Milwaukee and Houston showed their best cards in the NBA; Popovich doesn't kneel.

Milwaukee defeated Boston (119-112) in another showcase of Giannis Antetokounmpo, while Houston overcame Dallas with a brilliant James Harden on Friday night in the NBA.

The Eastern conference-leading Bucks defeated the Celtics (third position) with a showcase from Antetokounmpo, who also accumulated 15 rebounds and 7 assists. His sidekick Khris Middleton scored 18 points and center Brook Lopez scored another 14.

The Celtics suffered from their All-Star forward Jayson Tatum's bad night, who had a terrible shooting statistic of 2 for 18 and finished with only 5 points. Backup point guard Marcus Smart scored 23 points, and shooting guard Jaylen Brown scored another 22.

Harden shines again

It was evident in the game that the Rockets came back and won in overtime (153-149) against the Mavericks because Harden bulldozed again with his scoring inspiration

The Texan duel had Harden and point guard Russell Westbrook as the main protagonists. Westbrook showed no signs of having tested positive for COVID-19, coming close to a triple-double. They turned out to be the executioners for the Mavericks, for whom the contributions of Latvian center Kristaps Porzingis and Slovenian shooting guard Luka Doncic were not enough.

Harden, who finished with 14 of 20 field goals and scored 23 points in the first quarter, grabbed nine rebounds and distributed eight assists. He surpassed the legendary former point guard Calvin Murphy as the second all-time leading scorer in team history, and is now only behind former center Hakeem Olajuwon.

Popovich does not kneel

The veteran coach of the San Antonio Spurs, Gregg Popovich, decided not to kneel, along with his assistant coach Becky Hammon, when the national anthem was played during the game against the Sacramento Kings.

Before the game between the Spurs and the Kings (129-120), Popovich and Hammon stood while the national anthem was being played, while the rest of the players and coaches from both teams kneeled.

"I'd prefer to keep that to myself," Popovich said when asked about his stance. "Everybody has to make a personal decision. The league has been great about that. Everybody has the freedom to react the way they want. For whatever reasons I have, I reacted the way I wanted to." (D)