Boston Celtics star guard Kyrie Irving suffered a scratched left cornea in last night's 120-111 loss to the San Antonio Spurs. 

Irving scratched his left cornea and needs antibiotics. Coach Brad Stevens was unsure if the Celtics star would miss a game, as he actually finished the Dec. 31 game in which he sustained the injury.

Irving suffered his injury during a collision with Marco Belinelli with 7:22 remaining in the game. He and Belinelli were attempting to secure a rebound of Irving's missed 3-pointer from the right wing. Belinelli swiped at the ball and hit Irving in the eye, causing him to stay on the floor a short while writhing in pain.

Irving exited to the locker room but returned to the bench and game a couple minutes later. Boston coach Brad Stevens was unsure of Irving's status for Wednesday's home game against Minnesota.
"Kyrie has a scratched eye," Stevens said, per ESPN's Michael C. Wright. "So he'll have antibiotics for that. I don't know what that means beyond tonight."

When asked about his condition after the game, Irving said: "I'm wearing sunglasses, so not too good. I'll be all right, though. [He] smacked the s--- out of me. He just caught me pretty good."

Overall, Irving logged 28 minutes on Monday night, finishing with 16 points on 7-for-14 shooting while adding three rebounds, eight assists and two steals. This season, Irving is averaging 23.3 points, five rebounds and 6.6 assists per game.

College basketball has produced a dense top end through the first eight weeks of the 2018-19 regular season. 

There are 54 teams with two or fewer losses. That's 15.3 per cent of the schools in Division I. It's a much higher number than I would have guessed.
And with three or fewer losses? Ninety teams total -- a quarter of the sport. Whereas a number of major and multi-bid leagues (Pac-12, A-10, the American, the Mountain West, the Big East) have been underperforming, there's a high number of teams building up strong marks in the binary. From purely a win-loss perspective, there's a lot to sort through.
So here are the 19 most impressive teams in college basketball as of right here, right now. The emojis in each capsule indicate whether a team has risen, fallen or circled back to the same spot from where it was last week.

Los Angeles Lakers vs Golden State Warriors   December 25, 2018

In a game LeBron James left early in the third quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers destroyed the Golden State Warriors at Oracle Arena, 127-101, on Christmas Day. Kyle Kuzma led the Lakers in scoring with 19 points on 6-of-14 shooting. Ivica Zubac went for 18 points and 11 rebounds. And LeBron James had 17 points, 13 rebounds, and five assists in just 21 minutes. The Warriors, meanwhile, were led by Andre Iguodala, who scored 23 points on 12 shots off the bench. Kevin Durant added 21 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists. Stephen Curry had 15 points on 17 shots. And Draymond Green and Klay Thompson combined for nine points on 4-of-14 shooting. For updates, highlights and analysis from throughout the game, scroll below.

NBA legend Kevin Garnett thinks that New Orleans Pelicans superstar forward Anthony Davis should - and will - play for the Los Angeles Lakers in the near future. 

Davis is under contract with the Pelicans through the 2019-20 season, though there is swirling speculation that the organization could look to move him rather than lose him for nothing in free agency if he makes it clear that he doesn't plan to remain in New Orleans long-term.

"When Anthony Davis suits up for the Pelicans, that’s the best the Pelicans are going to be right there," Garnett said, via USA Today Sports. "They are capped out. They are playing at the top of the level they can play at. Davis with LeBron James — he goes to another level and that’s scary.
"That’s why he needs to go to a team where he has a chance to hoist the trophy or at least have a chance at going in that direction. He doesn’t have that. Great players need to be with other great players. He is still 'the guy' when LeBron is there. They are both 'the guy.' That’s why you bring your superpowers together."

Garnett, who has said that he waited too long to orchestrate his own exit from a mediocre Minnesota franchise during his own playing days, doesn't want to see Davis make the same mistake.

"I told Anthony Davis this to his face," Garnett said. " 'You are not playing against the guys you are squaring up against every night. You are playing against history, man.'

"Anthony Davis playing in New Orleans, I don’t want to say they are wasted days, but they are non-days. He needs to be somewhere where he can be with another guy and they can have a run at a championship. He has been in New Orleans long enough. It is time for a change now. This is it. No better time to do this."
Some NBA executives agree with Garnett, and think that Davis will end up either on the Lakers, or the Celtics, according to a recent report from Bleacher Report.

From Bleacher Report:

"Despite the Pelicans publicly denouncing the notion that they'd consider trading Davis, they will need to make a decision before he potentially opts out of his contract after the 2019-20 season. Their primary hope is that Davis is willing to take a projected 'supermax' extension at $239.5 million, an offer they certainly intend to make once he's eligible for it in July.
...The buzz in Las Vegas, where most of the league's executives gathered over the past few days for the NBA G League Winter Showcase, is that Davis will end up with either the Boston Celtics or Lakers before the 2019-20 season." 

Though the Pelicans can offer Davis more money than any other franchise moving forward, Davis plans to prioritize legacy over money when it comes to his future in the NBA.

#Kevin #Garnett believes that #Anthony #Davis has to play for @Lakers #NBAXmas @celtics #CUsRise #NBAonABC
follow, i follow back🙏 pic.twitter.com/1PQWo7EnNL

— Engr. Faith (@olafaith0001) December 26, 2018

"I'd take legacy over money," Davis said of his career path, via Yahoo Sports. "I want to have a legacy. All my people that look up to me, the younger kids, I want them to know about AD's legacy. Championships, the things I do in the community, being a good teammate, playing hard. All that stuff matters the most to me. Don't get me wrong, money is amazing. But I think in that sense, money or legacy, I think my legacy will win that battle every time."

On the season, Davis is averaging 28.1 points, 12.6 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 2.7 blocks, and 1.7 steals per game for the Pelicans.

Irving explodes for 16 points in first quarter versus Sixers

As the Boston Celtics look to one-up their Eastern Conference rivals, the Philadelphia 76ers, on Christmas Day, the All-Star point guard erupted for 16 points in the opening quarter.

Check out all of his shots from the opening period here.

#Kyrie's Christmas Day started sparks the @celtics in Q1 with 16 pts in the first quarter news
#CUsRise #NBAXmas #NBAonABC pic.twitter.com/UcXoQLtrDT

— Engr. Faith (@olafaith0001) December 26, 2018

James Herbert of CBS Sports recently wrote that the perfect gift that the Celtics could have for Christmas is having a healthy and comfortable Gordon Hayward.

"I know that he has made strides physically since the start of the season, and I know that he has had a couple of high points, like his 30-point, nine-rebound, eight-assist game in Minnesota at the beginning of the month, but still. Let's not forget how much more he can do. Hayward was one of the best wings in the league before his leg injury, and we shouldn't settle for him being a helpful play-maker off the bench. No, Boston needs the real Hayward -- the one who dunks on people, the one who can take over games -- if it is going to reach its peak this season. The Celtics won't get this gift on Dec. 25, but they'll accept it anytime before the start of the playoffs."

The Celtics have taken a 32-25 lead entering the second quarter as Boston has converted on 48.4 percent of their field-goal attempts and the Sixers have converted on just 40 percent of their attempts after ending the opening period while shooting 4-of-15 from the field.

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Bill Self stood in a hallway in a dimly-lit basement of Wells Fargo Center, attempting to put in perspective No. 1-ranked Kansas' first loss of the 2018-19 basketball season.

"Well, I think losing sucks and it's never good, but it actually can be a positive if you learn from it so it doesn't happen again the same way," Self, KU's 16th-year coach said.

His words came after his Jayhawks (10-1) squandered a seven-point lead in the final 4 1/2 minutes of an 80-76 loss to No. 18-ranked Arizona State before a crowd of 14,592. That crowd included former Chiefs coach Herm Edwards, the head coach of the Sun Devils football team, as well as Olympic swimming sensation Michael Phelps, former NBA players Jason Kidd and Grant Hill and current Los Angeles Laker and former Jayhawk Svi Mykhailiuk.
"We didn't close the game right at all," Self added. Hopefully, we'll learn from that, but the reality of it is we weren't going to run the table. Let's not get carried away.

"I hate saying this. You never, ever want to lose, but certainly, you'd rather learn from a non-conference loss than you would a conference loss. Hopefully, we'll learn something from it and get better from it. I think it'll be a good teaching tape for us."

The Jayhawks are breaking for the Christmas holiday and won't be together again until Wednesday night when the players return to Lawrence for a post-break practice. Their next game is against Eastern Michigan at 1 p.m. next Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse with the Big 12 opener looming Jan. 2 at home against Oklahoma.

"It's not going to affect Christmas, at least with the players, "Self said of the loss, especially disappointing since the Jayhawks led by 12 points late in the first half and eight points at halftime.

"We played well the first half and didn't have as much to show for it I didn't think as far as the score (39-31) indicated, "Self-said. "We were better than them the first half. The second half, they controlled it from the start. Our defense wasn't any good the second half. We didn't make shots. We forgot who our best player was for a key stretch, made some bonehead plays down the stretch."

He also blamed himself for miscommunication during a timeout with 22 seconds left and KU down 78-76.
KU's Lagerald Vick (14 points, just 3 of 11 from three) accepted a pass from Devon Dotson on the wing and gunned a pass past Dotson that resulted in a turnover on an over-and-back call (one that may have been questionable because of a possible deflection by Arizona State). Arizona State's Rob Edwards (15 points, 13 second half) was fouled and sank two free throws with six seconds left to assure a four-point win and a court-storming from the Arizona State fans.

"We were going to try to shoot a three to end it if we could, "Self-said. "I said (in the huddle), 'Run it like black but don't go backdoor.' All Lagerald heard was 'black' and 'black' is the backdoor lob. I screwed that deal up."

Self-said the over-and-back call may have been "an unfortunate break there at the end. We got what we deserved. We didn't get stops or make plays down the stretch."

KU's Dedric Lawson scored 18 points the first half on 8-of-10 shooting and 12 the second on 4-of-5 marksmanship. He finished with a KU career-best 30 points on 12-of-15 shooting. He was 5 of 5 from the line. However, KU attempted just 16 charities, hitting 15. Arizona State (9-2) was 20 of 32, double the attempts.
"It felt like it was a lot more than twice,"Self-said of Arizona State shooting double the charities. "We gave them free points obviously, and I'd have to go back and watch the tape. Everybody thinks they are getting screwed as the game is going on. I'm not going to go into that and say we got one (call) or didn't get one. I'll watch the tape. Certainly, it felt like we had a hard time getting any easy points. We certainly saw them get a lot from the free-throw line or a lot of layups. We didn't have the same opportunities for us."

Arizona State had five players score in double figures: Edwards had 15 points, Zylan Cheatham and Luguentz Dort 13, Romello White 11 and Remy Martin 10.

"That was one of the great sports moments of my life. That's really the best way I can put it," Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley said. His Sun Devils, who were ranked No. 16 at the time, also beat KU last year at Allen Fieldhouse when KU was No. 2.

"This was a huge moment for our basketball program," the fourth-year coach added. "I remember when I first started my first couple of games here. To see what it's like now, it's unreal. To have these memories and our players to have it, it's terrific. The crowd was dynamic. It was off the charts in terms of the electricity in that building. It felt like an NCAA Tournament game for something really important. That's the caliber of athletes and basketball players on the floor."
KU's players took the loss hard. Dotson didn't like the fact he fumbled the hard pass from Vick on the possession in which KU might have hit a three and won the game at the end.

"They defended it well," Dotson said. "He (Vick) tried to kick it (out). We tried to put points on the board. We couldn't convert."

"It's tough. I hate losing," added Dotson, who had 12 points, five assists and five of KU's 16 turnovers. "One thing about me, I always want to win. The first loss is tough. We've got to learn from it."

Noted Lawson, who played just 31 minutes as he had to sit some in the second half after picking up a third foul: "It's very tough, a very tough one. We had the game and let it slip right through our hands. It's behind us. We didn't think we were going to go undefeated. We didn't think we were going to lose here either. It's a learning experience."
KU hit 41.5 percent of its shots, just 7 of 28 from three. Arizona State hit 41.3 percent and was 8 of 21 from three. Arizona State made 20 of its 32 free throws. Arizona State won the board battle 41-40.

Here's a look at the key play by play moments during crunch time:

ASU, which trailed 39-31, at halftime, cut the deficit to three, 43-40 and again 62-59 at 7:24.

Arizona State cut it to two 67-65 on a three by Edwards at 5:50.

With Arizona State up by three, Vick hit a huge three and was fouled by Dort on the play. Vick hit the free throw for a four-point play and KU led 72-65 at 4:58. KU led 74-67 at 4:31; however, Arizona State cut it to 74-73 by the 2:51 mark.
KU's Quentin Grimes missed a three with the score 74-71 and Arizona State's Martin converted right after at 2:48. Following a Lawson turnover, Edwards hit a three to give Arizona State the 76-74 lead at 2:17. Dort then missed two free throws at 1:36. Lawson hit two free throws for Kansas to tie it 76-76 at 1:17.

Martin hit a shot in the lane with 58.6 seconds left to give Arizona State a 78-76 lead. Following an offensive foul by Vick, Dort missed two free throws with 26 seconds left, giving KU the ball down two 78-76.

Vick gunned a pass off Dotson that forced a turnover at 6.9 seconds on KU's ensuing possession. Edwards stepped to the line at 6.1 seconds. He hit two free throws to give Arizona State the four-point lead, 80-76.

WEST LAFAYETTE - Once again, a return to the home court brought out the best version of Purdue basketball.

Behind another 30-point effort from Carsen Edwards, the Boilermakers rolled to a 95-67 victory over Ohio at Mackey Arena.
Purdue remained unbeaten at home this season, though it was playing in Mackey Arena for the first time since Dec. 6. The Boilermakers needed a victory, having lost five of their last seven, with all five losses coming on the road.
"I think we would all say we're more comfortable in Mackey," freshman guard Eric Hunter said. "The thing for us is it has to translate."
Carsen Edwards scored at every level again, hitting 10 of 16 from the field with five assists. Ryan Cline, who began to emerge from a shooting slump late in the previous game against Notre Dame, carried through for 19 points and four assists.
Hunter came off the bench to score a career-high 13 points. Other than one poor stretch of the first half, the Boilermakers also turned in one of their most productive defensive nights of the season, totaling 21 points off of 14 Ohio turnovers.
The narrative now becomes whether Purdue can replicate performances such as this on the road against Big Ten Conference competition. Those tests resume after the first of the year.
Old habits

Purdue used a 17-0 first-half run to take control early. The Boilermakers turned defense into offense, hits early 3-pointers for the first time in a couple of weeks and played some of their most cohesive basketball in a while.
Then came the same sort of defensive lapse that has undermined potentially important non-conference victories. Ohio scored on eight straight possessions, totaling 21 points in that span.
The Bobcats, who came in shooting 28.3 percent from 3, made 6 of 13 (46.2 percent) in the first half. That put them on pace to become the eighth Purdue opponent in 11 games to out-shoot the 3-point percentage they brought into the game.
Ohio leading scorer Jason Carter (19.3 points) did not score in the first half, missing four field goal tries in 14 minutes. He was primarily the assignment of senior forward Grady Eifert. However, Ben Vander Plas, who came in shooting 35.8 percent behind the arc, made 3 of 6 to fuel that Bobcat surge.
Purdue still took a 49-36 lead into halftime in part due to its own 9 pf 17 performance from 3 and 10 points off of Ohio turnovers. The Boilermakers' 1.441 points per possession were the most by an Ohio opponent all season.
Turning point

Carter finally scored, hitting a 3 early in the second half to bring Ohio within 49-39. When Grady Eifert was called for a moving screen with 18:04 left - his fourth foul - the door seemed open to a Bobcats threat.
Instead, Purdue stiffened defensively, Ohio's shots stopped falling, and the blowout hinted at earlier unfolded.
Cline's 3 with 13:23 to play pushed the Purdue lead to 20. Then on a break, he found Hunter, who splashed his third 3 of the game to make it a 23-point lead. Hunter - in his most productive game of the season - finished the next break with a dunk to give Purdue a 70-45 lead with 11:33 left.
Hunter's previous career, 10 points, high came in the season opener against Fairfield. He then scored 12 points total over the next 10 games, with eight coming in the blowout of Robert Morris. Thursday night he looked more comfortable than he had all season, hitting 4 of 5 shots from the field with two assists and no turnovers.
Ohio shot 33.3 percent from the field in the second half and made 3 of 11 from 3-point range.
Central casting

For the first time this season, Purdue coach Matt Painter altered his starting lineup. Grady Eifert drew the start at center in place of redshirt sophomore Matt Haarms, who started each of the first 11 games.
Haarms played only 11 minutes in last Saturday's loss to Notre Dame. Boudreaux posted nine points and seven rebounds in 20 minutes against the Irish. Conspicuously, both sat down the stretch while true freshman Trevion Williams excelled in his first extended role - 10 points, four rebounds, two steals and a block in nine-plus minutes.
Boudreaux provided an early spark, causing a turnover at one end and getting to the free throw line at the other before the under-16 timeout. Haarms replaced him there. Williams' first entry came with about 12 minutes remaining in the first half.
Williams again produced, posting five points, eight rebounds, two assists, and two blocks in his 11-plus minutes.