When LeBron James scored 61 points on March 3, the race for NBA MVP became more of a two-man race than ever before. Thus, Tuesday, March 4 was an evening of extreme importance, with LeBron taking center stage again and Kevin Durant looking to put on a stunning performance of his own.
Here’s how those two superstars performed and everything else from last night’s action.
1. 24 hours after LeBron James scored a career-high 61 points, Kevin Durant erupted for 42 points and nine rebounds as the Oklahoma City Thunder took down the Philadelphia 76ers 125-92. Most impressively, Durant scored those 42 points while sitting the entire fourth quarter.
Durant has 10 games with at least 40 points. Next in line is Carmelo Anthony of the New York Knicks with five—half as many.
2. Durant wasn’t alone in his brilliance. Russell Westbrook posted 13 points, 14 assists, 10 rebounds and three steals in just 20 minutes played.
Westbrook joins Jim Tucker in 1955 as the only two players in NBA history to record a triple-double while seeing 20 minutes or less of total game action.
3. LeBron James followed up his career performance with 22 points and a failed attempt at a buzzer-beater during a 106-103 Miami Heat loss to the Houston Rockets. Dwight Howard took over with 22 points and 16 rebounds, James Harden tallied 21 and 11 assists, and Terrence Jones put up 19 and 12 during the win.
Michael Beasley scored a season-high 24 points during Miami’s loss.
4. The Rockets are an NBA-best 20-6 since January 1 and have won 12 of their past 14 games.
5. Both Kevin Durant and LeBron James scored zero points in the fourth quarter. Durant remained on the bench through the entirety of the final period, while James saw five minutes and 59 seconds of action.
6. The Los Angeles Clippers’ starting lineup took over and secured a huge 104-96 road victory over the Phoenix Suns. Matt Barnes led the charge with 28 points on 12-of-17 shooting and Blake Griffin dropped 22 as the Clippers won without Jamal Crawford and J.J. Redick.
Griffin has scored at least 20 points in 20 straight games. That’s the longest streak of any Clippers player since the franchise moved to Los Angeles in 1984.
7. Klay Thompson scored 25 points and hit the game-winner as the Golden State Warriors went on the road to upset the Indiana Pacers 98-96. David West scored 27 points, but Paul George and Lance Stephenson combined to shoot 14-of-37 from the field and 3-of-12 from beyond the arc.
Indiana is 4-2 in its past six home games after starting the season at 25-2 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
8. Danny Green matched his season-high with 24 points in 23 minutes as the San Antonio Spurs took down the Cleveland Cavaliers 122-101. Boris Diaw added 16 points on a perfect 7-of-7 shooting performance, while Kyrie Irving’s 24 points were overshadowed by his five turnovers.
After going 23-18 on the road in 2012-13, the Spurs are a league-best 23-8 in 2013-14.
9. San Antonio became the first team in NBA history to have 13 players record at least one assist. The Spurs assisted 39 of their 43 made field goals.
10. Anthony Davis out-dueled Pau Gasol as the New Orleans Pelicans earned a 132-125 road win over the Los Angeles Lakers. Davis finished with 28 points and 15 rebounds for the Pelicans, while Gasol tallied a season-high 29 points and 12 boards for L.A.
Tyreke Evans added 24 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds for his seventh double-double of the season; his most since his rookie campaign in 2009-10.
Bonus Fact: This was the Lakers’ first home loss when scoring 125 or more points in regulation since 1984.