The READ
NBA Recap | March 4, 2026
Wednesday was quieter on paper. But Charlotte have now beaten the last three NBA champions by more than 20 points this season — Denver by 23 on January 18 & OKC by 27 on January 5 — and Wednesday's 29-point dismantling of Boston was the latest entry in that file. OKC went into Madison Square Garden without a lead in the fourth quarter and still survived Jalen Brunson's near-triple-double to escape with three points. Portland put up two 30-point performances in the same box score, Atlanta made a play-in statement, and the Clippers scored 130. Six games. Let's run it.
SIX STRAIGHT
Charlotte Hornets 118, Boston Celtics 89
The Hornets beat Dallas by 27 on Monday. Then they flew to Boston, played the second night of a back-to-back, and beat the Celtics by 29. That's six wins in a row, and Charlotte is now 32-31 — above .500 for the first time this season.
Kon Knueppel led the way with 20 points off the bench, shooting 7-of-14 with four threes. LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller each had 18, with Ball hitting four of his own from deep and Miller shooting an efficient 8-of-13. The bench advantage was staggering — Charlotte's reserves outscored Boston's by 46 points, which is less a stat and more an indictment of how completely the Celtics were outmatched from top to bottom.
Boston had its moments of individual resistance — Derrick White scored 29 on 9-of-17 shooting, and Jaylen Brown added 20 — but the Celtics shot just 28% from three as a team and were never in it after the first half. Charlotte shot 46% from the field and 39% from three. This was thorough.
If you were sleeping on this Hornets team two weeks ago, you're paying attention now.
CHA 118 · BOS 89
DOUBLE FEATURE IN PORTLAND
Portland Trail Blazers 122, Memphis Grizzlies 114
Jrue Holiday scored 35 points on 13-of-19 shooting and added 11 assists. Jerami Grant scored 30 with 9 rebounds. Portland had two players go for 30+ in the same game against a Grizzlies team still missing Ja Morant and operating shorthanded, and the Blazers did what you're supposed to do in that spot — they ran them off the floor in the rebounding column (53 to 38) and shot 51% from the field.
Holiday was the cleaner story — his efficiency (8-of-11 from three) carried a performance that felt almost frictionless. Grant was the grinder: post touches, mid-range pull-ups, physical possessions won. Together they were simply too much.
Memphis gave it a fight. Jaylen Wells had 24. GG Jackson added 20. Olivier-Maxence Prosper chipped in 17 and 9 rebounds. For a team running a skeleton crew, that's a respectable showing that changes nothing about the final score.
Portland improves to 30-33. The play-in race is tightening.
POR 122 · MEM 114
HOLMGREN HOLDS THE GARDEN
Oklahoma City Thunder 103, New York Knicks 100
This one came down to three-point volume. OKC shot 16-of-42 from deep. New York shot 10-of-35. The Knicks had the better individual performances on paper — Jalen Brunson's 16 points and 15 assists were a quiet masterpiece of shot creation for others, and Karl-Anthony Towns posted 17 and 17 rebounds — but Charlotte's bench wasn't the only thing that mattered Wednesday night. Oklahoma City's spacing did.
Chet Holmgren was the reason OKC survived at the Garden: 28 points on 11-of-19 shooting with six threes, operating as the primary creator when the game tightened in the fourth. SGA added 26 with 8 assists. Luguentz Dort contributed 16. The Thunder had three contributors doing real work in a road environment, and the Knicks couldn't close the gap despite Brunson trying to will them over the line.
OG Anunoby added 16 for New York but shot just 4-of-13. On a night when the Knicks needed a third scorer to emerge, the efficiency wasn't there.
OKC 103 · NYK 100
HAWKS MAKE A STATEMENT
Atlanta Hawks 131, Milwaukee Bucks 113
Atlanta needed a game that felt like a statement, and this was it. An 18-point win over a Bucks team they're chasing in the Eastern Conference play-in race is exactly what the doctor ordered.
Onyeka Okongwu led with 21 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 steals — his fourth consecutive game with at least 10 boards, an anchor presence on both ends that's quietly become the fulcrum of how the Hawks operate. The margin was convincing and the win was complete, which matters when every game through March could shift a seeding line.
For Milwaukee, Ryan Rollins had 13 points, 8 rebounds, and 12 assists — a triple-double that came with a team loss, which is the kind of box score that barely registers when the final score is what it is. The Bucks needed Giannis Antetokounmpo to change the equation, and he wasn't enough.
ATL 131 · MIL 113
KAWHI ROLLS
Los Angeles Clippers 130, Indiana Pacers 107
The Clippers scored 130 points. At home. With Kawhi Leonard — 29 points, 8 rebounds — setting the tone from the opening possession. Darius Garland is still settling into the system, and this was another data point suggesting the partnership with Kawhi has real potential. LA is building something worth watching as April approaches.
Indiana had Pascal Siakam for 29 points, which is a nice individual line in a game that was never particularly close. The Clippers are too long, too versatile, and right now too sharp defensively to let teams into games off the bench. The Pacers couldn't manufacture enough creation around Siakam to keep up.
LAC 130 · IND 107
JABARI DELIVERS
Philadelphia 76ers 106, Utah Jazz 102
Keyonte George scored 30 for Utah. He's become the most reliable scorer on a Jazz team that's had no business being in games against playoff-caliber opponents this season — and yet, here they are in a four-point loss that felt like a near-miss.
Jabari Walker answered for Philadelphia with 22 points and 10 rebounds, and the 76ers held on late without their most reliable offensive options. It wasn't pretty — Philadelphia needed every bit of it — but a win is a win for a team that's spent most of the second half of the season clawing for any kind of footing.
Utah fought. They've been doing that all year. George's 30 is a line worth bookmarking as the Jazz build toward next season.
PHI 106 · UTA 102
⭐ STAR OF THE NIGHT
Jrue Holiday — POR · 35 points · 13-of-19 FG · 8-of-11 from three · 11 assists
Holiday didn't just score — he shot 68% from the field and nearly didn't miss from three. Eleven assists without a sloppy game meant he was running the offense and filling the scoresheet simultaneously. That's the version of Holiday the Blazers needed when they made their offseason calculation, and on Wednesday he delivered it completely.
💀 DUD OF THE NIGHT
Boston Celtics (Collective) · 89 points · 38% FG · 28% from three
Getting blown out on your home floor by a team on a back-to-back is a specific kind of bad. The Celtics had Derrick White go for 29, which means they weren't without weapons — they just couldn't get anything going systematically. Charlotte's bench outscored them by 46. That's not a shooting slump. That's a depth problem that showed up when it mattered.
QUICK TAKES
Charlotte has won six straight and is above .500. The back-to-back wins over Dallas and Boston weren't against contenders, but the margin in both games was enormous, and that speaks to how this team is playing right now. Keep watching.
Brunson's 16 and 15 in a losing effort is the kind of stat line that'll generate conversation. The Knicks lost by three. He created enough for his team to win — they just couldn't shoot it.
Jrue Holiday and Jerami Grant combining for 65 points on efficient shooting is a strong argument that Portland has a viable playoff push if they can stay healthy. The play-in is there for the taking at 30-33.
Chet Holmgren's 28 on the road at MSG is a performance worth filing. He's not the conversation piece SGA is, but OKC doesn't win that game without him.
The Clippers are starting to look dangerous. 130 points with Kawhi setting the tone is a team operating with genuine offensive confidence.
Atlanta over Milwaukee in a play-in positioning game. Every one of these counts in the East logjam.
