I know you didn’t have time to watch a full slate of NBA games Wednesday, instead choosing to go wild boar curling. We’ve got you covered, here’s what you need to know from Wednesday around the NBA:
1) Stephen Curry show comes to Nation’s Capital: 25 points in first quarter, 11 threes in the game and 51 points. I’ve run out of descriptions for Stephen Curry on the court. He’s simply fun to watch. Even if you’re a Washington Wizards fan — and if so, you should be proud of how well your team played — all you can do is marvel at the what Curry does, and tip your cap. In the first quarter, Curry had 25 points on 9-of-10 shooting overall and 7-of-8 from three (and that one miss was his cleanest look of the lot). Curry set a personal record with 36 first half points, and he finished with 51 on 28 shots, knocking down 11 threes. He’s a basketball magician. The Wizards played one of their better games I’ve seen — John Wall had 41 points and 10 assists — but on a night when Curry is shooting like this and Draymond Green racks up another triple-double (10th this season) there’s nothing you can do. Final score 134-121 Golden State.
2) Kevin Durant from three for the win? There’s nothing Orlando could do to stop it. The Magic had their chance, Victor Oladipo drove the lane and looked to put a feisty Magic team up on OKC on the Thunder’s home court — Serge Ibaka would have none of that. His length and athleticism let him track Oladipo down and reject the shot. Then smart move by Billy Donovan — if you have Kevin Durant on your team don’t call a timeout and let the defense get set. KD got the ball, created a little space, and the ball touches nothing but nylon. The Magic played well, but the Thunder get the 117-114 win.
3) No Kemba, no problem: Charlotte beats Cleveland. The Charlotte Hornets had a 23-game losing streak to LeBron James led teams, and with Kemba Walker out with a sore knee it seemed like that streak might continue. Especially after the first 24 minutes. Instead, it ended on Wednesday night with a dramatic second-half comeback in Charlotte, 106-97.
In the first half Cleveland seemed to get whatever shot it wanted, putting up 58 points, finishing the half on a 13-1 run, and even getting good defensive play out of Kevin Love. They were steamrolling the Hornets as LeBron was passing out of drives behind his head to Love in the corner. But in the third quarter Jeremy Lin attacked (he had 11 in the quarter and 24 for the game), the Cavaliers took their foot off the gas and coasted, while Charlotte decided to run right at them, off both makes and misses. It put Cleveland back on their heels — often LeBron seemed the only guy back defending the breaks. In a sign of the effort level on the night, Charlotte won the battle on the glass by 21. Cleveland looked like a team still learning, and the Hornets got the kind of win they need to get past Detroit and back in the playoff mix.
4) Andrew Wiggins drops 31, Timberwolves break 14-game losing streak to Clippers. The night before, Andrew Wiggins dropped 30 on the Lakers, but was overshadowed by vintage Kobe Bryant. Wednesday there would be nobody to overshadow him — Wiggins put up 31 points on the Clippers, and the Timberwolves got the win. In the second half Wiggins got help — Karl-Anthony Towns had 17, Ricky Rubio was diving into the crowd to save balls — but Wiggins was the guy the Clippers did not have an answer for and Minnesota won 106-97. Los Angeles looked like a team that missed Blake Griffin.
There was one controversial play — late in the game the Clippers were down two and decided to trap rather than foul immediately — Chris Paul and J.J. Redick trap Rubio just over half court. Redick gets called for the foul, and while it was close you can see a foul there, he bumps him. CP3, frustrated, turns and walks away, and claps his hands — and gets called for a technical foul by Lauren Holtkamp. It was a bad tech, there was no reason to give it, CP3 was not showing up the referee and with :20 seconds left in a close game you want the players showing a little emotion. But Holtkamp has a reputation of taking any perceived slight too personally, and she has a history with Paul — last year after she gave him a technical he got a $10,000 fine saying that maybe this job wasn’t for her. She T’d him up. That’s not why the Clippers lost, but it’s going to be talked about, and Holtkamp was in the wrong.
5) LaMarcus Aldridge scored 36, and the Spurs remained undefeated at home. Why does home court matter so much in the West? Because the Spurs are 27-0 at home now — after a 110-97 win over New Orleans Wednesday — and the Warriors are 22-0. When those teams meet in the conference finals, home court is going to matter. The Spurs stayed perfect at the AT&T Center thanks to a big night from Aldridge, who went up against a good defender in Anthony Davis for chunks of the night.
