Another night of NBA action is in the books. Championship contenders continued their extraordinary starts and individual players put on magnificent performances, which all added up to a memorable evening of basketball.
Here’s everything you need to know about last night’s games.
1. The Indiana Pacers defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves by a score of 98-84 to move to an NBA-best 13-1. George Hill led the charge with 26 points, seven assists, three rebounds, five steals and one block on 9-of-13 shooting from the field, and Paul George added 26 of his own.
Indiana grabbed eight less offensive rebounds, shot 58.8 percent from the free throw line and committed 20 turnovers. It was another ugly win for the current class of the Eastern Conference.
2. In the losing effort, Kevin Love posted 20 points and 17 rebounds against the Pacers. He now leads the NBA with 15 double-doubles in 16 games playe
3. The San Antonio Spurs matched the Pacers at 13-1 by defeating the New Orleans Pelicans 112-93. Seven separate Spurs players were in double-figure scoring, Kawhi Leonard grabbed 11 rebounds and Danny Green came up with five steals.
This ties the best start in franchise history. The last time San Antonio opened the year at 13-1, the Spurs finished with a record of 61-21 and infamously lost in the first round to the Memphis Grizzlies.
4. The Portland Trail Blazers won their 11th consecutive game by taking a 102-91 battle over the New York Knicks. Portland is now 13-2 and owns its longest largest winning streak since 2007. Damian Lillard and Nicolas Batum both scored 23 points to lead the charge.
LaMarcus Aldridge added 18 points and 14 rebounds for his seventh double-double of the year.
5. Carmelo Anthony did all he could to lead the Knicks to the win, putting up 34 points, 15 rebounds, three assists, one block and a steal on 13-of-25 shooting. It was the second time this season and the fourth time in his career that he’d topped 30 points and 15 rebounds in one game.
Amar’e Stoudemire put up 10 points and six rebounds in his first game with at least 25 minutes of action.
6. LeBron James and Dwyane Wade put on a clinic as the Miami Heat defeated the Phoenix Suns by a score of 107-92 to move to 11-3. LeBron posted 35 points on astonishing shooting marks of 11-of-14 from the field and 11-of-11 from the free throw line, while D-Wade put up 21 points, 12 assists and six rebounds on 9-of-13 shooting.
It was Wade’s first double-double of the year. LeBron, meanwhile, is the first player since Derrick Rose in April of 2011 to score 30 points while shooting at least 75 percent from the field and a perfect 1.000 percent from the free throw line with a minimum of 10 attempts.
That may be a specific statistic, but it’s rare that a player scores as dominantly and efficiently as LeBron was able to last night.
7. The Utah Jazz won their second game of the year with an 89-83 overtime victory over the Chicago Bulls. Rookie point guard Trey Burke scored a career-high 14 points and Gordon Hayward put up his second double-double of the season.
Hayward had one double-double during his first three years in the NBA.
8. The Bulls are now 0-2 since losing Derrick Rose, with Carlos Boozer, Joakim Noah and Luol Deng all posting double-doubles against Utah. Boozer put up 26 points and 16 rebounds, Deng dropped 24 and 10 boards, and Noah had 10 and 13.
So why did Chicago lose? It shot an abysmal 7.7 percent from three-point range. That was the worst shooting performance of the year by any team with at least 10 three-point field goal attempts.
9. The Denver Nuggets dealt the Dallas Mavericks their first home loss of the season with a 110-96 blowout of Rick Carlisle’s squad. Ty Lawson led the charge with his fourth double-double of the game, putting up 19 points and 11 assists after dropping 20 and nine during the first half of the Nuggets’ and Mavericks’ home-and-home.
J.J. Hickson added a season-high 22 points and Nate Robinson scored 17 to lead the charge.
10. The Mavericks’ form of a big three continues to quietly play excellent basketball together. Monta Ellis dropped 22 points, Dirk Nowitzki scored 18 and Shawn Marion added 13 points and 12 rebounds in the face of trade rumors.
Bonus Fact: Rodney Stuckey came off of the bench to put up 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting to lead the Detroit Pistons to a 113-94 win over the Milwaukee Bucks. The starting lineup combined for 67 points and 24 assists on 51.0 percent shooting from the field.
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