“A special play by a special player.”

– Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins on Ja Morant’s game-winner

“The guy’s magical. I can’t explain it.”

– Warriors coach Steve Kerr on Steph’s

THE LINEUP 🏀

👀  Must-see from Tuesday

🔥  Morant for the win

😴  Steph says night-night

📈  Embiid in Shaq/Wilt zone 

🔙  Luka, Harden & the stepback

So. Much. Great. Ball. Tonight. The NBA’s first two 20-win teams — the Celtics and the Wolves — both play teams in the top four from the opposing conference, as Minnesota plays Philly (7 ET, NBA TV) and Boston takes on Sacramento (10 ET, NBA TV).

2 More Top-7 Showdowns: The 7th-place Heat & 4th-place Magic, two of the grittiest squads in the league, meet up (7 ET, NBA App). Later on, the Clippers and the Mavs square off in a battle of top-six teams in the West (8:30 ET, NBA App)

All-Star Voting: All-Star Voting presented by AT&T launched on Tuesday. Haven’t had a chance to vote yet? Tap here. Already cast your ballot? Every new vote with your free NBA ID gets you another chance to win a trip to All-Star (US & Canada only)

NBA ID Member Days head into Day 3 today, with discounts on some 🔥NBA streetwear for NBA ID members. Tomorrow? A chance to win custom Nike kicks. Tap to sign up

Tap for the full schedule

1. WEDNESDAY MORNING MUST-SEE

In Ja Morant’s season debut, after coming back from a 25-game suspension, he looked every bit the Morant that’s electrified the league since he was drafted No. 2 in 2019.

1️⃣2️⃣ Game-Winner

• Tie game. 10 seconds left. Memphis ball. Ja Morant was the closer, beating the Pelicans with the drive, spin, leap and floater that dropped for a Tissot Buzzer Beater. Watch. Every. Angle. More in Section 2 ⬇️

3️⃣0️⃣ Game-Clincher

• Warriors up one. 20 seconds left. Curry’s missed layup goes off the backboard. No shot clock reset. Chris Paul grabbed the offensive board and found Curry with a cross-court pass for the quick-release catch-and-shoot 3 that sealed the win. More in Section 3 ⬇️
• Night-Night: After Curry put the Celtics to bed once again, check out the Chef’s best night-night cellys over the years

🔥 More from Tuesday

• Dame hits 20K: Watch Damian Lillard’s layup to reach 20,000 career points from inside Fiserv Forum
• Double dose of Ingram: Here are four of Brandon Ingram’s 34 points. First, he crossed up the defense and exploded to the rim for the dunk. Then, he hit Desmond Bane with the nasty crossover for the pull-up jumper
• Don’t forget about Zion: Zion Williamson caught the lob with two hands, then threw it down with authority with the left. Here it is from inside the building
• Wemby making memories: Victor Wembanyama did not play on Tuesday, but still made a young fan’s night with the pregame selfie

2. MORANT WINS IT AT THE BUZZER IN RETURN

🐻 Grizzlies 115, Pelicans 113
🏀 Recap | MEM 7-19, NOP 16-12

Ja Morant had a season debut to remember: 34 points, six rebounds, eight assists, and the game-winner at the buzzer as Memphis rallied from 24 points down to snap a five-game losing streak.

• The winning bucket: Everyone inside the arena knew what was coming. Memphis spread the floor, giving Morant a one-on-one opportunity against a superb defender in Herb Jones
• Great offense beat good defense: Ja crossed over to a single left-hand dribble at the top of the key, then spun toward the basket and elevated. With Pelican defenders collapsing around him, Morant floated the ball toward the basket. It hit the back rim softly and settled through the net as time expired
• Ja broke down the final play: “Call 12… That’s the play I wanted to run right there. They believe in me. I actually wanted to go to Trip (JJJ) in the post. They told me ‘no.’ So I had to deliver for them”
• Massive comeback: Memphis trailed 60-36 with under a minute to play in the half. Over the final 24:40, the Grizzlies outscored the Pelicans 79-53, with 27 of those points coming from Morant. Watch the final 5:53

3. STEPH, WARRIORS RALLY PAST CELTICS

🌉 Warriors 132, Celtics 126 (OT)
🏀 Recap | GSW 13-14, BOS 20-6

With 6:07 left in the third, Steph Curry went to the bench with five fouls and the Warriors down 83-70. Golden State kept it close the rest of the quarter while Steph bided his time, and trailed by 11 entering the fourth.

• Curry returned to start the quarter and never sat again, scoring 20 of his 33 points in the fourth and overtime as the Warriors rallied for the win
• Back and forth: Check out this sequence as the teams traded haymaker 3s late in the fourth: Klay Thompson for the tie. Derrick White puts Boston back up 3. Curry ties it again with a step-back 3
• Night-Night: The biggest shot of the night belonged to Curry, who caught a cross-court pass from Chris Paul with the shot clock at three seconds, and immediately launched a high-arcing 3 that splashed to seal the game
• Curry postgame: After Steph gave a shoutout to Reggie Miller’s son, he let us know that’s the ”type of win” the Dubs needed
• Kerr on Curry: “Nothing shocks me with Steph… the guy’s magical.”

🦌 Bucks 132, Spurs 119
🏀 Recap | MIL 20-7, SAS 4-22

• 20K for Dame: Lillard entered Tuesday needing six points to become the 51st player to reach 20,000. He got that done in under four minutes, part of a 19-point first quarter and a 40-point night as the Bucks beat the Wemby-less Spurs
• Dame’s reaction: “Getting old” 😂
• Elite company: Dame joined LeBron, Steph and Harden as the only players with 20K pts, 5K ast and 2K 3PM
• Playmaker: Giannis dished out a career-high 16 assists – including this behind-the-back dribble into the drop-off pass – as part of his second triple-double this season

🌹 Blazers 109, Suns 104
🏀 Recap | POR 7-19, PHX 14-13

• Portland overcame a 40-point night from Kevin Durant to snap a seven-game losing streak. Anfernee Simons led the Blazers with 23 points and 7 assists, while Deandre Ayton posted a double-double (16 pts, 15 reb) against his former squad
• All about the 3: Portland tied its best shooting night from 3 of the season (14-28, 50%), while Phoenix had its worst (5-23, 21.7%)

4. HAVE YOU SEEN WHAT JOEL EMBIID’S DOING?

Joel Embiid had already established him as one of the great big men of his time.

Over the past month, the run he’s on is putting him in the same sentence with a few of the best who’ve ever played.

Embiid enters tonight’s game against Minnesota (7 ET, NBA TV) with 11 straight 30+ point, 10+ rebound games.

• The run matches Shaquille O’Neal (2001) and Moses Malone (1982) for the longest such streak in the past 50 seasons

To pass O’Neal and Malone — and enter a realm that only includes Hall of Famers Wilt Chamberlain (8x, including record 65 games in 1961-62), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (16 games in 1972) and Walt Bellamy (12 games in 1962) — Embiid must pass his toughest test yet.

• Anchored by three-time DPOY Rudy Gobert (who is making a case for a fourth), the Wolves have the NBA’s top-ranked defense (106.8 points allowed per 100 possessions)
• Embiid is averaging 37.2 points, 12.5 rebounds and 6.0 assists in just 33.8 minutes during the streak

Embiid has more points than minutes not just during this hot streak, but for the entire season: 792 points in 783 minutes played over Philly’s first 26 games.

• Since 1985, James Harden (2019-20) is the only player to have more points (1,021) than minutes (984) through 26 games
• In the shot clock era (since 1954-55), Wilt is the only player to have more points (4,029) than minutes (3,882) for an entire season (min. 41 total minutes played)

5. LUKA x HARDEN: MASTERS OF THE STEPBACK

The game’s greatest signature moves are the ones most-often taken by the next generation.

• Kobe Bryant emulated Michael Jordan’s fadeaway jumper
• Giannis Antetokounmpo worked to master Manu Ginobili’s Eurostep
• Kevin Durant added Dirk Nowitzki’s one-legged fadeaway
• Nearly every big man has tried to steal Hakeem Olajuwon’s “Dream Shake”
• Guards around the world (and some bigs) have looked to harness Tim Hardaway and Allen Iverson’s crossovers

We can’t leave out Luka Doncic paying homage to James Harden’s stepback as the two meet tonight in Dallas (8:30 ET, NBA App).

• As Doncic told JJ Redick on “The Old Man & the Three” podcast: “I didn’t really use the stepback in Europe. But then I did it like against Houston in my first year. They say, ‘Oh, you have a great stepback.’ And since then I’ve been doing the stepback.”

Harden and Luka lead the list of the five players with the most stepbacks since Luka entered the NBA (2018) by a huge margin.

• Harden: 726
• Doncic: 632
• Damian Lillard: 358
• Stephen Curry: 325
• Trae Young: 312

Harden’s stepback helped him win three straight scoring titles in 2017-18 (30.4 ppg), 2018-19 (36.1 ppg) and 2019-20 (34.3 ppg) in Houston.

Now in LA, Harden is balancing playmaking and scoring for the red-hot Clippers, but still breaks out his stepback when needed.

Luka has yet to win a scoring title, finishing third in 2021-22 (28.4 ppg), second last season (32.4 ppg), and currently second to Embiid again this season (32.9 ppg).

Luka enters tonight looking to extend his 11-game streak of 30+ point games. He has a ways to go before challenging Harden’s 32-game run from 2018-19, which stands as the second-longest ever behind Wilt’s 65.

Video Vault:

• Best of Luka’s 30-point streak
• Luka and Harden trade stepback 3s
• Harden’s top 5 stepback 3-pointers
• Luka’s career game-winning buzzer-beaters