While the East Coast continued to dig itself out of the snow, the West Coast hosted the Grammys. Never one to play favorites, SheridanHoops.com presents five interesting items from the previous evening’s NBA games.
Eight games highlighted the NBA schedule on Sunday. The Knicks fell to the Clippers in New York, the Heat won their fifth straight behind a scorching hot LeBron and the Celtics continued their winning ways without Rondo.
After winning “Best New Artist” and “Song of the Year” at the 55th Grammy Awards, Fun. takes us to the bump…
“WE ARE YOUNG”
- LeBron James scored at least 30 points (32) and shot better than 60 percent from the floor (12-18) for a fifth straight game as the Heat beat the Lakers 107-97 on Sunday. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, James is the third player in NBA history to shoot at least 60 percent from the floor and score 30+ points in five straight games (the other two are Moses Malone in 1981-82 and Adrian Dantley in 1979-80). LeBron James went 8-of-10 inside 10 feet against the Lakers, and is 37-of-44 in his last five games from those distances. James has made at least 75.0 percent of those attempts in each of his last five games, something he hadn’t done more than two games in a row previously this season. Did LeBron move up on MVP rankings? Check out our latest update.
- The Celtics needed triple overtime to beat the Nuggets, 118-114, for their season-high seventh straight win — all since Rajon Rondo’s season-ending injury. Jeff Green hit a game-tying 3-pointer with 23 seconds left in the first overtime and Paul Pierce (who had a triple-double) hit a game-tying three with 5 seconds left in the second OT. Entering the game, Boston had made only one game-tying or go-ahead 3-pointer in the final 24 seconds of the fourth quarter or overtime this season (1-of-10). Paul Pierce is the oldest player in NBA history, in a game of any length, to finish with at least 20 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists. He broke the record set by Larry Bird, who on March 15, 1992 had 49 points, 14 rebounds, 12 assists in 54 minutes of a double-overtime win over Portland; Bird was three weeks younger than was Pierce on Sunday. The Celtics are 3-0 at home this season in games that went into at least two overtime periods. They tied the NBA single-season record for most home wins in games of that length (the Washington Bullets went 3-0 in three double-overtime contests at the USAir Arena in the 1983-84 season). Doc Rivers has won his last six home games that have extended into at least two overtime periods, breaking the NBA record of five straight wins in games of that type, shared by former coaches Gene Shue (1983 to 1985) and Don Chaney (1985 to 2003).
- In Brooklyn, the Nets led the Spurs, 35-25, after the first quarter and still lost by 25 points. The last game in which a visiting team won by 25-or-more points after having trailed by a double-digit margin after the first quarter was Dec. 11, 1999, when the Timberwolves jumped out to a 35-20 lead over the visiting Warriors over the first 12 minutes, but Golden State won 104-76. The Warriors’ head coach that night? P. J. Carlesimo, who learned how it felt to lose such a game as he coached the Nets on Sunday night.
- While most of Long Island was digging themselves out of the snow, in Manhattan, the Knicks lost for the first time on Sunday this season (now 8-1) , falling to the Clippers 102-88. Carmelo Anthony recorded his fifth 40-point game of the season finishing with 42, but J.R. Smith, Jason Kidd and Iman Shumpert combined to score just 11 points on 3-17 shooting. Raymond Felton was the only other Knick in double-figures, scoring 20 points, as the Clippers bench outscored the Knicks bench 48-15. Should the Knicks trade Shumpert?
- The Thunder have now won 4 straight games by 21+ points (longest such streak by SuperSonics/Thunder franchise since 4-game streak in February 1994) after their 97-69 win over the Phoenix Suns. They have now won 10 straight games vs Suns (longest win streak vs Suns in franchise history). For Phoenix, 69 points was the second fewest in franchise history (fewest since 70 points on April 16, 2003 vs SuperSonics).
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.