GAME OF THE NIGHT -- BULLS 113, WARRIORS 111 (OT): Before it began, you already knew this would be the GOTN. It's quite the contrast of styles -- the Warriors ran the Bulls to death, but were pounded on the glass -- and it'd be awesome to see in the Finals.
Let's take a look at Golden State's fast-break brilliance, shall we? We'll start with Stephen Curry finding Harrison Barnes for an alley-oop:
And here's Barnes again, showing off his speed as he goes coast to coast with three dribbles for a dunk off a steal:
And the best one of all, Curry's no-look after a steal and pass from Andre Iguodala, then a righty dunk from David Lee:
Chicago slowed Golden State down in the second half, though, and the Warriors uncharacteristically went 0-for-13 on 3-pointers after halftime. Still, Golden State should have won this game in regulation. Curry had the ball in his hands with 24 seconds left and a one-point lead. Then he did something silly. Watch:
Yep, there's Kirk Hinrich saving the day for the Bulls, just like everyone expected. But you're aware this went to overtime, so take a look at how Draymond Green made that happen:
Green made all sorts of plays on both ends, obviously none bigger than that. Multiple efforts against much bigger players -- that's the stuff coaches love.
In OT, though, Chicago succeeded in keeping things relatively ugly. The teams had combined for a total of eight points before Derrick Rose hit what would turn out to be the game-winner, a long stepback jumper over Klay Thompson:
Thompson, who dropped 30 points after his historic night against the Kings, had a chance to tie it with a floater at the buzzer, but it rimmed out. This was a huge win for the Bulls after a disappointing home loss to Miami on Sunday. Pau Gasol and Joakim Noah both had 18 points and both shot 7-for-12 from the field. The two of them combined for 31 boards. More on Rose in a moment. For the Warriors, it's a bit of a bummer because they let it slip away and they should have won their 20th home game in a row. But they're still 36-7 -- I think they'll be fine.
ODD DERRICK ROSE GAME : Rose hit the biggest shot, and he finished with 30 points. That's a great night, right? Well, he also had 11 turnovers. And, before that pass to Hinrich at the end of regulation, he had zero assists. He also shot 13-for-33 from the field, including 4-for-12 from 3-point range. Chicago fans will obviously take the bad with the good in a win like this, but this was a strange evening in a strange season for Rose.
This is where I must remind you that some of his moments were magical:
SHOUTOUT TO DAVID LEE : The man often looked like the best big on the floor, which is impressive against Chicago's frontline. In 30 minutes off the bench, Lee had 24 points on 10-for-17 shooting, plus nine rebounds, six assists and no turnovers. We all know about his weaknesses, but they're being covered up rather well.
CIRCUS SHOT OF THE NIGHT : I'm telling you, Curry is some kind of sorcerer. No other explanation for this bounce.
HAVE YOU SEEN TAJ GIBSON DO ANYTHING LIKE THIS BEFORE? : I, for one, have not seen Taj Gibson do anything like this before (via @_MarcusD_):
MEMPHIS > MAVERICKS: The Grizzlies dominated the Mavericks in an important Western Conference matchup despite the absence of Mike Conley and Tony Allen. How did they do it? They pushed Dallas around, and Zach Randolph went nuts. His 22 points and 10 rebounds don't jump off the page, but he really was the difference. Randolph shot 10-for-15 overall and scored 16 of his points in the second half, making Tyson Chandler look helpless as he went to work on the right side of the floor. Making Chandler look helpess is not an easy thing to do. The Mavs didn't have an answer.
Randolph had help: Vince Carter hit a few funky floaters, and Courtney Lee, Jeff Green and Nick Calathes all shot well from behind the arc. It's been fun watching Memphis turn into an offensive powerhouse.
GOOD RONDO : Mavericks highlights were few and far between, but my favorite moment of the game was when Rajon Rondo surprised everybody by leaping up for a putback dunk.
BAD RONDO : This is generally what happens when Rondo is camped in the corner "spacing" the floor:
STREAKING : Perhaps the Cavaliers are going to be OK. They got hardly any offensive production from people not named Kyrie Irving and LeBron James, but they still beat the (competitive!) Pistons 103-95. They've won seven games in a row.
Irving scored 38 points, tying his season high. He scored 16 of them in the fourth quarter, putting the Pistons away. James had 32 points, seven assists and six rebounds, and he shot 10-for-11 from the free throw line. He's looking like the best player in the world again.
Detroit missed a bunch of 3-pointers it would normally make, but the bright side is that it looks like it can play basically the same way with D.J. Augustin as it did with Brandon Jennings. Augustin followed up his career-high 35 points on Sunday with a team-high 19 points and nine assists against Cleveland. Here are three of those points (via @gifdsports):
LINE OF THE NIGHT -- KYRIE IRVING : 38 points, six assists, three rebounds, three steals, one block, 13-23 FG, 6-10 3PT, 6-6 FT in 42 minutes. He's shooting 55 percent from the field during the Cavs' streak.
TOUCHDOWN : I still don't think that Cleveland is getting the most it can out of Kevin Love, but it's fun to see stuff like this:
HANDLING THE HEAT : Milwaukee beat Miami for the third time this season, with seven Bucks scoring in double figures. This team just has too much length and depth for the Heat, particularly the latter. Bench points: Milwaukee 54, Miami 13.
Giannis Antetokounmpo, who will compete in this year's dunk contest, had a fun, stretchy dunk near the end of the first half off a great pass from Brandon Knight:
STRONG SIDE : Your Hassan Whiteside update: 16 points, 16 rebounds, one assist, one steal, ZERO BLOCKS, two turnovers, five fouls, 36 minutes. I'm as shocked as you are that he had 12 fewer blocks than last game, but I suppose it's not that crazy. Whiteside is on scouting reports now. The Bucks didn't challenge him much at the rim, instead opting for in-between shots.
Also, he got his flex on:
QUOTE OF THE NIGHT : Bed bugs?
WAYNE ELLINGTON DID WHAT? : Wayne Ellington made his first six shots against the Wizards. Wayne Ellington scored 28 points. Wayne Ellington shot 12-for-20 from the field. Wayne Ellington had three rebounds, three assists and three steals. That's what Wayne Ellington did.
DON'T TELL ME THE LAKERS WASTED THAT PERFORMANCE : I'm sorry, the Lakers wasted that performance. But, honestly, most Los Angeles fans are cool with the 98-92 loss. It was really a perfect game for a tanking team -- the Lakers scored 31 points in the first quarter, 26 in the second, 19 in the third and 16 in the fourth. The slow collapse meant the game stayed competitive the entire way through.
Starting point guard (!) Jordan Clarkson scored 18 points on 18 shots. Ed Davis had 14 points on 6-for-7 shooting off the bench. But the Wizards are obviously the way better team and the backcourt of John Wall (21 points, 13 assists, nine rebounds) and Bradley Beal (19 points, super aggressive) was too much.
RAPS BACK ON TRACK? : Toronto started horribly against Indiana, but looked more focused as the game went on. It earned a 104-91 win that probably won't impress anyone, but the production of Terrence Ross, Patrick Patterson and Lou Williams off the bench was big. Those three combined for 28 points, and the Raptors got a strong night from their starting backcourt (Kyle Lowry: 19-8-7, DeMar DeRozan: 24 points, 10-for-13 from the line).
So that's four wins in five games for Toronto. Before that, it had lost seven of nine. That's something.
As for the Pacers, who have lost eight of nine … well, here's George Hill's take:
ALLEY-OOP OF THE NIGHT: Fly, Terrence Ross, fly. (Like the Love-to-LeBron play, this was an example of running off a make.)