Welcome to PBT’s roundup of yesterday’s NBA games. Or, what you missed while scrolling through the Florida Man twitter feed….
Heat 141, Kings 129 (2OT): What looked like a blowout on paper ended up being the best game of the night. The Kings may deny it was a moral victory for them, but it was. They were scrappy all night, they played with a fight you wish we had seen all season. It LeBron James taking over in the second overtime with 11 points in 3 assists to get Miami it’s 12th straight win.
I don’t know that you can say Marcus Thornton outplayed the Heat’s wing players but he had 36 points of his own, while Tyreke Evans had 26 and Isaiah Thomas added 14 — they consistently got into the paint and knocked down shots. Then there was DeMarcus Cousins, who overpowered the Heat front line at points and had 24 points.
By the way, your mind blowing LeBron stat of the night is not his line of 40 points, 16 assists and 8 rebounds. No, it’s that by shooting 14-of-23 he becomes the first player to shoot 64 percent in a calendar month (minimum of 200 shots) since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did it in 1983.
Pacers 108, Warriors 97: Hey, there was a basketball game to go with the fight. Although who wants to talk about anything but the fight? Roy Hibbert is going to miss at least a game for throwing Stephen Curry around like he is half his size… well he is, but Hibbert still can’t just throw him around like that during a shoving match.
After that incident, when the Pacers were already up 10, it was David West who took over and made sure the Pacers held on for their fifth straight double-digit win. West finished with 28, George Hill had 23 and both he and Curry — who may have been the best player on the floor and finished with 38 points — seemed to score at will on difficult shots. In the end the Pacers were simply too much.
Magic 98, Sixers 84: Philadelphia has reached a new low. But don’t take my word for it, ask Philly coach Doug Collins.
After leading 29-20 the Sixers coasted while the Magic (as they have most of the season) played hard for Jacque Vaughn. Six Orlando players were in double figures, led by Tobias Harris and Arron Afflalo with 16. Former Sixer Nikola Vucevic finished with 12 points and 19 rebounds. Meanwhile for Philly everyone was off: Jrue Holiday shot 4-for-11, Thaddeus Young was 4-of-11 also, Nick Young finished 1-for-6 and Evan Turner was 2-for-7. It wasn’t pretty. Ask Doug Collins.
Cavaliers 101, Bulls 96: In an alternate universe where Kyrie Irving and Derrick Rose are healthy this game is a lot more interesting.
Chicago finally put up some points but this time their usually stout defense couldn’t stop the Cavaliers most of the game. Especially when it mattered. A Kirk Hinrich three made it a one-point game inside three minutes. But the Cavaliers answered with a couple of buckets from Dion Waiters (who finished with 25), and a bucket from Luke Walton might have been the dagger. Actually, the Dagger was with 15 seconds left when a hustling Walton stole a lazy Carlos Boozer inbound pass.
Nets 101, Hornets 97: Brooklyn thought this was a game they would be able to sit their starters the fourth quarter and relax. They took the lead with a 9-0 run early in the first quarter, had that all the way up to 22 in the second quarter and thought they had a laugher. But the Hornets got serious on defense (the Nets shot just 35.9 percent in the second half) and chipped away until this was as close as a two-point ballgame late.
Deron Williams took charge and scored the Nets last 11 points to secure the win, and he finished with 33 points and 8 assists. Brook Lopez added 20 points and Keith Bogans was key late with three from beyond the arc. Greivis Vasquez had 20 to lead the Hornets.
Bucks 95, Mavericks 90: This was a vintage Dirk Nowitzki performance — 21 points and 20 rebounds. He seemed to do everything. But with this Mavericks roster that is just not enough some nights. Monta Ellis had 11 fourth quarter points (22 for the game) and sparked Milwaukee to finish the game on a 12-2 run and get the win. J.J. Redick was second on the Bucks with 14 points. Losses like this kill any Dallas playoff dreams.
Clippers 106, Bobcats 84: You wouldn’t know it from the final score but this was a close game with the Bobcats leading much of the first half. But the Bobcats got away from the cardinal rule of beating the Clippers — take away the easy dunks in transition — late in the first half and a few Blake Griffin dunks fired up the team. A late 15-3 first half run by the Clippers was the beginning of the end. Griffin had 24 points, Chris Paul finished with 13 assists and the Clippers rolled to a win.
Suns 84, Timberwolves 83 (OT): Well, somebody had to win this game. The Suns led by as many as 18 in the first half but the Timberwolves guards sparked runs in the fourth quarter to make it close — J.J. Barea had 12 points and Ricky Rubio had 7 assists in the fourth quarter alone.
The overtime was close the entire way but a P.J. Tucker fast-break layup gave Minnesota a four-point lead. The teams traded buckets then a Derrick Williams three made it a one-point game. The Suns tried to ice it but Nikola Pekovic blocked a Wesley Johnson shot and the Timberwolves got one final shot at it. Alexey Shved drove the lane but his contested layup rolled off the rim and the Suns hung on for the win.
