As day turns into night, then into morning, this new daily feature presents five interesting items from the previous evening.
The first Monday in February saw eight games on the docket around the league. The Pacers and Knicks extended win streaks, LeBron just missed perfection and the Wizards defeated another division leader.
EXCELSIOR!!!! 
- David West scored 29 points and All-Star Paul George finished with 21 points, 11 rebounds and five assists, to lead the Indiana Pacers past the Chicago Bulls, 111-101 for their 14th straight home win. The win moves Indiana into a tie with the Bulls for the Central Division lead. The loss snapped the Bulls’ 41-game win streak when scoring at least 100 points, which was tied for the longest such streak in NBA history (Spurs November 2003-March 2005). Could Danny Granger be on the trading block for Indiana?
- LeBron James scored 31 points and made 13 of 14 shots from the field (career high for FG pct), as the Miami Heat defeated the Charlotte Bobcats 99-94. James only miss was on a four-foot jumper late in the third period, which was ironic because he leads the NBA this season in FG pct on shots less than five feet. James was the first NBA player to miss no more than one field-goal in a 30-point game since February 24, 2010, when Dwight Howard made all 11 of his field-goal attempts while scoring 30 points at Houston.
- Blake Griffin’s streak of 197 consecutive games played ended Monday night in the Clippers 98-90 loss at Washington. Since his knee injury that delayed his NBA debut, Griffin has not missed a single Clippers game. He played all 82 his rookie season, all 66 last year and had played all 49 this season until Monday. With their win over the Clippers, the Wizards (who own the second-worst win percentage in the league at .255) have now defeated four teams (Bulls, Heat, Clippers and Thunder) that currently lead or are tied for first place in their division. Washington is 7-7 since John Wall’s return (5-28 before his return). The Wizards overcame a 22-rebound performance by DeAndre Jordan to beat the Clippers. The last player with more than 22 boards in a loss to Washington was Kevin Willis almost 21 years ago. Willis corralled 33 rebounds for the Hawks in an overtime game they lost to Washington on February 19, 1992.
- The New York Knicks defeated the Detroit Pistons 99-85 to win their fifth straight game and complete a 5-0 homestand. This marked the fifth time in team history that the Knicks completed a 5-0 homestand. Tyson Chandler (20 rebounds for the third straight game) became the first NBA player with exactly 20 rebounds in each of three straight games since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in January 1971. Earlier in that same 1970-71 season, Elvin Hayes had precisely 20 rebounds in each of three consecutive games for the Rockets. Check out what teammate Jason Kidd had to say about Chandler in the NBA tweet of the night.
- Kevin Durant scored 19 points in the Thunder’s 112-91 win against the Mavericks. That ended his streak of 12 straight games with at least 20 points versus Dallas. It was the longest run of 20-point games against Mark Cuban’s club since Zach Randolph had a dozen in a row from 2006 to 2010. The Thunder have won five straight home games and are 15-1 against the Western Conference at home this season.
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.