Taking leads from the greatest minds in the Western hemisphere, we awake you with five interesting items from the previous evening.
Five games hath the NBA on cinco de Febrero. The Rockets tied an NBA record, the Lakers continued their dominance over the Nets, the Pacers crept closer to a franchise record, and Samuel Dalembert played the greatest game of his career. Yes, Samuel Dalembert.
“Hats for bats, keep bats warm…Gracias…”
- The Houston Rockets tied an NBA record making 23 3-pointers in their 140-109 win over the Warriors. The only other team to make that many 3-pointers was the Orlando Magic, who made 23 against the Kings in January of 2009. Houston’s 140 points was its most in a regulation game in nearly 20 years (149–111 win over the 76ers on Feb. 16, 1993). Omir Asik finished with 11 points and 15 rebounds, his 5th straight games with at least 15 rebounds. Only four other Rockets players have had five straight games of 15+ rebounds: Elvin Hayes, Moses Malone, Hakeem Olajuwon and Charles Barkley. Check out what Chandler Parsons had to say in the tweet of the night.
- Kobe Bryant and the Lakers finished on a 10-0 run to turn a 83-82 deficit into a 92-83 win in Brooklyn. The win was the Lakers’ 10th straight against the Nets. Kobe Bryant finished with 24 points (9-24 FG) as the Lakers won for the first time since Christmas day in a game where Bryant took more than 20 shots (were 0-11 in previous 11 such games). The Nets lost for the first time in 18 games this season against a team with a losing record at the time of the game. Pau Gasol left the game late in the fourth quarter and didn’t return. Gasol said he felt a pop in his foot and left the arena on crutches.
- The Indiana Pacers won their 15th straight home game on Tuesday night, defeating the Atlanta Hawks, 114-103. The Pacers franchise record for home wins is 25 set from 1999-00. Paul George led all scorers with 29 points (scored 22 in the second half). After averaging just 90.9 PPG in their first 43 games of the season, the Pacers have averaged 106.0 PPG in their last six games.
- In Denver, the Nuggets won their seventh straight, defeating the Milwaukee Bucks, 112-104. Samuel Dalembert led all scorers with 35 points (career-high) in the loss, the most for a player coming off the bench in a game this season. It marked the first time in his 754 career regular-season games that Dalembert recorded a 30-point game. No other player in NBA history has even gone 600 regular-season games into his career before his first 30-point game. The next-highest total is 584 games, by Fred Roberts, on April 2, 1991, also for the Bucks. The Bucks fell to 8-34 all-time in Denver.
- Jerryd Bayless scored a season-high 29 points, but the Phoenix Suns won for just the fifth time on the road this season, defeating Memphis 96-90. Bayless’ 29 points are the most by a Memphis reserve since Chucky Atkins scored 29 January 24, 2007 at Utah. Marcin Gortat made his first seven shots and finished with 20 points on 8-for-10 shooting.
Stat Mann is the nom de guerre of our research statistician, who spends a lot of time watching basketball in central Connecticut. Someone would be angry if they discovered he was moonlighting here.