Five Fast Facts from NBA Games: 3.20.13

1. Leading 67-40 midway through the third quarter, fans in Cleveland were having the time on their lives. The prodigal son, who had shunned them, returned with his 23-game win streak, and they were getting their semblance of revenge. However, suddenly the prodigal son and his brothers woke up, and the high-fiving and dancing Cavalier fans were doing in the third quarter, turned to crying in the fourth. LeBron James led way back, posting his 36th career triple-double (25 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists), as the Heat outscored the Cavaliers 58-38 over the final 19:03 of the game. How rare was that comeback? Entering the night, in the last 15 seasons, teams trailing by 27 or more in the second half had a 5-2,013 record: a win percentage of .002 (two tenths of one percent). This type of comeback win had happened essentially once in every 404 games that the opportunity came about in that span. The Cavaliers were 39-0, at home or on the road, in games in which they had a 27+ point lead in the second half during the seven seasons in which LeBron James was a member of the team. How rare is it to overcome such a deficit on the road? Prior to Wednesday night, 1319 road teams had trailed by at least 27 points in the second half of a game since the start of the 2000-01 season. Only three of those teams came back to win the game: Phoenix over Boston on December 5, 2003 (trailed by 29 in the third quarter), Sacramento over Chicago on December 21, 2009 (trailed by 35 in the third quarter) and Milwaukee over Chicago on November 26, 2012 (trailed by 27 in the third quarter).
2. In San Antonio, the Spurs won their 29th straight game at home against the Warriors (tied for the second-longest win streak against one team at home in NBA history). Tim Duncan led all players with 25 points, 13 rebound and four blocked shots. It was the third time that Duncan was the game’s outright leader in points, rebounds and blocks this season, the highest total for any player (he also did that on November 9 and December 18). Only one other player has done that more than once this season: Dwight Howard (2).
3. Marc Gasol tapped in the winning basket with less than a second left in overtime to lead the Grizzlies to a 90-89 O.T. win over the Thunder on Wednesday night. In a game that featured 12 lead changes in the fourth quarter and overtime, Mike Conley led the Grizzlies with a season-high 24 points. Gasol’s tip-in marked the first time that he made a go-ahead field-goal with less than 30 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter or overtime in his career. Kevin Durant scored 32 for the Thunder (tied with Kobe Bryant with 29 games of at least 30 points this season), but missed seven of his last eight shots.
4. Anthony Davis tipped in an Eric Gordon miss with less than one second remaining in the fourth quarter with his team trailing by one point to give the Hornets an 87-86 win over the Celtics in Boston on Wednesday night.  Davis became the first rookie to hit a game winning shot with his team trailing in the final 10 seconds of the fourth quarter or overtime this season. The Celtics were also victimized by a rookie in that fashion last season, with Kyrie Irving hitting a game-winning basket with less than three seconds remaining in the fourth quarter and the Cavaliers trailing by a single point at the TD Garden on January 29, 2012.
5. Brook Lopez scored 38 points and hauled down 11 rebounds to lead the Nets to a 113-96, victory over the Mavericks in Dallas on Wednesday night. Only two other Nets players have recorded at least 38 points and 11 rebounds in a road game since the team joined the NBA in 1976: Vince Carter did it twice in 2005 (38 points and 11 rebounds at Cleveland and 39 points and 11 rebounds at Indiana) and Cliff Robinson in 1981 (38 points and 12 rebounds at 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.