The first night of NBA action in 2019 is upon us and there’s a five-game slate that highlights the schedule as we begin a new year.
To start the night off, the Toronto Raptors defeated the pesky Utah Jazz. Kawhi Leonard scored a career-high 45 points to offset Jae Crowder’s career-high 30 points.
The Milwaukee Bucks will look to hold off the Detroit Pistons to maintain their slim advantage over the Raptors for the conference lead in the Eastern Conference.
Also, the best team in the West, the Denver Nuggets, will host the New York Knicks while the Philadelphia 76ers will cap off the night by visiting the surprising Los Angeles Clippers.
Here’s everything you need to know about tonight’s action.
NBA schedule for Tuesday, Jan. 1
All times Eastern
Kawhi reaches career high in points on lefty reverse layup
Kawhi Leonard was simply on tonight. The Raptors forward has a reached a career-high 42 points as a result of this nifty lefty reverse layup past the 7-foot-2 Rudy Gobert. Leonard finished with 45 points.
Crowder with a career-high 30 points
Jae Crowder had a career-high 30 points and five treys as the Jazz came up short in their upset bid against the Raptors.
Murray with a massive slam past two Knicks defenders
Jamal Murray might only be 6-foot-4, but he looked a whole lot bigger than his listed height on this dunk past two Knicks defenders.
Giannis dunks it over Pistons defender
Somebody needs to tell defenders to stop trying to guard Giannis Antetokounmpo when he takes it to the rim. This is an example of where players need to learn when to make business decisions when defending Giannis.
Kawhi scores 19 points on 7-of-7 shooting in 3rd quarter
Kawhi Leonard knows how to lead a team without one of his All-Star teammates. Despite Kyle Lowry being absent against the Jazz, Leonard scored 19 points on a perfect 7-of-7 shooting from the field in the third quarter to give the Raptors an eight-point lead entering the fourth quarter.
Siakam slam dunk
Pascal Siakam sure knows how to finish off a fastbreak as the Jazz found out first hand on this sequence.
VanVleet jukes out Rubio, then lays it up past Gobert
We all know Fred VanVleet is not even 6 feet tall, but heck, he just converted a layup over a legit 7-foot-2 center. After juking out Jazz point guard Ricky Rubio, the Raptors point guard then proceeded to get a layup past Rudy Gobert.
Lowry still sidelined, Nurse believes he’s almost back
Kyle Lowry sat out of the Raptors’ game against the Jazz. The All-Star point guard has played in only one of the team’s past eight games because of a lower back injury and the team has gone just 4-4 during that stretch. The Raptors have fallen behind the Bucks, who now own the East’s best record.
Despite the announcement that Lowry had received pain-relieving and anti-inflammatory shots over the weekend, coach Nick Nurse still believes Lowry is almost on his way back.
Raptors coach Nick Nurse reiterated that he believes Kyle Lowry is getting closer to the end of his time on the sidelines with a back issue despite the team’s announcement of Lowry getting pain-relieving and anti-inflammatory shots Saturday in New York.
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) January 1, 2019
Source: “Los Angeles” – Google News