Thursday, January 30, 2014 will be remembered as the day that the NBA revealed the All-Star reserves. Conveniently, a number of different players who were snubbed from those rosters were in action, and they sent messages to the people who snubbed them.
Here’s everything that you need about last night’s action.
1. Tim Hardaway Jr. scored a career-high 29 points to lead the New York Knicks to a 117-86 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers. Carmelo Anthony added 29 of his own as the Knicks secured their fourth consecutive win after previously losing five in a row.
With his scoring outburst, ‘Melo became the 50th player in NBA history to reach 19,000 career points.
2. The Knicks have won more games in January (10) than they had in October, November and December combined (nine). At 19-27, New York has climbed all the way to within .5 games of the No. 8 seed and a manageable 5.5 games out of the Atlantic Division lead.
New York is 10-6 in January.
3. Goran Dragic scored 28 points on the night of his All-Star Game omission, and the Morris Twins combined for 31 as the Phoenix Suns went on the road to defeat the Indiana Pacers 102-94. With the win, Phoenix became the only team in the NBA to defeat the Pacers twice this season.
It was Indiana’s second home loss and first since December 16, 2013.
4. Lance Stephenson responded to his All-Star snub in style with 14 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. Stephenson leads the NBA with four triple-doubles, joining Detlef Schrempf in 1994 as the only Pacers to ever hit that mark.
For what it’s worth, the only other player on the Eastern Conference All-Star roster with a double-double is John Wall of the Washington Wizards.
5. One of the NBA’s budding rivalries resumed as the Golden State Warriors defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 111-92. David Lee posted 22 points and 11 rebounds, and Stephen Curry dropped 22 on 8-of-10 shooting from the field and 4-of-4 from 3-point range.
Blake Griffin scored 27 points and Darren Collison posted 22, but the rest of the team collectively shot 31.8 percent from the floor.
Bonus Fact: Carmelo Anthony is the 10th active player to reach 19,000 career points. Kobe Bryant, Dirk Nowitzki, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Tim Duncan, Ray Allen, Vince Carter, LeBron James and Antawn Jamison are the others.