The NBA’s nine-game Friday slate once again delivered plenty of drama and surprising results. Defending NBA Cup champions, the New York Knicks slipped to 0–2 in East Group B as the Indiana Pacers edged them out in a nail-biting 106–104 finish. In another nail-biting finish, even Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s brilliance couldn’t prevent the Oklahoma City Thunder from suffering a third consecutive defeat. Elsewhere, pressure is mounting on a head coach whose team has stumbled to a disastrous 1–11 start to the season.

The Pacers were without Tyrese Haliburton, but the Knicks found another villain in Quenton Jackson. He was involved in a battle with the Brunsons. Jackson and Jalen Brunson were in a personal battle throughout the game. In fact, the Pacers star drilled a three-pointer in the third quarter, and then taunted assistant coach Rick Brunson on the Knicks bench. Later in the third quarter, JB exploded and led the Knicks on a 15-2 run to cut the deficit to 1.

During that run, with less than a minute remaining, JB hit another basket while Jackson was on the bench. Yet the Knicks captain delivered his trash talk. When asked about the exchange, the Knicks star simply called it “friendly banter.” But the problems with Jackson continued.

This time, Jose Alvarado got involved after Indiana’s 106-104 win. Both shoved each other, and the Knicks star wanted to take it to the tunnel and had to be held back.

“Would look like a shove there,” said the commentators. “Alvarado was upset being held back by Mo Diawara. And then the Pacers security bringing Jackson back. Alvarado still with words.”

OKC Thunder Had Another Difficult Night

The Thunder are dealing with significant injuries, including the absences of Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren. Even then, OKC fans wouldn’t have imagined their team losing its third game in a row. Two-time MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had a game-high 40 points, yet it wasn’t enough. In fact, had the chance to secure the win against the Clippers with a 21-footer, but he missed.

The final few seconds were enthralling. Darius Garland scored the And-1 on a driving layup. Both teams had two timeouts each, but they decided not to use them. SGA missed two potential game winners, with the last one going in and out. It was a tough loss as Oklahoma City overturned a 13-point halftime deficit with a 40-point third quarter.

“It’s how basketball games go. Sometimes you make a run, sometimes they make a run, and you’ve got to get back to your core principles and what makes you a good team. We did that for enough of the game in the second half to get ourselves back in it,” said Shai post-game.

Jared McCain added 23 points and drilled seven three-pointers. Meanwhile, Isaiah Hartenstein recorded 21 points and 16 rebounds for OKC on an impressive 9-0f-10 shooting. Brook Lopez led the Clippers with 26 points, while Darius Garland added 24. The Clippers scored the final seven points to snatch victory from the Thunder.

For the Clippers, this was a badly needed victory after a difficult start. For Oklahoma City, three consecutive defeats highlight the challenge of navigating an injury-hit stretch, even with their MVP scoring 40.

Kings Coach Gets Honest About Being In the Hot Seat

If Thunder falling 0-3 is bad, then Sacramento has lost five straight. In fact, they remain winless in seven home appearances and are 1-11. Naturally, questions would increase about job security for Doug Christie. And he did not shy away from it.

“I think this seat is hot always,” said Christie. “… Nobody wants to win more than me from the standpoint that the record doesn’t go on players’ numbers. The record goes on coaches’ numbers.”

The 56-year-old has a 50-95 record since becoming the head coach and is 23-70 since the interim tag was removed last year. Against Portland, he had no answer as the Kings lost 120-107. Domantas Sabonis led Sacramento with 21 points and 12 rebounds, while De’Andre Hunter scored 24. But there were several other issues.

The Kings committed 11 turnovers, and the Trail Blazers converted 19 points off them. In fact, Christie’s side shot just 11-for-34 from three-point range. Plenty of inspiration is needed if Sacramento wants to turn the tide around.

Rockets Find Another Scorer Despite Kevin Durant’s Struggles

With Kevin Durant enduring a cold shooting night (5-for-14), it was Alperen Sengun who did the heavy lifting against the Jazz. The Turkish star carried Houston’s offense and was ultra-efficient at 70.8% from the field. He ended with 43 points and 12 rebounds, and it was just the second time in his career that he has scored 40+ points.

On Friday, he also got in the franchise record books alongside Hakeem Olajuwon and Yao Ming. Sengun became the third player in franchise history to record 40+ points, 10+ rebounds, and 5+ assists on 70%+ FG% since 1956-57.

Ime Udoka praised Sengun not only for his exploits but also for just one turnover in the entire game: “Yeah, he was great. I mean, they were swarming a little bit and he saw it and made the right play. We only had eight turnoevers as a group, which is phenomenal, but him to handle that much and only have one was a big night and important for us. We got 18 points off their turnovers. They only scored eight. In a tight game like that, those shots were needed.”

Miami Heat Finally Finds Some Groove

Miami’s two superstars combined for 74 points as they beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 133-121. In doing so, Bam Adebayo and Giannis Antetokounmpo became just the second duo in the Heat franchise to score 35+ points in the same game. Previously, the record was set by none other than LeBron James & Dwyane Wade in 2013.

“There’s going to be games that are going to look like this,” Giannis said after the game spoke about the duo’s performance. “Obviously, he played great. He was aggressive. He was able to get to his spot, make the right play for himself or for the team. I was doing the same. As I said, there’s going to be games that we’re both gonna score, and other games we’re both gonna play defense and get rebounds and set the tone.

“So I’m happy, I’m excited, and I’m able to share the court with him. But you know, it was a good night for him and for the team, but we gotta focus. We have another one tomorrow against Detroit, a team that plays very good basketball, has a great leader. So we got to come ready.”

The Greek Freak dropped 37 points with 9 rebounds, two assists, and a block. He scored 15-for-20 from the field (75%) and 71.5 TS%, all this in just 31 minutes. Meanwhile, Bam added 37 points (his season-high) and 14 rebounds. The duo had massive help from Davion Mitchell, who scored 22 points of his own but had a career-high 17 assists.

Now, Miami has won six of their last eight games and is back to .500 after starting 0-4.