Every day in the NBA there is a lot to unpack, so every weekday morning throughout the season we will give you the three things you need to know from the last 24 hours in the NBA.
1) James Harden astounds the NBA with first-ever 60-point triple-double. Everything was on James Harden’s shoulders — Chris Paul (groin) and Trevor Ariza (hamstring) were in street clothes (or singing in a car), then Eric Gordon left the game in the first half with a sore back. Their other primary playmakers sidelined, the Rockets needed the full Harden experience to beat Orlando.
They got it — 60 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists. The NBA’s first-ever 60-point triple-double (breaking Russell Westbrook’s record from last March for most points in a triple-double, when he had 57, also against Orlando). Harden scored or assisted on 86 points. He did it on 30 shots, attacking all night long — he had 12 shots at the rim and 18 trips to the free throw line on the night. But words don’t do his game justice. Just watch.
The rest of the NBA took note.
C’mon @JHarden13!!! Now that’s insane G! 60 point Triple Dub. Sheesh!!! 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
— LeBron James (@KingJames) January 31, 2018
Okay @JHarden13 you’re not playing fair!!!
— DWade (@DwyaneWade) January 31, 2018
James Harden makes no bones — he wants to be the NBA’s MVP this season (he did last season, too, when he came in second to Westbrook the voting). This season he’s the frontrunner right now (missing only seven games with his hamstring injury helps his cause) and ridiculous games like this are something voters remember.
2) Another blow to Cavaliers, Kevin Love out 6-8 weeks with a fractured hand. The Cavaliers came into Tuesday night having won a couple in a row, seemingly stopping the bleeding for a bit. Everyone seems to be waiting for them to flip the switch, maybe this is where it happens.
Nope. Tuesday night things got much worse in Cleveland.
Early in the first quarter against Detroit, Love made contact with Anthony Tolliver, and started grabbing his hand in pain. Love tried to play through it, but eventually came out, went to the locker room, got X-rays, and found out he would have to miss 6-8 weeks due to a fractured fifth metacarpal bone in his left hand — the bone that connects your little finger to your wrist.
This injury creates a couple big problems for the Cavaliers. The first is simply just winning games — Love is averaging 18.1 points and 9.6 rebounds a game, and he’s shooting better than 40 percent from three. They don’t have anyone who can replace his offensive production, draw defenders, and make sharp passes to teammates. Love can get buckets, and the Cavaliers need that to cover up their horrid defense.
The second problem is the injury also throws a wrench into the Cavaliers trade plans at the deadline. Almost every trade scenario for the Cavaliers involves Channing Frye going to another team to balance out the salary, but now he’s needed along the front line, making it harder to move him. The Cavaliers also will have to play Tristan Thompson more, but that’s not going to help their offense.
Cleveland will be the four seed in the East if they can’t beat Miami on Wednesday, and you have to wonder with Love missing all this time exactly what seed they will be when the playoffs start.
3) John Wall to have knee surgery, out 6-8 weeks, and that could spell real trouble for the Wizards. For much of the season, Washington didn’t take playing the NBA’s weaker sisters seriously — they had flat games against teams such as the Lakers, Nets, Hawks, Mavericks, and others, losing games the Wizards should not have because they didn’t play hard and the other team did. For a while they were below .500 against teams below .500. As you read this they are 16-11 against teams below .500, the worst record of any NBA playoff team against that group.
Now that may come back to bite them. John Wall is going to have knee surgery to “clean up” some issues after he had to deal with irritation and swelling all season (remember he has surgery on both knees before signing his designated player max extension). He will be out 6-8 weeks, which means Wall is out for at least about 20 games give or take — and 15 of the next 19 are against current playoff teams. The Wizards are currently the five seed in the East, but are just 2.5 games above the eight-seed 76ers. Washington may see itself as a team that can hang with anyone in the East when healthy, but if they start the playoffs on the road in Boston or Toronto or Cleveland it could be over fast.
Washington got a big win Tuesday night without Wall, ending the Thunder’s eight-game winning streak. The Wizards need more of that. They will start Tomas Satoransky at the point (he’s played solidly this season earning the backup PG slot), and on Tuesday Otto Porter stepped up with 25 points. Bradley Beal will go off for some big games, and the Wizards will probably hang on to their playoff slot.
But they have made their postseason a lot harder because they didn’t bring it every night like elite teams do.