Starting 5 Daily Newsletter

All 4 California teams made the playoffs for the 1st time ever last season. All 4 were in action on Wednesday with the NorCal rivals and SoCal rivals facing off.

🌇 Lakers 130, Clippers 125 (OT): It took an extra 5 minutes, but the Lakers finally snapped their 11-game losing streak to the Clippers. In an early candidate for Game of the Year, the stars showed out in L.A.

LeBron James: 35 points (most ever for a player in Season 21+), 12 rebounds, 7 assists, 4 3s, 2 blocks in 42 minutes
Anthony Davis: 27 points, 10 rebounds, 4 blocks in 48 minutes
Kawhi Leonard: 38 points (career-high 18 in the 1st Q), 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 3s, 2 steals
Paul George: 35 points (20 in the 4th), 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 6 3s
Russell Westbrook: 24 points, 11 rebounds, 8 assists, 4 steals, 3 3s

Kawhi and PG combined for 73 points in the loss. It was only the 2nd time they both scored 35+ in the same game since becoming teammates in 2019.

Ever since the Clippers moved to L.A. in 1984, this rivalry has seen 3 players score 30+ just 1 other time:

11/1/2023: Leonard, LAC (38), George, LAC (35), James, LAL (35)
4/12/2007: Kobe Bryant, LAL (50), Corey Maggette, LAC (39), Elton Brand, LAC (32)

Fantastic Finish: After Kawhi opened OT with a bucket, the Lakers went on a 7-0 run capped by a majestic LeBron alley-oop (watch every angle and wait for Bronny’s reaction in the crowd).

The Clippers wouldn’t go away as Kawhi closed the lead to 1 with a minute to play. After a pair of Austin Reaves FTs pushed the Lakers’ lead to 3, Christian Wood called game with a putback dunk with 9 seconds left

Klay hits the game-winner with 0.2 seconds left | NBAE via Getty Images

🌉 Warriors 102, Kings 101: The Kings weren’t going to let Steph Curry beat them. So Klay Thompson did it instead. Klay hit a pull-up jumper with 0.2 seconds left to give the Warriors a 102-101 home win against their NorCal rivals.

Fantastic Finish: The game featured 9 ties and 11 lead changes, including 3 on the final 3 shots of the game: a Curry floater with 32 seconds left (100-99 GSW), a Domantas Sabonis bank shot with 14.5 seconds left (101-100 SAC) before Klay’s game-winner (102-101 GSW)
Leaders: Curry led the Warriors with 21 points and 4 3-pointers, while Sabonis (23 pts, 11 reb, 8 ast) posted his 4th double-double in as many games for the Kings
No Beam For You: Since the Kings went up 2-0 in last year’s First Round series, the Warriors have won 8 of the last 9 games between the playoffs (4-1), preseason (2-0) and regular season (2-0)

CELTICS SCORE 2ND-MOST POINTS IN TEAM HISTORY 🍀

Jayson Tatum’s 30 led 8 players in double-figures as the Celtics went OFF. | NBAE via Getty Images

For a franchise as rich in history as the Celtics – the most regular-season wins (3,574), tied for the most championships (17) – when you add your name to that record book, it means something.

With a 155-104 win over the Pacers on Wednesday, the 2023-24 Celtics just added their name to these 2 lists:

Most points in franchise history

173 points: 2/27/1959 vs. MIN
155 points: Wednesday vs. IND

Biggest wins in franchise history:

56 points: 12/8/2018 (BOS 133, CHI 77)
53 points: 1/25/2022 (BOS 128, SAC 75)
51 points: 3/7/1962 (BOS 153, PHI 102)
51 points: Wednesday (BOS 155, IND 104)

Jayson Tatum scored a game-high 30 points in 26 minutes to lead 8 Celtics who scored in double-figures.

History Quiz: The Celtics became the 6th team in NBA history to have at least 10 games with 150+ points. How many of the other 5 can you name?
Hint: 3 of them were in action last night. Spin through Wednesday’s 10 other games and you’ll find your answers 🔽

COMEBACK WINS HIGHLIGHT WEDNESDAY 💨

Whose windmill you taking? Dejounte or Cade? | NBAE via Getty Images

Wednesday’s 13-game slate also saw comeback wins from New Orleans and Brooklyn, the 1st win of the season for Houston and the 1st loss for the defending champs.

⚜️ Pelicans 110, Thunder 106: How do you pull off a 22-point comeback? Hitting your 3s helps. The Pelicans attempted 42 3s on Wednesday; they made 1 of their 1st 21 attempts (4.8%) and 12 of their final 21 attempts (57.1%). CJ McCollum (29 pts) and Zion Williamson (20 pts) combined for 49 in the win
🌃 Nets 109, Heat 105: Trailing 75-60 with 4:30 left in the 3rd quarter, Brooklyn outscored Miami 49-30 the rest of the way for the comeback win. Mikal Bridges scored 9 of his 21 points in the 4th quarter, while Lonnie Walker IV added 17
🚀 Rockets 128, Hornets 119: Fred VanVleet (22 pts, 11 ast), Dillon Brooks (20 pts, 5 stl) and Jalen Green (23 pts, 4 3s) led Houston to its 1st win. Check out the ball movement leading to the Amen Thompson dunk, and this no-look dime from Alperen Sengun
🐺 Timberwolves 110, Nuggets 89: The Wolves got a combined 45 points from Anthony Edwards (24) and Karl-Anthony Towns (21) to hand the defending champs their 1st loss. Nikola Jokic had a game-high 25 points and 10 boards for Denver
🦖 Raptors 130, Bucks 111: Pascal Siakam (26 pts), Dennis Schroder (24 pts, 11 dimes) and Scottie Barnes (21 pts, 12 boards) combined for 71 points in the win. Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard combined for 31 points, their lowest total in 4 games together

Spida sense. | NBAE via Getty Images

🅰️ Hawks 130, Wizards 121: Dejounte Murray (24 pts, 8 ast), Trae Young (23 pts, 10 ast) and De’Andre Hunter (23 pts, 7 reb) combined for 70 points in the win. Check out this wraparound dime from Trae to Dejounte, then watch Trae break it down postgame
⚔️ Cavaliers 95, Knicks 89: Donovan Mitchell scored 30 points, hit 6 3s and had an emphatic chasedown block as the Cavs got the W to split the home-and-home with the Knicks
🐴 Mavericks 114, Bulls 105: Grant Williams matched his career highs with 25 points and 7 3s to lead the Mavs. Dallas and Boston are the only unbeaten teams remaining in the NBA. The Mavs scored 24 2nd-chance points, none better than these 2 from Derrick Jones Jr.
🌹 Blazers 110, Pistons 101: Shaedon Sharpe dunked his way to 29 points and Jerami Grant added 24 to lead the Blazers past the Pistons. Cade Cunningham posted his 2nd 30-point game of the season and delivered this lob to Ausar Thompson
🎷 Jazz 133, Grizzlies 109: Collin Sexton (23 pts, 6 ast) and Jordan Clarkson (20 pts, 5 ast) combined for 43 points as the Jazz earned a wire-to-wire win. Check out the JC-to-JC connection as Clarkson finds John Collins for the alley-oop

History Quiz Answer: Lakers (16), Warriors (14), Nuggets (13), Sixers (12), Spurs (10)

TONIGHT: RUN. IT. BACK. ☀️🤠

The Spurs & Suns just gave us a classic. Let’s do it again. | NBAE via Getty Images

Spurs at Suns, 10 ET, NBA TV

Over the past few years, the NBA schedule has featured more & more series where teams play 2 games in a row in the same city.

The goal? Reducing travel for back-to-backs.

Another benefit on display tonight? When 2 teams have a great game, we don’t have to wait weeks or months for a rematch.

Now we get it within 48 hours.

Spurs Comeback: On Tuesday, the Spurs pulled off an improbable comeback over the Suns – rallying from 20 points down in the 2nd half
The Spurs literally stole the win in the final seconds as Keldon Johnson ripped the ball away from Kevin Durant to set up the game-winning layup with 1.2 seconds left
KD vs. Wemby, Part 2: Whenever you lose a game like that in pickup, the immediate response is “Let’s run it back!” That’s exactly what we get tonight as KD’s Suns and Wemby’s Spurs give us another look at this matchup of 2 of the most uniquely gifted players in recent NBA memory
Wemby’s Clutch Gene: San Antonio’s 2 wins have both seen the No. 1 pick heat up down the stretch. Wembanyama has scored 32 points on 31.3% shooting in the 1st 3 quarters, compared to 33 points on 72.2% shooting in the 4th quarter or OT

Nick Nurse faces a familiar foe tonight. | NBAE via Getty Images

Raptors at Sixers, 7 ET, NBA TV

Sixers head coach Nick Nurse faces his former team for the 1st time. Nurse spent 5 years as an assistant and 5 as head coach in Toronto, leading the Raptors to their first title in 2019
The Sixers enter Thursday as the only team with 2 30+ ppg scorers in reigning 2-time scoring champ Joel Embiid (31.0) and rising star Tyrese Maxey (30.3)
The Raptors will be on the 2nd night of a back-to-back, but come into Philly following a win as they snapped a 3-game losing streak with a 130-11 victory over Milwaukee

Thursday Games in the NBA App:

Pistons-Pelicans (8 ET, NBA App)

Magic-Jazz (9 ET, NBA App)

33 YEARS AGO, A LANDMARK DAY IN TOKYO 🗼

The first regular season game outside of North America. | NBAE via Getty Images

33 years ago, history was made.

And a new tradition was born.

On Nov. 2, 1990, when the Phoenix Suns beat the Utah Jazz, 119-96, at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, it marked the first regular season game played outside North America by any major professional sports league.

The teams met the next night in Tokyo, with the Jazz winning 102-101.

Since then, the NBA’s staged 33 more regular-season games outside the US & Canada – with a new one coming a week from now, when the Hawks & Magic play in Mexico City.

We dug for a few of our favorite photos from the first game in Japan – find ‘em below, along with a few other big events from NBA history on Nov. 2.

What Else On Nov. 2?

That Same Night In ‘90: The Warriors beat the Nuggets, 162-158, setting an NBA record for most points scored by 2 teams in a non-OT game.
1946: Red Auerbach made his pro coaching debut for the Washington Capitols in a 50-33 road win over the Detroit Falcons. Auerbach coached the Capitols to a league-best 49-11 record in the NBA (then BAA)’s 1st season, but fell to the Chicago Stags in the playoffs.
2005: Andrew Bynum becomes (and remains) the youngest player ever to play in a regular season NBA game, at 18 years, six days – breaking Jermaine O’Neal’s 10-year-old record by 46 days.
More of This Week In NBA History here