- The Spurs outscored the Thunder 35-18 in the second quarter to help them to a 105-93 win at home. Tiago Splitter led the Spurs outright in points (21) and rebounds (10) in their victory. It was the first time in his 183-game NBA career that Splitter led his team outright in both points and rebounds in a game. The loss snapped the Thunder’s five-game win streak.
- The Knicks Carmelo Anthony returned to the lineup after missing the last three games and perhaps should have stayed sidelined, as the Knicks shot a woeful 27.4 percent (20-73) from the field (Anthony finished with just 14 points on 4-15 shooting). Already playing with Amar’e Stoudemire, the Knicks lost sixth-man supreme J.R. Smith early in the second half after he was ejected from the game. Stephon Curry, who scored 54 points for the Warriors when these two teams met two weeks ago at MSG, led the Warriors with 26 points. The Knicks’ 63 points matches the lowest total allowed by the Warriors since the Philadelphia incarnation of the franchise beat the Milwaukee Hawks 69-63 on Dec. 28, 1953. David Lee scored 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to post his league-leading 23rd 20-10 game this season.
- Kosta Koufos had the first 13 points of the game for Denver (all scored from three feet and closer) and finished with a career-high 22 as the Nuggets pounded the Phoenix Suns for 74 points in the paint and rolled to their ninth straight win, 108-93 Monday. The Nuggets now have bookend nine-game winning streaks during a run that has seen them win 19 of the last 24 games.
- The Brooklyn Nets shot just 3-13 in the final 6:30 of the fourth quarter, as they fell 106-97 to Philadelphia. Spencer Hawes finished with 24 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists while shooting 10-15 (66.7 percent) from the field. He became just the 2nd player this season to reach those totals in a game – LeBron James did it Feb. 21 at CHI. The loss snaps the Nets three-game win streak.
- In Utah the Pistons fell to 0-12 against Western Conference opponents this season after their 103-90 loss to the Jazz. Utah snapped a four-game losing streak and now sits at 33-31 and own the tie-breaker over the Lakers for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. The Jazz have now won 10 straight at home and 14 of their last 15 overall against Detroit.
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.
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