Warriors, Cavaliers and Spurs lose in upsets
The Golden State Warriors, San Antonio Spurs and Cleveland Cavaliers were beaten in NBA upsets on Saturday.
The Warriors, who have not played well at all this week, fell to the Denver Nuggets 115-108, the Spurs lost to the Utah Jazz 120-111, and the Cavaliers were outclassed by the Houston Rockets in a 120-88 thumping.
The Rockets are the one team whose win truly means something. With 19 made three-pointers and 28 assists on 44 field goals made, Houston are a well-oiled machine that are looking more and more like a team that could challenge the Warriors for the Western Conference title, especially with Chris Paul at his best. The former Clippers guard finished with 22 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds with a plus-47 differential when he was on the court.
Denver are always tough to beat on their home court. The Nuggets showed that this week with wins over both the Warriors and Thunder. No one dominated against Golden State on Saturday, but the complete team effort was more than enough to win. Will Barton had 25 points and five rebounds.
As for the Jazz, Ricky Rubio was a perfect nine for nine from the floor through three quarters and finished the night 11 for 14 with a season-high 34 points. Utah have a way to go before they fully recover from losing Gordon Hayward, but they have shown some good things this season especially with the addition of Rookie of the Year candidate Donovan Mitchell.
DRUMMOND DELIGHTS
It was a night of duels as Pistons center Andre Drummond won the matchup with Heat guard Goran Dragic in a 111-107 win. Dragic was great with 33 points and six assists, but Drummond was historic with 23 points, 20 rebounds, four steals and four blocks. This was the first 20-20-4-4 performance since 1989 when Hakeem Olajuwon did it for the Rockets.
Anthony Davis won the scoring battle, but Jimmy Butler won the war as the Timberwolves took down the Pelicans 118-107. Davis scored a game-high 38 points and grabbed nine rebounds while Butler had 30 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.
REDICK STRUGGLES
JJ Redick scored just six points on one-for-eight shooting and was minus-13 when he was on the court in the 76ers' 100-92 loss to the Pacers.
HARRELL PRODUCES HUGE BLOCK
Clippers center Montrezl Harrell is known for his defense and a wicked block on Bulls forward Bobby Portis showed why.
REJECTED!
— NBA (@NBA) February 3, 2018
Montrezl Harrell protects the house!#ItTakesEverything #NBALeaguePass pic.twitter.com/2KB5Y6m3hJ
TRAIL BLAZERS AT CELTICS
The Celtics have been surprisingly good with Kyrie Irving out with an injury. Terry Rozier is averaging 24 points, nine rebounds and six assists in Irving's absence. However, the young guard will have his hands full with one of the best backcourts in the NBA with CJ McCollum and Damian Lillard.