- The Miami Heat held the Atlanta Hawks to just 42 percent shooting and led by double-digits most of the way on their way to a 98-81 victory in South Beach. The Heat were victorious despite another low-scoring and this time poor shooting game from LeBron James. After scoring his second fewest points since joining the Heat in the fall of 2010 with his 13 against the Pacers on Sunday, James tallied just 15 on Tuesday. James’s 27.3 FG pct (3-11) tied his 2nd-lowest percentage in any regular-season or postseason game with Miami. He was 5 for 19 (26.3 percent) against Dallas on Nov. 27, 2010. James also went 3 for 11 in Game 4 of the 2010 Finals against Dallas. With their victory, the Heat have tied the 2008-09 Boston Celtics for longest win streak by a defending NBA champion with 19.
- Dwight Howard abused his former team, leading all scores with 39 points while also grabbing 16 rebounds in his first appearance back in Orlando as the Lakers won, 106-97 . Howard tied his own NBA record as he attempted 39 free throws, making 25 of them to become the first player since Michael Jordan (26-27) in 1987 to make 25 free throws in a game. This was Howard’s 10th career game with 35 points and 15 rebounds (the most since joining the NBA in 2004-05). The Lakers have now won 17 of their last 23 games, are three games above .500 for the first time this season and are now half a game ahead of Utah for 8th seed in Western Conference.
- The Spurs tied their season-low for points on Tuesday, as the Minnesota Timberwolves handed them their second worst lost of the season, 107-83. San Antonio is now 3-2 in their last five games, all coming without PG Tony Parker. Ricky Rubio recorded his first career triple-double for Minnesota (21 points, 13 rebounds, 12 assists). The only other player to have at least 20 points and a “double-dozen” against the Spurs in their NBA history is Larry Bird, who had 23 points, 14 rebounds and 13 assists on Nov. 30, 1983.
- The Charlotte Bobcats snapped their 10-game losing streak with a dominating 100-74 win over the Boston Celtics. Gerald Henderson scored 35 points and shot 12-12 from the FT line, joining Kevin Durant and Jeremy Lin as only players with 35+ points & 100.0 FT pct this season (min. 12 FT). This marks the first time in Celtics history that they’ve lost by 25 or more points to a team that entered the game with a double-digit losing streak.
- In Brooklyn, the Nets improved to 24-4 against teams under .500 with their 108-98 win over the New Orleans Hornets. Brook Lopez scored 26 points, 11 more than his brother, Robin. It’s the seventh time that the Lopez brothers have played against each other in the NBA. Brook has outscored his brother in 6 straight meetings, after each had 2 points in their first encounter.
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.
Pages: 1 2