Starting 5: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander ties record, a look at Spurs-Celtics & more

5 STORIES IN TODAY’S EDITION 🏀

Instant Classic: SGA matches Wilt’s 20-point game streak, then sinks Nuggets with final shot

Roundup: Harden joins 29K club, Kawhi & Clips climb, Jazz and Nets win

Celtics At Spurs: Tatum meets Wemby as the league’s top teams since Jan. 1 collide on NBC

Wolves At Lakers: Ant & Luka duel in pivotal West showdown to cap Coast 2 Coast Tuesday

Power Rankings Spotlight: Magic, Heat & Hawks climb amid win streaks in crowded East race

BUT FIRST … ⏰

Eleven games tip off tonight, headlined by NBC’s Coast 2 Coast Tuesday as the Celtics visit the Spurs (8 ET | Tap to Watch), before the Lakers host the Wolves (8 PT | Tap to Watch).

1. SHAI’S SPECIAL NIGHT: RECORD-TYING STREAK, WALK-OFF WINNER

They’ve each won an NBA championship in the last three seasons.

They’ve each produced a Kia MVP in the last two.

They went seven games in the 2025 West Semifinals.

And last night, with their MVPs trading haymakers and history in the air, the Thunder and Nuggets delivered an instant classic – one SGA finished.

Thunder 129, Nuggets 126: On a night he matched Wilt Chamberlain for the most consecutive 20-point games in NBA history (126), Gilgeous-Alexander (35 pts, 9 reb, 15 ast) saved his best for last, drilling not one but two colossal clutch 3s to stave off Nikola Jokić (32 pts, 14 reb, 13 ast) and Denver in an epic finish. | Recap

• Thunder Seize Control: Tied at 109 midway through the 4th, SGA and Jared McCain sparked a quick OKC burst to go up eight with 2:02 left
• Nuggets Respond: Denver answered with a 9-2 run, capped by back-to-back Jokić buckets to cut the deficit to one with 31 seconds to play
• Then, The Shot: The Nuggets needed one more stop, but SGA wouldn’t allow it – letting time wind down before hitting a stepback triple to push OKC’s lead to four with 14 ticks left
• But It Wasn’t Over: Five seconds later, Jokić responded with a 3 while a loose-ball foul was called on OKC, sending Jamal Murray (21 pts, 8 reb, 6 ast) to the line for one shot. He hit it
• Tie Game: 0:09 left

Then, The Winner: With Denver answering every shot and Paycom Center holding its breath, the Thunder went back to their steady hand.

And the man known by three letters needed just three dribbles for three more points – driving right, stepping back and lofting a contested 26-footer with 2.8 left:

Bullseye. Ballgame. Bedlam in OKC.

• “I knew they were going to send multiple bodies,” said SGA on the winner. “I tried to create space and get a shot off – it went down.”

The Points, The Poise: SGA’s record-tying streak of 126 straight 20-pieces dates back to Nov. 1, 2024. In that span, he’s won a Kia MVP, a scoring title, the Finals MVP and an NBA championship.

But on the night he matched Wilt, one of the game’s all-time greatest scorers, it wasn’t just Shai’s points that lifted OKC – it was everything else that’s brought him here.

Steady, cool and always in control.

• Full Command: SGA scored or assisted on 74 of OKC’s 129 points – his highest total all season – without recording a turnover
• King Company: He joins LeBron James as the only players to total 35+ pts, 15+ ast and 0 turnovers in a regular season game since turnovers were first tracked in 1977-78
• King Closer: And to reach 35? It took one more dagger – his eighth game-winner in the final 10 seconds of a game since 2020, the most of any player in that span
• “Tremendous poise, confidence – he doesn’t change his mindset regardless of the circumstance,” said OKC coach Mark Daigneault of Shai. “He doesn’t break a sweat … that was an outstanding performance.”

2. ROUNDUP: HARDEN HITS 29K, KAWHI LIFTS CLIPS, JAZZ & NETS WIN

While SGA matched Wilt’s streak, James Harden joined an exclusive all-time club.

Cavaliers 115, 76ers 101: Harden scored 21 to become the ninth player in NBA history to reach 29,000 career points, while Donovan Mitchell added 17 points and 6 assists as Cleveland outpaced Philly, which was without Tyrese Maxey (finger). | Recap

• Beard & Bron: Harden joins LeBron as the only players with 29,000+ points and 8,000+ assists
• Beard, Alone: The only player with 29K points and 3K made 3s? Harden, who is now 9-2 as a Cav

The Clippers are .500 for the first time since Nov. 3.

Clippers 126, Knicks 118: Karl-Anthony Towns (35 pts, 12 reb) and Jalen Brunson (28 pts, 8 ast) combined for 63 points, but the Knicks had no answers for LA’s attack, with Kawhi Leonard (29 pts, 7 reb, 8 ast) fueling a near wire-to-wire win. | Recap

• New Boosts: Bennedict Mathurin (28 pts, 7 reb) and Darius Garland (23 pts, 7 ast) each added 20-pieces as the Clips earned their fifth win in six games
• New No. 8: After a 6-21 start, LA is now 32-32 – jumping Golden State for 8th in the West via tiebreaker

Jazz 119, Warriors 116: Brice Sensabaugh (21 pts) and Kyle Filipowski (19 pts, 15 reb) led eight Jazz players in double figures, and Blake Hinson hit a tiebreaking 3 with 29 ticks left to edge the Steph Curry-less Warriors. | Recap 

Nets 126, Grizzlies 115: Day’Ron Sharpe (19 pts, 1 poster) and Ochai Agbaji (18 pts) led 13 Nets scorers as Brooklyn pulled past Memphis for its second straight win. | Recap

3. TATUM & CELTICS VISIT WEMBY’S SPURS TO OPEN NBC’S COAST 2 COAST TUESDAY

Since Jan. 1, no two teams have been better than the Spurs and Celtics.

San Antonio is an NBA-best 23-8 since the New Year, riding a current 15-1 tear to move 3 games back of OKC for the West’s top seed.

Boston has been almost exactly as good since Jan. 1, going 23-9 to climb within 2.5 games of Detroit for the East’s top spot.

Tonight on NBC (8 ET), the league’s two best teams in 2026 – both in 2nd and closing on their conference leaders – collide.

Parallel Paths: At the heart of this heavyweight clash are two superstars: Victor Wembanyama and Jayson Tatum.

One, a 7-foot-4 marvel putting up numbers the league has rarely seen. The other, an NBA champion whose return from an Achilles tear has galvanized Boston.

Ten months ago, both faced moments that left their basketball futures uncertain, with Tatum facing a grueling recovery and Wemby sidelined by deep vein thrombosis, each wondering when – or if – they’d return to this level.

• “I just couldn’t help but think, ‘Am I ever going to play again?’” Tatum said in his “Quiet Work” miniseries. “I always felt like I could overcome anything, but this was different.”
• “It was five minutes of total breakdown,” Wemby told ESPN of the moment he received the diagnosis. “Crying. Sadness. Feeling the fragility of life and health.”

That fragility hardened Wembanyama’s resolve, reshaping his mindset and pushing his game to another level this season.

• “I needed time to find myself again and then to get better,” said Wemby of his recovery in December. “Life is short. [Your] career is short. It can end just like this. So there’s no time to waste.”

His urgency has shown during San Antonio’s 15-1 surge, where he’s piled up 377 points, 179 rebounds, 61 blocks and 30 3s – numbers no other player has produced in a 16-game span.

Tatum’s return has been extraordinary in itself.

Less than 10 months since his injury, he’s logged 54 minutes in his first two games back, averaging 17.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists in two wins, capped by his dagger 3 to beat Cleveland.

For Tatum, those winning moments come with a new perspective.

• “It’s been a long time coming just to get to this point,” said Tatum on Friday. “We know many great athletes that have went through ups and downs in their career, but it’s another thing to live it…
• “The things that I want to accomplish are still in front of me. But how you get there looks different for everybody.”

Tonight (8 ET, NBC), Tatum and Wemby’s roads intersect – both back from uncertainty, both leading two of the league’s best teams and both chasing bigger goals.

4. MORE ON C2C TUESDAY: ANT DUELS LUKA AS WOLVES VISIT LAKERS

Only two players are averaging 30+ ppg since the All-Star break: Anthony Edwards (31.4) and Luka Dončić (31.3).

They’ll go head-to-head tonight (8 PT, NBC) to close NBC’s Coast-to-Coast Tuesday as the 3rd-place Wolves visit the 5th-place Lakers, separated by just one game in the West Playoff race.

Edwards and Dončić aren’t just the game’s two hottest scorers right now – they’re also two of its most explosive, ready to erupt on any given night.

• Highly Flammable: Luka leads the league with 10 40-point games this season, and Edwards is second with nine. No other player in the NBA has more than five

So how do these two stars get so hot? Let’s break down the tape to see how they break down defenses ⬇️

Luka’s Magic: Only Steph Curry (4.5) is hitting more 3s per game this season than Dončić (3.8), who is shooting 36% from downtown. 2.6 of Luka’s 3s are pull-ups – a shot he has mastered.

Dončić’s effective FG% is 53.6 on pull-up jumpers this season, resulting in 14.5 ppg – the most in the NBA.

Ant-Man Attack Mode: Edwards ranks 4th in 3s per game (3.5) as his scoring arsenal continues to expand. And while he’s shooting 40% from deep, he’s at his most efficient going downhill.

Edwards is one of eight players averaging 10+ ppg off drives this season (10.5). Of those players, only one is producing points on over 80% of their drives: Ant at 90.9%.

Closers: When the game slows down in crunch time, both Dončić and Edwards find more ways to make their mark.

• Luka Facilitation: While Dončić leads the league in scoring (32.5 ppg), he has answers for extra defenders in big moments, tallying 42 points and a team-best 13 assists in clutch time
• The Result? Los Angeles owns an NBA-best 17-5 clutch-time record

On a 46-point night against Chicago (Jan. 26), Luka’s 11th dime got the dub, putting L.A. up 7 with 1:00 left.

Ant Answers: With buckets at a premium, Edwards uses his legs in clutch time, leading the league in fastbreak points (18), while ranking 4th in points in the paint (48).

• The Result? Ant is the only player with 100+ clutch points on over 55% shooting this season, leading Minnesota to 16 clutch wins – one fewer than the Lakers

To beat San Antonio on Jan. 11, Edwards went straight to the rack, banking in the game-winner with 16 seconds left.

Now, the two clutch superstars meet for one pivotal duel in LA.

5. POWER RANKINGS SPOTLIGHT: HOT EAST SQUADS RISE AMID PLAYOFF PUSH

With 33 days left in the regular season, three teams are streaking in the heart of the East postseason push: 6th-place Orlando, 7th-place Miami and 9th-place Atlanta.

The Magic have won four straight. The Heat have won five straight. And the Hawks have won six straight.

All three are climbing the standings – and rising in John Schuhmann’s latest Power Rankings, where he examines what’s fueling each surge:

The Magic are the league’s second-most-improved team since the break, 11.3 points per 100 possessions better than before it. The bigger improvement has been on defense, where they rank 3rd over the last three weeks.

The Heat have scored 123.3 points per 100 possessions over their five-game winning streak, their best stretch of offense this season.

The Hawks ranked 27th in rebounding percentage (48%) before the winning streak, but they’ve been the second-best rebounding team in the league (56.5%) over these last six games. | Read More

Tonight, Miami and Atlanta will look to extend their streaks on League Pass as they host Washington and Dallas, respectively (both at 7:30 ET).

League Pass brings seven more matchups, including the East-best Pistons looking to snap a four-game skid as they visit Brooklyn (7:30 ET), before the Raptors face the Rockets (8 ET).

• Grizzlies at 76ers (7 ET)
• Suns at Bucks (8 ET)
• Bulls at Warriors (10 ET)
• Hornets at Blazers (10 ET)
• Pacers at Kings (10 ET)

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