March Madness has officially commenced and the 2014 NCAA Tournament is stealing headlines. Thus, the attention placed upon the NBA dwindled for an evening. That didn’t stop the association from hosting four critical games.
Here’s everything that you need to know about a big night in the NBA.
1. With both Kyrie Irving and Russell Westbrook absent, Kevin Durant out-dueled Dion Waiters to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder past the Cleveland Cavaliers 102-95. Durant put up 35 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and a block, and Waiters tallied 30 points and three steals.
OKC becomes the third team to 50 wins, joining the San Antonio Spurs and Indiana Pacers in that regard.
LOOKING FOR THUNDER TICKETS? LOOK NO FURTHER.
2. Donatas Motiejunas scored a career-high 20 points as the Houston Rockets took down the Minnesota Timberwolves 129-106. James Harden added 28 points on 6-of-10 shooting from beyond the arc, while Kevin Love put up 29 points for Minnesota.
Love has failed to record a double-double in back-to-back games for the first time since April 2, 2012.
3. Gorgui Dieng erupted for career-high marks of 22 points and 21 rebounds during the Timberwolves’ loss. After failing to record a single double-double in his first 42 games, he has one in each of his past three appearances.
4. All-Star point guards clashed as Damian Lillard led the Portland Trail Blazers past John Wall and the Washington Wizards by a score of 116-103. Lillard finished with 23 points and 10 assists, while teammate Wesley Matthews scored a game-high 28. On the opposite end, Wall tallied 24 points and 14 assists.
Portland is an NBA-best 21-4 against the Eastern Conference. They’re also 24-20 against the Western Conference.
5. Neither team decided to play defense as the Golden State Warriors managed to out-shoot the Milwaukee Bucks 115-110. Despite allowing 58 points in the paint, the Warriors earned the victory behind a combined 82 points from Stephen Curry, David Lee and Klay Thompson.
Brandon Knight continued to be Milwaukee’s bright spot with 27 points, marking the 21st time since January 1 that he’s scored at least 20. He did it 20 times in all of 2012-13.
Bonus Facts
- Kevin Durant has scored at least 20 points in 41 straight games and at least 25 in 33 in a row. The former is the longest streak since LeBron James in 2007-08, while the latter is the longest since Michael Jordan in 1986-87.
- Matthew Dellavedova posted his first career double-double with 11 points and a career-high 10 assists.