All but two teams were in action on one of the most action-packed nights of the entire 2013-14 NBA regular season. Three separate superstars continued to make NBA history, a championship contender clinched a postseason berth and a pair of point guards recorded triple-doubles.
Here’s everything that you need to know about last night’s action.
1. James Harden and Chandler Parsons out-dueled Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka as the Houston Rockets took down the Oklahoma City Thunder 111-107. Harden scored a game-high 39 points and Parsons added 23. For OKC Durant tallied 28 points and 12 rebounds, and Ibaka put up 27, nine rebounds, four assists, six blocks and two steals.
Durant ties Michael Jordan for the third-longest single-season stretch in NBA history by scoring at least 25 points in 40 consecutive games. MJ did it in 1986-87.
2. Kevin Love posted 28 points and 11 rebounds, and Chase Budinger scored a season-high 24 as the Minnesota Timberwolves went on the road to shock the Miami Heat 122-121 in double-overtime. LeBron James scored 34 points, Chris Bosh had 24 and Mario Chalmers dropped a season-high 24, but Miami ultimately fell.
LeBron is the fastest player to reach 23,000 career points and the first in NBA history to do it before turning 30.
3. Henry Sims scored a career-high 24 points and Michael Carter-Williams matched his scoring outburst as the Philadelphia 76ers defeated the Boston Celtics 111-102. Rajon Rondo did all he could to overcome Philadelphia’s efforts with 11 points, 16 assists and 11 rebounds, but Boston lost its NBA-worst seventh straight game.
Despite missing 105 games in this span of time, Rondo has twice as many triple-doubles, 12, than any other player in the NBA since the beginning of the 2011-12 season.
4. Al Jefferson went off for 29 points and 16 rebounds as the Charlotte Bobcats took down the Orlando Magic 91-80. Victor Oladipo scored 21 points for the Magic, but Kemba Walker starred with 13 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for the victorious Bobcats in the guard battle.
It was Walker’s second career triple-double and his first since January 18, 2012.
5. Dirk Nowitzki and Brandan Wright combined for 50 points on 21-of-24 shooting to lead the Dallas Mavericks to a 107-95 win over the Los Angeles Lakers. Dirk tallied 27 points on a mark of 11-of-14 from the floor, while Wright was a perfect 10-of-10 for 23 points.
Nowitzki passes Dominique Wilkins for 11th on the all-time scoring list.
6. J.R. Smith scored a season-high 32 points, but the New York Knicks’ misfortune continued with a 90-89 home loss to the Washington Wizards. Bradley Beal led the Wizards with 28 points and John Wall added 19 and nine assists, while Carmelo Anthony had 10 points and nine turnovers on 5-of-14 shooting.
The loss snaps New York’s three-game winning streak and pushes the Knicks from the No. 8 to the No. 9 seed.
7. Seven separate players scored in double-figures to guide the Chicago Bulls to a 102-90 win over the Milwaukee Bucks. Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah combined for 25 points and 14 rebounds, while both Jimmy Butler and Kirk Hinrich scored 17 in Chicago’s balanced attack.
As for Milwaukee, surprising force Jeff Adrien scored a career-high 21 points with nine rebounds, two assists, three blocks and a steal.
8. Terrence Ross scored 24 points and Jonas Valanciunas added 22 on 10-of-14 shooting as the Toronto Raptors upset the Indiana Pacers 102-94. Paul George scored 23 points and David West had 21, but the Pacers gave their stars minimal support in yet another concerning loss.
Prior to March 4, Indiana was 46-13. Since March 4, Indiana is 7-11.
9. Mike Scott flirted with perfection, Jeff Teague tallied yet another double-double and Paul Millsap did a little bit of everything as the Atlanta Hawks blew out the Cleveland Cavaliers 117-98. Scott scored 26 points on 12-of-13 shooting, Teague tallied 20 points and 12 assists, and Millsap put up 16 points, 11 rebounds and six dimes.
Scott is one of three players, with Ersan Ilyasova and Nikola Pekovic being the others, to score at least 25 points on better than 90.0 percent shooting in 2013-14.
10. Gerald Green put up 32 points and Eric Bledsoe scored 30 as the Phoenix Suns took down the Portland Trail Blazers 109-93. Nicolas Batum recorded his 14th double-double of the season, twice as many as he’d recorded in any other season, but Portland fell short of victory.
The loss snapped a four-game losing streak for Portland. A win would’ve clinched a playoff berth.
Bonus Facts
- Houston clinched a postseason berth. It’s won 50 games for the first time since 2008-09.
- The Golden State Warriors shot 33.3 percent from distance and 66.7 percent from the free throw line, but still destroyed the Sacramento Kings 102-69.
- Anthony Morrow scored 26 points on 9-of-11 shooting, but the New Orleans Pelicans fell 100-96 to the Utah Jazz.
- The Brooklyn Nets secured a .500 season with a 116-104 win over the Detroit Pistons. Andre Drummond had 23 points and 18 rebounds for Detroit and Shaun Livingston scored 23 for Brooklyn.
- Zach Randolph posted 20 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Memphis Grizzlies to a 100-92 win over the Denver Nuggets.
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