Friday, February 7 marked the start of the first football-less weekend of 2014. Fortunately, the NBA stepped up with 10 games featuring 20 highly-competitive teams.
Here’s everything that you need to know about last night’s action.
1. Point guards with differing reputations dueled as the Indiana Pacers defeated the Portland Trail Blazers 118-113. George Hill scored a career-high 37 points on 12-of-19 shooting and Damian Lillard tallied 38 and 11 assists on a mark of 15-of-26 from the floor.
David West chipped in 30 and 10 as Indiana improved to a league-best 24-2 at home.
2. All-Star point guards clashed as Kyrie Irving led the Cleveland Cavaliers past John Wall and the Washington Wizards by a score of 115-113. Irving finished with 23 points and 12 assists for his 11th career double-double, and Wall posted 32 points and 10 assists for his 18th double-double of the season.
The win snapped a six-game losing streak and helped Cleveland improve to 6-20 on the road.
3. Fresh off of his 43-point performance, Blake Griffin scored 36 points as the Los Angeles Clippers defeated the Toronto Raptors 118-105. The story of the game was free throw shooting, with L.A. attempting 54 from the charity stripe—the most of any team in the NBA this season.
As for Griffin, he’s the first Clippers player to score at least 35 points in three straight games since World B. Free in 1979.
4. Jared Sullinger scored a career-high 31 points and grabbed 16 rebounds as the Boston Celtics took down the Sacramento Kings 99-89. DeMarcus Cousins countered with identical numbers of 31 and 16, but his teammates combined to shoot just 29.4 percent from the floor.
Kelly Olynyk added 11 points, nine rebounds, five assists and a steal in 26 minutes for Boston.
5. Carmelo Anthony met his former team and took over with 31 points as the New York Knicks dominated the Denver Nuggets 117-90. Jeremy Tyler shined with 12 points and 11 rebounds, and Amar’e Stoudemire posted an extremely efficient 17 points and eight rebounds in 20 minutes.
This marked Tyler’s first double-double since April 16, 2012 and the second of his career.
6. Steve Nash celebrated his 40th birthday with a season-high 19 points as the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 112-98. Wesley Johnson added 17 points and five steals, and Chris Kaman scored 17 of his own as L.A. picked up its second consecutive win.
Spencer Hawes had 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Sixers, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Nash’s efforts.
7. Brandon Jennings flirted with a triple-double and Andre Drummond posted another monster stat line as the Detroit Pistons blew out the Brooklyn Nets, 111-95. Jennings finished with 26 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists, and Drummond posted 16 points and 22 boards.
Drummond, 20, is the fifth-youngest player to ever record at least 22 rebounds in a game.
8. Tobias Harris threw down a buzzer-beating dunk as the Orlando Magic upset the Oklahoma City Thunder 103-102. Harris finished with 18 points, and Victor Oladipo scored 14 in 20 minutes.
Kevin Durant posted 29 points and 12 assists. It’s the fifth time he’s dished out at least 10 dimes in 2013-14 after doing it three times in 2012-13.
9. On the same night that he was announced as an All-Star replacement, Anthony Davis smothered Kevin Love and led the New Orleans Pelicans to a 98-91 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. Davis posted 26 points and 10 rebounds on 10-of-16 shooting, and held Love to just 6-of-20 shooting from the floor.
Love did post 26 points and 19 rebounds on a shooting mark of 30.0 percent, marking his league-best 42nd double-double of the year. Nevertheless, Davis got the best of him.
10. Monta Ellis scored 22 points and Dirk Nowitzki had 20 as the Dallas Mavericks took down the Utah Jazz 103-81. With the win, Dallas improved to 30-21 overall and 18-8 at home. In 2012-13, the Mavericks won their 30th game of the year on March 12, 2013.