Australian sharpshooter Patty Mills starred connected Christmas nighttime successful Los Angeles, draining 8 three-pointers arsenic the Nets hung connected to bushed the Lakers successful a thriller.
The 33-year-old deed his last changeable with conscionable implicit a infinitesimal near successful the contest, giving Brooklyn a 115-110 lead. It acceptable a caller Christmas Day NBA record.
They would yet clasp connected to win, 118-115.
LIVE UPDATES: Root reaches dismal Australian record; Starc grabs back
READ MORE: Root's aboriginal connected the enactment amidst Ashes calamity
Mills had 34 points on with 7 assists and 2 rebounds, portion teammate James Harden finished with a triple double, scoring 36 on with 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
Nic Claxton threw down a tiebreaking alley-oop implicit LeBron James with 40 seconds left, aft the Lakers had tied the game.
James scored 39 points to walk Kobe Bryant for astir vocation points connected Christmas Day, but it was not capable to halt the Lakers' losing streak from reaching five. Russell Westbrook had 13 points, 11 assists and 12 rebounds for his 2nd vocation vacation triple-double.
Other Christmas Day action:
Golden State 116, Phoenix 107
Stephen Curry had 33 points, Otto Porter Jr. scored 7 of his 19 during a cardinal precocious agelong and the Golden State Warriors regained to apical spot successful the NBA from Phoenix, beating the Suns 116-107 connected Saturday.
Golden State arrived successful the godforsaken short-handed, missing 3 of its apical 4 scorers to wellness and information protocols: Andrew Wiggins, Damion Lee and Jordan Poole.
Curry carried astir of the load, overcoming a mediocre shooting nighttime to ace 20 points for the archetypal clip successful 9 Christmas games. He finished 10 for 27, including 5 for 16 from 3 to assistance the Warriors extremity Phoenix's 15-game location winning streak.
Instead of Curry, it was Porter taking implicit down the stretch, hitting a step-back 3 and a brace of jumpers successful a span of 1:02.
Chris Paul had 21 points and 8 assists for Phoenix. Deandre Ayton finished with 18 points successful the Suns' 3rd nonaccomplishment successful 28 games.
The 2 teams with the NBA's champion records played successful conscionable the 3rd Christmas crippled successful which some teams had a winning percent of astatine slightest .800.
Milwaukee 117, Boston 113
Giannis Antetokounmpo returned from the NBA's steadfast and information protocols to people 36 points, and Wesley Matthews deed a 3-pointer with 30.3 seconds near to springiness Milwaukee its archetypal pb successful the Bucks' triumph implicit Boston.
Seeing his archetypal enactment since Dec. 12, Antetokounmpo played 30 minutes and connected connected 13 of 23 shots portion shooting 10 for 15 from the free-throw line. Milwaukee besides got halfway Bobby Portis and defender Donte DiVincenzo backmost from COVID-19 protocols.
Giannis Antetokounmpo leads the Bucks to monolithic comeback win
Boston had conscionable 8 players disposable aft putting Dennis Schroder successful the protocols earlier Saturday, but took power down Jaylen Brown, who scored 14 of his 25 points successful the opening quarter. Jayson Tatum besides scored 25 points for Boston, which led by arsenic galore arsenic 19 and went into halftime with a 35-22 advantage.
New York 101, Atlanta 87
Kemba Walker became the seventh NBA subordinate with a triple-double connected Christmas, and New York bushed depleted Atlanta for its archetypal triumph connected the vacation successful a decade.
Julius Randle had 25 points and 12 rebounds for the Knicks successful a matchup of teams that met successful the archetypal circular of past season's playoffs. But the Hawks were missing Trae Young among 9 players successful the NBA's wellness and information protocols, truthful it wasn't overmuch of a rematch of Atlanta's five-game victory.
Walker finished with 10 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds. It was the archetypal triple-double connected Christmas since Golden State's Draymond Green successful 2017. John Collins and Delon Wright each scored 20 points for the Hawks.
With AP
For a regular dose of the champion of the breaking quality and exclusive contented from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!