There were a wide range of memorable plays in the fourth quarter and overtime that helped the Utah Jazz rally past the Oklahoma City Thunder for a 120-119 win as the NBA resumed play Thursday night after the All-Star Weekend break.

One play, however, that was a hot topic in the postgame interviews happened on the first possession for the Jazz, who host the San Antonio Spurs in Salt Lake City on Saturday night.

After seeing Walker Kessler hit a corner 3-pointer during the Skills Challenge, which the rookie won with Jazz teammates Jordan Clarkson and Collin Sexton, Jazz coach Will Hardy decided to draw up a play to attempt to give Kessler his first actual NBA 3-pointer.

It worked. Utah’s center rewarded his coach later in the game by making the defensive play of the game and finished with 18 rebounds to go with his seven points.

“Yes, the first play was designed for Walker to shoot a three,” Hardy said. “Yes, he bullied me into it after All-Star Weekend when he made that three in the skills competition. And yes, I’m very happy that it went in — even though I may have created a monster.”

It ended up being the only 3-point attempt for the young big man, so monster mode hasn’t quite been activated. From outside on offense, at least. Kessler prevented the Thunder from escaping with a win Thursday and forced overtime by blocking Isaiah Joe’s reverse layup attempt in the final seconds of regulation.

That came just after Kessler made a game-tying offensive putback.

“He’s a rookie, right?” said Jazz guard Kris Dunn after scoring 11 points in his first game after signing a 10-day deal with Utah. “For him to be a rookie and to be able to understand the defensive concepts. … Defensively, if he’s doing this as a rookie, just imagine Year 4. He could be phenomenal for the Utah Jazz for a very long time.”

It was one of seven blocks for Kessler.

“I knew at that moment, because I’m a shot blocker, he’s probably going to reverse it,” Kessler said. “So what I do is I take an angle towards the middle of the floor.”

Other than that, it was the Lauri Markkanen show for the Jazz for much of the fourth quarter, when he scored 18 points, and OT, when he nailed three free throws in the final seconds to win the game.

The All-Star finished with 43 points despite only making 3 of 12 3-pointers.

The Spurs didn’t have nearly as fun of a return from their midseason break in a 142-116 blowout loss at Dallas.

Malaki Branham scored 23 and Keldon Johnson added 22 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, but San Antonio lost its 15th consecutive game. Zach Collins contributed 13 points and 12 rebounds.

“I think Zach and Keldon deserve some credit,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “They are trying to lead the way with so many guys out. Their leadership was great.”

San Antonio’s upcoming extended stay in Utah will wrap up the Spurs’ annual rodeo trip, which has had them on the road for the previous seven outings. But first, the Spurs and Jazz will play a pair of games in Salt Lake City on Saturday and Tuesday.

–Field Level Media

Joel Embiid proved he can have a major impact on a game even if he’s not 100 percent healthy.

Or making shots.

Despite missing the morning shootaround with a non-COVID illness and left foot soreness, Embiid showed why he’s a legitimate Most Valuable Player candidate again in a stirring 110-105 come-from-behind victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday.

The Sixers will now look to Embiid to lead them to a sixth straight win when they host the Boston Celtics on Saturday night.

Embiid shot 7-of-25 from the field but finished with 27 points, 19 rebounds, six assists and six blocked shots on Thursday.

“It should change the tone about him,” Sixers head coach Doc Rivers said of Embiid’s performance on both ends of the court. “Not in the huddle, but outwardly. Joel is a two-way player. If you take away what someone does best, what else can they do to help the team? We ask our guys that every night. Tonight, it was Joel. If you took away his offense, what else did he do? Well, he had six blocks, he had 19 rebounds, he had six assists. That tells you how great the guy is.”

James Harden was also fantastic with 31 points, seven rebounds and seven assists as the Sixers overcame a 17-point deficit against one of the top teams in the league.

Tobias Harris also dropped in a 3-pointer which gave the Sixers a 106-105 lead with 39.1 seconds left.

The Sixers will need clutch shots from their standouts as the schedule continues to be challenging.

“Our schedule is tough. A lot of games in a short amount of time,” Harris said. “We need this to prepare us and get us ready mentally and physically. This is a good stretch for us to really embrace it and really come out of this a better group than we started.”

The Celtics will look for their third consecutive victory when they battle the Sixers.

Boston outlasted the host Indiana Pacers, 142-138, in overtime Thursday.

The Celtics’ two All-Stars led the way as Jayson Tatum had 31 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists while Jaylen Brown added 30 points and 11 rebounds.

Brown played with a new mask to protect a facial fracture sustained on Feb. 8 when he accidentally collided with Tatum during Boston’s 106-99 win over the visiting 76ers.

“It’s just some things that I have to adjust and adapt to, but I will,” Brown said. “Today was the first real game with it on, I think it went fine. But it will definitely take some getting used to and some adjustments and being able to adapt to it.”

It was a bit of a stressful victory for the Celtics in their first game since the All-Star break. Both Tatum and Brown had to play extended minutes.

“Nothing like a 41-minute overtime night straight from the break,” said Tatum, who scored 55 points in the All-Star Game to earn Most Valuable Player honors. “I’ll take it though. Good win.”

Malcolm Brogdon scored 24 points off the bench for Boston against his former team as the Celtics improved to a league-best 43-17.

“It had a playoff-like atmosphere. We had to withstand some runs, we had to adjust, we had to execute and make plays,” Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla said. “I liked the fact we had to go through that. You have to win games like that and you have to be in games like that.”

–Field Level Media

The Western Conference-leading Denver Nuggets will seek their fifth consecutive win on Saturday when they visit the Memphis Grizzlies, the second-place team in the West.

Denver returned from the All-Star break on Thursday, picking up where it left off with a 115-109 win at the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Nuggets rallied in the fourth quarter, holding the Cavaliers to just 18 points in the closing stanza.

All five Nuggets starters scored in double-figures, led by Michael Porter Jr. with 25 points, including 6-of-10 shooting from 3-point range. Thursday marked Porter’s third consecutive game making at least five attempts from beyond the arc.

“Mentally tough dude,” Denver coach Michael Malone said of Porter in Thursday’s postgame press conference. “Whether it’s three back surgeries, whether it’s missing his whole first season, missing 73 games last year, or going what he and his family are going through right now.”

Porter’s brother, Coban — a member of the University of Denver basketball team — was arrested last month on charges of vehicular homicide and reckless driving.

“Just because one thing isn’t going good in your life, you don’t just get to shut down,” Porter told the Denver Post.

Two-time reigning Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic recorded his third triple-double in the last four games and 22nd of the season with 24 points, 18 rebounds and 13 assists. He is just two triple-doubles away from becoming the sixth player to reach 100.

One of Jokic’s triple-doubles came in Denver’s previous matchup with Memphis, a 105-91 Nuggets’ home win on Dec. 20. Jokic went for 13 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists in that one.

The Grizzlies’ loss in Denver came shortly before an 11-game winning streak that spanned from Dec. 29 to Jan. 18. Since that stretch, however, Memphis is just 4-10 after losing its first game back from the All-Star break.

The Grizzlies dropped a 110-105 decision Thursday in Philadelphia, coughing up a 12-point lead in the fourth quarter and being outscored 10-1 in the final 1:24. One pivotal moment came with 1:12 remaining when Ja Morant went for a dunk to extend Memphis’ 104-103 lead, but Joel Embiid came from the blind side to block the Grizzlies’ 27.1-point per game scorer.

“I didn’t see him,” Morant said in his postgame media availability. “I was only seeing P.J. Tucker. It was a good weak-side block from him.”

The recent Memphis slide has coincided with starting center Steven Adams being sidelined by a PCL sprain since being injured against the Phoenix Suns on Jan. 22. Adams leads the Grizzlies in rebounding with 11.5 per game — almost five more per game than Memphis’ next-leading rebounder, Jaren Jackson Jr. at 6.7 — and his 1.1 blocked shots per contest are second to Jackson’s 3.3.

“(Adams) had good sessions over the All-Star break. He was doing a lot of stuff rehabbing, but he’s trending in a good direction,” Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins said at the team’s media session on Wednesday. “We’ll have more of a time update probably at the end of the week.”

As for Denver’s roster availability, forward Aaron Gordon (rib) will miss his fifth consecutive contest. Gordon is averaging 17.3 points and 6.9 rebounds per game.

–Field Level Media

Two young teams looking to make a push for the Eastern Conference play-in tournament meet when the Orlando Magic host the Indiana Pacers on Saturday.

Orlando is 20-15 since a 5-20 start and sits 13th in the East, while Indiana is a half-game ahead at 26-35 overall.

Rookie-of-the-year favorite Paolo Banchero leads the Magic, who emerged with a 108-106 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Thursday in their first game after the All-Star break.

Orlando has struggled to secure the win in close games this season, but was able to notch the win over Detroit when Wendell Carter Jr. tipped in Banchero’s missed layup at the buzzer.

“There are always lessons to learn,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said. “This is one of those great ones in a win, you come away and you feel very good. There are a lot of things down the stretch that we can definitely improve on. But we came away with the win because of how resilient our guys were. I’m just proud of the effort and energy they put forward.”

Carter had 14 points and 14 rebounds in the win and continues to impress in his sixth season. The 6-foot-10 center is averaging 16.3 points and 8.8 rebounds in eight games this month.

Banchero has started every game in his rookie season and averages a team-high 19.7 points along with 6.6 rebounds and 3.6 assists.

The team’s young core is eager to find a spot in the play-in tournament, but Mosley wants his squad to focus on the task at hand.

“Guys are talking about the play-in and the playoff push, and we understand that,” Mosley said. “But the most important thing is always going to be: Are we getting better? Are we improving? Are we focusing on little details, no matter the game, no matter the time of the year?”

Orlando is looking to even the season series against Indiana after losing two of the first three meetings.

The Pacers fell just short on Thursday against the Boston Celtics in a 142-138 overtime defeat. Despite losing for the 17th time in its last 20 games, Indiana coach Rick Carlisle was encouraged by his team’s effort.

“I just love the fight our guys brought to the game,” Carlisle said. “They never went away. We weren’t perfect, rebounding continues to be a challenge, but the level of battle and the level of fight was tremendous. Closing out games like this against the top teams on the planet comes down to details.”

Myles Turner made a career-best eight 3-pointers in the loss and tied his career high with 40 points. The Pacers rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit and made a strong impression on Boston star Jayson Tatum.

“That’s a tough team to play against,” Tatum said. “They create a lot of problems. Defensively, they play with so much pace, freedom. They present a lot of problems.”

Indiana’s lack of size could be a factor against the Magic. Turner is the only one taller than 6-6 in the Pacers’ starting lineup, while Orlando boasts a formidable frontline of Carter, Banchero and 6-10 Franz Wagner.

Banchero scored 23 points in Orlando’s 126-120 win over the Pacers on Jan. 25. Carter tallied 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Magic, who never trailed in the contest.

–Field Level Media