NBA Scores & Recaps from Thursday October 26, 2023

Both games from last night were on TNT and had plenty of juicy storylines to go with them! We won’t do much speculating - that’s not what we do here. But we will talk about what matters most. Who won? Welcome to Who Won the podcast for busy NBA fans who don’t have time to watch every game but still want to know who won without all the hot takes and click bait.  In the first game the 76ers went into Milwaukee to take on the Bucks and they left James Harden behind. By all accounts Harden is healthy. So the NBA is investigating the matter. As of recording this. No news has come through on a verdict.  What we know for sure is that, drama aside, a game did happen. And there were a bunch of players dressed and ready to play basketball.  Including Joel Embid the defending MVP, Giannis Antetokounmpo who just inked a big fat contract extension and Damian Lillard who made his official debut for the Bucks and gave his new home fans their first official taste of Dame Time down the stretch as the Bucks came out on top 118-117. Dame ended up with 39 in his Milwaukee debut rounding it out with 8 rebounds 4 assists and hit all 17 of his free throws. Aggressive night for Lillard and 0 turnovers.  Giannis chipped in 23 and 13 rebounds as well but had his struggles in this one. Just 3-9 from the free throw line and 7 turnovers but they got the W.  For the Sixers in Harden's absence Tyrese Maxey led in scoring with 31 and 8 assists to go with it. Kelly Oubre had 27 off the bench. Joel Embid had 24 with 7 boards and 6 assists. And Tobias Harris also had 20 in the loss.  Next up for the Bucks will be the Atlanta Hawks coming to Milwaukee on Sunday.  For the Sixers they’ll be in Toronto to take on the Taptors Saturday.  In the second game of the night the Lakers got off to another slow start against the Phoenix suns who were without Devin Booker and Bradley Beal in Los Angeles, and the suns took a 30-18 lead at the end of the first quarter. But an 20-5 run in the first 6 mins of the second quarter got the Lakers right back into it. From there the Suns kicked it back into gear until the 4th quarter where they were limited to just 11 points and the Lakers come out of this one with a 5 point victory 100-95.  Anthony Davis led the way for the Lakers with 30 points to go with 12 boards and 3 blocks and 3 steals. And Lebron James had 21 again. This time in 35 minutes, which suggests that minute restriction from game 1 might not be as strict. But those extra minutes likely made all the difference because the lakers were +22 while Lebron was on the floor.  The Suns were shorthanded without 2 of the leagues best scorers so it was all Kevin Durant in this one who’s 39 point 11 rebound night just wasn’t quite enough. Similar to LeBron, the Suns were +18 in KDs 39 minutes. But lost this game by 5.