Welcome to PBT’s roundup of yesterday’s NBA games. Or, what you missed while thinking you may have finally found the perfect job…
Suns 92, Lakers 86: Ouch. You can apply that one word sentence to Dwight Howard’s shoulder, he left the game midway through the fourth quarter and did not return, seeming to aggravate his torn labrum. Or, you can apply the first sentence to the Lakers fourth quarter. Either way it was Michael Beasley’s world and the Lakers just lived in it. Brett Pollakoff broke the game down for us.
Heat 105, Nets 95: Note to Reggie Evans — you may not want to insult LeBron James, you might make him angry. You wouldn’t like him when he’s angry. Evans did, saying the Heat’s lockout title didn’t count, and LeBron responded with 24 points and 9 rebounds in the Heat win. Miami owned the second half, and we broke all the details of the game down.
Celtics 99, Kings 81: If you want to ease into the rest of the season without your star point guard, the Kings are a good team to do it against. The Kings hung around for a quarter and a half in the Garden and then the Celtics bench started the onslaught with a 16-2 run — Boston scored 37 points in the second quarter and the rout was on. That second quarter was about as good as Boston can play and when they play like that they can threaten any team. It’s a blueprint for what they want to do the rest of the season.
Paul Pierce had 16 points to lead six Celtics in double figures. Tyreke Evans had 19 for the Kings. One thing of concern for the Celtics — Jared Sullinger left the game in the first half with back spasms not to return. He battled back issues in college. It’s just something to watch.
Bulls 104, Bucks 88: There are nights Nate Robinson can shoot you out of a game, and then there are the nights he can pretty much win you a game. Wednesday night was in the latter category for the Bulls — Robinson had 16 second quarter points, half of the 32 the Bulls put up in the period as they pulled away for a comfortable win. It wasn’t just Robinson off the bench, he had help from Jimmy Butler who has been playing well of late and had 18 in this one. Ersan Ilyasova led the Bucks with 18 points but needed 18 shots to do it.
Clippers 96, Timberwolves 90: Blake Griffin was dominating. He had 23 points and 12 rebounds through three quarters, and Minnesota looked hopeless to stop him.
But then the fourth quarter came and *woosh*, there Griffin went. Disappeared right out of thin air. In a close game down the stretch, he had no points and no shots attempts in the whole quarter. Just as it looked like Minnesota was about to steal a win despite their poor perimeter shooting, Griffin reappeared at just the right time with an impossibly tricky bank shot that served as the dagger.
—D.J. Foster
Pacers 98, Pistons 79: This was a shorthanded Pistons team with Tayshaun Prince — the last member of the 2004 championship team still on the roster — and Austin Daye out for this game and Jose Calderon not in yet. But this game really just followed the trends — the Pacers have now won 12 in a row at home while the Pistons are 5-17 on the road. Greg Monroe tried for Detroit (18 points) but the Pistons couldn’t handle the Pacers size — Roy Hibbert had 18 points and 11 rebounds, Tyler Hansbrough added 14 points and 11 rebounds.
Knicks 113, Magic 97: This was close in the first half because the Magic back court was hot — guards and 35 of Orlando’s 51 first half points. J.J. Redick started out 7-of-7, Jameer Nelson was 7-of-11 in the first half. It was still just a six-point Knicks lead after three quarters when the Knicks offense exploded for 34 points on 63 percent shooting in the fourth quarter. The onslaught wasn’t just one guy — 10 Knicks scored in the quarter, Steve Novak had the most points at 8. It was a team effort. For the game Tyson Chandler had 21 points (on 11 shots) and Carmelo Anthony had 20.
The big news for Orlando is that Glen Davis broke his foot and is most likely done for the season now.
Nuggets 118, Rockets 110: You knew this was going to be an up and down game and we weren’t disappointed (109 possessions, according to the NBA.com stats one of the fastest this season). It made the game entertaining. The Rockets averaged the fastest pace in the league so you thought they would be comfortable there and it showed — they never really pulled away but they led 85-77 with a minute left in the third quarter when the Nuggets went on a 24-3 run to take the lead and pull away for the win. That is five straight for Denver, which went 12-3 in January.
As you expect in these games there were some big offensive numbers: Danilo Gallinari scored 27 points (on 17 shots, plus he had 4 blocks), Kenneth Faried added 19, Ty Lawson 16, Andre Iguodala 15; for Houston Jeremy Lin had 22, James Harden and Chandler Parsons 21.
Spurs 102, Bobcats 78: Really, how did you think this game was going to end? The Spurs have won nine straight overall and 17 in a row at home. With the win, Gregg Popovich will coach the Western Conference All-Stars as the Spurs will have the best record in the West come the Sunday cut off. You can bet he’s thrilled, he’s much rather coach an exhibition game in Houston than be home sipping wine with friends and having three days off.
Sixers 92, Wizards 84: In the battle of Jrue Holiday vs. John Wall… nobody won, really. Holiday was better with 21 points but he needed 22 shots while Wall was 3-of-12 shooting. Holiday had six turnovers to Wall’s five.
Philadelphia took control of the game with a 13-3 run in the second quarter and when the Wizards made a run to make it close in the third the Sixers responded with a 17-5 run. Nick Young gunned his way to 18 for Philly. Emeka Okafor had another strong night for Washington with 15 points and 17 rebounds.
Hawks 93, Raptors 92: The Raptors were shorthanded — Jose Calderon and Ed Davis had been shipped out and Rudy Gay had yet to arrive, but they still put up a real fight. In fact, they should have had free throws to win.
Atlanta went ahead on a pretty play where Al Horford set a screen off the ball for Kyle Korver, Horford’s defender Aaron Gray tried to cut off a pass to Korver at the arc so Horford rolled and flashed to the paint, Josh Smith had the ball at the top of the arc and passed to Horford in the paint for a dunk. But Toronto had time for a final shot.
Kyle Lowry tried to drive the lane but Al Horford rejected it, but the Raptors recovered and Alan Anderson missed a jumper with 4.9 seconds left, but DeMar DeRozan got the offensive board. He went up and was fouled by Horford but there was no call. It is official a block, Horford gathered the ball and tossed it down the court, and that was the ballgame.
Jazz 104, Hornets 99: Ugly wins count the same as pretty ones. The Jazz will take this, it wasn’t a dominant performance against a team on the second night of a back-to-back and missing its best player (Eric Gordon was out resting his knee), but it’s a win nonetheless. The Jazz front line was strong — Paul Millsap had 25 points and Al Jefferson added 22.
The Jazz carried over some of their 45-point loss to the Rockets and were down early, but they bounced back with an 11-2 run in the second and eventually took a lead.
