JIMMY BUTLER > JIMMY HARDEN?
: Chicago earned an impressive win at home against Houston. Jimmy Butler and Pau Gasol, who will both certainly represent the Bulls at the All-Star Game in February, were typically superb. Gasol had 27 points, 14 rebounds, three assists and two blocks; Butler had 22 points, five boards, one assist, three steals and a block while guarding James Harden. Houston's MVP candidate needed 22 shots for his 20 points, and he couldn't get to the line like normal. Also, Butler did this to him at the end of the first quarter:
This was back-and-forth until the final minutes, and the final was 114-105. Nikola Mirotic (17 points, eight boards, 7-for-12 FG) hit a huge corner 3 to seal it. Mirotic is a wonderful player.
JIMMY G. BUCKETS
: The G stands for gets, per Stacey King:
TAJ GIBSON'S MAGICAL RIGHT ARM: I haven't had the pleasure of attempting the maneuver, but I can't imagine grabbing an offensive rebound over Dwight Howard with one hand and dunking the ball in one smooth motion could possibly be easy.
YOUR JOSH SMITH UPDATE
: The line: 21 points, six rebounds, two assists, three steals, four turnovers in 26 minutes. He was 10-for-20 from the field and 1-for-5 from the 3-point line, though that one make from downtown gave Houston a one-point lead with 1:46 left. Oh, and he was -19, the worst individual plus-minus in the game.
STAT OF THE NIGHT
: The Bulls shot 27-for-30 from the line. The Rockets shot 3-for-5, the fewest attempts for any team this season. (Harden shot 3-for-3 from the stripe, if you were wondering.)
PHOTO OF THE NIGHT:
.@bennythebull rocking a James Harden beard in front of James Harden. pic.twitter.com/irc1A5ngIZ
— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) January 6, 2015
THE CAVS LOST TO THE SIXERS: Hey, remember when Philadelphia improbably opened the 2013-2014 season by beating LeBron James and the Miami Heat? OK, this was nothing like that, as the Cavs are not nearly as good as the Heat and they were without James, Kyrie Irving and Anderson Varejao. And then Cleveland made a three-way trade that resulted in Dion Waiters leaving the court area shortly after introductions.
Anyway, Philadelphia won the fourth quarter 35-24 and held the shorthanded Cavs to 39 percent shooting overall. Michael Carter-Williams and Tony Wroten did damage down the stretch and combined for 38 points (though they shot 16-for-37 from the field and 1-for-12 from the 3-point line) and 21 assists. Cleveland got pretty much nothing in transition all night, which sounds about right.
It was sadly reminiscent of Minnesota Timberwolves games you've seen before. Kevin Love had 28 and 19, but he didn't get enough help. Cavs role players Mike Miller, Matthew Dellavedova, A.J. Price and Shawn Marion shot a combined 8-for-31 from the field.
IT IS WROTEN: Here's a big bucket from everyone's favorite Sixers reserve:
QUOTE OF THE NIGHT, RUNNER UP: Yes, "kind of bad."
Tristan Thompson: "Losing to the Sixers, a team that I don’t think they’ve won a home game since April, that’s kind of bad on our part"
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) January 6, 2015
TWEET OF THE NIGHT: "Him" would be LeBron James, in case for some reason you weren't following Joel Embiid on Twitter a few months ago.
I told him to sign with us back in the summer and he didn't smh
— Joel-Hans Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) January 6, 2015
STEPH CURRY IS A WIZARD, PART ONE: It's not fair that the best shooter on the planet is one of the best ballhandlers on the planet.
STEPH CURRY IS A WIZARD, PART TWO: It's not fair that the best shooter on the planet is one of the best passers on the planet.
DUNK OF THE NIGHT: Klay Thompson's like, "I'm the real MVP!"
DISAPPOINTING GAME OF THE NIGHT
: When you see Thunder-Warriors on the schedule, you're prepared to stay up well past 1 a.m. ET if it goes to overtime. You're ready for a shootout. You're hoping it's a playoff preview. You certainly don't expect a blowout.
This was not your typical Thunder-Warriors game. Oklahoma City just could not score. Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant went a combined 8-for-37 -- worse than that collection of Cavs role players. The Thunder collectively score 80 points per 100 possessions before garbage time started, per Basketball Insiders' Nate Duncan.
The final score was 117-91. If Scott Brooks makes his team watch the tape, it will not be fun. Great win for this continually unbelievable Golden State squad, though.
CA-CAW!: The Hawks just picked apart the Clippers on the road, completing a perfect three-game road trip. They have won 19 of their last 21, and they are simply beautiful to watch. Everyone makes the San Antonio comparison for a reason. Los Angeles looked comparatively disorganized as Atlanta found open look after open look in the second half en route to a 107-98 win. What a team, what a story.
Five straight 20-plus point games for Jeff Teague, by the way. He had 20 points, nine assists, four rebounds and four steals.
COACH BUD THA GAWD: Nice playcall at the end of the third quarter by Hawks head coach Mike Budenholzer, wouldn't you say?
REGRESSING TO THE MEAN: Rajon Rondo went nuts when he made his return to Boston, scoring 29 points on 12-for-19 shooting on Friday. He made five of his seven 3-point attempts, too. He followed that up with four points on 2-for-6 shooting in the Mavs' blowout win over the Cavs on Sunday, and then went 1-for-13 against Brooklyn on Monday. Still, he had 14 assists and Dallas beat the Nets 96-88 in overtime.
They say good teams win even when they play poorly, and that's what happened with the Mavericks. It wasn't just Rondo; the whole starting lineup was miserable offensively. Chandler Parsons shot 2-for-11 and 1-for-7 from downtown.
The Nets started out hot, but their offense was ugly after the first quarter. They shot 1-for-4 in overtime. Dallas has won six in a row.
HISTORY: Dirk Nowitzki's dagger 3-pointer in OT moved him past Moses Malone for seventh all-time on the NBA scoring list.
KEMBA HAVE IT ALL: Al Jefferson and Lance Stephenson are out of the lineup, so Kemba Walker has to do just about everything for Charlotte on offense right now. After a 30-point, seven-rebound, six-assist performance in a win over Orlando, Walker put up 33 points, five assists and five rebounds as the Hornets beat the Celtics 104-95.
QUOTE OF THE NIGHT: Sully speaks the truth.
Sullinger: "we can't play hero ball. We have no heroes."
— Jay King (@ByJayKing) January 6, 2015
THE BATTLE OF THE ZELLERS: This wasn't even close. Cody Zeller had 20 points on a perfect 8-for-8 night. He also grabbed seven rebounds in his 33 minutes. Tyler Zeller started opposite him for Boston, but had half the playing time and finished with two points on 1-for-5 shooting.
NURKIC DAN'T KILL MY VIBE: Rookie center Jusuf Nurkic had another solid showing off the bench for the Nuggets, and you should probably pick him up in fantasy basketball if you can. He had 14 points, six boards, four blocks and two steals, shooting 7-for-11 from the floor in Denver's 110-101 victory.
Unfortunately he also did this, which gets funnier with each repeated viewing:
SHABWHAAAA?: If you get an assist from the ground, you're getting five stars. Them's the rules. Good job, Shabazz Muhammad.
LINE OF THE NIGHT: Quincy Acy had 19 points against the Grizzlies. He made seven of his eight field goal attempts, including two of his three 3-point attempts. He had 14 rebounds, an assist, a steal and a single turnover. He played 31 minutes. New York lost by 22.
NOT QUITE JAZZY ENOUGH: Utah trailed by as many as 19 against Indiana, but fought back. The Jazz scored 39 points in the fourth quarter. Derrick Favors had 27 points, Gordon Hayward had 24. The Pacers still won 105-101, and didn't play anybody more than 28 minutes aside from Solomon Hill. It hasn't been against the best competition, but the Pacers have won three of four.
THE SWAGGIEST 3: Nick Young actually made this look easy. Wow.
NOBE SYSTEM: Kobe Bryant got a DNP-old, and the Lakers came close to beating the Blazers in Portland. Jordan Hill had 23 points and 14 rebounds, and Los Angeles actually held a seven-point lead with less than six minutes remaining. Then, well, here's how you turn a seven-point deficit into a four-point lead in less than three minutes:
Kobe or no Kobe, there was no stopping Damian Lillard and LaMarcus Aldridge down the stretch. Lillard scored 16 of his 39 points in the final frame, and Portland escaped with a 98-94 win.
STEPH CURRY IS A WIZARD, PART 3: The guy is unreal.
