Counting down the days until the weekend, set your Thursday off right with yet another edition of The Morning Dunk as we recap all of the NBA action from Wednesday's slate of games.
Bucks Valiant Without Giannis In Loss To Celtics
Initially listed as the 10.5-point underdogs once news broke that Giannis Antetokounmpo would be inactive due to an injured hamstring, the Milwaukee Bucks nearly mustered up enough with their remaining talent to knock off the best team in the Association.
The Boston Celtics, who were also without the services of Jrue Holiday, got a combined 75 points from Jayson Tatum, Derrick White, and Jaylen Brown in a narrow 122-119 win over Milwaukee at the TD Garden.
It was Boston's seventh victory in a row and 18th in its last 20 outings.
Jayson Tatum drops 31 as the @celtics win their 7th straight game and clinch the Atlantic Division 👏👏
— NBA (@NBA) March 21, 2024
31 PTS | 4 3PM | 8 REB | 3 STL | 2 BLK
Boston's won 18 of their last 20 games 🍀📈 pic.twitter.com/M65lonXudN
The Bucks got 32 points and six assists out of Damian Lillard, while Bobby Portis contributed a double-double off the bench of 24 points and 15 rebounds in 33 minutes.
As an interesting note, there's currently a larger gap between the No. 1-seeded Celtics and No. 2-seeded Bucks at 11 games than there is between Milwaukee and the No. 8-seeded Philadelphia 76ers at just six games.
Allen Lights Up 76ers, Ties Career High In 3-Pointers
The Phoenix Suns' Big Three of Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal, and Devin Booker is formidable enough, but now opposing squads need to pay closer attention to the sniper-like shooting of Grayson Allen, as well.
Allen tied his career high by making nine 3-pointers on 15 attempts, finishing with a game-high 32 points as Phoenix cruised to a 115-102 win over the Sixers at the Footprint Center.
This marked the seventh time this season that Allen has converted at least eight 3-pointers in a single game, which is second overall behind Stephen Curry.
Grayson Allen went off for 32 points and 9 threes in the @Suns W 🔥🏜️
— NBA (@NBA) March 21, 2024
His third game of the season with 9+ threes, 2nd only to Steph Curry with five. pic.twitter.com/dLSwFdB81l
The Suns were heavily favored in this matchup and successfully covered the spread for just the second time in seven games.
Latest Sabonis triple-double Shuts Down Raptors
With the lone exception being a late-season game during their campaign out in Tampa, the Toronto Raptors were double-digit underdogs at home for the first time since 1998.
Considering how the game unfolded, being just an 11-point underdog was generous as the Sacramento Kings easily covered the spread and demolished Toronto at Scotiabank Arena with a 123-89 beatdown.
Domantas Sabonis notched his league-leading 24th triple-double with 13 points, 17 rebounds, and 10 assists. It was also the 51th game in a row that he finished with a double-double, tying both Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Moses Malone for the 14th-longest streak in history.
Sabonis this season:
— StatMuse (@statmuse) March 21, 2024
64 double-doubles
24 triple-doubles
The only player to reach those marks in a season in over 50 years. pic.twitter.com/60yJT8zl1o
Sacramento is now half a game up on the Dallas Mavericks for the sixth seed in the Western Conference, keeping it out of the play-in tournament.
