The Golden State Warriors got Stephen Curry back and lost him again while barely beating the Denver Nuggets; the Cleveland Cavaliers coasted as always against the Orlando Magic thanks to LeBron James; the San Antonio Spurs crushed the sad looking Houston Rockets; and another huge game from Paul George carried the Indiana Pacers against the Detroit Pistons on a busy night of NBA basketball.
Brooklyn Nets 100 Boston Celtics 97: The Celtics lose another home game to a really bad team, succumbing to 30 points and 13 rebounds from Brook Lopez, while Joe Johnson helped out scoring 20 points. Isaiah Thomas scored 24 points for the Celtics, who shot just 38.6% from the field. Brad Stevens blamed himself for the losses, saying he needs to do a better job.
Phoenix Suns 119 Sacramento Kings 142: The Suns lose an 8th consecutive game in a stat-filler kind of night for everyone. DeMarcus Cousins scored 32 points, Darren Collison added 21 and Marco Belinelli finished with 19, as the Kings shot over 60% from the field against a Suns team that pretty soon might be ranked last in the Western Conference, heading in that direction very quickly.
Oklahoma City Thunder 109 Charlotte Hornets 90: The Hornets drop a third straight game, this time missing Nicolas Batum while Jeremy Lin comes back. Kevin Durant scored 29 points and a bad shooting night from Russell Westbrook (16 points, 4-of-15 from the field) didn’t stop the team from cruising to a fourth straight win. Kemba Walker with 32 points led the Hornets.
Detroit Pistons 82 Indiana Pacers 94: A big night for Paul George, scoring 32 points (with 14 rebounds), including 21 in the final quarter as the Pacers ran away from the Pistons in the finale. George Hill helped out with 18 points. Double doubles from Andre Drummond and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope only helped the stat sheet, nothing else.
Orlando Magic 79 Cleveland Cavaliers 104: The Cavaliers beat the Magic for a 13th straight time, leaning entirely on LeBron James, scoring 29 points while moving ahead to 21st on the all-time assist list. The Cavs shot just 41.7% from the field, but that didn’t stop them from beating Orlando for a third straight time this season, all in double digits.
Milwaukee Bucks 95 Minnesota Timberwolves 85: O.J. Mayo got ejected, but that didn’t stop the Bucks from coming back from 17-points down to win for only the fifth time this season on the road. Greg Monroe finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds and five more players scored in double figures. Andrew Wiggins led the Timberwolves with 19 points.
New Orleans Pelicans 105 Dallas Mavericks 98: From time to time, the talent of Anthony Davis will be enough to carry this bad Pelicans team forward. He scored 31 points to go with 14 rebounds while Jrue Holiday helped scoring 20 off the bench to beat the Mavs for a second time this season (in three games). The Mavs have lost two since beating the Warriors, led by Dirk Nowitzki scoring 24 points.
Houston Rockets 103 San Antonio Spurs 121: The Rockets usually match up well with the Spurs, but without defense couldn’t really keep up. LaMarcus Aldridge scored 24 points, Kawhi Leonard had 22 and Boris Diaw scored 20, while Tim Duncan was held scoreless for the first time in his career. Dwight Howard led the Rockets with 22 points.
Denver Nuggets 108 Golden State Warriors 111: Stephen Curry came back but got injured again (shin contusion), scoring just 5 points. The Warriors blew away a 26 points led but managed to hang on against a Nuggets team that lost Kenneth Faried as well during the game. Draymond Green finished with a huge 29-17-14 triple double while Klay Thompson scored 26. Danilo Gallinari led the Nuggets with 24 points.
Philadelphia 76ers 99 Los Angeles Clippers 130: Blake Griffin is still out, Paul Pierce didn’t play. Still, who needs them against the Sixers? Austin Rivers scored 26 points, DeAndre Jordan had a 22-13 double double while Chris Paul dished out 14 assists. For the Sixers, Jahlil Okafor scoring 23 points was probably the only bit of good news in another miserable loss.
Eastern Conference Standings
| # | Team | W | L | PCT | GB | GP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cleveland Cavaliers | 22 | 9 | .710 | – | 31 |
| 2 | Toronto Raptors | 21 | 13 | .618 | 2.5 | 34 |
| 3 | Atlanta Hawks | 21 | 13 | .618 | 2.5 | 34 |
| 4 | Chicago Bulls | 19 | 12 | .613 | 3.0 | 31 |
| 5 | Miami Heat | 19 | 13 | .594 | 3.5 | 32 |
| 6 | Indiana Pacers | 19 | 14 | .576 | 4.0 | 33 |
| 7 | Orlando Magic | 19 | 15 | .559 | 4.5 | 34 |
| 8 | Boston Celtics | 18 | 15 | .545 | 5.0 | 33 |
| 9 | Detroit Pistons | 18 | 16 | .529 | 5.5 | 34 |
| 10 | Charlotte Hornets | 17 | 16 | .515 | 6.0 | 33 |
| 11 | Washington Wizards | 15 | 16 | .484 | 7.0 | 31 |
| 12 | New York Knicks | 15 | 19 | .441 | 8.5 | 34 |
| 13 | Milwaukee Bucks | 14 | 21 | .400 | 10.0 | 35 |
| 14 | Brooklyn Nets | 10 | 23 | .303 | 13.0 | 33 |
| 15 | Philadelphia 76ers | 3 | 33 | .083 | 21.5 | 36 |
Western Conference Standings
| # | Team | W | L | PCT | GB | GP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Golden State Warriors | 31 | 2 | .939 | – | 33 |
| 2 | San Antonio Spurs | 29 | 6 | .829 | 3.0 | 35 |
| 3 | Oklahoma City Thunder | 24 | 10 | .706 | 7.5 | 34 |
| 4 | Los Angeles Clippers | 22 | 13 | .629 | 10.0 | 35 |
| 5 | Dallas Mavericks | 19 | 15 | .559 | 12.5 | 34 |
| 6 | Memphis Grizzlies | 18 | 17 | .514 | 14.0 | 35 |
| 7 | Utah Jazz | 15 | 17 | .469 | 15.5 | 32 |
| 8 | Houston Rockets | 16 | 19 | .457 | 16.0 | 35 |
| 9 | Portland Trail Blazers | 14 | 21 | .400 | 18.0 | 35 |
| 10 | Sacramento Kings | 13 | 20 | .394 | 18.0 | 33 |
| 11 | Minnesota Timberwolves | 12 | 22 | .353 | 19.5 | 34 |
| 12 | Denver Nuggets | 12 | 23 | .343 | 20.0 | 35 |
| 13 | New Orleans Pelicans | 11 | 22 | .333 | 20.0 | 33 |
| 14 | Phoenix Suns | 12 | 24 | .333 | 20.5 | 36 |
| 15 | Los Angeles Lakers | 7 | 27 | .206 | 24.5 | 34 |
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