Did Shai Gilgeous-Alexander just earn his second straight MVP?
The Oklahoma City Thunder guard tied Wilt Chamberlain’s insane record of 126 straight 20-point NBA games player while putting away archnemesis Nikola Jokic’s Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night. All told, he scored 35 points on 14-of-21 shooting from the field and 4-of-4 shooting from the foul line, dished out 15 dimes, pulled down seven rebounds, and logged a steal and a block for good measure.
The stakes were incredibly clear throughout the night, as the healthy personnel for two major Western Conference contenders went at each other like they were back in the 2025 playoffs.
Oklahoma City, much vaunted as the league’s most elite defense (more on that later), employed all their typical tricks throughout.
Lu Dort received a Flagrant 1 for this foul on Nikola Jokic ? pic.twitter.com/NjA8LFFfzE
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 10, 2026Aaron Gordon looked great, logging a 23-point, 10-rebound double-double. All-Star point guard Jamal Murray had a fairly inefficient shooting night (9-of-23 from the field), but still finished with 21 points of his own. Sixth man Tim Hardaway Jr. chipped in 28 points off the bench, mostly off treys (8-of-12). Jokic, though, was the standout, logging a 32-point, 14-rebound, 13-assist triple-double while helping facilitate the squad’s beautiful game.
DAWG pic.twitter.com/Ic25zRqGLD
— Nekias (Nuh-KY-us) Duncan (@NekiasNBA) March 10, 2026Gilgeous-Alexander wrapped up the game in resplendent fashion. He pulled up for a game-winning fadeaway triple with 2.7 seconds remaining in regulation, a longer defender in his face and the game tied, 126-126. That may have been his MVP moment. The Ringer‘s Bill Simmons, for one, is convinced that the fadeaway buzzer beater against his fiercest rival for the honor essentially locked in a second straight Gilgeous-Alexander MVP.
SGA GAME-WINNER VS. THE NUGGETS ?? pic.twitter.com/KP6U0RXSW7
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) March 10, 2026 Ken Blaze-Imagn ImagesJayson Tatum’s Return Changing Championship Equation for Celtics
Six-time All-Star Boston Celtics power forward Jayson Tatum made his triumphant return to the hardwood on Friday night in a victory against the Dallas Mavericks, his first action in 10 months after recuperating from an Achilles tendon tear.
While his shooting has been shaky, he’s already looked far closer to his All-NBA self than anyone could reasonably expect — which could totally change the Eastern Conference playoff picture.
Tatum looked even better in a win against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday, while playing on a minutes restriction. Per Jay King of The Athletic, the 28-year-old superstar is getting more comfortable with his return. Through two games, the 2022 Eastern Confence Finals MVP has been averaging 17.5 points on a shaky .375/.294/.857 shooting line, plus 7.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists.
“The other day was such a big deal, and obviously, in a home game in the city of Boston, I had a lot of family in town,” Tatum said of his first game back. “Today just kind of felt like getting back in the flow of things. And that felt good for me.”
King observes that Boston, already a top seed in the East, has looked even better with Tatum back. The Celtics won both contests against Dallas and Cleveland by an average of 15.5 points. Now 43-21 on the year, the Celtics are just 2.5 games behind the top-seeded Detroit Pistons, who are on a surprise four-game losing streak. Boston boasts the top defensive rating in the NBA and the second-best net rating.
Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY SportsSimmons, Lowe Relitigate the Derrick Rose Era Bulls
The Ringer‘s Simmons and Zach Lowe chopped it up about all things hoops on Sunday, during a must-listen installment of “The Bill Simmons Podcast.” In a special bonus for Bulls fans, they defended the Derrick Rose 2011 MVP award — which has come under fire of late after Rose’s Hall of Fame candidacy went up in smoke through a series of major leg injuries.
But that year, Rose was offensive fulcrum for a team that won 62 games in the Eastern Conference and nabbed the No. 1 seed over a more top-heavy, shallower Miami Heat “Super Team” squad, boasting superstars LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. Miami took down the Bulls in the East Finals en route to their first of four straight NBA Finals berths. The Heat won two.
Part of the reason for Miami’s success during that stretch was the career-altering ACL tear Rose suffered the subsequent 2011-12 season, after having guided the Bulls to the No. 1 seed again. Beyond defending Rose’s MVP as legitimate (while conceding that James, who finished third in MVP voting behind Rose and Dwight Howard, was the best player at the time), Simmons and Lowe explained just how much his absence meant for James’ playoff success.
“Could I just say 1 Derrick Rose thing…I don’t want to rank injuries…that injury….Heat-Bulls should have been an all-time half decade rivalry.” – Zach Lowe #BullsNation #WhatMightHaveBeen pic.twitter.com/aX4WQ8OHw6
— See Red Fred (@cbefred) March 10, 2026“Could I just say one Derrick Rose thing?” Lowe said. “I don’t want to, say, rank injuries, but that injury… Heat-Bulls should have been an all-time half-decade rivalry. Contrasting styles, contrasting cities. Noah calling them ‘Hollywood as hell.’ Just defense-first and a team that was considered a highlight [machine]… It was just everything… That should have been just four straight years of Conference Finals and just slug fests the whole way through.”
“Yeah there were two great LeBron rivals that got crippled,” Simmons added. “‘Cause I think KG’s 2009 injury was the other one. The two biggest injuries in either conference during this whole stretch where the KG ’09 and the Rose in ’12, where you had teams that probably had a chance to win one, maybe two more titles between them.”
Bulls fans, of course, have always stood behind Rose’s MVP candidacy. The organization retired his No. 1 jersey in January to much fanfare.
Matt Marton-Imagn ImagesDoes Michael Porter Jr. Deserve an Extension?
After the Denver Nuggets dumped him in an offseason trade to the Brooklyn Nets, the basketball pundit world was ambivalent about Michael Porter Jr.’s value.
But he quelled those concerns, remaining mostly healthy while taking on a greater offensive burden — abeit on a tanking team. The 2023 league champ has been averaging 24.3 points on .463/.365/.57 shooting splits, 7.2 rebounds and 3.1 dishes through 51 healthy games this year.
Lewis will become eligible for a contract extension with Brooklyn this summer. Per The New York Post’s Brian Lewis, the Nets need to weigh whether or not to lock him up long-term, or offload him elsewhere while his value is high. Sources inform Lewis that Porter would like to stick around.
“The motivation to make the playoffs might not be there,” Porter allowed, “but the motivation individually — as a player, as a person, to go out there and work on my skills, my leadership skills, and my individual things within the team — that’s still there. So, you can’t just throw away a season because you’re not making the playoffs.”
Kirby Lee-Imagn ImagesOdds & Ends
Luka Doncic’s kvetching has gotten him into hot water with the NBA. The league is dinging the six-time All-Star Lakers guard to the tune of $50K after he made an obscene gesture at a ref, per Chris Haynes of Amazon Prime Video. A fun note: Doncic is a member of Sam Smith’s All-Complaint Team, as he mentions in his great new book with Phil Jackson, Masters of the Game: A Conversation History of the NBA in 75 Legendary Players. We talked about the book and all things Bulls during a recent chat. Check out the first installment here. More to come this week! The Utah Jazz will cut shooting guard Vince Williams, sources inform Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. The fourth-year swingman is recuperating from a torn ACL, and will miss the rest of 2025-26. He was flipped from the Memphis Grizzlies to the Jazz midseason, appearing in just six games for Utah before the injury. Williams averaged 4.7 points on .357/.333/.500 shooting splits, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.7 assists a night. Former Los Angeles Lakers champion forward A.C. Green, the only LA player to win titles during both the Showtime and Shaqobe eras, still holds one of the craziest records in NBA history: 1,192 consecutive games played. At present, Mikal Bridges is the league’s current Iron Man, at about half that tally. Green spoke with Matt Moore of The Action Network about his thoughts on achievement, and many more topics.“Playing every night is tough, in today’s world load management is favored by teams, now it’s about the drive and attitude that will get you there,” Green said. “They [the training staff] make it harder. They definitely make it harder. Because the focus is more of a long term play that they’re looking at.”
Orlando Magic shooting guard Anthony Black is out indefinitely due to a left lateral abdominal strain, per the team. The Orlando Sentinel‘s Jason Beede notes that the former 2023 lottery pick has a shot at Most Improved Player honors thanks to his standout individual play for the 35-28 Magic. He’s averaging 15.3 points, 3.9 boards, 3.8 dimes and 1.4 swipes a night — all career bests.Hence then, the article about around the nba sga s mvp night vs jokic tatum s return relitigating the d rose era more was published today ( ) and is available on Bleacher Nation ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
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