Sunday, January 12, 2014 was highlighted by just three NBA games, but they were eventful. A team re-defined the term blowout, while another moved into first place in the Western Conference.
Here’s everything that you need to know about last night’s action.
1. The San Antonio Spurs improved to a Western Conference-best 29-8 with a 104-86 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves. Kawhi Leonard stuffed the stat sheet with 17 points, six rebounds, two assists, two blocks and two steals, but the star of the day was Tony Parker.
34 games in, Parker registered his first double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 assists. Through 34 games in 2012-13, he had eight.
2. Kevin Love was smothered by Tim Duncan and posted yet another poor shooting performance. Love was 3-of-14 from the field for 14 points and seven rebounds. This is the third time in six games that he’s shot worse than 40.0 percent from the field, as well as the third time in six outings that he’s failed to post a double-double.
By comparison, Love failed to register a double-double in just two of his first 30 games, and shot worse than 40.0 percent in just five of those appearances.
3. The Sacramento Kings demolished the Cleveland Cavaliers by a score of 124-80. Surprisingly, Cleveland led Sacramento 35-34 with 9:57 remaining in the second quarter, but were outscored by a margin of 90-45 during the final 33 minutes and three seconds.
Sacramento’s 44-point win was the largest by any team this season and the biggest by the Kings since January 2, 1993.
4. Isaiah Thomas scored 26 points and Jason Thompson grabbed a season-high 16 rebounds for the Kings. Rudy Gay added 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting and DeMarcus Cousins tallied 16 points and 11 rebounds to continue their respective recent success.
Gay is averaging 20.5 points on 52.3 percent shooting from the field in 15 games with the Kings. He averaged 19.4 points on 38.8 percent shooting in 18 games with the Toronto Raptors before being traded.
5. Mike Conley stepped up with 21 points, 13 assists, four rebounds and four steals to lead the Memphis Grizzlies past the Atlanta Hawks, 108-101. Conley has scored at least 20 points in five of his past seven games after tallying five in his previous 22.
This was Conley’s first double-double since December 3, 2013.
Bonus Fact: Take this with a grain of salt, but Tim Duncan improved to 12-2 in head-to-head meetings with Kevin Love.