The Five: Everything to know for Week 14
Ja Morant has become a walking highlight after his recent dunk vs. Indiana last week.
Every Monday we will tell you what you need to know heading into a new week of NBA action.
1. NBA celebrates MLK Day
Week 14 begins on Martin Luther King Jr. Day as the NBA honors the civil rights icon with both on-court action and off-court activities and discussions focused on Dr. King’s pursuit of racial, social and economic justice.
NBA players and coaches discuss ways to address injustice and move closer to Dr. King's vision of equity for all people.
Monday features a full day of hoops with nine games on the schedule, including four nationally televised games on NBA TV and TNT:
- Boston at Charlotte: 1 p.m. ET, NBA TV
- Miami at Atlanta, 3:30 p.m. ET, TNT
- Phoenix at Memphis, 6 p.m. ET, TNT
- Houston at Los Angeles, 10:30 p.m. ET, NBA TV
You can read more on each of those matchups, as well as the five games on NBA League Pass in our MLK Day Viewer’s Guide. This will be the 37th year that the NBA plays games on the MLK Day holiday. We have dug into each of the 358 games played so far to showcase the top performances and records from MLK Day lore.
2. National TV Spotlight: Four must-see games
In addition to the MLK Day games, here are four more games you should not miss this week, including the latest NBA Global Game in Paris.
Wednesday: Atlanta at Dallas (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Luka Doncic and Trae Young will meet for the seventh time since they entered the league together in 2018 after being traded for one another on Draft night. Luka holds a 4-2 advantage in head-to-head games with Young. In those first six games, Doncic has averaged 22.7 points, 9.7 rebounds and 8.3 assists for the Mavericks, while Young has averaged 20.5 points, 10.7 assists and 3.2 rebounds for the Hawks.
Luka Doncic and Trae Young will be meeting for the seventh time since they entered the league together in 2018.
Wednesday: Minnesota at Denver (10 p.m. ET, ESPN)
This is a milestone watch game as Nikola Jokic is on pace to pass Hall of Famer Alex English as Denver’s all-time leader in assists in this game. Jokic enters Week 14 with 3,663 career assists in 566 games with the Nuggets and needs 17 assists to pass English, who holds the franchise mark with 3,679 assists (in 837 games). Jokic is averaging 9.8 assists per game this season. The Nuggets open the week hosting Portland on Tuesday before this game against the Timberwolves. If Jokic hits his average, then he’ll move into first place on Wednesday.
Thursday: Chicago at Detroit (3 p.m. ET, NBA TV) — NBA Paris Game 2023
The NBA returns to Paris for the first time since January 2020 with the second of the two NBA Global Games for the 2022-23 season. The NBA Paris Game 2023 features a matchup between the Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons at the Accor Arena in Paris. Chicago (20-24) enters Week 14 holding the final spot in the Eastern Conference Play-In field and beat Detroit (12-35) in their first matchup this season, 132-118 on Dec. 30, behind a season-high 43 points from Zach LaVine.
Thursday: Golden State at Boston (7:30 p.m. ET, TNT)
The Warriors won the first rematch of the 2022 NBA Finals when the teams met in San Francisco on Dec. 10 as Klay Thompson (34) and Stephen Curry (32) combined for 66 points in Golden State’s 123-107 win over Boston. Can the Celtics get some payback when the Warriors visit TD Garden — the site of Golden State’s title-clinching Game 6 win back in June?
Friday: Memphis at Los Angeles Lakers (10 p.m. ET, ESPN)
If Ja Morant is playing on national television, then you should watch because at any moment he can ignite the NBA like no other player at the moment. Case in point: his jaw-dropping dunk over Indiana’s Jalen Smith on Saturday. What will one of the brightest young stars in the league have in store when the Grizzlies visit the city of stars in L.A.?
3. League Pass Games to Watch: Four games to circle
Wednesday: Sacramento at Los Angeles Lakers (10:30 p.m. ET)
The Kings will enter this matchup with the Lakers looking to extend two streaks:
- Going for a fifth straight win
- Shooting for a sixth straight game scoring 130+ points
Sacramento enters Week 14 as the highest-scoring team in the league, averaging 120.0 points per game. That number has climbed over the past week as the Kings became only the eighth team to ever score at least 130 points in five straight games. The only two teams with longer streaks are the 1966-67 Philadelphia 76ers (six games) and the 1988-89 Denver Nuggets (seven games).
Friday: Golden State at Cleveland (7:30 p.m. ET)
This is a matchup of two of the top backcourts in the league: Curry and Thompson for Golden State and Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell for Cleveland. The Warriors won the first matchup this season, 106-101 on Nov. 11, behind Curry’s 40-point performance, which bested Mitchell’s near triple-double (29 points, 10 rebounds, 9 assists).
Saturday: Milwaukee at Cleveland (7:30 p.m. ET)
The Bucks (27-16) and Cavaliers (27-17) enter Week 14 sitting in third and fifth place, respectively, in the Eastern Conference and are separated by just a half-game. (Note: Philadelphia is fourth due to losing the tiebreaker to Milwaukee). With so many teams bunched together in the standings, head-to-head tiebreakers could end up being important. The Bucks lead the season series 2-1 entering this game and can clinch the tiebreaker with a win.
Sunday: LA Clippers at Dallas (7:30 p.m. ET)
There is no team Doncic has faced more in his NBA career than the LA Clippers. In 14 regular-season meetings, Doncic has averaged 32.5 ppg (his second-highest scoring average against any opponent), 8.7 rpg and 7.9 apg. In 13 playoff meetings (the Clippers eliminated the Mavericks in 2020 and ’21 in series that went six and seven games, respectively), those averages increased to 33.5 ppg, 8.8 rpg and 9.5 apg. What will this season’s leading scorer (33.8 ppg) have in store when the Clippers visit Dallas? He scored 35 in a home win on Nov. 15 and scored 43 in a road loss on Jan. 10.
4. All-Star voting ends Saturday, Jan. 21
It’s the final call for All-Star ballots as fan voting for the starters ends at 11:59 p.m. ET on Jan. 21. Below is the latest set of fan vote returns released by the NBA on Jan. 12.
LeBron James and Kevin Durant lead their respective conferences in the second fan returns of #NBAAllStar Voting presented by AT&T.
Fans account for 50% of the vote to decide All-Star starters. NBA players and a media panel account for 25% each.
The next fan update is Jan. 19. pic.twitter.com/SEwhsuNWcE
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) January 12, 2023
If you’re not happy with where your favorite players stand in the voting, there are only a few days left to do something about it. Two days to keep in mind are today (Jan. 16) and Jan. 20 as they are the final two special “3-for-1 days,” where each vote will be counted three times.
TNT will reveal the NBA All-Star Game starters, including the two team captains, on Thursday, Jan. 26 during TNT NBA Tip-Off presented by CarMax. TNT will also announce the reserves, as selected by NBA head coaches, on Thursday, Feb. 2 during TNT NBA Tip-Off.
5. Warriors to visit White House
Settle in and check out all 6 Chasing History segments from Golden State's run to the championship in the 2022 NBA Finals.
For the first time in nearly seven years, the Golden State Warriors will visit the White House to celebrate winning the NBA championship. Golden State will visit the White House on the afternoon of Jan. 17, a day after the Warriors’ game against the Washington Wizards.
The Warriors last visited the White House on Feb. 4, 2016 when they met with then-President Barack Obama to celebrate the first championship of their four-title run over the past eight years. Only Curry, Thompson, Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala remain from that first title team.
“I’m definitely looking forward to it for the guys that have never been,” Curry recently said. “I’m excited about it and our families are. And it’s one last opportunity to celebrate our championship last year before you kind of put everything in the rearview about what’s going to happen with the rest of this year.”
