With just less than a month remaining for the end of the regular season, each day’s results make a huge difference on the standings. Monday night was no different as few teams lost few spots while others gained. Here’s the recap of the Monday night action:
Oklahoma City Thunder vs Portland Trailblazers
The last time these two teams faced off, Damian Lillard went nuts in the final three minutes scoring 17 points and stealing a win from the Thunder. This time, Oklahoma City made sure the game didn’t last as long as the fourth quarter. They closed the first quarter on a 15-0 run and outscored the Blazers 35-20 in the second quarter to turn the game very quickly into a blowout.
Russell Westbrook played like a man possessed. He tallied a triple double in 21 minutes and finished with 17 points, 16 assists, and 10 rebounds, as he led his team to a dominant 128-94 win over the Blazers. Most importantly, he had zero turnovers in his 28 minutes on the floor.
Kevin Durant (20 points) continued his streak of consecutive games scoring 20+ points to 52, second best of his career (56).
Off the bench, Enes Kanter was a huge performer for the Thunder scoring 26 points on 9 of 15 shots in just 22 minutes. For Portland, Damian Lillard’s 21 points and 4 assists was the only bright spot in a game where the team had uncharacteristically bad shooting and lack of ball sharing.
Utah Jazz vs Cleveland Cavaliers
The young players stepped for the Utah Jazz as they upset the Cleveland Cavaliers for the second straight year on their home floor. The Cavs, who were playing their final game of a four game in six nights road trip, came up short 85-94. Biggest contributors for the Jazz were recently acquired Shelvin Mack had 17 points, 10 assists, and 7 rebounds, Derrick Favors had 19 points and 3 blocks and last but not the least was Rodney Hood with 28 points on 9 of 16 (56%) shooting.
LeBron James did his usual putting big numbers with 23 points, 12 rebounds, and 3 assists. However, the highlight of the night, apart from an unnecessary altercation between Channing Frye and Trey Lyles, was Kyrie Irving bad shooting night. The starting point guard had such a rough night (7 of 23 shots) that he took the floor after the game to get his rhythm even though it was 11:30 pm local time.
Golden State Warriors vs New Orleans Pelicans
Reigning NBA Champions Golden State Warriors had a comfortable 125-107 win over the New Orleans Pelicans, to extend their NBA record home winning streak to 49 games. Celebrating his 28th birthday, Stephen Curry had a couple of ridiculous plays and finished with 27 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists on 10 of 16 shooting. Marreese Speights recorded back to back double digits scoring games off the bench with 14 points and 7 rebounds.
Leading by 25 points heading into the fourth quarter, the Warriors had already wrapped up the game despite having turned the ball over 18 times. Anthony Davis had a double-double of 22 points, 12 rebounds to go with 3 blocks yet he recorded his career worst net rating of -30. With the win, the Warriors also became the fastest team in the NBA history to reach 60 wins.
They need to win only 13 games out of the remaining 16, with only five of those games being against the top 10 teams in the league. There is every possibility now that the Warriors can indeed break the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls record of 72 wins.
Chicago Bulls vs Toronto Raptors
Chicago Bulls are right in the middle of a heated battle for the eighth seed in the East and on Monday registered a morale boosting 109-107 win over second-seeded Toronto Raptors. Jimmy Butler, who was only playing his second in the last sixteen games, had a bad shooting game but contributed with six assists, five rebounds, and two blocks in 34 minutes of playing time. With no Pau Gasol, Doug McDermott did the heavy lifting off the bench scoring 29 points on 9 of 11 shooting.
Meanwhile, Toronto did have big contributions from their backcourt of Kyle Lowry (33 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists) and DeMar Derozan (27 points) but failed to seal the deal, just coming up short.
Dallas Mavericks 107-96 Charlotte Hornets
Dirk Nowtizki (23 pts, 11 rebs), Kemba Walker (25 pts, 9 asts)
Denver Nuggets 119-124 Miami Heat
Kenneth Faried: 24 pts, 11 rebs (11-11 FG’s)
Washington Wizards 124-81 Detroit Pistons
John Wall: 15 pts, 12 asts
Houston Rockets 130-81 Memphis Grizzlies
Patrick Beverley (10 pts, 5 rebs 6 asts, 3 stls), James Harden (15 pts, 8 asts, 7 rebs).
Phoenix Suns 107-104 Minnesota Timberwolves
P.J. Tucker (23 pts, 12 rebs, 5 asts), Ricky Rubio (13 pts, 16 asts)
Plays of the Night:
Monday night’s top 10 had everything: game winners, alley oops, poster dunks, sweet dishes. Lot of variety, watch it here:
