Alec Burks Sets Career-High, Toronto Remains Hot, Spurs First to 30 Wins

The 2013-14 NBA regular season continued on Monday, January 13, 2014. There were seven games featuring 14 teams, and each offered their own form of glory.

Here’s everything that you need to know about last night’s action.

1. The Houston Rockets went on the road and earned a convincing victory over the Boston Celtics, 104-92. Dwight Howard led the charge with 32 points, 11 rebounds, two assists and a block on 11-of-17 shooting, marking the fourth time that he’s tallied at least 30 points and 10 boards in 2013-14.

By comparison, Howard posted 30 and 10 three times in 2012-13. Talk about enjoying a change of scenery.

2. Terrence Jones complemented Howard with 12 points, 12 rebounds, three blocks and two steals. It marked Jones’ third double-double in four games and the fourth time in six opportunities after registering one during his entire rookie season.

Jones has 11 double-doubles thus far.

3. The San Antonio Spurs became the first team to 30 wins with a 101-95 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans. Tony Parker scored 27 points, his highest mark since December 13, 2013, and Tim Duncan added 18 points and nine rebounds.

Brian Roberts, who started in place of the injured Jrue Holiday, scored a season-high 19 points for New Orleans.

4. On top of posting 18 and nine, Duncan fouled out of San Antonio’s victory over New Orleans. It was the first time Duncan has fouled out of a regular season game since January 20, 2010.

5. Carmelo Anthony stepped up with 29 points and 16 rebounds on 9-of-24 shooting to lead the New York Knicks past the Phoenix Suns 98-96 in overtime. The Knicks blew a seven-point lead in the fourth quarter, but held on to overcome a season-high 21 points by Leandro Barbosa.

After ripping off 12 double-doubles in his first 21 games, this was the second time ‘Melo has done it in his past 13 outings.

6. For all that’s been made of their struggles, the Knicks earned possession of the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference with their win over the Suns. More surprisingly, New York is just .5 games out of No. 7 spot and 4.5 back of No. 3 and the Atlantic Division lead.

Most impressively, New York has won five straight games for the first time all season.

7. Monta Ellis scored 21 points as the Dallas Mavericks defeated the Orlando Magic 107-88. Jae Crowder scored 14 points, his highest total since November 6, 2013, and Wayne Ellington scored a season-high 12 points to help Dallas take this victory.

Dallas has won three in a row and seven of 10 to improve to 23-16 overall and 14-6 at home.

8. The Toronto Raptors remained the hottest team in the Eastern Conference, earning a 116-94 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. Kyle Lowry scored 23 points and DeMar DeRozan stuffed the stat sheet with 19 points, seven rebounds, seven assists, one block and a steal.

Toronto is 13-5 since trading Rudy Gay on December 8, 2013. That’s the best record of any Eastern Conference team in that time.

9. Alec Burks scored a career-high 34 points and Derrick Favors added 19 and 15 rebounds as the Utah Jazz upset the Denver Nuggets 118-103. Trey Burke added 18 points and eight assists as Utah improved to 13-26 on the season and 9-7 in its past 16 games.

Denver had won five straight games before losing to Utah.

10. John Wall and Nene Hilario both scored 19 points, and Trevor Ariza tallied 16 as the Washington Wizards took down the Chicago Bulls 102-88. Garrett Temple added a season-high 10 points in 13 minutes as Washington continued a season in which its production has come from unpredictable places.

With the win, Washington improves to 17-19. That’s its highest win total through 36 games since 2007-08, when the Wizards finished the season at 43-39.

Bonus Fact: This was the first time all season that the Knicks won a game that was decided by three points or less. New York was previously 0-5 in such outings.