Friday night’s Emirates NBA Cup group-play slate stretched across nine games, and the headline belonged to Luka Dončić. The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Portland Trail Blazers 124-118 behind Dončić’s 53 points — his fourth straight game with 40 or more. The details below come from NBA.com’s official Friday recap updated early Saturday, November 7. No box-score lines beyond that report are invented here.
Friday’s final scores
NBA.com listed these results for November 6:
- Hawks 139, Wizards 132
- Celtics 119, Hornets 80
- Cavaliers 119, 76ers 95
- Mavericks 112, Jazz 100
- Thunder 128, Grizzlies 97
- Timberwolves 115, Pelicans 109
- Raptors 121, Bucks 107
- Lakers 124, Trail Blazers 118
- Spurs 124, Kings 109
Luka’s historic checklist
According to NBA.com, Dončić’s night added several verified milestones:
- Fourth consecutive 40-point game, the first Laker to do so since Kobe Bryant in January 2012 and only the fourth player in franchise history to string four straight.
- Fourth 50-point game for Los Angeles, moving him past LeBron James (3) into a tie for fourth in Lakers history with George Mikan.
- 361 points through nine games, a 40.1 scoring average that joins Wilt Chamberlain as the only players to average 40-plus through their first nine games of a season.
- Seven straight games with 35-plus points, 5-plus rebounds and 5-plus assists, tying Oscar Robertson’s longest such streak; he also extended his own record streak of 35/5/5 with 5-plus threes to seven games.
NBA.com also noted a 62-foot half-court bank at the end of the first half and a 20-point third quarter that flipped the game after Portland led early.
Elsewhere on the Cup card
Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs won their seventh straight, 124-109 at Sacramento. NBA.com said that over his first nine games Wembanyama has totaled 250-plus points, 100-plus rebounds and 35-plus blocks — company previously kept only by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1975) and Shaquille O’Neal (1993) in the blocks era since 1973-74.
Cleveland snapped Philadelphia’s five-game win streak, 119-95, with Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley combining for 45 points and seven Cavaliers in double figures. Boston buried Charlotte 119-80 behind Jayson Tatum’s 34 points, 8 rebounds and 9 assists; the Celtics made 24 threes. Oklahoma City rolled Memphis 128-97 as Ajay Mitchell scored a career-high 35 with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander adding 28.
In Atlanta, Nickeil Alexander-Walker became the first Hawk to make 40-plus threes through his first 10 games of a season, NBA.com reported, finishing with 28 points in a 139-132 win. Toronto beat Milwaukee 121-107 behind career nights from Alijah Martin (27) and Jamal Shead (16 assists).
Why Cup nights matter in November
Emirates NBA Cup group play packs national TV windows and standings incentives into the season’s first month. Friday’s Prime Video doubleheader featured LeBron James’ return to Cleveland as a Sixer and the Lakers-Blazers West Group C clash. With the Lakers moving into first place in the Western Conference after the win, per NBA.com, the early Cup table is already reshaping seeding talk.
What early Cup standings signal
Group play is not the playoffs, but it concentrates nationally televised games and gives coaches fewer empty calendar nights to hide poor starts. Dončić’s heater and Wembanyama’s all-around dominance are the narrative poles of the West; Cleveland’s statement win over Philadelphia is the clearest East group-play message from Friday. Casual fans can follow one thread — Luka’s streak — without watching all nine tipoffs, then check NBA.com for the rest of the slate.
The bottom line
The verified Friday story is Dončić’s 53, Wembanyama’s historic start, and a nine-game Cup slate full of career highs. For box scores and streak notes, NBA.com remains the primary source — not highlight captions on social media.
Image: Close-up view of the wall-mounted basketball hoop structure at OAU Gymnasium by Eminence190 via Wikimedia Commons, CC0 1.0
