Breathe. Just breathe.
Tuesday, April 15 marked the second-to-last day of the 2013-14 NBA regular season. While the 16 seeds in the playoffs have already been locked up, teams are still jostling for position, and two of the squads involved in the uncertainty were in action.
Here’s everything that you need to know about last night’s action.
1. The Battle of the Boroughs continued as the New York Knicks took down the Brooklyn Nets 109-98 at Barclays Center. Carmelo Anthony was absent, but six separate players scored in double-figures and the Knicks combined to shoot 11-of-21 from beyond the arc as a team.
The Knicks have won three in a row for the third time in 20 games. New York had two winning streaks of at least three games in its previous 61 outings.
2. Cole Aldrich recorded a rare double-double with 13 point and 13 rebounds. It was his second double-double of the season after doing it just twice in his career before 2013-14.
3. This was just the Nets’ second home loss in their past 18 games.
4. Blake Griffin scored 24 points and Chris Paul posted 21 and 10 assists to lead the Los Angeles Clippers to a 117-105 win over the Denver Nuggets. J.J. Redick added 18 points in 17 minutes and DeAndre Jordan tallied 13 points, 16 rebounds, three assists, two blocks and a pair of steals as L.A. won again.
The Clippers secured their franchise-record 57th win.
5. Timofey Mozgov recorded 18 points and 11 rebounds for his third consecutive double-double. He had two career double-doubles entering 2013-14.
Bonus Fact: With Carmelo Anthony set to miss the final game of the season, he becomes the first player since Shaquille O’Neal in 2002-03 to average at least 27.0 points and 8.0 rebounds per game.