Officially, NBA players began participating in games that were scheduled to celebrate and honor the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1986 when the federal holiday commemorating the civil-rights leader was observed for the first time.
Oscar Robertson knows the tradition dates long before that.
King was shot and killed while standing on a balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968. A day later, Robertson began planning a benefit game in King’s memory — and on Aug. 15 of that year, on an outdoor court in New York, he was among 27 NBA players who wound up taking part.
Among those on the court that night: Wilt Chamberlain, Lenny Wilkens, Dave Bing, Dave DeBusschere, Willis Reed, Walt Bellamy and many others.
“What happened years ago with Dr. King is still part of our social fiber,” the 83-year-old Robertson said.
The annual reminder of that comes Monday, on the annual celebration of the King holiday. The NBA has scheduled 12 games — including the traditional home games in King’s birthplace of Atlanta and in Memphis, where he was killed at 39.
Memphis hosts Chicago in a matchup of two of the league’s biggest surprises so far this season, while Atlanta will host reigning NBA champion Milwaukee. And Robertson believes it’s critical players in this generation are reminded of what those who preceded them in the game had to endure as the <a href="https://apnews.com/hub/nba-at-75">NBA celebrates its 75th anniversary</a>. 
“When I was younger there were so many things couldn’t do,” Robertson said. “I couldn’t go here or there, had to ride in the back of the bus when I went back to see my grandparents in Tennessee, and all these types of things. But these things, you become aware of them. The players today didn’t have to go through any of that. They’ve only read about it.”
NBA teams have been paying tribute to King in many ways in recent days. Teams have been warming up in shirts bearing the message “Now is the time to make justice a reality for all," a nod to a line he used in his famous “I Have A Dream" speech in 1963.
Some teams are also taking part in other ways; 10 clubs are planning youth events in their cities as part of the “Team Up For Change" initiative that focuses on “uniting, inspiring and activating around a shared commitment and call for racial equality and social justice." The Washington Wizards held a roundtable discussion late last week on how King still impacts the push for social change — and Wizards forward Daniel Gafford said it's important for even pro athletes to find time to help their communities.
“There's 24 hours in a day," Gafford said. “There's always time you can put in."
Robertson still has vivid memories of a college tournament he played in, the 1958 Dixie Classic in North Carolina, an event that featured his Cincinnati team and Michigan State, among others.
And he recalls how he and Michigan State’s Johnny Green stood out in that event.
“We might have been the only two Black guys in the arena,” Robertson said. “That was the way things progressed. I’m so glad it’s gotten better.”
Robertson was the third president — and first Black president — of the National Basketball Players Association, and he urged players to participate in that August 1968 exhibition that doubled as a two-hour telethon. It was broadcast on television in New York and raised around $90,000, some of that going to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference that King championed.
He said he’s proud to see how players have continued using their platforms, such has speaking out against injustices and the decision by the Milwaukee Bucks to not take the floor for a playoff game at the NBA’s restart bubble in 2020 in response to a Black man from Wisconsin being shot by police.
“I think players today are more informed about what’s going on, and also they have a great advantage of getting their voices out to people because of the social media and whatnot,” Robertson said. “I’m so glad that the NBA and the players association have gotten together to try to confront all these issues.”
___
More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports 
___
Follow the AP’s coverage of the NBA’s 75th anniversary season: https://apnews.com/hub/nba-at-75

Officially, NBA players began participating in games that were scheduled to celebrate and honor the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1986 when the federal holiday commemorating the civil-rights leader was observed for the first time.
Oscar Robertson knows the tradition dates long before that.
King was shot and killed while standing on a balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968. A day later, Robertson began planning a benefit game in King&rsquo;s memory &mdash; and on Aug. 15 of that year, on an outdoor court in New York, he was among 27 NBA players who wound up taking part.
Among those on the court that night: Wilt Chamberlain, Lenny Wilkens, Dave Bing, Dave DeBusschere, Willis Reed, Walt Bellamy and many others.
&ldquo;What happened years ago with Dr. King is still part of our social fiber,&rdquo; the 83-year-old Robertson said.
The annual reminder of that comes Monday, on the annual celebration of the King holiday. The NBA has scheduled 12 games &mdash; including the traditional home games in King&rsquo;s birthplace of Atlanta and in Memphis, where he was killed at 39.
Memphis hosts Chicago in a matchup of two of the league&rsquo;s biggest surprises so far this season, while Atlanta will host reigning NBA champion Milwaukee. And Robertson believes it&rsquo;s critical players in this generation are reminded of what those who preceded them in the game had to endure as the <a href="https://apnews.com/hub/nba-at-75">NBA celebrates its 75th anniversary</a>.
&ldquo;When I was younger there were so many things couldn&rsquo;t do,&rdquo; Robertson said. &ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t go here or there, had to ride in the back of the bus when I went back to see my grandparents in Tennessee, and all these types of things. But these things, you become aware of them. The players today didn&rsquo;t have to go through any of that. They&rsquo;ve only read about it.&rdquo;
NBA teams have been paying tribute to King in many ways in recent days. Teams have been warming up in shirts bearing the message &ldquo;Now is the time to make justice a reality for all," a nod to a line he used in his famous &ldquo;I Have A Dream" speech in 1963.
Some teams are also taking part in other ways; 10 clubs are planning youth events in their cities as part of the &ldquo;Team Up For Change" initiative that focuses on &ldquo;uniting, inspiring and activating around a shared commitment and call for racial equality and social justice." The Washington Wizards held a roundtable discussion late last week on how King still impacts the push for social change &mdash; and Wizards forward Daniel Gafford said it's important for even pro athletes to find time to help their communities.
&ldquo;There's 24 hours in a day," Gafford said. &ldquo;There's always time you can put in."
Robertson still has vivid memories of a college tournament he played in, the 1958 Dixie Classic in North Carolina, an event that featured his Cincinnati team and Michigan State, among others.
And he recalls how he and Michigan State&rsquo;s Johnny Green stood out in that event.
&ldquo;We might have been the only two Black guys in the arena,&rdquo; Robertson said. &ldquo;That was the way things progressed. I&rsquo;m so glad it&rsquo;s gotten better.&rdquo;
Robertson was the third president &mdash; and first Black president &mdash; of the National Basketball Players Association, and he urged players to participate in that August 1968 exhibition that doubled as a two-hour telethon. It was broadcast on television in New York and raised around $90,000, some of that going to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference that King championed.
He said he&rsquo;s proud to see how players have continued using their platforms, such has speaking out against injustices and the decision by the Milwaukee Bucks to not take the floor for a playoff game at the NBA&rsquo;s restart bubble in 2020 in response to a Black man from Wisconsin being shot by police.
&ldquo;I think players today are more informed about what&rsquo;s going on, and also they have a great advantage of getting their voices out to people because of the social media and whatnot,&rdquo; Robertson said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m so glad that the NBA and the players association have gotten together to try to confront all these issues.&rdquo;

“What happened years ago with Dr. King is still part of our social fiber,” the 83-year-old Robertson said.

As NBA prepares to celebrate King, Robertson also remembers

The NBA on Wednesday called off the next game for both the Toronto Raptors and the Brooklyn Nets due to COVID-19 issues, after determining that neither team has the minimum eight players necessary to start a contest.
Toronto&rsquo;s game at Chicago scheduled for Wednesday was postponed, as was Brooklyn&rsquo;s game at Portland on Thursday.
The moves raise the total number of postponements this season in the NBA to nine because of virus-related reasons, including three consecutive Nets games that have needed to be rescheduled.
Brooklyn&rsquo;s next possible game would be Saturday, part of the NBA&rsquo;s five-game Christmas slate, with the Nets scheduled to visit the Los Angeles Lakers. But with what is believed to be a league-high 10 players in the health and safety protocols, a list that includes Kevin Durant, James Harden and &mdash; even though he has yet to play this season &mdash; Kyrie Irving, it certainly would seem like that game may be in jeopardy.
&ldquo;Obviously, teams around the league are really severely getting impacted and games are getting postponed,&rdquo; Miami guard Duncan Robinson said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of unsurprising, in that this is the chaos that we&rsquo;ve kind of come to expect over this last, whatever it&rsquo;s been, year-and-a-half or something like that.&rdquo;
The Christmas schedule may, at minimum, be missing much of its star power from a player perspective. Among those scheduled to play on Saturday and listed out for games on Wednesday were Milwaukee&rsquo;s Giannis Antetokounmpo and Atlanta&rsquo;s Trae Young; the Bucks have three players in the protocols and the Hawks increased their protocols list to five by adding Lou Williams and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot.
Boston, scheduled to play Milwaukee on Christmas, had seven players listed as out for Wednesday&rsquo;s game with Cleveland because of protocols &mdash; one fewer than the Cavaliers, whose list is now at eight.
There had been six games on Wednesday&rsquo;s schedule, including Raptors-Bulls. For those games alone, at least 48 players were ruled out because of virus-related issues.
The league entered Wednesday with 84 players from 20 teams known to be in the protocols, a figure that fluctuates almost on an hourly basis. But the NBA has no plans to pause the season, Commissioner Adam Silver said earlier this week in an interview with ESPN.
If the Nets-Lakers game ends up postponed as well, the NBA is reserving the right to move another game into that 8 p.m. Eastern time slot to accommodate ABC&rsquo;s needs. The league told the 10 teams with games scheduled on Christmas that shifting some starting times is a possibility and that the priority is filling ABC&rsquo;s 2:30 p.m., 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. game slots.
For now, those games, in order, would have Boston at Milwaukee, Golden State at Phoenix and Brooklyn at the Lakers.&nbsp;

Toronto’s game at Chicago scheduled for Wednesday was postponed, as was Brooklyn’s game at Portland on Thursday.

More COVID woes: NBA postpones Raptors-Bulls, Nets-Blazers

MIAMI (AP) — The Miami Heat said 19,600 fans attended their home game Monday night.
At least two of them left happy.
Nikola Jokic — with his two brothers behind the Denver bench — returned and scored 24 points, Aaron Gordon added 20 and the Nuggets snapped their longest losing streak in nearly six years by beating the short-handed Heat 120-111 on Monday night.
“That's behind us," Jokic said. “We need to move on to the future. We won the game and that's the most important thing."
Bones Hyland returned from injury to score 19 and Will Barton added 14 for the Nuggets, who had dropped six straight. Jokic hadn’t played in the last four of those because of a wrist injury but finished with 15 rebounds and seven assists.
“I shot the lights out of the ball," Hyland said after going 5 for 8 from 3-point range.
Denver shot 58% on the day that it was revealed <a href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-michael-porter-jr-jamal-murray-nikola-jokic-fe7764c78e82b3ee90e360cc6b0d5dba">Michael Porter Jr. will need back surgery.</a> Porter has been limited to only nine games this season.
Bam Adebayo finished with 24 points and 13 rebounds for Miami, which was without its two leading scorers — Jimmy Butler was out with a bruised tailbone, and Tyler Herro missed the game with what the Heat called general body soreness. Adebayo had 15 of his points in the third quarter.
“Our defense is better than that," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “I think they played extremely well. And in those pivotal moments in the course of the game, it seemed like they made every shot, every play."
Max Strus scored 19 points and Caleb Martin added 18 for the Heat, which got 17 points and 14 assists from Kyle Lowry.
It was the first meeting of the teams since the dustup between Jokic and Miami’s Markieff Morris on Nov. 8. Morris committed a hard take foul that the Nuggets felt was overzealous; Jokic responded with a shove into Morris’ back. Morris has now missed 11 games with what the Heat have described as a neck injury.
Jokic said he hasn't talked to Morris since. Heat fans booed Jokic every time he touched the ball, and the reigning MVP didn't seem to mind.
“I played in Serbia, brother," Jokic said.
Jokic’s brothers — Strahinja and Nemanja — got into a Twitter jousting with Markieff Morris’ twin brother, Marcus Morris. The Jokic brothers, who have drawn attention for their reactions to certain plays in the past, were in Miami for Monday’s game, seated just behind the Denver bench.
“They’re coming down here because this is Miami and I know for a fact every year they’ve been able to come, non-COVID, they’ve been here,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “And that’s not to cause trouble. That’s just to support their brother, which they always do.”
There was no fight in this one. It was only basketball, and fairly one-sided for most of the night.
A 12-0 run by the Nuggets in the second quarter — with Miami missing 10 consecutive shots — put Denver up 50-35. The lead was 63-43 by halftime, the biggest deficit that the Heat faced at intermission so far this season.
The only time Denver's lead dipped into single figures after halftime came when 0.9 seconds left, when Gabe Vincent made a 3-pointer on the game's final shot.
TIP-INS
Nuggets: Malone used a challenge just 2:05 into the game, with good reason. It overturned an offensive foul, which would have been Barton’s second personal, and got Denver two points. ... The Nuggets are 4-0 when Hyland scores in double figures.
Heat: Miami is 0-4 in games where it trails by double digits at halftime, 13-4 in all other games. ... Adebayo’s high for a quarter is 19, set on Nov. 11 in the first quarter against the Los Angeles Clippers.
TRIBUTE
Heat forward P.J. Tucker, a fashion aficionado and shoe collector, paid tribute to fashion designer Virgil Abloh with his sneakers on Monday. “Virgil will always be with us,” Tucker scrawled on his game sneakers in honor of Abloh, whose death was announced Sunday. 
WEATHER QUIRK
Here’s a meteorological oddity for late November: About 90 minutes before game time, it was 68 degrees in Denver — one degree warmer than it was in typically balmy Miami. Things should be closer to normal in both cities by week’s end, with Saturday’s high in Miami expected to be in the low 80s and the high in Denver likely to hover in the low 50s.
UP NEXT
Nuggets: Visit Orlando on Wednesday.
Heat: Host Cleveland on Wednesday.
___
More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

MIAMI (AP) &mdash; The Miami Heat said 19,600 fans attended their home game Monday night.
At least two of them left happy.
Nikola Jokic &mdash; with his two brothers behind the Denver bench &mdash; returned and scored 24 points, Aaron Gordon added 20 and the Nuggets snapped their longest losing streak in nearly six years by beating the short-handed Heat 120-111 on Monday night.
&ldquo;That's behind us," Jokic said. &ldquo;We need to move on to the future. We won the game and that's the most important thing."
Bones Hyland returned from injury to score 19 and Will Barton added 14 for the Nuggets, who had dropped six straight. Jokic hadn&rsquo;t played in the last four of those because of a wrist injury but finished with 15 rebounds and seven assists.
&ldquo;I shot the lights out of the ball," Hyland said after going 5 for 8 from 3-point range.
Denver shot 58% on the day that it was revealed <a href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-michael-porter-jr-jamal-murray-nikola-jokic-fe7764c78e82b3ee90e360cc6b0d5dba">Michael Porter Jr. will need back surgery.</a> Porter has been limited to only nine games this season.
Bam Adebayo finished with 24 points and 13 rebounds for Miami, which was without its two leading scorers &mdash; Jimmy Butler was out with a bruised tailbone, and Tyler Herro missed the game with what the Heat called general body soreness. Adebayo had 15 of his points in the third quarter.
&ldquo;Our defense is better than that," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. &ldquo;I think they played extremely well. And in those pivotal moments in the course of the game, it seemed like they made every shot, every play."
Max Strus scored 19 points and Caleb Martin added 18 for the Heat, which got 17 points and 14 assists from Kyle Lowry.
It was the first meeting of the teams since the dustup between Jokic and Miami&rsquo;s Markieff Morris on Nov. 8. Morris committed a hard take foul that the Nuggets felt was overzealous; Jokic responded with a shove into Morris&rsquo; back. Morris has now missed 11 games with what the Heat have described as a neck injury.
Jokic said he hasn't talked to Morris since. Heat fans booed Jokic every time he touched the ball, and the reigning MVP didn't seem to mind.
&ldquo;I played in Serbia, brother," Jokic said.
Jokic&rsquo;s brothers &mdash; Strahinja and Nemanja &mdash; got into a Twitter jousting with Markieff Morris&rsquo; twin brother, Marcus Morris. The Jokic brothers, who have drawn attention for their reactions to certain plays in the past, were in Miami for Monday&rsquo;s game, seated just behind the Denver bench.
&ldquo;They&rsquo;re coming down here because this is Miami and I know for a fact every year they&rsquo;ve been able to come, non-COVID, they&rsquo;ve been here,&rdquo; Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. &ldquo;And that&rsquo;s not to cause trouble. That&rsquo;s just to support their brother, which they always do.&rdquo;
There was no fight in this one. It was only basketball, and fairly one-sided for most of the night.
A 12-0 run by the Nuggets in the second quarter &mdash; with Miami missing 10 consecutive shots &mdash; put Denver up 50-35. The lead was 63-43 by halftime, the biggest deficit that the Heat faced at intermission so far this season.
The only time Denver's lead dipped into single figures after halftime came when 0.9 seconds left, when Gabe Vincent made a 3-pointer on the game's final shot.
TIP-INS
Nuggets: Malone used a challenge just 2:05 into the game, with good reason. It overturned an offensive foul, which would have been Barton&rsquo;s second personal, and got Denver two points. ... The Nuggets are 4-0 when Hyland scores in double figures.
Heat: Miami is 0-4 in games where it trails by double digits at halftime, 13-4 in all other games. ... Adebayo&rsquo;s high for a quarter is 19, set on Nov. 11 in the first quarter against the Los Angeles Clippers.
TRIBUTE
Heat forward P.J. Tucker, a fashion aficionado and shoe collector, paid tribute to fashion designer Virgil Abloh with his sneakers on Monday. &ldquo;Virgil will always be with us,&rdquo; Tucker scrawled on his game sneakers in honor of Abloh, whose death was announced Sunday.
WEATHER QUIRK
Here&rsquo;s a meteorological oddity for late November: About 90 minutes before game time, it was 68 degrees in Denver &mdash; one degree warmer than it was in typically balmy Miami. Things should be closer to normal in both cities by week&rsquo;s end, with Saturday&rsquo;s high in Miami expected to be in the low 80s and the high in Denver likely to hover in the low 50s.
UP NEXT
Nuggets: Visit Orlando on Wednesday.
Heat: Host Cleveland on Wednesday.

MIAMI (AP) &mdash; The Miami Heat said 19,600 fans attended their home game Monday night.
At least two of them left happy.
Nikola Jokic &mdash; with his two brothers behind the Denver bench &mdash; returned and scored 24 points, Aaron Gordon added 20 and the Nuggets snapped their longest losing streak in nearly six years by beating the short-handed Heat 120-111 on Monday night.
&ldquo;That's behind us," Jokic said. &ldquo;We need to move on to the future. We won the game and that's the most important thing."
Bones Hyland returned from injury to score 19 and Will Barton added 14 for the Nuggets, who had dropped six straight. Jokic hadn&rsquo;t played in the last four of those because of a wrist injury but finished with 15 rebounds and seven assists.
&ldquo;I shot the lights out of the ball," Hyland said after going 5 for 8 from 3-point range.
Denver shot 58% on the day that it was revealed <a href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-michael-porter-jr-jamal-murray-nikola-jokic-fe7764c78e82b3ee90e360cc6b0d5dba">Michael Porter Jr. will need back surgery.</a> Porter has been limited to only nine games this season.
Bam Adebayo finished with 24 points and 13 rebounds for Miami, which was without its two leading scorers &mdash; Jimmy Butler was out with a bruised tailbone, and Tyler Herro missed the game with what the Heat called general body soreness. Adebayo had 15 of his points in the third quarter.
&ldquo;Our defense is better than that," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. &ldquo;I think they played extremely well. And in those pivotal moments in the course of the game, it seemed like they made every shot, every play."
Max Strus scored 19 points and Caleb Martin added 18 for the Heat, which got 17 points and 14 assists from Kyle Lowry.
It was the first meeting of the teams since the dustup between Jokic and Miami&rsquo;s Markieff Morris on Nov. 8. Morris committed a hard take foul that the Nuggets felt was overzealous; Jokic responded with a shove into Morris&rsquo; back. Morris has now missed 11 games with what the Heat have described as a neck injury.
Jokic said he hasn't talked to Morris since. Heat fans booed Jokic every time he touched the ball, and the reigning MVP didn't seem to mind.
&ldquo;I played in Serbia, brother," Jokic said.
Jokic&rsquo;s brothers &mdash; Strahinja and Nemanja &mdash; got into a Twitter jousting with Markieff Morris&rsquo; twin brother, Marcus Morris. The Jokic brothers, who have drawn attention for their reactions to certain plays in the past, were in Miami for Monday&rsquo;s game, seated just behind the Denver bench.
&ldquo;They&rsquo;re coming down here because this is Miami and I know for a fact every year they&rsquo;ve been able to come, non-COVID, they&rsquo;ve been here,&rdquo; Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. &ldquo;And that&rsquo;s not to cause trouble. That&rsquo;s just to support their brother, which they always do.&rdquo;
There was no fight in this one. It was only basketball, and fairly one-sided for most of the night.
A 12-0 run by the Nuggets in the second quarter &mdash; with Miami missing 10 consecutive shots &mdash; put Denver up 50-35. The lead was 63-43 by halftime, the biggest deficit that the Heat faced at intermission so far this season.
The only time Denver's lead dipped into single figures after halftime came when 0.9 seconds left, when Gabe Vincent made a 3-pointer on the game's final shot.
TIP-INS
Nuggets: Malone used a challenge just 2:05 into the game, with good reason. It overturned an offensive foul, which would have been Barton&rsquo;s second personal, and got Denver two points. ... The Nuggets are 4-0 when Hyland scores in double figures.
Heat: Miami is 0-4 in games where it trails by double digits at halftime, 13-4 in all other games. ... Adebayo&rsquo;s high for a quarter is 19, set on Nov. 11 in the first quarter against the Los Angeles Clippers.
TRIBUTE
Heat forward P.J. Tucker, a fashion aficionado and shoe collector, paid tribute to fashion designer Virgil Abloh with his sneakers on Monday. &ldquo;Virgil will always be with us,&rdquo; Tucker scrawled on his game sneakers in honor of Abloh, whose death was announced Sunday.
WEATHER QUIRK
Here&rsquo;s a meteorological oddity for late November: About 90 minutes before game time, it was 68 degrees in Denver &mdash; one degree warmer than it was in typically balmy Miami. Things should be closer to normal in both cities by week&rsquo;s end, with Saturday&rsquo;s high in Miami expected to be in the low 80s and the high in Denver likely to hover in the low 50s.
UP NEXT
Nuggets: Visit Orlando on Wednesday.
Heat: Host Cleveland on Wednesday.

MIAMI (AP) &mdash; The Miami Heat said 19,600 fans attended their home game Monday night.
At least two of them left happy.
Nikola Jokic &mdash; with his two brothers behind the Denver bench &mdash; returned and scored 24 points, Aaron Gordon added 20 and the Nuggets snapped their longest losing streak in nearly six years by beating the short-handed Heat 120-111 on Monday night.
&ldquo;That's behind us," Jokic said. &ldquo;We need to move on to the future. We won the game and that's the most important thing."
Bones Hyland returned from injury to score 19 and Will Barton added 14 for the Nuggets, who had dropped six straight. Jokic hadn&rsquo;t played in the last four of those because of a wrist injury but finished with 15 rebounds and seven assists.
&ldquo;I shot the lights out of the ball," Hyland said after going 5 for 8 from 3-point range.
Denver shot 58% on the day that it was revealed <a href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-michael-porter-jr-jamal-murray-nikola-jokic-fe7764c78e82b3ee90e360cc6b0d5dba">Michael Porter Jr. will need back surgery.</a> Porter has been limited to only nine games this season.
Bam Adebayo finished with 24 points and 13 rebounds for Miami, which was without its two leading scorers &mdash; Jimmy Butler was out with a bruised tailbone, and Tyler Herro missed the game with what the Heat called general body soreness. Adebayo had 15 of his points in the third quarter.
&ldquo;Our defense is better than that," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. &ldquo;I think they played extremely well. And in those pivotal moments in the course of the game, it seemed like they made every shot, every play."
Max Strus scored 19 points and Caleb Martin added 18 for the Heat, which got 17 points and 14 assists from Kyle Lowry.
It was the first meeting of the teams since the dustup between Jokic and Miami&rsquo;s Markieff Morris on Nov. 8. Morris committed a hard take foul that the Nuggets felt was overzealous; Jokic responded with a shove into Morris&rsquo; back. Morris has now missed 11 games with what the Heat have described as a neck injury.
Jokic said he hasn't talked to Morris since. Heat fans booed Jokic every time he touched the ball, and the reigning MVP didn't seem to mind.
&ldquo;I played in Serbia, brother," Jokic said.
Jokic&rsquo;s brothers &mdash; Strahinja and Nemanja &mdash; got into a Twitter jousting with Markieff Morris&rsquo; twin brother, Marcus Morris. The Jokic brothers, who have drawn attention for their reactions to certain plays in the past, were in Miami for Monday&rsquo;s game, seated just behind the Denver bench.
&ldquo;They&rsquo;re coming down here because this is Miami and I know for a fact every year they&rsquo;ve been able to come, non-COVID, they&rsquo;ve been here,&rdquo; Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. &ldquo;And that&rsquo;s not to cause trouble. That&rsquo;s just to support their brother, which they always do.&rdquo;
There was no fight in this one. It was only basketball, and fairly one-sided for most of the night.
A 12-0 run by the Nuggets in the second quarter &mdash; with Miami missing 10 consecutive shots &mdash; put Denver up 50-35. The lead was 63-43 by halftime, the biggest deficit that the Heat faced at intermission so far this season.
The only time Denver's lead dipped into single figures after halftime came when 0.9 seconds left, when Gabe Vincent made a 3-pointer on the game's final shot.
TIP-INS
Nuggets: Malone used a challenge just 2:05 into the game, with good reason. It overturned an offensive foul, which would have been Barton&rsquo;s second personal, and got Denver two points. ... The Nuggets are 4-0 when Hyland scores in double figures.
Heat: Miami is 0-4 in games where it trails by double digits at halftime, 13-4 in all other games. ... Adebayo&rsquo;s high for a quarter is 19, set on Nov. 11 in the first quarter against the Los Angeles Clippers.
TRIBUTE
Heat forward P.J. Tucker, a fashion aficionado and shoe collector, paid tribute to fashion designer Virgil Abloh with his sneakers on Monday. &ldquo;Virgil will always be with us,&rdquo; Tucker scrawled on his game sneakers in honor of Abloh, whose death was announced Sunday.
WEATHER QUIRK
Here&rsquo;s a meteorological oddity for late November: About 90 minutes before game time, it was 68 degrees in Denver &mdash; one degree warmer than it was in typically balmy Miami. Things should be closer to normal in both cities by week&rsquo;s end, with Saturday&rsquo;s high in Miami expected to be in the low 80s and the high in Denver likely to hover in the low 50s.
UP NEXT
Nuggets: Visit Orlando on Wednesday.
Heat: Host Cleveland on Wednesday.

MIAMI (AP) &mdash; The Miami Heat said 19,600 fans attended their home game Monday night.
At least two of them left happy.
Nikola Jokic &mdash; with his two brothers behind the Denver bench &mdash; returned and scored 24 points, Aaron Gordon added 20 and the Nuggets snapped their longest losing streak in nearly six years by beating the short-handed Heat 120-111 on Monday night.
&ldquo;That's behind us," Jokic said. &ldquo;We need to move on to the future. We won the game and that's the most important thing."
Bones Hyland returned from injury to score 19 and Will Barton added 14 for the Nuggets, who had dropped six straight. Jokic hadn&rsquo;t played in the last four of those because of a wrist injury but finished with 15 rebounds and seven assists.
&ldquo;I shot the lights out of the ball," Hyland said after going 5 for 8 from 3-point range.
Denver shot 58% on the day that it was revealed <a href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-michael-porter-jr-jamal-murray-nikola-jokic-fe7764c78e82b3ee90e360cc6b0d5dba">Michael Porter Jr. will need back surgery.</a> Porter has been limited to only nine games this season.
Bam Adebayo finished with 24 points and 13 rebounds for Miami, which was without its two leading scorers &mdash; Jimmy Butler was out with a bruised tailbone, and Tyler Herro missed the game with what the Heat called general body soreness. Adebayo had 15 of his points in the third quarter.
&ldquo;Our defense is better than that," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. &ldquo;I think they played extremely well. And in those pivotal moments in the course of the game, it seemed like they made every shot, every play."
Max Strus scored 19 points and Caleb Martin added 18 for the Heat, which got 17 points and 14 assists from Kyle Lowry.
It was the first meeting of the teams since the dustup between Jokic and Miami&rsquo;s Markieff Morris on Nov. 8. Morris committed a hard take foul that the Nuggets felt was overzealous; Jokic responded with a shove into Morris&rsquo; back. Morris has now missed 11 games with what the Heat have described as a neck injury.
Jokic said he hasn't talked to Morris since. Heat fans booed Jokic every time he touched the ball, and the reigning MVP didn't seem to mind.
&ldquo;I played in Serbia, brother," Jokic said.
Jokic&rsquo;s brothers &mdash; Strahinja and Nemanja &mdash; got into a Twitter jousting with Markieff Morris&rsquo; twin brother, Marcus Morris. The Jokic brothers, who have drawn attention for their reactions to certain plays in the past, were in Miami for Monday&rsquo;s game, seated just behind the Denver bench.
&ldquo;They&rsquo;re coming down here because this is Miami and I know for a fact every year they&rsquo;ve been able to come, non-COVID, they&rsquo;ve been here,&rdquo; Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. &ldquo;And that&rsquo;s not to cause trouble. That&rsquo;s just to support their brother, which they always do.&rdquo;
There was no fight in this one. It was only basketball, and fairly one-sided for most of the night.
A 12-0 run by the Nuggets in the second quarter &mdash; with Miami missing 10 consecutive shots &mdash; put Denver up 50-35. The lead was 63-43 by halftime, the biggest deficit that the Heat faced at intermission so far this season.
The only time Denver's lead dipped into single figures after halftime came when 0.9 seconds left, when Gabe Vincent made a 3-pointer on the game's final shot.
TIP-INS
Nuggets: Malone used a challenge just 2:05 into the game, with good reason. It overturned an offensive foul, which would have been Barton&rsquo;s second personal, and got Denver two points. ... The Nuggets are 4-0 when Hyland scores in double figures.
Heat: Miami is 0-4 in games where it trails by double digits at halftime, 13-4 in all other games. ... Adebayo&rsquo;s high for a quarter is 19, set on Nov. 11 in the first quarter against the Los Angeles Clippers.
TRIBUTE
Heat forward P.J. Tucker, a fashion aficionado and shoe collector, paid tribute to fashion designer Virgil Abloh with his sneakers on Monday. &ldquo;Virgil will always be with us,&rdquo; Tucker scrawled on his game sneakers in honor of Abloh, whose death was announced Sunday.
WEATHER QUIRK
Here&rsquo;s a meteorological oddity for late November: About 90 minutes before game time, it was 68 degrees in Denver &mdash; one degree warmer than it was in typically balmy Miami. Things should be closer to normal in both cities by week&rsquo;s end, with Saturday&rsquo;s high in Miami expected to be in the low 80s and the high in Denver likely to hover in the low 50s.
UP NEXT
Nuggets: Visit Orlando on Wednesday.
Heat: Host Cleveland on Wednesday.

Nikola Jokic — with his two brothers behind the Denver bench — returned and scored 24 points to lead the Nuggets.

Jokic gets 24 in return, Nuggets top Heat to snap 6-game slide

Detroit Pistons center Isaiah Stewart has been suspended two games without pay for escalating an on-court altercation by repeatedly and aggressively pursuing Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James in an unsportsmanlike manner, and James has been suspended one game without pay for recklessly hitting Stewart in the face and initiating an on-court altercation, it was announced today by Byron Spruell, President, League Operations.
Stewart was assessed two technical fouls, James was assessed a Flagrant Foul Penalty 2, and both players were ejected. The incident began with a loose ball foul on Stewart with 9:18 remaining in the third quarter of the Pistons&rsquo; 121-116 loss to the Lakers on Nov. 21 at Little Caesars Arena.Stewart will serve his suspensions Tuesday, Nov. 23 when the Pistons host the Miami Heat at Little Caesars Arena and Wednesday, Nov. 24 when Detroit faces the Milwaukee Bucks at Fiserv Forum. James will serve his suspension Tuesday, Nov. 23 when the Lakers visit the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

Detroit Pistons center Isaiah Stewart has been suspended two games without pay for escalating an on-court altercation by repeatedly and aggressively pursuing Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James in an unsportsmanlike manner, and James has been suspended one game without pay for recklessly hitting Stewart in the face and initiating an on-court altercation, it was announced today by Byron Spruell, President, League Operations.
Stewart was assessed two technical fouls, James was assessed a Flagrant Foul Penalty 2, and both players were ejected. The incident began with a loose ball foul on Stewart with 9:18 remaining in the third quarter of the Pistons&rsquo; 121-116 loss to the Lakers on Nov. 21 at Little Caesars Arena.
Stewart will serve his suspensions Tuesday, Nov. 23 when the Pistons host the Miami Heat at Little Caesars Arena and Wednesday, Nov. 24 when Detroit faces the Milwaukee Bucks at Fiserv Forum. James will serve his suspension Tuesday, Nov. 23 when the Lakers visit the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

The NBA announced in a press release today:
Detroit Pistons center Isaiah Stewart has been suspended two games without pay for escalating an on-court altercation by repeatedly and aggressively pursuing Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James in an unsportsmanlike manner, and James has been suspended one game without pay for recklessly hitting Stewart in the face and initiating an on-court altercation, it was announced today by Byron Spruell, President, League Operations.
Stewart was assessed two technical fouls, James was assessed a Flagrant Foul Penalty 2, and both players were ejected. The incident began with a loose ball foul on Stewart with 9:18 remaining in the third quarter of the Pistons&rsquo; 121-116 loss to the Lakers on Nov. 21 at Little Caesars Arena.
Stewart will serve his suspensions Tuesday, Nov. 23 when the Pistons host the Miami Heat at Little Caesars Arena and Wednesday, Nov. 24 when Detroit faces the Milwaukee Bucks at Fiserv Forum. James will serve his suspension Tuesday, Nov. 23 when the Lakers visit the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

The NBA announced in a press release today:
Detroit Pistons center Isaiah Stewart has been suspended two games without pay for escalating an on-court altercation by repeatedly and aggressively pursuing Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James in an unsportsmanlike manner, and James has been suspended one game without pay for recklessly hitting Stewart in the face and initiating an on-court altercation, it was announced today by Byron Spruell, President, League Operations.
Stewart was assessed two technical fouls, James was assessed a Flagrant Foul Penalty 2, and both players were ejected. The incident began with a loose ball foul on Stewart with 9:18 remaining in the third quarter of the Pistons&rsquo; 121-116 loss to the Lakers on Nov. 21 at Little Caesars Arena.
Stewart will serve his suspensions Tuesday, Nov. 23 when the Pistons host the Miami Heat at Little Caesars Arena and Wednesday, Nov. 24 when Detroit faces the Milwaukee Bucks at Fiserv Forum. James will serve his suspension Tuesday, Nov. 23 when the Lakers visit the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
&nbsp;

The NBA announced in a press release today:
Detroit Pistons center Isaiah Stewart has been suspended two games without pay for escalating an on-court altercation by repeatedly and aggressively pursuing Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James in an unsportsmanlike manner, and James has been suspended one game without pay for recklessly hitting Stewart in the face and initiating an on-court altercation, it was announced today by Byron Spruell, President, League Operations.
Stewart was assessed two technical fouls, James was assessed a Flagrant Foul Penalty 2, and both players were ejected. The incident began with a loose ball foul on Stewart with 9:18 remaining in the third quarter of the Pistons&rsquo; 121-116 loss to the Lakers on Nov. 21 at Little Caesars Arena.
Stewart will serve his suspensions Tuesday, Nov. 23 when the Pistons host the Miami Heat at Little Caesars Arena and Wednesday, Nov. 24 when Detroit faces the Milwaukee Bucks at Fiserv Forum. James will serve his suspension Tuesday, Nov. 23 when the Lakers visit the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
What a surreal scene. Isaiah Stewart not only wanted to take on LeBron James and everyone on the Lakers but he calmly did the &ldquo;it&rsquo;s over, I&rsquo;m done&rdquo; walk off multiple times before sprinting back to get his revenge. The back door attempt at the end is crazy. <a href="https://t.co/5W0wmhtOUZ">pic.twitter.com/5W0wmhtOUZ</a>
&mdash; Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) <a href="https://twitter.com/ArashMarkazi/status/1462589048669683718?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 22, 2021</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers has been suspended for one game and Detroit's Isaiah Stewart was suspended two games for their roles in an ugly incident during Sunday's Lakers-Pistons game.
The NBA announced the suspensions Monday, and both will affect games on Tuesday. James will not play when the Lakers visit Madison Square Garden to play the New York Knicks. Stewart will miss the Pistons' home game against Miami on Tuesday and their game Wednesday at Milwaukee.
James will forfeit about $284,000 in salary, while Stewart will lose about $45,000. It is the first suspension in the 19-year career of James, who has won four NBA titles with three teams.
The Lakers and Pistons meet again Sunday in Los Angeles, and James and Stewart will both be eligible to play.
Stewart, the NBA said, was disciplined for &ldquo;escalating an on-court altercation by repeatedly and aggressively pursuing ... James in an unsportsmanlike manner.&rdquo; James merited the suspension &ldquo;for recklessly hitting Stewart in the face and initiating an on-court altercation," the NBA said.
<a href="https://www.nba.com/watch/video/detroit-pistons-vs-los-angeles-lakers-11-21-2021">The incident happened in the third quarter, starting when&nbsp;</a>James and Stewart were jostling for position during a free throw. Their arms appeared to get intertwined and James swung his elbow, making contact with Stewart, who quickly had blood streaming from above his eye. James, it appeared, attempted to defuse the situation after realizing he'd made contact with Stewart and drawn blood.
It didn't take long for most of the players from both teams &mdash; along with the referees, coaches and security personnel &mdash; to join the fray and try to keep James and Stewart separated. Within 25 seconds of the contact being made by James, there were at least 25 people on the floor. Referee Phenizee Ransom attached himself to James.
Cooler heads seemed to prevail, for a moment. Stewart was guided away from the spot where the contact occurred by teammates and coaches, though he appeared to become more incensed along the way. He then tried to double back &mdash; on multiple occasions &mdash; and run toward James. A number of people again blocked his path and made sure the incident didn't get uglier.
Pistons coach Dwane Casey said Stewart needed eight stitches to close the wound, adding that he did not think what Stewart did in reaction to the play merited a suspension.
&ldquo;His eye got cracked all the way open. He was upset for a reason,&rdquo; Casey said.
Stewart eventually left the floor, seeming to sprint again as he did so, and there was concern that he would try to head back toward the floor through another entry tunnel. Pistons guard Cory Joseph even headed toward that tunnel, just in case &mdash; and with the blessing of referee Scott Foster, the game's crew chief.
&ldquo;After Isaiah Stewart left the court, Cory was anticipating he may come around the back of (the) house and enter the Laker bench from the opposite side," Foster told a pool reporter after the game. &ldquo;So, he was going to intercept him. I actually told Cory that would be good."
Stewart was assessed two technical fouls, James was assessed a Flagrant Foul Penalty 2, and both players were ejected.
James has been sanctioned multiple times by the league in the past, receiving fines for everything from flopping, skipping news conferences and kicking a water bottle. But the suspension is his first, and means he will miss the Lakers' lone game this season at Madison Square Garden &mdash; one of his favorite arenas.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
What a surreal scene. Isaiah Stewart not only wanted to take on LeBron James and everyone on the Lakers but he calmly did the &ldquo;it&rsquo;s over, I&rsquo;m done&rdquo; walk off multiple times before sprinting back to get his revenge. The back door attempt at the end is crazy. <a href="https://t.co/5W0wmhtOUZ">pic.twitter.com/5W0wmhtOUZ</a>
&mdash; Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) <a href="https://twitter.com/ArashMarkazi/status/1462589048669683718?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 22, 2021</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers has been suspended for one game and Detroit's Isaiah Stewart was suspended two games for their roles in an ugly incident during Sunday's Lakers-Pistons game.
The NBA announced the suspensions Monday, and both will affect games on Tuesday. James will not play when the Lakers visit Madison Square Garden to play the New York Knicks. Stewart will miss the Pistons' home game against Miami on Tuesday and their game Wednesday at Milwaukee.
James will forfeit about $284,000 in salary, while Stewart will lose about $45,000. It is the first suspension in the 19-year career of James, who has won four NBA titles with three teams.
The Lakers and Pistons meet again Sunday in Los Angeles, and James and Stewart will both be eligible to play.
Stewart, the NBA said, was disciplined for &ldquo;escalating an on-court altercation by repeatedly and aggressively pursuing ... James in an unsportsmanlike manner.&rdquo; James merited the suspension &ldquo;for recklessly hitting Stewart in the face and initiating an on-court altercation," the NBA said.
James and Stewart were jostling for position during a free throw. Their arms appeared to get intertwined and James swung his elbow, making contact with Stewart, who quickly had blood streaming from above his eye. James, it appeared, attempted to defuse the situation after realizing he'd made contact with Stewart and drawn blood.
It didn't take long for most of the players from both teams &mdash; along with the referees, coaches and security personnel &mdash; to join the fray and try to keep James and Stewart separated. Within 25 seconds of the contact being made by James, there were at least 25 people on the floor. Referee Phenizee Ransom attached himself to James.
Cooler heads seemed to prevail, for a moment. Stewart was guided away from the spot where the contact occurred by teammates and coaches, though he appeared to become more incensed along the way. He then tried to double back &mdash; on multiple occasions &mdash; and run toward James. A number of people again blocked his path and made sure the incident didn't get uglier.
Pistons coach Dwane Casey said Stewart needed eight stitches to close the wound, adding that he did not think what Stewart did in reaction to the play merited a suspension.
&ldquo;His eye got cracked all the way open. He was upset for a reason,&rdquo; Casey said.
Stewart eventually left the floor, seeming to sprint again as he did so, and there was concern that he would try to head back toward the floor through another entry tunnel. Pistons guard Cory Joseph even headed toward that tunnel, just in case &mdash; and with the blessing of referee Scott Foster, the game's crew chief.
&ldquo;After Isaiah Stewart left the court, Cory was anticipating he may come around the back of (the) house and enter the Laker bench from the opposite side," Foster told a pool reporter after the game. &ldquo;So, he was going to intercept him. I actually told Cory that would be good."
Stewart was assessed two technical fouls, James was assessed a Flagrant Foul Penalty 2, and both players were ejected.
James has been sanctioned multiple times by the league in the past, receiving fines for everything from flopping, skipping news conferences and kicking a water bottle. But the suspension is his first, and means he will miss the Lakers' lone game this season at Madison Square Garden &mdash; one of his favorite arenas.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
What a surreal scene. Isaiah Stewart not only wanted to take on LeBron James and everyone on the Lakers but he calmly did the &ldquo;it&rsquo;s over, I&rsquo;m done&rdquo; walk off multiple times before sprinting back to get his revenge. The back door attempt at the end is crazy. <a href="https://t.co/5W0wmhtOUZ">pic.twitter.com/5W0wmhtOUZ</a>
&mdash; Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) <a href="https://twitter.com/ArashMarkazi/status/1462589048669683718?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 22, 2021</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers has been suspended for one game and Detroit's Isaiah Stewart was suspended two games for their roles in an ugly incident during Sunday's Lakers-Pistons game.
The NBA announced the suspensions Monday, and both will affect games on Tuesday. James will not play when the Lakers visit Madison Square Garden to play the New York Knicks. Stewart will miss the Pistons' home game against Miami on Tuesday and their game Wednesday at Milwaukee.
James will forfeit about $284,000 in salary, while Stewart will lose about $45,000. It is the first suspension in the 19-year career of James, who has won four NBA titles with three teams.
The Lakers and Pistons meet again Sunday in Los Angeles, and James and Stewart will both be eligible to play.
Stewart, the NBA said, was disciplined for &ldquo;escalating an on-court altercation by repeatedly and aggressively pursuing ... James in an unsportsmanlike manner.&rdquo; James merited the suspension &ldquo;for recklessly hitting Stewart in the face and initiating an on-court altercation," the NBA said.
The incident happened in the third quarter, starting when James and Stewart were jostling for position during a free throw. Their arms appeared to get intertwined and James swung his elbow, making contact with Stewart, who quickly had blood streaming from above his eye. James, it appeared, attempted to defuse the situation after realizing he'd made contact with Stewart and drawn blood.
It didn't take long for most of the players from both teams &mdash; along with the referees, coaches and security personnel &mdash; to join the fray and try to keep James and Stewart separated. Within 25 seconds of the contact being made by James, there were at least 25 people on the floor. Referee Phenizee Ransom attached himself to James.
Cooler heads seemed to prevail, for a moment. Stewart was guided away from the spot where the contact occurred by teammates and coaches, though he appeared to become more incensed along the way. He then tried to double back &mdash; on multiple occasions &mdash; and run toward James. A number of people again blocked his path and made sure the incident didn't get uglier.
Pistons coach Dwane Casey said Stewart needed eight stitches to close the wound, adding that he did not think what Stewart did in reaction to the play merited a suspension.
&ldquo;His eye got cracked all the way open. He was upset for a reason,&rdquo; Casey said.
Stewart eventually left the floor, seeming to sprint again as he did so, and there was concern that he would try to head back toward the floor through another entry tunnel. Pistons guard Cory Joseph even headed toward that tunnel, just in case &mdash; and with the blessing of referee Scott Foster, the game's crew chief.
&ldquo;After Isaiah Stewart left the court, Cory was anticipating he may come around the back of (the) house and enter the Laker bench from the opposite side," Foster told a pool reporter after the game. &ldquo;So, he was going to intercept him. I actually told Cory that would be good."
Stewart was assessed two technical fouls, James was assessed a Flagrant Foul Penalty 2, and both players were ejected.
James has been sanctioned multiple times by the league in the past, receiving fines for everything from flopping, skipping news conferences and kicking a water bottle. But the suspension is his first, and means he will miss the Lakers' lone game this season at Madison Square Garden &mdash; one of his favorite arenas.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
What a surreal scene. Isaiah Stewart not only wanted to take on LeBron James and everyone on the Lakers but he calmly did the &ldquo;it&rsquo;s over, I&rsquo;m done&rdquo; walk off multiple times before sprinting back to get his revenge. The back door attempt at the end is crazy. <a href="https://t.co/5W0wmhtOUZ">pic.twitter.com/5W0wmhtOUZ</a>
&mdash; Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) <a href="https://twitter.com/ArashMarkazi/status/1462589048669683718?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 22, 2021</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers has been suspended for one game and Detroit's Isaiah Stewart was suspended two games for their roles in an ugly incident during Sunday's Lakers-Pistons game.
The NBA announced the suspensions Monday, and both will affect games on Tuesday. James will not play when the Lakers visit Madison Square Garden to play the New York Knicks. Stewart will miss the Pistons' home game against Miami on Tuesday and their game Wednesday at Milwaukee.
James will forfeit about $284,000 in salary, while Stewart will lose about $45,000. It is the first suspension in the 19-year career of James, who has won four NBA titles with three teams.
The Lakers and Pistons meet again Sunday in Los Angeles, and James and Stewart will both be eligible to play.
Stewart, the NBA said, was disciplined for &ldquo;escalating an on-court altercation by repeatedly and aggressively pursuing ... James in an unsportsmanlike manner.&rdquo; James merited the suspension &ldquo;for recklessly hitting Stewart in the face and initiating an on-court altercation," the NBA said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
What a surreal scene. Isaiah Stewart not only wanted to take on LeBron James and everyone on the Lakers but he calmly did the &ldquo;it&rsquo;s over, I&rsquo;m done&rdquo; walk off multiple times before sprinting back to get his revenge. The back door attempt at the end is crazy. <a href="https://t.co/5W0wmhtOUZ">pic.twitter.com/5W0wmhtOUZ</a>
&mdash; Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) <a href="https://twitter.com/ArashMarkazi/status/1462589048669683718?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 22, 2021</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers has been suspended for one game and Detroit's Isaiah Stewart was suspended two games for their roles in an ugly incident during Sunday's Lakers-Pistons game.
The NBA announced the suspensions Monday, and both will affect games on Tuesday. James will not play when the Lakers visit Madison Square Garden to play the New York Knicks. Stewart will miss the Pistons' home game against Miami on Tuesday and their game Wednesday at Milwaukee.
James will forfeit about $284,000 in salary, while Stewart will lose about $45,000. It is the first suspension in the 19-year career of James, who has won four NBA titles with three teams.
The Lakers and Pistons meet again Sunday in Los Angeles, and James and Stewart will both be eligible to play.
Stewart, the NBA said, was disciplined for &ldquo;escalating an on-court altercation by repeatedly and aggressively pursuing ... James in an unsportsmanlike manner.&rdquo; James merited the suspension &ldquo;for recklessly hitting Stewart in the face and initiating an on-court altercation," the NBA said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
What a surreal scene. Isaiah Stewart not only wanted to take on LeBron James and everyone on the Lakers but he calmly did the &ldquo;it&rsquo;s over, I&rsquo;m done&rdquo; walk off multiple times before sprinting back to get his revenge. The back door attempt at the end is crazy. <a href="https://t.co/5W0wmhtOUZ">pic.twitter.com/5W0wmhtOUZ</a>
&mdash; Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) <a href="https://twitter.com/ArashMarkazi/status/1462589048669683718?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 22, 2021</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

The incident happened in the third quarter, starting when James and Stewart were jostling for position during a free throw. Their arms appeared to get intertwined and James swung his elbow, making contact with Stewart, who quickly had blood streaming from above his eye. James, it appeared, attempted to defuse the situation after realizing he'd made contact with Stewart and drawn blood.
It didn't take long for most of the players from both teams &mdash; along with the referees, coaches and security personnel &mdash; to join the fray and try to keep James and Stewart separated. Within 25 seconds of the contact being made by James, there were at least 25 people on the floor. Referee Phenizee Ransom attached himself to James.
Cooler heads seemed to prevail, for a moment. Stewart was guided away from the spot where the contact occurred by teammates and coaches, though he appeared to become more incensed along the way. He then tried to double back &mdash; on multiple occasions &mdash; and run toward James. A number of people again blocked his path and made sure the incident didn't get uglier.
Pistons coach Dwane Casey said Stewart needed eight stitches to close the wound, adding that he did not think what Stewart did in reaction to the play merited a suspension.
&ldquo;His eye got cracked all the way open. He was upset for a reason,&rdquo; Casey said.
Stewart eventually left the floor, seeming to sprint again as he did so, and there was concern that he would try to head back toward the floor through another entry tunnel. Pistons guard Cory Joseph even headed toward that tunnel, just in case &mdash; and with the blessing of referee Scott Foster, the game's crew chief.
&ldquo;After Isaiah Stewart left the court, Cory was anticipating he may come around the back of (the) house and enter the Laker bench from the opposite side," Foster told a pool reporter after the game. &ldquo;So, he was going to intercept him. I actually told Cory that would be good."
Stewart was assessed two technical fouls, James was assessed a Flagrant Foul Penalty 2, and both players were ejected.
James has been sanctioned multiple times by the league in the past, receiving fines for everything from flopping, skipping news conferences and kicking a water bottle. But the suspension is his first, and means he will miss the Lakers' lone game this season at Madison Square Garden &mdash; one of his favorite arenas.

Stewart will be suspended two games, while James receives a one-game suspension.

NBA suspends LeBron James, Isaiah Stewart for on-court altercation

MIAMI (AP) — Udonis Haslem has been telling anyone who will listen the same thing for years, that if given a chance he can still impact winning.
The Miami Heat won’t disagree.
In a 90-second span Wednesday night, Haslem committed a foul, got a rebound, scored on a layup, blocked a shot, picked up another foul and grabbed another rebound. That’s a hectic minute and a half for anyone in the NBA — and when considering that Haslem is 41, it looks even better.
The Heat outscored New Orleans by 12 points in Haslem’s 7-1/2 minutes of work, and his two stints off the bench were a major spark in Miami’s 113-98 win.
“We have a lot of guys that are ignitable and then UD gives you that emotional ignitability,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “And that’s tangible, but you can’t put an analytic to it. It gave us a great emotional spark. ... I’ve seen that so many times, that emotional lift, but that’s ignitability as well.”
Haslem’s final line: two points, three rebounds, one assist, one block. He became the sixth-oldest player in NBA history to have at least one of all those in the same game, joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Vince Carter, Robert Parish, Dikembe Mutumbo and Kevin Willis.
He played the last minute of the first half, then the final 6:21 of the third quarter and immediately made an impact by taking an offensive foul in what was then a one-point game. The Heat wouldn't trail again.
“I preach ‘stay ready so you don’t have to get ready’ to these guys, and obviously, when I get an opportunity to go out there and play I can’t just talk about it — I’ve got to be about it,” Haslem said. “For me, I try to preach to my guys that I am who I really say I am and I want those guys to be who they say they are every night we step on the floor.”
Even players from other sports in Miami rave about what Haslem brings. Miami Marlins infielder Miguel Rojas was at the game Wednesday night, and left with a couple souvenirs — Haslem’s sneakers.
“Ever since I got here, UD's always been able to run up and down and impact the game, whether it's in practice or whatever it is," Heat guard Tyler Herro said. “He makes people better."
Haslem is in his 19th season, his stint Wednesday night was his longest in a game since August 2020, and he’s already made four appearances this season after making just one last year. Spoelstra said the Heat evaluated everything over the summer and one of the things he thought about was finding situations where he could use Haslem more.
“I don’t trust anybody more than UD,” Spoelstra said.
___
More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Udonis Haslem’s final line in New Orleans: 2 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 block.

Udonis Haslem sixth-oldest in NBA history with unique stat line

MIAMI (AP) — Bam Adebayo walked off the court after the gold-medal game at the Tokyo Olympics back in August, proudly having draped the U.S. flag over his shoulders, and asked a question on his way toward the winning locker room.
“Where’s my banner?”
He’ll never have to ask that again.
The Heat hang banners to commemorate when members of the team win Olympic gold medals, and Adebayo’s was unveiled Friday night in a ceremony at halftime of Miami’s game against the Charlotte Hornets. His is the fifth now swaying from the rafters, joining ones paying tribute to Olympic successes by Alonzo Mourning, Tim Hardaway, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James.
“Mission accomplished,” Adebayo said.
Adebayo said he went to the Olympics with the goal of bringing gold back to Miami, a city that was reeling this summer after a condo collapse in Surfside, Florida, a waterfront town just a few miles north of downtown Miami. The middle-of-the-night crumbling of that building caused 98 deaths.
Adebayo visited the site just before leaving to join USA Basketball for the summer, and said it was on his mind throughout the Olympics.
“It was an incredible accomplishment,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Adebayo being part of the gold experience. “Thinking about where he’s come from and his journey to get to that point, to be in a position to help the U.S. Olympic team win a gold, that’s really amazing.”
A pair of Adebayo’s Heat teammates, Jimmy Butler and Kyle Lowry, have also won Olympic gold for the U.S. They don’t have banners because they were not members of the Heat when they won those medals.
The Heat unfurled a U.S. flag at midcourt for the brief ceremony. Adebayo — his mother joining him on court for the moment — donned his gold medal for the occasion, then smiled and lifted his arms skyward as gold streamers fell from the ceiling and banner was finally displayed.
“We don't get a lot of Olympic gold medals where I come from," Adebayo said. “Glad to represent my city, my home and this organization."
Adebayo averaged 6.3 points and a team-best 5.7 rebounds on 57% shooting at the Tokyo Games. He was one of only three players -- Kevin Durant and Damian Lillard were the others -- to start all six games at the Olympics for the team coached by Gregg Popovich.
“He was a joy in every way,” Popovich said earlier this month of having Adebayo on the Olympic team.
Adebayo had six points, six rebounds and four assists in the gold-medal game win over France, a victory where the Americans avenged a loss to open the Olympics.
“Bam’s a student of the game, but also of Miami Heat history,” Spoelstra said. “He’s seen the banners go up. That means something to him.”
___
More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Bam Adebayo walked off the court after the gold-medal game at the Tokyo Olympics back in August, proudly having draped the U.S. flag over his shoulders, and asked a question on his way toward the winning locker room.
&ldquo;Where&rsquo;s my banner?&rdquo;
He&rsquo;ll never have to ask that again.
The Heat hang banners to commemorate when members of the team win Olympic gold medals, and Adebayo&rsquo;s was unveiled Friday night in a ceremony at halftime of Miami&rsquo;s game against the Charlotte Hornets. His is the fifth now swaying from the rafters, joining ones paying tribute to Olympic successes by Alonzo Mourning, Tim Hardaway, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James.
&ldquo;Mission accomplished,&rdquo; Adebayo said.
Adebayo said he went to the Olympics with the goal of bringing gold back to Miami, a city that was reeling this summer after a condo collapse in Surfside, Florida, a waterfront town just a few miles north of downtown Miami. The middle-of-the-night crumbling of that building caused 98 deaths.
Adebayo visited the site just before leaving to join USA Basketball for the summer, and said it was on his mind throughout the Olympics.
&ldquo;It was an incredible accomplishment,&rdquo; Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Adebayo being part of the gold experience. &ldquo;Thinking about where he&rsquo;s come from and his journey to get to that point, to be in a position to help the U.S. Olympic team win a gold, that&rsquo;s really amazing.&rdquo;
A pair of Adebayo&rsquo;s Heat teammates, Jimmy Butler and Kyle Lowry, have also won Olympic gold for the U.S. They don&rsquo;t have banners because they were not members of the Heat when they won those medals.
The Heat unfurled a U.S. flag at midcourt for the brief ceremony. Adebayo &mdash; his mother joining him on court for the moment &mdash; donned his gold medal for the occasion, then smiled and lifted his arms skyward as gold streamers fell from the ceiling and banner was finally displayed.
&ldquo;We don't get a lot of Olympic gold medals where I come from," Adebayo said. &ldquo;Glad to represent my city, my home and this organization."
Adebayo averaged 6.3 points and a team-best 5.7 rebounds on 57% shooting at the Tokyo Games. He was one of only three players -- Kevin Durant and Damian Lillard were the others -- to start all six games at the Olympics for the team coached by Gregg Popovich.
&ldquo;He was a joy in every way,&rdquo; Popovich said earlier this month of having Adebayo on the Olympic team.
Adebayo had six points, six rebounds and four assists in the gold-medal game win over France, a victory where the Americans avenged a loss to open the Olympics.
&ldquo;Bam&rsquo;s a student of the game, but also of Miami Heat history,&rdquo; Spoelstra said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s seen the banners go up. That means something to him.&rdquo;
___
More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Bam Adebayo walked off the court after the gold-medal game at the Tokyo Olympics back in August, proudly having draped the U.S. flag over his shoulders, and asked a question on his way toward the winning locker room.
&ldquo;Where&rsquo;s my banner?&rdquo;
He&rsquo;ll never have to ask that again.
The Heat hang banners to commemorate when members of the team win Olympic gold medals, and Adebayo&rsquo;s was unveiled Friday night in a ceremony at halftime of Miami&rsquo;s game against the Charlotte Hornets. His is the fifth now swaying from the rafters, joining ones paying tribute to Olympic successes by Alonzo Mourning, Tim Hardaway, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James.
&ldquo;Mission accomplished,&rdquo; Adebayo said.
Adebayo said he went to the Olympics with the goal of bringing gold back to Miami, a city that was reeling this summer after a condo collapse in Surfside, Florida, a waterfront town just a few miles north of downtown Miami. The middle-of-the-night crumbling of that building caused 98 deaths.
Adebayo visited the site just before leaving to join USA Basketball for the summer, and said it was on his mind throughout the Olympics.
&ldquo;It was an incredible accomplishment,&rdquo; Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Adebayo being part of the gold experience. &ldquo;Thinking about where he&rsquo;s come from and his journey to get to that point, to be in a position to help the U.S. Olympic team win a gold, that&rsquo;s really amazing.&rdquo;
A pair of Adebayo&rsquo;s Heat teammates, Jimmy Butler and Kyle Lowry, have also won Olympic gold for the U.S. They don&rsquo;t have banners because they were not members of the Heat when they won those medals.
The Heat unfurled a U.S. flag at midcourt for the brief ceremony. Adebayo &mdash; his mother joining him on court for the moment &mdash; donned his gold medal for the occasion, then smiled and lifted his arms skyward as gold streamers fell from the ceiling and banner was finally displayed.
&ldquo;We don't get a lot of Olympic gold medals where I come from," Adebayo said. &ldquo;Glad to represent my city, my home and this organization."
Adebayo averaged 6.3 points and a team-best 5.7 rebounds on 57% shooting at the Tokyo Games. He was one of only three players -- Kevin Durant and Damian Lillard were the others -- to start all six games at the Olympics for the team coached by Gregg Popovich.
&ldquo;He was a joy in every way,&rdquo; Popovich said earlier this month of having Adebayo on the Olympic team.
Adebayo had six points, six rebounds and four assists in the gold-medal game win over France, a victory where the Americans avenged a loss to open the Olympics.
&ldquo;Bam&rsquo;s a student of the game, but also of Miami Heat history,&rdquo; Spoelstra said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s seen the banners go up. That means something to him.&rdquo;

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