Boston star Jayson Tatum made history as he came up big with 41 points to power the Celtics home without injured teammate Jaylen Brown.
Meanwhile, Jimmy Butler put an exclamation mark on a 16-point effort for the Heat as Miami edged past the Houston Rockets in a thriller.
Plus — two Australians impressed on the court while another got plenty of praise after being snapped up before the trade deadline.
Read on for that and more in our NBA Wrap!
CELTICS STAR MAKES HISTORY IN VICTORY
Jayson Tatum’s 41 points and Boston’s 25 three-pointers propelled the league-leading Celtics to a 40th win of the NBA season, 127-116 over the Charlotte Hornets.
Tatum posted his eighth 40-point game of the season. But with Jaylen Brown sidelined by a facial fracture and Al Horford out with a sore knee he didn’t have to carry the offensive load alone.
Derrick White scored a career-high 33 points and handed out 10 assists. His output included eight of the Celtics’ 25 three-pointers, which came on 55 attempts.
“Shot was feeling good,” White said.
“I was getting some good looks and just letting it fly.” Less than a minute into the contest Sam Hauser and White drilled back-to-back three-pointers and the Celtics cruised from there.
They had a franchise-record 16 three-pointers in the first half, and even when the Hornets put together a 15-0 scoring run in the third quarter the Celtics’ lead remained in double digits.
Tatum drained five from beyond the arc, and became the first NBA player to make 1,000 three-pointers before his 25th birthday.
“He’s locked in,” White said of his 24-year-old teammate.
“He took his game to another level this season. It’s been fun to see, fun to play with. He just makes the right play every time down.”
Doncic’s take on Kyrie’s Mavs debut | 00:52
BUTLER’S EPIC GAME-WINNING PLAY FOR HEAT
Things were much closer in Miami, where Jimmy Butler jammed home the game-winner with three-tenths of a second remaining in the Heat’s 97-95 victory over the Houston Rockets.
Tyler Herro led the Heat with 31 points, nine rebounds and eight assists, Bam Adebayo added 20 points and Butler scored 16 — but the Heat looked in danger of losing to the league-worst Rockets when they trailed by five with 3:40 remaining.
Two free throws from Butler trimmed the deficit and the Heat led 93-91 after an Adebayo steal and Herro three-pointer. The Rockets, however, kept responding. Houston guard Jalen Green’s driving layup with seven-tenths of a second left knotted the score at 95-95, but on Miami’s ensuing inbounds Gabe Vincent found Butler for the alley-oop dunk.
AUSSIE DUO GREEN AND GIDDEY STEP UP WHEN IT MATTERS
Elsewhere, Australian duo Josh Green and Josh Giddey both had impressive games for the Dallas Mavericks and Oklahoma City Thunder.
Green, who will shoulder more responsibility at Dallas after the Kyrie Irving trade, stepped up to provide another offensive option in the Mavericks’ 122-114 win over the Sacramento Kings.
With Luka Doncic still sidelined, the Kings double-teamed Irving quite often, forcing Dallas’ other players to step up and take on a more active role in helping run the offence.
Green did just that, putting up 17 points, six assists and three rebounds in the first three quarters.
The Mavericks guard only added one assist and rebound to his tally in the fourth quarter but continues to grow in confidence and will play an important role for Dallas after Dorian Finney-Smith, the team’s best perimeter defender, was traded before the deadline.
“The game has become easy for Josh Green,” Derek Harper said on Bally Sports Southwest.
Meanwhile, Giddey continues to develop his partnership with Thunder teammate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as the pair inspired Oklahoma City to a 138-129 win over the Portland Trail Blazers.
Giddey’s slick passing, as always, was a highlight early as the 20-year-old threatened a triple-double with seven points, five assists and four rebounds by halftime.
While Giddey would fall short in the end, the young guard still finished with 19 points and has now scored at least double figures in every game this year.
Another solid showing from Giddey was overshadowed by what was arguably teammate Gilgeous-Alexander’s best game of his career, putting up 44 points and seven assists in the win.
It comes after Gilgeous-Alexander once again missed out on an All-Star starting spot despite Steph Curry pulling out due to injury, with Ja Morant replacing the Warriors superstar instead.
Gilgeous-Alexander, who had his sixth-career 40-point game on Saturday, remained a reserve.
As for the Trail Blazers, they certainly could do with Matisse Thybulle’s elite defence after trading for the Australian before Friday’s deadline.
General manager Joe Cronin told local reporters he was “excited” to welcome Thybulle to the team.
“[He’s] flat out an elite defender,” Cronin said.
“As you heard me talk earlier, that is something we are really emphasising. For us, Matisse has always been a target, and we were really excited to get him at what we thought was a pretty good price.”
ELSEWHERE…
It went to double-overtime in Detroit, where the Pistons edged the San Antonio Spurs 138-131.
Bojan Bogdanovic scored 32 points and Jalen Duren added 30 and 17 rebounds for the Pistons.
Elsewhere, Lauri Markkanen and Walker Kessler scored 23 points apiece to help the Utah Jazz erase a 12-point deficit with 4:53 remaining in a 122-116 victory over the Raptors in Toronto.
Collin Sexton added 22 points for the Jazz, who ended a three-game losing streak.
Pascal Siakam scored 35 points for Toronto, but the Raptors couldn’t hold off Utah’s late surge. Markkanen’s three-point play put Utah up 115-114 with 2:07 remaining and they pulled away for the win.
Davis explains lackluster celebration | 00:46
The Philadelphia 76ers avenged a humbling defeat in New York City with a 119-108 home triumph over the Knicks.
Philadelphia’s star center Joel Embiid scored 35 points and grabbed 11 rebounds and Tyrese Maxey added 27 points off the bench as the Sixers rallied from 13 down to win.
Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson scored 30 points apiece for the Knicks, Brunson pouring in 20 in the first quarter alone.
But the 76ers turned the tide in the third quarter and trailed by just one going into the final period, when they out-scored the Knicks 27-15.
In Memphis, Ja Morant scored 32 points with nine rebounds and nine assists and Desmond Bane added 20 in the Grizzlies’ comfortable 128-107 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Phoenix downed Indiana 117-104, fuelled by 22 points and 11 rebounds from Deandre Ayton and 21 points from Devin Booker.
Giannis Antetokounmpo led the way for Milwaukee with 35 points as the Bucks breezed past the Clippers 119-106.
Elsewhere, 30 points from Donovan Mitchell and key contributions on both ends from Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley saw Cleveland claim a 118-107 win over New Orleans.
