On a slow Thursday night in the NBA, two former Kentucky guards clashed trying to bring their teams back to a winning record. Here’s the best from last night’s NBA action.

RECAP

Bam and Herro get the best of Fox and his Sacramento Kings

Thursday night’s slate of NBA games saw the Heat get the best of De’Aaron Fox’s Sacramento Kings 118-110, as Tyler Herro led Miami in points with 27 off the bench. Herro was helped by the 6’9 point-forward Bam Adebayo and his triple-double. The win helped the Heat end a three-game losing streak and helped Bam notch his fourth triple-double in his young NBA career, as he faced off against his former teammate Hassan Whiteside.

https://twitter.com/MiamiHEAT/status/1362794070402162688?s=20

However, on the other side, the Kings along with De’Aaron Fox struggled immensely as he only scored 11 points, going 0-3 from the three-point line with his plus-minus at -8 when on the floor. The team’s luck was not as good as the Miami Heat, with the loss now extending their losing streak to now five games over the last 10 days.

AD-less Lakers get overwhelmed by Nets’ duo of superstars

As the great Magic Johnson had predicted pre-game about the MVP matchup happening between LeBron James of the reigning NBA champions Los Angeles Lakers, and the up-and-coming Brooklyn Nets with superstars of their own, the matchup was billed a preview of an NBA finals matchup.

I always love big NBA games! The @Lakers vs. Nets will still be exciting to watch, even without KD and AD, because of MVP candidates LeBron James and James Harden as well as their teammates!

— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) February 18, 2021

The game itself came short of the very large expectations set before tip-off. The Nets were always in control of the game, and without his partner Anthony Davis, all LeBron James could do was watch James Harden and Kyrie Irving make circus shots as Kevin Durant also watched from the sidelines while his team easily defeated the short-handed Lakers 109-98.

KD's bench reactions have been gold all game 🤣 pic.twitter.com/NKcKCqzRxZ

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 19, 2021

The Nets led by 11 points at halftime and the lead only ballooned in the third quarter, as LeBron James and the Lakers were down 16 points by the end of the third. Harden, who scored 27 points in Durant’s absence, had no problems quickly adjusting to the playstyle of the Brooklyn Nets, as he has been averaging 25 points and 12 assists since the beginning of February while shooting 51 percent from the field.

For LeBron and the Lakers, it was a memorable night as he hit career 35,000 points, something only done by two others, Karl Malone and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Expectations for the Lakers are that Anthony Davis will be back in four weeks after his re-evaluation last night.

Lakers Coach Frank Vogel says to expect Anthony Davis (calf/Achilles) to be out for four weeks, so…well past All-Star. Can't even estimate what game AD could return for, since the second half of the season schedule isn't out.

— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) February 19, 2021

For more, here are the full stats from yesterday

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TODAY IN THE NBA

7:00 – Warriors (Mulder) at Magic

7:00 – Nuggets (Murray) at Cavaliers

7:30 – Bulls at Sixers (Maxey)

7:30 – Hawks (Rondo) at Celtics

8:00 – Pistons at Grizzlies

8:00 – Thunder (Miller, Diallo, Gilgeous-Alexander) at Bucks

8:00 – Suns (Booker) at Pelicans (Gabriel, Bledsoe)

9:00 – Raptors at Timberwolves (KAT, Vanderbilt)

10:00 – Jazz at Clippers (Patterson)