FULL NBA Review From April 30, 2021

The top-spot in both conferences both got more interesting on Friday night. Brooklyn fell to Portland at home thanks to 32 points from Damian Lillard, and Philadelphia secured a win over Atlanta, closing the gap between the two teams to only half of a game. In the West, Phoenix defeated Utah behind 31 points from Devin Booker to overtake the top spot from the Jazz, who had been holding it for some time.

The best game of the night came in Boston, where they came back from 32 points down to beat San Antonio in overtime behind a career-high 60 points from Jayson Tatum. LeBron James made his return for LA, only to be greeted by a home defeat to Sacramento. Giannis Antetokounmpo missed the contest for Milwaukee, but his team still won in Chicago. Memphis held Orlando to only 75 points in their home victory, and Washington blew out Cleveland with yet another triple-double from Russell Westbrook.

Here are the best NBA highlights, facts, performers, and takeaways from April 30th, 2021:

FINAL RESULTS

GAME OF THE DAY

San Antonio Spurs (140) vs. Boston Celtics (143) [OT]

[Highlights] @CELTICS (-179; $8.26) d. SPURS (+159; $12.43) 143-140 (OT) [SAS +4.5 | o219.5]

[Highlights] KINGS (+285; $10.14) d. @LAKERS (-346; $8.96) 110-106 [SAC +8 | u224]

[Highlights] BUCKS (-112; $9.25) d. @BULLS (-105; $10.16) 108-98 [MIL -1 | u220]

[Highlights] @GRIZZLIES (-851; $12.22) d. MAGIC (+606; $6.53) 92-75 [MEM -12.5 | u224.5]

[Highlights] BLAZERS (-117; $10.32) d. @NETS (-101; $11.11) 128-109 [POR -1 | u240.5]

[Highlights] @SUNS (-183; $14.54) d. JAZZ (+162; $13.12) 121-100 [PHX -4.5 | o219]

[Highlights] @76ERS (-468; $11.05) d. HAWKS (+376; $13.27) 126-104 [PHI -9.5 | o220]

[Highlights] WIZARDS (-267; $10.63) d. @CAVALIERS (+228; $10.79) 122-93 [WSH -7 | u227]

NBA Game Odds via Vigit App

NBA Stock Prices via FANDEX

INTERESTING FACTS

Jayson Tatum had an all-time performance as the Celtics made a historic comeback

T-most PTS (60) during 1 GP in Celtics history, tying Larry Bird
1st player with multiple GP with 50+ PTS during 1 season in Celtics history
2nd youngest (23y, 58d) player with 60+ PTS during 1 GP in NBA history (regular & postseason), behind Devin Booker
Largest comebacks ever: 1. ’96 Jazz vs. DEN (36 PTS), 2. ’09 Kings vs. CHI (35 PTS), 3. Celtics vs. SAS (32 PTS)
3rd player with 60+ PTS & 0 TOV in 1 GP since 1977, joining 2014 Carmelo Anthony and 2016 Klay Thompson
Celtics became the 2nd team to force OT after trailing by 29+ PTS at halftime in NBA history, joining the ’96 Jazz
2020-21 is the 3rd season with 3 different players (Beal, Tatum, Curry) recording 60+ PT games in NBA history

Russell Westbrook added another triple-double record to his colossal collection

Recorded 20 triple-doubles in the shortest span (26 GP) in NBA history

This was the most significant injury in LeBron James’ career

This is the longest stretch of consecutive missed games (20) in LeBron’s career.
Lakers were 28-13 before his injury, but are 8-13 since the game he got hurt

BEST HIGHLIGHTS

Slick behind the back from Neto

Raul Neto with a behind-the-back dime 👀 pic.twitter.com/Jeo3NCLlKn
— NBA TV (@NBATV) May 1, 2021

Jones woke up and chose violence

Damian Jones dropped the HAMMER 🔨 pic.twitter.com/bqEq50jKjR
— NBA TV (@NBATV) May 1, 2021

Windmill alley-oop from Ja Morant

AIR MORANT ✈️ pic.twitter.com/3gddQWrBMW
— NBA TV (@NBATV) May 1, 2021

Middleton took it right to the rack

Sheesh, Khris Middleton 😳 pic.twitter.com/R3ZiKT2XDY
— NBA TV (@NBATV) May 1, 2021

Kyrie brought out the full bag

That's TOUGH, Kyrie 😤 pic.twitter.com/Ae7jh0uqEg
— NBA TV (@NBATV) May 1, 2021

Booker had the 2x DPOY dancing

Booker put the moves on 'em 👀 pic.twitter.com/DKWqPZF8mB
— NBA TV (@NBATV) May 1, 2021

TOP PERFORMERS

[Highlights] F Jayson Tatum, BOS (W v.SAS): 60 PTS (20-37 FG | 5-7 3P), 5 AST, 8 REB, 1 BLK, 0 STL, 0 TO

[Highlights] PG Damian Lillard, POR (W @BKN): 32 PTS (12-22 FG | 8-13 3P), 9 AST, 7 REB, 0 BLK, 1 STL, 1 TO

[Highlights] G Tyrese Haliburton, SAC (W @LAL): 23 PTS (8-14 FG | 4-8 3P), 10 AST, 4 REB, 1 BLK, 2 STL, 4 TO

[Highlights] PG Russell Westbrook, WSH (W @CLE): 15 PTS (5-12 FG | 0-1 3P), 11 AST, 12 REB, 0 BLK, 1 STL, 3 TO

[Highlights] PG Dejounte Murray, SAS (L @BOS): 24 PTS (10-18 FG | 2-2 3P), 8 AST, 8 REB, 0 BLK, 1 STL, 2 TO

NBA TOP PERFORMERS

MAIN TAKEAWAY

TYRESE HALIBURTON WAS THE STEAL OF THE 2020 NBA DRAFT

Tyrese Haliburton was drafted 12th overall by the Sacramento Kings and is proving to be the best value pick of the draft. He is currently the third most likely candidate to win this season’s rookie of the year award, behind Anthony Edwards and LaMelo Ball, who were both top-three picks. Haliburton has shown throughout the season that he should’ve been picked earlier, especially recently with De’Aaron Fox out of the lineup.

Since Fox has been out due to injury, Haliburton has been averaging 18.5 points per game and nine assists, nearly a double-double. In this four-game span, he’s averaged more points and assists than both Edwards and Ball have this season. This shows that when Halliburton has more opportunities to be productive, he makes the most of it and excels with the ball in his hands.

Haliburton’s double-double in Sacramento’s victory over the LA Lakers proved once again why he deserved to go earlier in the draft. At only 21 years of age, Haliburton is giving Sacramento fans something to look forward to as part of a young nucleus in northern California. He might’ve fallen to the 12th overall pick, but Tyrese is making it clear that Sacramento found the steal of the draft in 2020.

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