All-Star Weekend has officially commenced.
The NBA delivered its final night of action before the festivities in New Orleans, Louisiana commence. The front-runner for league MVP was in action and two of the Eastern Conference’s hottest teams met in a rematch from last season’s playoffs.
Here’s everything that you need to know about last night’s action.
1. The Chicago Bulls defeated the Brooklyn Nets 92-76. Taj Gibson scored a game-high 16 points and Carlos Boozer put in 15 and 10 as the Bulls improved to 27-25 entering All-Star Weekend.
Chicago improves to 13-7 since trading Luol Deng to the Cleveland Cavaliers. It was 14-18 beforehand.
2. All-Star center Joakim Noah stepped up again for the Bulls, ripping off 14 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists. It was the 27th time that Noah has posted at least 10 points, 10 rebounds and five assists during the past two seasons.
Regardless of position, that’s the best mark of any player in the NBA.
3. Kevin Durant was magnificent again as the Oklahoma City Thunder took down the Los Angeles Lakers 107-103. KD finished with 43 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists and three steals on 12-of-12 shooting from the free throw line.
Durant has an NBA-best eight 40-point games this season. That’s how many the league-leaders, Carmelo Anthony and Kobe Bryant, had in all of 2012-13.
4. Kendall Marshall shined for the Lakers with 14 points, a career-high 17 assists, seven rebounds and one steal on 6-of-13 shooting. Despite playing in just 25 games, Marshall is seventh amongst NBA point guards with 11 double-doubles.
With a double-double in 44.0 percent of his appearances, Chris Paul is the only qualified player with a greater ratio than K-Butter.
5. The Lakers have lost a franchise record seven straight home games.
Bonus Fact: Durant’s eight 40-point games are far-and-away the best in the NBA this season. Kevin Love is second with three.