Cade Cunningham’s 27 points contributed to ruining LeBron James’ 41st birthday, ‘celebrated’ with the heavy defeat (128-106) of the Los Angeles Lakers at the hands of the Detroit Pistons. The Lakers’ final home game of the year began in a festive atmosphere, with the Crypto.com Arena hoping to pay tribute to LB James. But the Lakers, without injured Austin Reaves and Gabe Vincent, continued to chase an opponent with the lead for much of the game. The Lakers’ offensive attempts were thwarted by series errors. The Pistons scored 30 of 20 points thanks to Lakers turnovers. The Pistons rise to 25 wins-8 defeats and extend their lead in the Eastern Conference, while the Lakers have fallen to 20-11.
James stopped at 17 points, with Luka Doncic at 30, plus 11 assists and five rebounds.
Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey scored 34 points each in the Philadelphia 76ers’ victory over the Memphis Grizzlies (139-136), after a thrilling overtime. VJ Edgecombe’s 3-pointer with 1.7 seconds left sealed the victory for the Sixers, who improved to 17-14 to remain in fifth place in the Eastern Conference standings. Ja Morant led the Grizzlies in scoring 40 points, while Cedric Coward added 28, with 16 rebounds and four assists.
The third-ranked Boston Celtics improved their record to 20-12 with a 129-119 win over the struggling Utah Jazz (12-20) in Salt Lake City. Derrick White led the Celtics to victory, scoring 13 of his 27 points in the final quarter. Jaylen Brown added 23 points, while Anfernee Simons scored 20 coming off the bench.
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