On his time. Every time.
SGA hits 40 and joins Wilt amid an AWS Rivals Week win.
5 STORIES IN TODAY’S EDITION 🏀
Rivals Strike: Shai shines as Thunder roll, Cavs catch early fire, Knicks respond in record fashion
East Leaders Flex: Duren dominates for Detroit, JB lifts C’s past Indy
Roundup: Johnson delivers in clutch time, Barnes boosts Raptors on both ends
Tonight On Prime: AWS Rivals Week continues as the Mavs host the Dubs before the Battle of LA
20 Years After 81: Shaun Powell revisits Kobe’s iconic night, 20 years to the day
BUT FIRST … ⏰
AWS NBA Rivals Week continues with a Prime doubleheader as Steph Curry’s Warriors visit Cooper Flagg, Klay Thompson and the Mavs (7:30 ET | Tap to Watch), before the Clippers host the Lakers (10 ET | Tap to Watch).
Relive Kobe’s 81: To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Kobe Bryant’s legendary 81-point performance, fans can stream the full game all day on the NBA App and NBA.com. Explore the Kobe 81 Collection for more.
All-Star Friday Awaits: Tickets for the 2026 Ruffles NBA All-Star Celebrity Game and Castrol Rising Stars are available now.
The action tips off Friday, Feb. 13, at the Kia Forum and Intuit Dome in Inglewood, CA. Use promo code NEWS26 to grab tickets now.
1. RIVALS STRIKE: SGA DROPS 40, CAVS TOP HORNETS, KNICKS RESPOND BIG
Two former Kia MVPs and record-setting scorers, an Emirates NBA Cup title game and the jumping-off point for OKC’s Finals run.
AWS Rivals Week continued with a young rivalry that’s already given us so much.
And Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Bucks tend to bring out the best in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Thunder 122, Bucks 102: SGA piled up a noteworthy 40 points, 7 rebounds and 11 assists while hitting 16-of-19 shots (84.2 FG%) as OKC jumped out early and never trailed, clearing Giannis (19 pts, 14 reb, 7 ast) and the Bucks for a seventh win in eight games. | Recap
Shai became the third player ever with a 40-point, 10-assist effort on 80%+ shooting, after Toronto’s Immanuel Quickley (11-13 FG) did it last night.
With Wilt Again: The other player to do so? Chamberlain, who SGA also kept pace with in consecutive 20+ point games (115). He’s now 12 away from surpassing Wilt
Boards Above: Shai and Wilt stand alone as the only players with 5 or more rebounds in 40+ point, 10+ assist, 80%+ shooting games
Never Satisfied: “My few shots I missed were all layups, and usually layups are my easiest shot,” Shai told ESPN. “So I gotta get back in the lab.”
After getting out to a 7-0 start, OKC put Milwaukee in a 38-18 1st-quarter hole for the wire-to-wire win.
Thunder Spark: Ajay Mitchell drove OKC’s hot start with 18 1st-half points before exiting (hip), as the Thunder were already without Jalen Williams (hamstring) and four other regulars
“We pick the basketball up to be great,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We still feel like we have a lot of room to grow and that’s what we’re chasing.”
Wednesday’s AWS Rivals Week doubleheader started in Charlotte, where the Cavs set the quick-start tone for the evening.
Cavaliers 94, Hornets 87: Cleveland raced out to a 19-4 lead and then held Charlotte to 12 2nd-quarter points and 32 1st-half points, as Donovan Mitchell (24 pts, 6 ast), Evan Mobley (14 pts, 14 reb) & Co. outlasted the Hornets for their eighth win in the last 11 games. | Recap
No Quit: Brandon Miller (24 pts) and Kon Knueppel (21 pts, 11 reb) led Charlotte, who got as close as four points after a late 12-3 run, but ran out of time
One day after falling to Dallas for their fourth straight loss and ninth in 11 games, Knicks captain Jalen Brunson was clear about what needed to change:
“It’s our mindset,” Brunson said Tuesday. “Our mindset has to be better. We can’t focus on the things we can’t control. We can control effort and the way we play defensively.”
On Wednesday, New York did exactly that.
Knicks 120, Nets 66: The Knicks held Brooklyn to the NBA’s lowest point total this season, limiting them to 29% shooting and just 10 points in the 4th, while Brunson (20 pts, 5 ast) led 13 New York scorers to earn the largest win in franchise history (54 pts). | Recap
Record Rebound: Including the Playoffs, the Knicks have played 6,653 total games. Last night was their first 50+ point win
2. EAST LEADERS ROLL AS DUREN & BROWN SHINE
Same name. Different spelling. Same results.
While Jalen Duren powered Detroit, Jaylen Brown fueled Boston as the East’s top two teams picked up dubs.
Pistons 112, Pelicans 104: Without Cade Cunningham (illness), Duren (20 pts, 15 reb, 2 blk) led Detroit to a wire-to-wire win over Trey Murphy III (17 pts) and the Pels, extending the Pistons’ win streak to four as they improve to an East-best 32-10. | Recap
Interior Force: It’s Duren’s fifth 20/15 game this season, tied with Giannis Antetokounmpo & Karl-Anthony Towns for the 2nd-most in the NBA and trailing only Nikola Jokić (eight)
Two nights after losing a game in the standings to the Pistons in their head-to-head matchup, the 2nd-place C’s handled business to keep pace.
Celtics 119, Pacers 104: Jaylen Brown (30 pts, 10 reb, 5 ast) paced the offense and Sam Hauser added 17 points with five 3s, as Boston never trailed by more than a point to defeat Pascal Siakam (32 pts, 10 reb) and the Pacers for a third time since Dec. 22. | Recap
Stacking 30s: JB set a new career best with his 24th 30+ point game of the season, tying Luka Dončić for 2nd-most 30-pieces this year
3. ROUND UP: JOHNSON COMES UP CLUTCH, BARNES IGNITES RAPTORS
Speaking of Jalens…
Hawks 124, Grizzlies 122: Jalen Johnson put on a show, dissecting Memphis for 32 points, 15 boards and 8 dimes, capped by a lead-extending turnaround with 46 ticks left to lift the Hawks over Ja Morant (23 pts, 12 ast) and the Grizz. | Recap
Best For Last: Johnson’s turnaround closed an 8-0 Atlanta run as he scored 10 of his 32 points in the 4th
Rare Perch: He joins Bob Pettit as the only Hawks in franchise history with multiple 30/15/8 games
Ja Rising: Morant got up for a key block in the 4th before cutting the lead to one on a breakaway dunk with 1:43 left. But his potential game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer rimmed out
Raptors 122, Kings 109: Scottie Barnes balled out on both ends (23 pts, 8 reb, 7 ast, 4 stl), while Brandon Ingram matched him with 23 points as the duo sparked a 43-21 3rd quarter to push Toronto past Russell Westbrook (23 pts) and Sacramento. | Recap
4. AWS RIVALS WEEK CONTINUES: BATTLE OF LA, WARRIORS-MAVS ON PRIME
Few opponents know Luka Dončić like the LA Clippers do.
In 22 games against the Clips, Dončić is averaging 31.9 points, 7.8 rebounds and 7.4 assists – a level of dominance rarely seen against a single opponent.
Tonight (10 ET, Prime), the league’s top scorer – fresh off another masterclass – leads the Lakers into the Intuit Dome, this time facing a Clippers group playing as well as anyone.
The Run: After a 6-21 start, the Clips have won 13 of their last 16 games. That’s the most for any team in that span
The Turning Point: That run started with a 103-88 win over the Lakers, where Kawhi Leonard (32 pts, 12 reb) and James Harden (21 pts, 10 ast) combined for over half of the Clippers’ points
The Now: Leonard (32.7 ppg) and Harden (25.9 ppg, 7.9 apg) have been a force ever since, posting a combined 58.6 ppg amid LA’s surge
The Watch: While Kawhi has missed the last two games with a knee contusion, he could potentially return tonight (questionable)
Waiting on the other side? The league’s highest-scoring duo since Jan. 1 in Dončić (33.3 pts) and LeBron James (25.8), combining for 59.1 ppg.
To open tonight’s AWS Rivals Week doubleheader, Klay Thompson faces his former team as the Mavs host Steph Curry’s Warriors (7:30 ET, Prime).
Last Thursday, Thompson nailed six 3s in a win over the Jazz, passing Damian Lillard for the 4th-most made 3s of all-time.
One week later, Thompson takes the floor against Golden State alongside Cooper Flagg – a full-circle moment years in the making, writes Christian Clark of The Athletic.
At the start of their dynastic run, a grade-school kid in Newport, Maine, was watching. Cooper Flagg was drawn to the way the Warriors moved the ball and bombed away from 3 with abandon.
“He told me he was 9 years old when he watched me in the 2015 NBA Finals,” said Thompson, who became teammates with Flagg after the Mavericks improbably won the NBA Draft lottery in May.
“That puts so much in perspective. I feel so honored to be out here still playing at a high level.” | Read More
5. 20 YEARS AFTER 81: SHAUN POWELL REVISITS KOBE’S LEGENDARY NIGHT
Twenty years ago today, Kobe Bryant authored one of the most staggering individual performances the game has ever seen: an 81-point eruption that bent basketball’s modern limits.
Two decades later, the number – the highest single-game total since Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 – still feels unreal.
To celebrate the anniversary, Shaun Powell revisits the night Kobe caught fire, captured the sports world and delivered a performance that hasn’t been matched since:
Kobe Bryant scored how many points?
Was it 81? And was it really 20 years ago today?
Because we’re currently three or four generations removed from the NBA’s official highest single-game scoring total, and also because that 1962 game was fossilized not with photos or video or even a tweet, but with the player holding a sheet of paper with a number scribbled on it, Kobe’s 81 is our Wilt Chamberlain’s 100.
It is the standard for today’s game with today’s rules and norms. It was produced by an iconic star who resonated deeply, and was captured live in its entirety on video, happening just as cutting-edge technology began cutting its teeth.
Kobe scored 81. Right player, right time, right everything. | Read More
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