Comebacks? Yeah, we’ve got comebacks this morning. If you turned off the telly too soon, you cheated yourself.
And if that is the case, we are glad you are here. We run this feature every morning, allowing you to catch up on what went down in the NBA last night without sacrificing too much of your time. And so to borrow a trick from Stat Mann, who regularly posts this feature, we’ll go all caps before we begin …
MAS TEQUILA!
- The biggest comeback in the NBA this season was by the Milwaukee Bucks, who were still being coached by Scott Skiles when they came back from 27 points down to defeat the Bulls in Chicago. Now, they have a companion. Kyle Korver unleashed 8 3-pointers and scored 27 points, Jeff Teague had 23 points, Al Horford had 24 points – including seven in the second overtime – and 13 rebounds. Josh Smith, who opened the second overtime with a three-point play, had 17 points and 14 rebounds in a 123-111 victory. The Celtics (20-23) fell three games under .500 and now have their first six-game losing streak in six years.
- Remember when we told you the Cavs made out like bandits in their trade with Memphis? Well, guess who was on the floor for a huge fourth-quarter surge that propelled the Cavs out of a 20-point hole to get them past the Bucks 113-108? Two of the players were Wayne Ellington and Marreese Speights, who backed up Kyrie Irving’s 35. You know what? String together about a dozen more wins, and Irving may indeed by the MVP, as was predicted here was back in October.
- Home, sweet, home. Coming off an 0-3 road trip during which players confronted each other last Wednesday in Memphis, the Lakers got balanced scoring and better team defense that helped them beat the Jazz 102-84. Kobe Bryant, who just missed a triple-double with 14 points, 14 assists and nine rebounds, said: ”Our closed-door meeting that everyone seems to know about” had something to do with the victory. The Lakers had lost 10 of their last 12 and remain seven games below .500.
- So what happened to the Grizzlies after they traded away all of their bench depth? Jerryd Bayless and Tony Wroten scored 11 apiece, while Chris Johnson, on a 10-day contract with Memphis, had 10 points as the Grizzlies’ subs outscored Brooklyn’s 38-24 in a 101-77 victory. It also marked the second straight game Memphis has topped the century mark after reaching 100 only twice in the prior 24 games.
- You never quite know what you are going to get from Kirk Hinrich. Coming off a scoreless game against the Pistons (although he had 22 in the previous game against the Lakers, Hinrich had a season-high 25 in a 103-87 victory over Golden State. Hinrich made six of his seven 3-point attempts for the Bulls in their third straight victory. Jimmy Butler had 16 points and a career-high 12 rebounds while starting in place of Bulls All-Star Luol Deng, who missed his fourth consecutive game due to a right hamstring injury.