“Grit and guts all the way.”

– Coach Rick Carlisle on the Pacers’ win over the Celtics

THE LINEUP

👀 Must-see from Monday

🔥 Pacers beat Celtics, lose Hali

📸 NBA in Paris in photos

🇫🇷 Noah on Paris Games

🎵 JJJ on making music

📺 Grizzlies-Mavs on NBA TV + 📲 Four games in the App: Luka, Kyrie and the Mavs host JJJ and the Grizzlies (8:30 ET, NBA TV) as the teams wrap their season series. The Grizzlies will be without Ja Morant, who suffered a torn labrum and will miss the rest of the 2023-24 season.

📈 LeBron Scoring Tracker: The NBA’s all-time leading scorer is closing in on another milestone. And we’re tracking the road to 40K. He enters Tuesday’s game against the Raptors (10:30 ET, NBA App) 491 points shy of the mark.

1. TUESDAY MORNING MUST-SEE

Top Stories

• Indiana tops NBA-leading Boston: Despite losing Tyrese Haliburton to a strained hamstring in the second quarter, the Pacers outlasted Jaylen Brown and the Celtics behind a huge night from their bench, led by Benn Mathurin (26 pts, game-winning FTs), to split a two-games-in-three-days set. Watch the final 5:24 here
• Clippers top Suns in battle of stars: With seven All-Stars sharing the court – Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal for Phoenix; Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, James Harden and Russell Westbrook for LA – the Clippers used a 30-9 fourth-quarter run to pull away

Top Plays

• Jalen vs. Jaylen: Jaylen Brown scored a season-high 40 points on 17-26 shooting. But one of his misses came on a massive rejection from Jalen Smith late in the third quarter
• Too smooth: KD beat former teammate James Harden off the dribble, then euro-ed through the LA defense for the reverse layup

• Vintage Harden: James shook Grayson Allen to free up for his trademark stepback 3
• Spin City: Who had the best spin move jumper: Kawhi going baseline to cap a 13-0 Clippers run, or Book over Westbrook?
• Uncle Jeff: A night after 39-year-old LeBron had the dunk of the night, 37-year-old Jeff Green threw down this dunk all over the Heat

Top Moments

• When you travel from China to see Tyrese Haliburton play and get a signed poster, jersey and fist-bump from the All-Star pregame
• Better courtside meeting: Two Finals MVPs in Kawhi Leonard and Dwyane Wade, or Adam Sandler meeting Chuck the Condor?

2. PACERS BEAT CELTICS LATE, BUT LOSE HALIBURTON

🏎️ Pacers 133, Celtics 131: Two days after being held to a season-low 101 points by Boston, the Pacers put up 133 to edge out the Celtics on a pair of clutch free throws with 0.3 seconds left by Bennedict Mathurin, who finished with 26 points and five 3s in the win.

• How we got there: Indy led by five with 2:23 to play before a 7-0 Boston run gave the Celtics a two-point lead with 1:05 left. TJ McConnell’s spinning drive tied it with 43.6 left
• The challenge: After trading misses, Jaylen Brown (sitting on a season-high 40 points) put up a tough shot between Mathurin and Buddy Hield that was initially ruled a foul. Indy’s challenge was successful as Hield blocked the shot before contact with Brown
• The foul: Mathurin caught the inbounds pass, rose up for a potential game-winning 3 and was fouled by Porzingis, setting up the clutch FTs to ice the game
• Haliburton exits, bench rises: Tyrese Haliburton strained his hamstring during the second quarter. With their star down, the “next man up mentality” was on display as Indy’s bench outscored Boston’s 75-27

⛈️ Thunder 136, Wizards 128: For the third time this season, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (32 pts, 6 reb, 5 ast) and Chet Holmgren (31 pts, 5 ast, 4 3s) each scored 30+ points in the same game as the Thunder never trailed beyond the first three minutes of the matchup. Jordan Poole (24) and Kyle Kuzma (22) combined for 46 for Washington.

🐂 Bulls 119, Hornets 112 (OT): The Hornets used a 13-5 run to force OT on Miles Bridges’ fadeaway jumper. The Bulls bounced back to score the first eight points of OT and secure the win. Behind Coby White’s 27 points and 21-point double-doubles from Andre Drummond and Nikola Vucevic, Chicago withstood 39 points & 7 3s from Terry Rozier.

🔥 Heat 120, Rockets 113: Miami improved to 6-2 without Jimmy Butler during his recent absence (toe) with a win over Houston behind Tyler Herro’s 28 points (including the and-1 floater to ice the game) and Bam Adebayo’s double-double (22 pts, 12 reb).

⛵ Clippers 138, Suns 111: After Phoenix cut the lead to seven early in the 4th, the Clippers exploded for a 30-9 run to pull away for their sixth win in seven games. PG (25 pts, 4 3s), Harden (19 pts, 10 ast) and Kawhi (17 pts, 5 stl) led the Clippers, while Durant and Booker combined for 50 for the Suns.

🎷 Jazz 132, Bucks 116: For the second straight game, the Bucks fell behind big (-21 to Houston, -33 to Utah) and tried to rally back behind Giannis, but ultimately came up short. Lauri Markkanen and Jordan Clarkson scored 21 points each, while Antetokounmpo (25 pts, 10 reb, 11 ast) posted his fourth triple-double of the season in the loss.

3. HISTORY IN PHOTOS: THE NBA IN PARIS

The NBA’s relationship with Paris began with, well, a little Magic.

Thirty-two years ago, to tip off a 1991-92 season with 23 NBA players born outside the U.S., the Lakers played a set of exhibition games that’d shape history.

Taking on Limoges and Badalona, Magic Johnson & the Western Conference champs swept their way to a McDonald’s Open title as the first NBA team to play in Paris.

Since then, the league’s staged nine more games in the French capital — as France has gone from two NBA players in 2000-01 to a record 14 in 2023-24, the most of any country outside North America.

From that 1991 debut through last year, spin through a few of our favorite pics.

1991 McDonald’s Open

1991 McDonald’s Open

1994 Exhibition Game in Paris – Hornets vs. Warriors

1997 McDonald’s Championship – Olympiakos vs. Bulls

1997 McDonalds Open – Olympiacos v Bulls

1997 McDonald’s Championships

2006 NBA Europe Live

2006 NBA Europe Live – Spurs vs. Maccabi Tel Aviv

2008 NBA Europe Live

2010 NBA Europe Live

NBA Paris Games 2020 – Bucks vs. Hornets

NBA Paris Games 2020 – Bucks vs. Hornets

NBA Paris Games 2023 – Bulls vs. Pistons

4. JOAKIM NOAH ON PARIS GAMES IMPACT

The 1997 McDonald’s Championship at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy in Paris, France.

Michael Jordan on the court. Joakim Noah in the stands.

🗣️ Noah: “I was here in ’97 when the Bulls came with Michael Jordan. That was my first NBA game.”

Noah lived in Paris for a decade before returning to the United States where he played his high school and college ball before being selected by the Bulls in the 2007 NBA Draft.

🗣️ Noah: “It’s really a dream come true because I remember being a kid and I’m having these dreams of playing in the NBA, playing for the Bulls and it happened and now I’m retired. And 25 years later, I’m here sitting and talking about the Bulls playing here as an ambassador for the Bulls. It’s a real full circle moment for me and my family.”

Noah represented the Bulls during the NBA’s last trip to Paris – a Bulls win over the Pistons on Jan. 19, 2023. Thursday’s Nets-Cavs game (2 ET, NBA TV) will mark the third regular-season game played in Paris, along with three preseason games and five exhibitions against non-NBA teams, including the games in 1997 where Noah saw Jordan play.

The impact that the NBA Global Games and the 1992 Olympic Dream Team had on expanding the game around the world cannot be overstated.

Look at the chart below and see the number of French players in the NBA grow in the years that followed, leading to an all-time high of 14 French players in the NBA this season and the first-ever No. 1 pick out of France in Victor Wembanyama

5. PASS THE ROCK: JJJ ON MAKING MUSIC

Season 2 of Pass The Rock debuts today with reigning Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year Jaren Jackson Jr. of the Memphis Grizzlies.

JJJ discusses his goal of winning an NBA championship, his approach on defense, and his relationship with his father, Jaren Jackson Sr., an NBA champ with the 1999 Spurs.

He also takes viewers inside his studio to dive into his passion for making music. When he’s not blocking shots, he dropping bars.

🗣️ JJJ:  “I’m an artist. I’ve been doing music for like five years. I really started when they shut down basketball in 2020 and we were at home.”

Check out this exclusive clip before the episode drops in the NBA App later today.

And if you missed any of last season’s All-Star lineup, check out the full Season 1 archive, featuring: Zion Williamson, Jaylen Brown, Jamal Murray, Trae Young, Luka Doncic, Jayson Tatum, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Scottie Barnes, De’Aaron Fox and Donovan Mitchell.