10 Fast Facts from Last Night’s Action — Rockets Take Down Spurs, Marshall Stays Hot, Bennett Scores Career-High

No one scored 40 points, the MVP race remained at a standstill and Carmelo Anthony finally cooled down. Before you jump to the conclusion that nothing eventful transpired, think again. Tuesday, January 28, 2014 was another wild night in the NBA.

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

1. Dwight Howard posted 23 points and 16 rebounds, and Terrence Jones tallied 21 and nine to lead the Houston Rockets to a 97-90 victory over the San Antonio Spurs. Jeremy Lin added 18 points and eight assists to facilitate the offense.

With the defeat, the Spurs have suffered their first losing streak of the season. With the win, the Rockets won their first season series over the Spurs since 1996-97.

2. The star for San Antonio was Boris Diaw, who picked up 22 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and two blocks. It was Diaw’s second 20-point game in three attempts after previously failing to reach the 20-point plateau in any outing since January 28, 2012.

Coincidentally, the last time Diaw had recorded a double-double was also on January 28, 2012.

3. Carmelo Anthony scored 24 points and the bench combined for 63 as the New York Knicks defeated the Boston Celtics 114-88. J.R. Smith added 17 points and Tim Hardaway Jr. posted 16 to lead New York to its third straight win.

As for the star of the game, Jeremy Tyler came off of the bench for a career-high 17 points, five rebounds and two blocks in 23 minutes.

4. New York is 9-6 this month. Entering January, the Knicks were 9-21.

5. The Memphis Grizzlies continued their torrid month with a 98-81 road demolition of the Portland Trail Blazers. Zach Randolph posted 23 points and 10 rebounds, and Mike Conley scored 19 to help Memphis improve to 23-20 overall and 11-7 on the road.

Memphis is 10-3 during the month of January.

6. LaMarcus Aldridge erupted for 27 points, 16 rebounds, two assists and two blocks, but the rest of the Trail Blazers failed to show up. Aldridge’s teammates combined to shoot 19-of-64 from the field and 4-of-24 from 3-point range.

After eclipsing the 90-point plateau in each of its first 44 games, Portland has failed to hit it in its past two outings—both losses.

7. No. 1 overall draft choice Anthony Bennett scored a career-high 15 points, but the Cleveland Cavaliers fell 100-89 to the New Orleans Pelicans. Anthony Davis led the charge with 30 points, seven rebounds, three assists, eight blocks and one steal.

33 games in, Bennett scored in double-figures for the first time in his career.

8. Brandon Jennings dropped 20 points and eight assists as the Detroit Pistons took down the Orlando Magic 103-87. Andre Drummond added 13 points and 17 rebounds in a game in which the Pistons thoroughly dominated the Magic.

Detroit won the rebound battle by gigantic margins of 56-40 overall and 17-8 on the offensive glass.

9. The Washington Wizards earned a statement win by going on the road and defeating the Golden State Warriors 88-85. Both teams shot worse than 38.0 percent from the floor, but Washington made 10 3-point field goals.

With the win, Washington moves to 12-11 on the road—its most wins away from home since 2007-08.

10. The Indiana Pacers maintained the best record in the NBA with a 104-92 road win over the Los Angeles Lakers. Lance Stephenson led the charge with 15 points, 14 rebounds, six assists and two steals to overcome 21 points from both Pau Gasol and Jodie Meeks, and 13 assists from Kendall Marshall.

Entering January of 2014, Marshall had never pulled off a double-double in the NBA. During the month of January, Marshall has 8 double-doubles.

Bonus Fact

• The last time the Houston Rockets defeated the San Antonio Spurs three times in one season, Tim Duncan was still at Wake Forest University.
• Anthony Davis has recorded at least seven blocks in consecutive games for the second time this season. Before 2013-14, no one had done it since Serge Ibaka of the Oklahoma City Thunder on March 13, 2011.