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An emotional night in Portland. A crowded West. And 14 All-Star reserves coming tonight. Keep reading to catch up, as the calendar turns to February.

THE LINEUP 🏀

1. 🌹 Blazers spoil Dame’s homecoming
2. 📊 Musical chairs atop the West
3. ☀️ Roundup: KD wins return game in BK
4. ⭐ All-Star reserves announced tonight
5. 🆚 Lakers-Celtics: Round 300

All-Star reserves announcement: The NBA All-Star reserves will be unveiled tonight (7 ET, TNT), rounding out the East and West rosters that will meet in Indy. NBA.com’s writers give their picks in Section 4.

Classic rivalry leads TNT doubleheader: The 300th regular-season game between the Lakers and Celtics goes down tonight at 7:30 ET (see Section 5), followed by Sixers-Jazz (10 ET) with Philly playing shorthanded as Joel Embiid is listed as out on the injury report.

1. BLAZERS SPOIL DAME’S HOMECOMING + MUST-SEE PLAYS

🌹 Blazers 119, Bucks 116: Wednesday night in Portland was about a lot more than just a basketball game.

Welcome back, Dame: It was the city’s first chance to welcome back a favorite son, a player that grew from a mid-major draft pick to a Top 75 player of all-time over his 11 seasons in Blazers’ red and black.

Emotional night: The crowd in the Rose City was ready to give Damian Lillard his flowers, as the Bucks made their first trip to Portland since last summer’s trade changed Dame Time from the Pacific to the Central time zone.

Moment to see: Get on the court (and get some chills) and witness the standing ovation from the 19,000+ fans in attendance as Lillard was introduced with the Bucks starters

The celebration …

• Arrival: Lillard arrived to Moda Center wearing black and red, but was headed for a new location – the visitor’s locker room
• Fan Love: Dame saw plenty of familiar faces in the crowd as the fans were there to celebrate him as much as seeing the game
• 🗣️ Dame: “I kind of went down memory lane as I walked in.”
• His Spot: The warmup now says Milwaukee Bucks Basketball, but Dame is hitting 3s from the logo inside Moda Center
• Tribute: The Blazers found a way to cut Dame’s best moments to less than two minutes

The game …

After the pregame celebration, both teams treated the Moda Center crowd to a show — with a back-and-forth game featuring 13 lead changes and 12 ties. | Recap | All Access

• First bucket: Lillard wasted little time scoring his first Bucks points in Portland, getting Milwaukee on the board with a layup

Of course, Lillard’s first game back in Portland would come down to clutch time a.k.a. Dame Time.

• Bucks take lead: Lillard rose up for a dunk to cut the Portland lead to one with 1:13 to play
• Simons answers: With Dame on the opposing squad, it was Simons’ time to take a clutch shot and his floater in the paint gave the Blazers the lead for good with 17.6 left
• Watch it all: Check out the final 5:39 in its entirety

Lillard finished with 25 points, six boards and seven assists, but the Blazers came away with the win as Simons led the way with 24 points, five assists, four 3s and one game-winner.

👀 Must-see plays from Wednesday

• Shake and bake: Jalen Green went behind-the-back between two defenders then threw down the one-handed jam
• Dueling reverse alley-oops: Pick your favorite reverse alley-oop finish. Is it Devin Vassell to Jeremy Sochan in San Antonio or Jordan Hawkins to Trey Murphy in Houston?
• Needle-threaders: Now pick your favorite dime of the night. Is it James Harden splitting the defender’s legs to hit Daniel Theis in stride for the dunk? Or is it Josh Giddey’s spin pass between three Nuggets to find Aaron Wiggins for the reverse layup?
• Not far enough: Deandre Ayton didn’t settle for a pregame half-court shot, he took it back to the opposing 3-point line for the underhand three-quarter court shot
• KD rising: Durant threw down this massive slam to pass Robert Parish for 18th all-time in field goals made
• Kyrie’s gift: A fan flew all the way from Ethiopia to see Kyrie Irving, who gifted him shoes

2. WESTERN CONFERENCE MUSICAL CHAIRS 

The Wolves, Thunder, Clippers and Nuggets – four teams separated by two games – have traded positions within the top four of the West over the past 10 days. All four teams were in play on Wednesday, including a head-to-head showdown between the Thunder and Nuggets.

🐺 Wolves 121, Mavs 87: Karl-Anthony Towns (29 pts, 9 reb, 4 ast, 4 stl) led the Timberwolves past the shorthanded Mavs (no Luka Doncic or Kyrie Irving) to remain at the top of the West. | Recap | All-Access

⛈️ Thunder 105, Nuggets 100: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (34 pts, 7 reb, 5 ast, 2 blk) led the way, while Chet Holmgren (18 pts, 13 reb, 5 blk) hit the dagger 3 with 22 seconds left to lead the Thunder past the Joker-less Nuggets. The win moved OKC to second in the West and clinched the head-to-head tiebreaker with Denver. | Recap | All-Access

⛵ Clippers 125, Wizards 109: Kawhi Leonard (31 pts, 9 reb, 4 ast, 4 stl) and James Harden (25 pts, 9 reb, 5 ast, 4 blk, 5 3s) stuffed the stat sheet as the Clippers finished January with a 12-3 record. That’s best in the West and second-best in the NBA behind the 14-2 Knicks. LA’s win coupled with Denver’s loss moved the Clippers to third and the Nuggets to fourth. | Recap

3. ROUNDUP: DURANT WINS RETURN GAME IN BROOKLYN

☀️ Suns 136, Nets 120: In his first game back in Brooklyn since last season’s trade, Kevin Durant put up 33 points and eight assists to lead the Suns past the Nets for their ninth win in the last 11 games.

Jusuf Nurkic (28 pts, 11 reb) and Devin Booker (22 pts, 8 ast) added 50 points as the Suns had their second-highest scoring game (136 pts) and second-best shooting game (62%) of the season. | Recap | All-Access

🐂 Bulls 117, Hornets 110: Coby White scored a season-high 35 points (with two coming on this massive dunk) while adding seven boards and nine assists to lead the Bulls past the Hornets. | Recap

🔥 Heat 115, Kings 106: The Heat snapped their seven-game losing streak with a win over the Kings behind Jimmy Butler’s 31 points and Josh Richardson’s six 3-pointers. Domantas Sabonis (19 pts, 17 reb, 13 ast) posted his fifth triple-double in the last eight games. | Recap

⚔️ Cavs 128, Pistons 121: Donovan Mitchell erupted for 20 of his 45 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Cavs past the Pistons. Darius Garland added 19 points (including this four-point play), while Jarrett Allen (14 pts, 11 reb) pushed his double-double streak to 16. | Recap

⚜️ Pelicans 110, Rockets 99: The Pelicans got 20/10 games from Jonas Valanciunas (25 pts, 14 reb) and Brandon Ingram (24 pts, 10 reb) to defeat the Rockets and snap a three-game losing streak. Houston’s Jalen Green posted his third 30+ point game in his last four games. | Recap

🔮 Magic 108, Spurs 98: The Magic built a 25-point lead late in the third, but the Spurs responded with a 30-9 fourth-quarter run to make it a three-point game. Paolo Banchero (25 pts, 9 reb, 7 ast) and the Magic answered with a 9-2 run to close to the game. Victor Wembanyama (21 pts, 8 reb, 6 blk) posted his NBA-leading 11th game with 5+ blocks. | Recap

4. ALL-STAR RESERVES ANNOUNCED TONIGHT

Before the Inside the NBA crew unveils the coaches’ picks for the 14 All-Star reserves (7 ET, TNT), the NBA.com writers offered their choices.

Five players in each conference were unanimous picks from the five writers surveyed.

• East: Bam Adebayo, Jaylen Brown, Jalen Brunson, Tyrese Maxey and Donovan Mitchell
• West: Steph Curry, Anthony Davis, Anthony Edwards, Paul George and Kawhi Leonard

The votes were split for the final two players in each conference.

See all of the picks below and read the reasons behind their East and West selections.

Find Out Tonight: Will the league’s coaches feel the same way as the writers? Any surprises in store? Find out at 7 ET on TNT.

5. LAKERS VS. CELTICS: ROUND 300

The NBA’s most storied rivalry adds its 300th regular-season chapter tonight in Boston when the Celtics host the Lakers (7:30 ET, TNT).

• Bill Russell vs. Jerry West
• Larry Bird vs. Magic Johnson
• Paul Pierce vs. Kobe Bryant
• Jayson Tatum vs. LeBron James

The names may change, but the rivalry continues from generation to generation.

• Don’t take our word for it. Listen to these legends.

The Celtics enter matchup No. 300 with a 166-133 edge in head-to-head wins. A few notable stats between the teams:

• Scoring: The Celtics (31,889) lead the Lakers (31,226) by 663 total points. That averages out to a 2.22 ppg difference
• Shooting: The Celtics and Lakers have both shot the exact same field goal percentage (44.1%) against each other. However, the Celtics (34.4%) hold a slight advantage over the Lakers (33.5%) from 3-point range
• Hall of Famers: No two teams have produced as many Hall of Famers as the Celtics (41) and Lakers (31) with a minimum of one game played with the franchise

The number that means the most to this rivalry is 17. The Lakers and Celtics are tied for the most championships in NBA history with 17 apiece.

Boston and L.A. entered the 2023-24 season with championship aspirations, with the teams predicted to finish first and third in their respective conferences.

• The Celtics (37-11) took over first place in the East on Nov. 15 and have remained at the top of the conference for the past 79 days, currently holding a five-game lead over Milwaukee
• The Lakers (24-25) won the inaugural In-Season Tournament in December, but have struggled to maintain that level of play consistently since. They enter tonight’s matchup a game under .500 and ninth in the West

The Celtics have won the last three games with the Lakers, including their first meeting this season on Christmas Day in Los Angeles (126-115).

Boston enters Thursday looking for their third-straight win overall while holding the NBA’s best home-court advantage (22-2) this season. L.A. (7-17 on the road) is looking to avoid a three-game slide as they make their fourth stop on a six-game road trip.