Starting 5, March 20: Luka Doncic threw that pass from where?

In their first of three meetings over the season’s final 23 days, Denver hurdled Minnesota into second place in the West.

Meanwhile, Jalen Suggs and the red-hot Magic just notched a winning streak that matches his jersey number.

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THE LINEUP

What’s inside today’s edition? 

1️⃣ Nuggets hold off Wolves: Nikola Jokic led Denver to a crucial win in Minnesota, tying the season series at 1-1, and climbing to second in the West

2️⃣ Stay Winning: The Rockets (6 in a row), Magic (4 in a row), Pelicans (7 in 8 games) and Mavs (6 in 7 games) all scored Ws

3️⃣ Dimes of the night: Check out five of the best passes from Tuesday, including a long distance alley-oop from Luka Doncic

4️⃣ Maxey leading Philly: With Joel Embiid sidelined, first-time All-Star Tyrese Maxey has kept the Sixers in the playoff mix ⭐

5️⃣ Bucks test: The Bucks may not catch the Celtics in the standings tonight, but a win would be the first by an East team in Boston

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BUT FIRST… ⏰

Last night’s scores & what to watch today.

Tonight: Bucks-Celtics (7:30 ET, ESPN): The top two teams in the East meet for the third time with their season series tied 1-1

Grizzlies-Warriors (10 ET, ESPN): Steph Curry needs three 3s to post his fifth season with 300+ 3-pointers made. Only two other players – Klay Thompson & James Harden – have one such season

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1. NUGGETS SCORE KEY WIN IN CLASH OF WEST CONTENDERS

Nuggets halt Wolves: A Nikola Jokic three put the Nuggets up by eight with 1:45 to play, but the Wolves wouldn’t go away.

• Cut the lead to three with 31 seconds left
• Cut the lead to two with 12 seconds left
• Cut the lead to one with 6 seconds left
• Had a game-tying 3-point attempt at the buzzer from Anthony Edwards that came up short

Watch the final 5:22 in its entirety

The Nuggets survived to come away with a 115-112 win to even the season series at 1-1 (with two games remaining) and leapfrog the Wolves for the No. 2 spot in the West behind OKC. Recap | Jokic-Edwards Duel

• Nikola Jokic finished with 35 points, 16 rebounds and three 3s, but was held to a season-low two assists, while Michael Porter Jr. added 26 points and Jamal Murray had 18 points and 11 dimes

• Edwards led the Wolves with 30 points, eight boards, eight assists and plenty of highlights, including a putback dunk from out of nowhere and a tough euro finish that erupted the crowd
• Playoff Race (DEN ⬆️): The Nuggets jump over the Wolves for No. 2 in the West, in a virtual tie with OKC, trailing by .005 in win percentage
• Playoff Race (MIN ⬇️): The Wolves drop to No. 3 in the West, one game back of both Denver and OKC

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2. ROUNDUP: MAVS, PELICANS, ROCKETS, MAGIC STAY HOT

Mavs win 6th in last 7 games: Behind a game-high 28 points from Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic’s 18th triple-double (18 pts, 10 reb, 16 ast, including this 3/4 court lob to Derrick Jones Jr.), the Mavs defeated the Spurs 113-107 to sweep the season series with their Texas rival. | Recap

• Kyrie at the buzzer (again): Irving followed his buzzer-beating lefty hook to beat the Nuggets on Sunday with a first quarter buzzer-beater to put the Mavs up 38-30
• Wemby Watch: Victor Wembanyama (12 pts, 11 reb, 6 blk) became the sixth rookie ever (and first in over 30 years) with at least 20 games with 5+ blocks, joining Mark Eaton, Manute Bol, David Robinson, Alonzo Mourning and Shaquille O’Neal
• Playoff Race (DAL ↔️): Dallas remains seventh in the West, moving into a virtual tie with the No. 6 Kings, who lead the Mavs by .002 in win percentage and own the tiebreaker

Pelicans win 7th in last 8 games: Zion Willliamson (28 pts, 7 reb, 4 ast, 1 emphatic alley-oop throwdown) led six Pelicans in double figures in a 104-91 win over the Nets. NOLA wins its third straight and matches last season’s win total (42) with 14 games to play. | Recap

• Playoff Race (NOP ↔️): The Pelicans remain fifth in the West, moving within a half-game of the No. 4 Clippers and increase their lead over the No. 6 Kings to 2.5 games

Rockets keep rolling: Jalen Green tied his career-high with 42 points, and hit seven 3s in a 137-114 win over Washington for the Rockets’ sixth straight win. Rookie Amen Thompson put up a career-high with 25 points as part of his eighth double-double. | Recap

• Play-In Race (HOU ↔️): The Rockets remain 11th in the West, but close the gap on the No. 10 Warriors to 2.5 games

Magic win 4th straight: Cole Anthony scored 21 points on 75% shooting off the bench to lead the Magic to a 112-92 win over Charlotte. The Magic played all 15 players, with 13 scoring, while rookie Brandon Miller led the Hornets with 21 points. Recap

• Playoff Race (ORL ↔️): The Magic remain fifth in the East, moving within a half-game of the Knicks for fourth and increasing their lead over the Sixers to 2.5 games

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3. LUKA LEADS DIMES OF THE NIGHT

Inspired by Luka’s 3/4-court alley-oop pass to Derrick Jones Jr. – one of the longest alley-oop dunk dimes you’ll ever see – we highlight five of the best passes from a Tuesday night full of wild assists.

Naji Marshall to Zion Williamson for the fast break alley-oop in NOLA’s win in Brooklyn

Paolo Banchero to Jalen Suggs for the corner 3 (Paolo was also the recipient of a no-look alley-oop dime from Franz Wagner)

Fred VanVleet drives the lane and lobs it up as Amen Thompson comes crashing in from the baseline

Jamal Murray spins against the defense, then kicks it out to Nikola Jokic for the clutch 3

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4. TOP TWO TEAMS IN EAST CLASH IN BOSTON

Each day down the stretch, we break down the postseason implications from every game, as teams battle to secure spots in the Playoffs & Play-In.

Tonight’s Bucks-Celtics matchup (7:30 ET, ESPN) comes from a bit of a different angle.

• The Celtics enter this No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup in the East with a commanding 10-game lead over the Bucks with 14 games to play for both teams
• The Bucks aren’t challenging for the top seed in the East in this one. Instead, this game will serve as a measuring stick to see where the Bucks stand next to a team that has led the East since Nov. 15

This is the third of four head-to-head matchups this season, with the teams splitting the first two meetings by holding home court and never trailing.

• Nov. 22 (Celtics 119, Bucks 116): Jaylen Brown (26 pts) led seven Celtics in double figures as Boston built a 21-point lead and held off the Bucks late
• Jan. 11 (Bucks 135, Celtics 102): The Bucks used a 25-0 first-half run to blow the game open and cruise to the win behind 20/10 games from Bobby Portis and Giannis Antetokounmpo

Can the Bucks become just the fourth team overall – and the first East team – to beat the Celtics in Boston this season? With the Celtics on the fast track to the No. 1 seed in the conference, winning at TD Garden at least once will be necessary for any team to knock off Boston.

• And the Bucks have to do so short-handed with Giannis listed as questionable with hamstring soreness, which kept him out of Milwaukee’s last game on Sunday against Phoenix
• The Bucks put up 140 points to defeat the Suns by 11 and improve to 3-1 this season without their two-time MVP
• Damian Lillard and Portis each put up 31 points to lead the Bucks to a 16-0 mark when scoring over 130 points – including their win over Boston in January

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5. MAXEY KEEPING SIXERS IN THE PLAYOFF PICTURE

In the latest episode of Pass The Rock, Tyrese Maxey spoke of his relationship with another Philly All-Star guard — Allen Iverson.

• Maxey: “AI’s somebody that’s been in my corner for a long time, since I got to the Sixers. I just appreciate him. He’s a Philly legend.
• “He just brings a lot of energy, a lot of positivity. He just pushed me to be the best possible version of myself. He always tells me to go out there and leave it all out there on the floor and I try to do that.”

Maxey is coming off his third straight 30+ point game, giving him 20 such games this season. That tied Iverson for the most 30+ point games in a season by a Sixer under 24 years old. Can the student beat the mentor when the Sixers face the Suns tonight (10 ET, NBA App)?

• Prior to this breakout season, Maxey had a total of 12 games with 30+ points and one 40+ game over his first three seasons combined. This season alone, he has 20 games with 30+, three games with 40+ and cracked 50 points twice. And there’s still time to add more

While recording an episode of his podcast – Maxey on the Mic – at NBA All-Star in Indianapolis, Maxey was asked by two-time WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson what it meant to earn his first All-Star selection. His answer is worth a breakdown:

“It means a lot to me because a lot of people said I couldn’t do it.”

“He’ll never be this good because he can shoot 3s”

• Since shooting 30.1% as a rookie, Maxey has been a 40.9% 3-point shooter ever since

“He’ll never be this good because he can’t average 20”

• He averaged 20.3 last season and made a leap to 26.1 this season (13th in the NBA)

“He’ll never be this good because he can’t lead his team”

• With reigning MVP Joel Embiid sidelined since late January, Maxey has stepped up to keep the Sixers in the playoff picture and out of the Play-In

Maxey has proven the naysayers wrong every step of the way this season. Can he continue to do so as he leads the Sixers toward the postseason?