Starting 5, March 8: Was Anthony Edwards' block one of the best ever?

If Anthony Edwards is in Paris for Team USA this summer, USA Track & Field may come calling too, after seeing what he did last night.

Said Edwards: “I ain’t ever jumped that high in my life.”

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THE LINEUP

1. Edwards, Jokic shine in big wins
2. ↔️ Roundup: Play-In, Playoff races hold
3. International Women’s Day
4. Cavs try to knock off another No. 1
5. Florida hoops on the rise

Tonight’s ESPN doubleheader tips off with the Cavs looking to beat their second conference leader this week when they host the Wolves (7:30 ET) during ESPN’s all-women broadcast. Then the Lakers host the Bucks (10 ET) with both teams looking to rebound from tough losses.

Phoenix to host NBA All-Star 2027: The NBA announced on Thursday that Phoenix will host NBA All-Star for the first time since 2009. It will follow stops in San Francisco (2025) and LA (2026).

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1. ANT’S 44 PTS, BLOCK LIFT WOLVES, JOKIC LEADS NUGGETS PAST CELTICS

Ant-Man on both ends: Anthony Edwards scored 16 of his season-high tying 44 points in the fourth quarter, but saved his biggest play for the final defensive possession of the game. With a chance to put the Wolves up three with seven seconds left, Edwards missed a free throw.

The Pacers grabbed the rebound, pushed the ball upcourt and found Aaron Nesmith on the wing with an open lane to the basket.

Edwards timed his chasedown perfectly, rising WAY up to swat away the shot off the glass with 2.3 seconds left for one of the greatest game-saving blocks ever. Mike Conley secured the rebound for the 113-111 win.

• How high did Edwards get on the block? He hit his head on the rim and crashed into the bottom of the backboard before finally coming down to the floor
• Edwards: “I ain’t ever jumped that high in my life”
• Fantastic finish: Watch the final 3:40 in its entirety
• Playoff Race (MIN ↔️): The Wolves maintain their hold on the No. 1 spot in the West, going up a half game on the idle Thunder
• Play-In Race (IND ↔️): The Pacers hold the No. 8 spot in the East, one game back of both No. 6 Miami and No. 7 Philadelphia

Nuggets sweep season series vs. Celtics: Nikola Jokic (32 pts, 12 reb, 11 ast) recorded his 20th triple-double of the season to lead the Nuggets to a 115-109 win over the Celtics to become the only team to win the season series over NBA-leading Boston (48-14).

Jamal Murray (19 pts, 8 ast) and Aaron Gordon (16 pts, 9 reb) combined for 35 to help offset Jaylen Brown’s season-high 41 points and a 24-point, 12-board effort from Kristaps Porzingis.

• Jokic became the fourth player in NBA history with multiple 20+ triple-double seasons – following last season’s career-high 29 with 20 so far this season – joining Oscar Robertson (5x), Russell Westbrook (4x) and Wilt Chamberlain (2x)

• Buzzer-Beaters: After Murray beat the first quarter buzzer with a halfcourt heave, Jokic banked in a jumper to beat the halftime buzzer to give the Nuggets an eight-point lead
• AG ‘Lob City:’ Gordon had one of his signature alley-oops late in the first half from Murray, then had another from his usual partner Jokic to put the Nuggets up four with 20 seconds left in the game
• Playoff Race (DEN & BOS ↔️): The Nuggets remain at No. 3 in the West, but move within a half game of OKC for No. 2. The Celtics maintain their commanding lead in the East

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2. ROUNDUP: LUKA TIES RUSS, KINGS STEAL WIN, SUNS NEVER TRAIL

Luka keeps it going: Luka Doncic (35 pts, 11 reb, 11 ast) posted his fifth straight 30+ point triple-double – tying Russell Westbrook for the longest streak ever – to lead the Mavs to a 114-108 win over the Heat to snap a three-game slide.

• Kyrie Irving added 23 points, including a clutch 3 to put the Mavs up five with 1:28 to play.
• Play-In Race (DAL ↔️): The Mavs hold the No. 8 spot in the Play-In, increasing their lead to 1.5 games over the Warriors
• Playoff Race (MIA ↔️): The Heat stay at the No. 6 spot in the East via a tiebreaker with Philadelphia at No. 7 (lead season series 2-0)

Kings’ game-winning 7-0 run: Trailing by five with 57 seconds left and reigning Clutch Player of the Year De’Aaron Fox having fouled out, the Kings closed the game on a 7-0 run to escape with a 131-129 win over the Spurs.

• Final 51 seconds: A Harrison Barnes runner and Malik Monk 3 tied it, before Domantas Sabonis came up with the steal and breakaway dunk for the final points of the night
• Playoff Race (SAC ↔️): Fox (33 pts, 5 reb, 5 ast) and Sabonis (31 pts, 17 reb, 9 ast) combined for 64 points to help the Kings keep pace with the Suns in the standings. Sacramento stays at No. 7, just a half game back of No. 6 Phoenix

Suns’ wire-to-wire win: Kevin Durant posted his second straight 35-point game, while Grayson Allen (26 pts, 8 3s, 7 in the 1st quarter) and Bradley Beal (20 pts, 8 ast) combined for 46 more as the Suns beat the Raptors 120-113.

• Playoff Race (PHX ↔️): The Suns remain at the No. 6 spot in the West, maintaining their half-game lead over the Kings for the final guaranteed playoff spot

Bulls win 3rd straight: DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic scored 33 apiece to lead the Bulls to a 125-122 road win over the Warriors and lift the Bulls one game below .500 (31-32). The last time Chicago was .500 was at 2-2 back in October.

• Final 75 seconds: A DeRozan and-1 three-point play put the Bulls ahead for good with 23 seconds left, part of a wild finish that saw the game tied once and lead change three times
• Play-In Race (CHI & GSW ↔️): The Bulls hold the No. 9 spot in the East Play-In, increasing their lead over the No. 10 Hawks to 2.5 games while pulling within 3.5 games of No. 8 Indy.
• The Warriors hold the No. 9 spot in the West Play-In by .001 in win percentage over the Lakers

Cunningham, Ivey lift Pistons: Detroit got a combined 66 points from Jaden Ivey (34 pts, 6 3s) and Cade Cunningham (32 pts, 11 ast) in a 118-112 win over the Nets to end a three-game slide. Dennis Schroder had 31 points to lead the Nets, who fell to 3.5 games back of the Play-In field.

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3. CELEBRATING INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

In celebration of International Women’s Day, Friday’s Timberwolves and Cavaliers matchup (7:30 ET, ESPN) will feature an all-women’s production both in front of and behind the camera.

• The broadcast team: Beth Mowins on play-by-play, Monica McNutt on analysis and Katie George reporting from the sidelines
• In the studio: Malika Andrews continues her regular hosting duties on both “NBA Today” and “NBA Countdown.” She will be joined by Chiney Ogwumike, Becky Hammon and Ramona Shelburne to get viewers ready for Friday’s eight-game slate
• Behind the scenes: An all-women staff will lead all aspects of the production, including operations, transmissions, social media, graphics and stats
• Been there, done that: This is the third consecutive year ESPN has celebrated International Women’s Day with an all-women production. Friday’s game marks the fifth time an all-women broadcast crew has called an NBA game on the network this season

Ahead of Friday’s game, McNutt spoke with NBA.com about her career and being her authentic self on the air.

• McNutt: “One of my favorite compliments is ‘You’re just like you are on TV,’ because I am.”
• What she hopes fans take away from Friday’s broadcast: “I honestly hope they don’t even notice. I hope they think this is a good game. I hope they think, ‘I learned’ or ‘I was entertained’, or hopefully a combination of both in an ideal world, by the call.”

Earlier this week, three-time WNBA champion and two-time MVP Candace Parker answered fan questions in the NBA.com mailbag.

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4. CAN CAVS BEAT ANOTHER NO. 1? BUCKS, LAKERS TRY TO BOUNCE BACK

Timberwolves at Cavaliers (7:30 ET, ESPN)

Cavs vs. No. 1s: On Tuesday, the Cavs earned their 40th win of the season by knocking off the East-leading Celtics behind a thrilling fourth-quarter comeback despite being without Donovan Mitchell. Can they follow it up three days later by taking down the West-leading Wolves?

• Unsung heroes: Cleveland’s comeback over Boston was fueled by Dean Wade, who scored 20 points and splashed five 3s in the fourth quarter. A week earlier, in a comeback win over Dallas, it was Max Strus that erupted from deep, capped off with a 59-foot buzzer-beater for the win
• Different challenges: The Cavs beat the league’s top-ranked offensive team in Boston (121.4) on Tuesday, and now have to try to beat the league’s top-ranked defensive team in Minnesota (108.1)
• Wolves coming off a clutch win: Minnesota enters this game coming off a thrilling 113-111 win over Indiana, capped off by a spectacular block by Anthony Edwards to seal the win. Minnesota is 7-2 on the second night of a back-to-back this season
• Towns out at least a month: The Wolves announced that Karl-Anthony Towns will have surgery to repair a torn meniscus and miss at least a month

Bucks at Lakers (10 ET, ESPN)

• Looking to bounce back: The Lakers and Bucks both enter Friday’s game looking to rebound from Wednesday losses. Milwaukee saw its six-game win streak snapped with a 35-point loss at Golden State in the first of a four-game West Coast trip.
• The Lakers gave up a 19-point first-quarter lead as they fell to the Kings 130-120 at home to drop to 10th in the West
• Davis on the verge: Friday’s game will be Anthony Davis’ 61st game of the season, one shy of the 62 he played in his first season with the Lakers in 2019-20, the most of his Lakers’ tenure
• Excelling on both ends: In addition to his 24.8 ppg (16th in NBA), AD ranks in the top five in rebounding (4th, 12.3 rpg) and blocks (5th, 2.4 bpg, his highest mark as a Laker). Davis is one of only two players (along with Wemby) to average at least 20 points, 10 boards and two blocks per game
• First matchup: This is the first of two meetings between these teams over the next three weeks. The Bucks have won four of the last five matchups

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5. MAGIC, HEAT ON THE RISE

If the Playoffs started today, two of the six guaranteed playoff berths in the East would belong to the No. 4 Orlando Magic and the No. 6 Miami Heat. Hot streaks from both teams have helped them elevate in the standings over the past month.

• Magic keep rolling: Orlando brings a five-game win streak (and an 8-2 mark in its last 10 games) into their Friday matchup with the Knicks in New York (7:30 ET, NBA App) in the final game of a three-game road trip
• A first-round preview? Again, if the Playoffs started today, the No. 4 Magic and No. 5 Knicks would meet in the first round. Orlando leads NY by a half game, but holds the head-to-head tiebreaker as the Magic look to complete a 4-0 season series sweep tonight
• Last 10 games: The Magic rank in the top six in both offense (116.8, 5th) and defense (108.8, 6th) over all teams’ last 10 games. The Heat rank in the top 10 on both ends – eighth in offense (116.3) and 10th in defense (110.3)
• Bouncing back: After enduring a seven-game losing streak from Jan 17-29, dropping them from 24-16 (5th in East) to 24-23 (8th in East), the Heat have gone 11-4 in their last 15 games to get back into the top six in the conference
• Start A New streak? The Heat had beat the Thunder six straight times before OKC got the better of Miami in their first matchup this season – a 128-120 win on Jan. 10 in Miami. The Heat will look to begin a new win streak against the Thunder when the two meet in OKC tonight (8 ET, NBA App)