No.3 seed when the Knicks come to town Friday. The Thunder are looking to extend their win streak to 14 games but they will get a strong challenge from a Knicks team that has won nine in a row on their part.
  3. Rockets in search of statement win: The Rockets are one of the most pleasant surprises through the first portion of the season as they sit 3rd in the West at 22-11. They are 12-8 against teams .500 or better but beating the Celtics would be an especially strong statement.

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