The Golden State Warriors felt the absence of star point guard Stephen Curry as they lost 101-96 to the lowly New Orleans Pelicans in the NBA.
Curry, missing with a leg injury, was joined on the sidelines by Draymond Green, who picked up a sore hip.
Having led early on, the Warriors were reeled in as Brandon Ingram top-scored for the Pelicans with 32 points.
The Warriors, second in the Western Conference, have lost back-to-back games for the first time this season.
They went down to the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday.
Elsewhere, Chris Paul scored his first triple-double of the season – registering double-digit stats for points, rebounds and assists – as the Phoenix Suns swept aside the Los Angeles Clippers 106-89 to stretch clear of the Warriors at the top of the Western Conference.
Paul, 36, racked up a career-best 13 rebounds alongside 14 points and 10 assists.
The Suns made light of the Covid-enforced absences of Deandre Ayton, Jae Crowder and JaVale McGee as Cameron Johnson added 24 points and Jalen Smith chipped in 19 points.
“Everybody’s got guys out right now, you’ve got to stay the course,” Paul said afterwards.
RJ Barrett landed an off-balance buzzer-beating three-pointer to seal the New York Knicks‘ 108-105 comeback win at home to the Boston Celtics.
The hosts had been 25 points behind in the first half but, with guard Evan Fournier scoring 10 three-pointers on his way to a career-high 41 points, they fought back to win.
Fournier has struggled at times since moving to the Big Apple from Boston earlier this season and, after his third 30-point-plus game against the Celtics, admitted facing his former team may have provided additional motivation
“Maybe there’s a little bit of extra motivation, but it’s not something I do on purpose,” he said. “I don’t wake up thinking ‘OK, it’s the Celtics, I have to play better.'”
The Memphis Grizzlies ran up their seventh straight win with a 118-88 victory over the Detroit Pistons as Ja Morant hit 22 points, nine rebounds and six assists. The Pistons have lost 20 of their past 23 games.
