It was a vulgar display of power for 48 minutes, with the Warriors leading wire-to-wire en route to a second strong showing against the Eastern Conference’s best. The Warriors will have to win the Western Conference in order to see the Cavaliers again this season.
Isaiah had another amazing outing as the Celtics got a good team win with strong contributions from Horford, Crowder, Olynyk and Jaylen Brown
The Celtics came back to the Garden hot after a hard-fought road win in Atlanta that got the league talking. With Avery Bradley back in the starting lineup, the Celtics were at full strength once more and seemed eager to get the win against the slumping Hornets. The Hornets, however, proved to be a tougher opponent than their recent record would suggest.
Houston has dropped two in a row for the first time all season. It couldn't have come at a better time.
The Rockets did not do well against the Nets last year. The team from Brooklyn was winless before they beat the Rockets. Then, as they continued to suck, they beat the Rockets again.
The L.A. Clippers stretched their win streak to 7 following a rout of the Oklahoma City Thunder
Entering tonight’s matchup, the second between the L.A. Clippers and the Oklahoma City Thunder at Staples Center this season, most were prepared for a typical Western Conference showdown. When these two teams last met back in November, the Clippers were handed their first home loss of the season in a close, grueling game that ended 83-85. Despite the Clippers entering the game without leading scorer Blake Griffin, and the Thunder without defensive anchor Steven Adams, who suffered a concussion during last night’s matchup against the Sacramento Kings, there was still so much to look forward to.
The Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Sacramento Kings on the road, 122-118. Behind the 20th triple-double on the season by Russell Westbrook (36-11-10, 4 steals, 7 TOs), the Thunder got back in the win column and moved 8 games over .500 once again.
Against the Orlando Magic, the Nuggets and Nikola Jokic put on another great performance.
On Martin Luther King Jr. day, the Nuggets put on a great performance in sharing the wealth.
The Denver Nuggets were out to prove that their performance across the pond was not a fluke, and they succeeded with a 125-112 victory over the Orlando Magic. Nikola Jokic put up a career high in points, finishing with 30 to go with 11 rebounds, five assists and three steals.
The Spurs outplayed the Suns for most of the game, but a 17-1 Phoenix run spanning the third and fourth quarter led by Devin Booker allowed the Suns to prevail, despite a dominant 38 point performance from Kawhi Leonard.
Kawhi Leonard scored a career high 38 points tonight, but that wasn't the story of the night as Devin Booker went wild in the fourth quarter and ended up outscoring him by a point as he led the Suns to a win.
Jimmy Butler also came up clutch in the final minute (AGAIN).
Any discussion of Doug McDermott not yet being over his concussion might finally be over after this evening.
Shooty McNickname, Der McDougmott, Ray, whatever you may call him, had a career night tonight as the Chicago Bulls went into Tennessee on the second night of a back-to-back and took down a tough Memphis Grizzlies team 108-104. The win pushed the Bulls back up to .500 and featured a thrilling fourth quarter that saw several lead changes but ultimately favored the Bulls thanks once again to some late-game hero ball from Jimmy Butler.
All five Washington starters scored in double figures as the Wizards overcame an early 13-point deficit to blow out the 76ers, 109-93. John Wall, band pinkie and all, led the way for the Wizards with 25 points, 7 assists, and 7 rebounds. Bradley Beal scored 20 points (18 in the first half) as the Wizards won their 11th straight game at Verizon Center to go back over .500 with a record of 20-19.