Highlights from Wednesday Night’s Games

Wait a minute, wasn’t Friday the 13th last week?

Bad fortune befell many of the NBA’s best teams last night, with the Thunder, Magic, Sixers and Pacers all losing.

None of the losses was as shocking as Oklahoma City’s, coming in the nation’s capital against a Wizards team that had won only once all season. Especially since Kevin Durant usually plays his best there, with a career average of 31.1 points in his hometown, and especially since he broke a 10-game drought of failing to reach 30 points.

Russell Westbrook scored 36 points and Durant had 33 for Oklahoma City, which lost for only the third time in 15 games. During one stretch bridging the second and third quarters, the duo accounted for 21 of the Thunder’s 23 points. Both slowed down after resting at the start of the fourth, missing 11 of 17 from the field.

Washington started 0 for 6 on 3s before making 7 of 10 — including four by Nick Young — late in the third and early in the fourth. John Wall had 25 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and made 13 of 14 from the line.

From Michael Lee of the Washington Post: “Nobody expected it, that’s what it was. David bested Goliath,” Young said after scoring 19 of his 24 points in the final 17 minutes to help the Wizards overcome a 10-point deficit and their own nerves. Despite missing eight free throws in the fourth quarter, the Wizards (2-12) showed enough hustle and scrappiness to pull out the most unlikely victory and snap a four-game losing streak. … “It’s not the end of the world,” Durant said. “We lost to a more hungry team than us. It hurts. We want to win every game. Especially me, I want to win back at home. But we got to look past it.”

Next we turn to Philadelphia, where the 76ers hadn’t lost all season.

Former Sixer Andre Miller scored Denver’s last 10 points in regulation and got another big basket in OT. His jumper put the Nuggets ahead 106-104 with 42.9 seconds left, then made a steal on Jrue Holiday‘s errant pass to seal the Nuggets’ fourth consecutive win. Philadelphia had won nine of 10 overall and were 6-0 at the Wells Fargo Center.

From John Mitchell of the Philadelphia Inquirer: “It could have ended in regulation had Andre Iguodala made both of his free throws as opposed to just one with four seconds to play. That left the score tied at 96 and forced the Sixers (10-4), who battled back from 10 points down in the fourth quarter, to play extra minutes. “I have to knock them down, that’s the bottom line,” said Iguodala, who had a great game nonetheless with 11 points, 10 boards, and 9 assists. And then there was the matter of Holiday’s turnover in overtime. Perhaps needing to take one more step for a layup, and with the Sixers trailing by 106-104, Holiday, in traffic, thought he could get the ball out to Iguodala on the perimeter for an uncontested jumper. But Miller, hiding behind the big bodies in the paint, darted in front of the ball and picked it off. Fouled, Denver’s Arron Afflalo sank a pair of free throws for the final margin of victory.

In Sacramento, the Pacers scored 8, yes 8, points in the fourth quarter and lost to an opponent that shot 30.1 percent from the field. The Kings rallied from 14 points down in the fourth quarter to snap a three-game losing streak.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the last time the franchise had won a game while shooting less than 31 percent was Dec. 1, 1957, when the Cincinnati Royals edged the Minneapolis Lakers 90-89. Denver was the last NBA team to pick up a win while shooting less than 31 percent, hitting 29.2 percent in an 80-72 win over San Antonio on Oct. 29, 2003.

From Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee: “The Kings used a 22-7 run to open the fourth quarter to take their first lead, 88-87, with 2:20 to play, and they held off the Pacers down the stretch. (Coach Keith) Smart turned to backups Francisco Garcia, Travis Outlaw and Isaiah Thomas in the fourth quarter. “We were lagging a little bit in the third quarter and they got a little lead, so we had to come in from the bench and play hard and run the floor,” Garcia said. Outlaw scored five of the Kings’ first seven points in the fourth. Garcia played the entire quarter and scored 10 of his season-high 16 points in the final period. It was two free throws by Garcia that gave the Kings (5-10) their first lead. The zone defense helped force the Pacers (9-4) into nine turnovers in the fourth quarter that led to seven points for the Kings. The Kings haven’t practiced a lot of zone, but they made it work. “Coach put us in a zone and we figured it out,” Thomas said. “We were real scrappy and that’s what you’ve got to do when you’re in a zone.”

The highlight shot of the night came from none other than the player known as Mr. Big Shot, Chauncey Billups, who drained a 3-pointer off an inbounds pass with 1 second left in a 91-89 victory over Dallas. Chris Paul (hamstring) sat out his third straight game as the Clippers finished their first back-to-back-to-back. Three of the Clippers’ past five games have included wins over Miami, the Lakers and the Mavericks — who had beaten them 10 straight times and won 16 of the previous 17 meetings.

From Brad Turner of the Los Angeles Times: “Billups had turned the ball over twice and missed a shot, all in the last 40 seconds of the game. But his three-pointer with one second left, not far from the spot where Derek Fisher‘s three-pointer beat the Mavericks on Monday, helped the Clippers break a 10-game losing streak to the Mavericks. “I was so open, I was able to take my time and shoot the shot,” Billups said. “They got a contest on it late, but by that time it was gone.
“I got a great look at it and it felt good for it to go down.” Billups finished with 21 points on seven-for-19 shooting, and eight rebounds. The Clippers didn’t fully escape until Jason Kidd‘s in-bound lob pass to Ian Mahinmi was fumbled away.
The Clippers got a big lift from Mo Williams, who was back after missing three games because of a sore right foot. He scored a season-high 26 points on 11-for-15 shooting. The Clippers also got help from DeAndre Jordan, who had a season-high 19 points and nine rebounds.”

Elsewhere in the NBA:

The wait for Baron Davis’ debut in New York gained some impatience as Steve Nash came into Madison Square Garden and had 26 points and 11 assists as the Suns snapped a five-game losing streak by defeating New York 91-88. Phoenix got help with a lucky bounce on Shannon Brown’s 3-pointer from the corner that bounced off the rim, then the top of the center of the basket before falling in to give them a five-point lead with 35 seconds left. Nash made it stand up with six free throws in the last 16 seconds.
The San Antonio Spurs, a perfect 9-0 at home, go their first road win of the season by beating Orlando 85-83 in overtime. The loss snapped a season-best five-game win streak for the Magic, which also lost the only game of their lone back-to-back-to-back stretch of the season. Dwight Howard led Orlando with 24 points and 25 rebounds, his 36th career 20-20 game.
Joe Johnson scored 24 points and surprised Portland by stealing the ball with just over a minute remaining, leading the Hawks to their fourth straight win since losing All-Star center Al Horford, 92-89 over the Portland Trail Blazers. The Hawks, taking over first place in the Southeast Division from Orlando, closed the third period on a 14-0 run, but the Trail Blazers responded with a 13-0 spurt starting the fourth to tie the game. It was tight the rest of the way.
Boston won for the first time in two weeks, defeating Toronto 96-73. Rajon Rondo who spent several minutes on the floor after being leveled on a flagrant foul by Linas Kleiza with 2:12 left in the third quarter. Gingerly holding his right wrist, Rondo got up, made one of two foul shots, then slowly walked to the locker room. X-rays showed no break and Rondo said he wanted to return, but the Celtics didn’t need him.
Marc Gasol scored all of his season-high 22 points before the fourth quarter and grabbed 12 rebounds, helping the Grizzlies extend their winning streak to four and climb above .500 for the first time this season with a 7-6 record as they beat New Orleans 93-87. Mike Conley hit four 3-pointers and finished with 18 points and 10 assists for Memphis, which had five players score in double figures while sending the Hornets to their fifth straight loss and 11th defeat in 12 games.
Deron Williams scored 24 points, 11 coming in crucial stretch of the fourth quarter, while adding 10 assists and eight rebounds, and rookie MarShon Brooks added a career-high 22 points, eight rebounds and six assists in a 107-100 victory over Golden State. The Nets have all four of their wins when both players score 20 or more points.
Kevin Love bought 1,000 tickets for local fans and had 20 points and 17 rebounds, and the Timberwolves overcame a sluggish start and beat Detroit 93-85. Minnesota had its third win in four games, helped by 11 steals, 23 points off 19 turnovers and holding the Pistons to 14 points in the decisive final quarter. The Pistons shot just 47 percent on free throws after entering the game third in the league at 80 percent.