Never ones to sleep in, SheridanHoops.com’s new daily feature presents five interesting items from the previous night in the NBA.
Four games were on the NBA slate Tuesday night. Kobe continued to assist the Lakers, the Blazers won at the buzzer, ,and the Warriors and Bucks posted decisive wins.
Men at Work takes us to the bump…”You better run, you better take cover.”
- After starting January with just two wins in their first 12 games, the Los Angeles Lakers won for the third straight time as the they defeated the New Orleans Hornets, 111-106. Kobe Bryant recorded 11 assists, giving him a career-high 39 assists in the last three games. He has taken 12 or fewer shots in each game during the winning streak, and the Lakers are 14-3 this season when he takes fewer than 20 shots.
- With the Lakers’ win, Kobe Bryant now has a .750 win percentage in his career against the Hornets. That is the fifth highest win percentage in NBA history for a player against the team that drafted him (min. 30 games). Hershey Hawkins is first on the list, posting a .879 win percentage against the Los Angeles Clippers.
- In Portland, LaMarcus Aldridge hit a game-winning shot at the buzzer to lift the Portland Trail Blazers over the Dallas Mavericks, 106-104. This was the second time in his career that Aldridge hit a buzzer-beater against the Mavericks (the other took place on April 6, 2012 at Dallas). The Blazers trailed 69-48 in the third quarter before they rallied to win. The 21-point deficit is largest they’ve overcome since they trailed the Hornets by 27 in a 92-91 win on November 10, 2006. This was the Mavericks’ eighth loss this season when leading in final 90 seconds of regulation or overtime, the most in NBA.
- The Warriors won their 28th game of the season, defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers, 108-95. With their win, Golden State became just the fourth team in the last 10 seasons to post at least 28 wins before February after finishing at least 20 games under .500 the previous season. Jarrett Jack (26 pts, 12 ast) and David Lee (20 pts, 8 ast) each had 20+ pts and 8+ ast, the second time this season that the Warriors had two players with 20+ pts and 8 ast in same game (David Lee and Stephen Curry did it on Dec. 21 against Charlotte). All other NBA teams have combined for only three such games this season: one each for Milwaukee (Brandon Jennings, Monta Ellis), Dallas (O.J. Mayo, Darren Collison) and Oklahoma City (Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant).
- The Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Detroit Pistons 117-90 in the Motor City, the largest margin for a win at Detroit in team history (previous was 26 in January 1972). Brandon Jennings scored 30 pts for the Bucks, marking the fourth time in January he has scored at least 30 points, while rookie Andre Drummond scored 18 pts and pulled down 18 rebs. Jennings is the first Bucks player with four 30-pt games in a calendar month since Michael Redd in January 2009, while Drummond is the first Pistons rookie with 18+ pts and 18+ reb in game since Terry Tyler had 24 pts and 18 reb on Oct. 17, 1978 against New Orleans Jazz.
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.