Friday NBA Roundup: Warriors Can't Slow Down Now That They Finally Own 1st Place
The Golden State Warriors were practically anointed NBA champions back in July, but it took them a month of the 2016-17 season to scale the standings.
Golden State reached the summit by way of what proved to be a pyrrhic 109-85 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center on Friday.
Two nights after thumping L.A. in Oakland by 43 points, the Dubs had to gut one out down south against an even more threadbare Lakers bunch. Nick Young—who scored eight points Wednesday—joined Julius Randle (hip pointer) and D'Angelo Russell (sore knee) in street clothes with a sprained toe of his own.
Golden State suffered some losses of its own. On one play late in the third quarter, with the Warriors up 74-56, Draymond Green twisted his ankle and dropped his knee on Ian Clark's head, knocking both players out of the game.
The Dubs went on to drub the Lakers just fine: Kevin Durant followed up a 28-point performance at Oracle Arena with 29, nine assists and six rebounds. His opposite number, Brandon Ingram, struggled through a 3-of-18 shooting performance while fighting his own wind to defend one of his boyhood idols.
"It’s good to go up against the best team in the league," the 19-year-old rookie said, per ESPN.com's Baxter Holmes.
Ingram, though, got in one good lick against Durant: a block beyond the arc that begat a fast-break dish to a streaking Luol Deng.
Stephen Curry was hit with a lowlight of his own, blowing a fast-break dunk in the second quarter with the game still hanging in the balance.
But by and large, the two-time MVP was plenty deadly. He drained four threes, dished five assists, picked off three passes and finished with 24 points. Klay Thompson, Curry's Splash Brother, tallied 18 points and seven rebounds of his own.
The victory extended Golden State's winning streak to 10 games and put it a half-game ahead of the Los Angeles Clippers. For all their early foibles, the Warriors have crept within sniffing distance of the league's top 10 on defense while putting an exclamation point on their top-ranked offense in efficiency.
The Warriors can thank the San Antonio Spurs for drawing attention to that defensive concern and shielding them from the West's top spot in the early going. If not for a 29-point shellacking on opening night, Golden State would’ve known this season's throne long ago.
San Antonio hasn't exactly fallen off since then. Sure, the Spurs have already tripled their total of home losses from last season, but that concern should pale in comparison to the promise of an 8-0 mark on the road.
Make that 9-0 after pulling out a 109-103 win over the Boston Celtics at the TD Garden on Friday—one the visitors had every reason to drop.
Poor shooting from LaMarcus Aldridge (4-of-12) and Manu Ginobili (0-of-6). A scoreless outing from a sleepwalking Pau Gasol (0-of-5 from the field)—his first in over eight-and-a-half years and just the second of his 16-year NBA career. A less than sharp overall effort in which San Antonio turned the ball over 17 times (to Boston's 10) while surrendering 12 threes and a 50-36 edge in paint points.
Behind those struggles came a couple convenient excuses: an early tip (1 p.m. ET), preceded by a tryptophan-filled Thanksgiving dinner on the road.
But, in classic Spurs fashion, there would be no need for even one asterisk, since there would be no defeat. Instead, San Antonio erased a 14-point first-half deficit en route to a 109-103 win. Kawhi Leonard once again played the part of pied piper, pacing his team in points (25), rebounds (10) and tying for the lead in assists (four)—and more than earning the kicks in which he left the building.
This time, though, the ones following closest behind him came off San Antonio's bench. Davis Bertans turned in his second consecutive double-digit scoring outing, pouring in a career-high 15 points with a trio of threes. David Lee (15 points, 12 rebounds, three assists) registered his first double-double as a Spur. Patty Mills (season-high 19 points) played so well, Gregg Popovich left Tony Parker on the bench during crunch time.
The win was San Antonio's eighth in a row overall and now leaves it as the lone undefeated road team in the league.
The Clippers had been the only other team in that club. A stop into the Palace of Auburn Hills during a six-game trip put a swift end to that at 7-1.
L.A. extracted itself from an 18-point ditch to claim an 84-82 lead early in the fourth quarter. But a subsequent string of shots by Marcus Morris helped bury the Clippers deep enough for Detroit to pull out a 108-97 win. Morris (17 points) led six Pistons in double figures.
The Pistons, buoyed by Andre Drummond, shredded their listless opposition inside. The All-Star center snagged his 11th double-double of the season (16 points, 10 rebounds) and put Blake Griffin on a poster for good measure.
All told, Detroit outrebounded L.A. (42-32), outscored it inside (48-36) and nearly pulled even in free-throw attempts (19-21), despite disbarring L.A. native Stanley Johnson from the game for a violation of team rules, per Keith Langlois of Pistons.com.
As Clippers reporter Rowan Kavner noted, the biggest difference in the box score between this result and a 114-82 L.A. win on Nov. 7—other than the venue and final score—was what the Pistons' backcourt of Ish Smith and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (16 points apiece) accomplished opposite Chris Paul and J.J. Redick:
At 14-3, the Clippers are no longer the NBA's top dog. They now sit just behind the Warriors out West and the Cleveland Cavaliers (more on them soon) in the overall standings.
L.A. will have its opportunities to knock each of last year's NBA finalists off their respective pedestals during the coming weeks. Thursday, the Clippers will be in Cleveland—the penultimate stop of a six-game road trip. On Dec. 7, they'll be back at Staples Center to host Golden State.
The order of the Western Conference hierarchy could look completely different by then. For now, though, the Warriors can claim their rightful place at its peak, however little that may mean in Thanksgiving's aftermath.
Tight Quarters in East's Top 4
Three teams finished Friday night's slate in a dead heat for the East's second place.
DeMar DeRozan kept the Toronto Raptors in the mix, albeit without a bona fide scoring explosion. For the fourth game in a row, the All-Star swingman was held to fewer than 30 points (26, to be exact) after crossing that threshold 10 times during his first 12 outings.
DeRozan, though, came through when the Raptors needed him most against the Milwaukee Bucks. Shortly after getting one shot blocked by Bucks guard Jason Terry, he lofted another over the outstretched arms of Tony Snell (16 points) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (29 points, 11 assists, six rebounds) to seal what wound up as a 105-99 Toronto win in Milwaukee.
The Chicago Bulls had a much smoother time staking their claim to the same 10-6 record that the Raptors now own. The Bulls needed only to silence a Philadelphia 76ers squad that gave Joel Embiid the night off—two days after exceeding his minutes limit in overtime against Memphis and one day after (presumably) filling his face with a Thanksgiving feast.
Not that Embiid would've made more of a difference against Chicago's dynamic perimeter game than Jahlil Okafor did. Jimmy Butler and Dwyane Wade went for 26 points apiece, and Rondo fell two buckets and two rebounds shy of a triple-double during a 105-89 win in Philly. The Bulls led by as many as 28 points before Fred Hoiberg emptied his bench during the fourth quarter.
The rotation players, for their part, must've appreciated the relatively easy night. The win concluded a six-game road trip that also saw Chicago swing through Portland, Salt Lake City, L.A. and Denver— coming away with four wins.
"On this trip, we started to understand we’re a good team and can play with anyone in any building," Wade said, per the Chicago Tribune's K.C. Johnson. "That (belief) goes a long way."
The Atlanta Hawks, on the other hand, have arrived at their 10-6 mark by way of a slide. They snapped a three-game skid with a double-digit win over the Indiana Pacers on Thanksgiving eve but resumed their losing ways with a jarring 95-68 road loss to the Utah Jazz.
Atlanta shot a putrid 31.3 percent from the field, dragged by the starters combining to miss 37 of their 51 combined attempts. Dwight Howard finished with four points and seven rebounds, and Kyle Korver finished with as many points (three) as shots.
As helpless as the Hawks were to score over Rudy Gobert (10 points, 10 rebounds, five blocks), they struggled just as mightily to slow down Utah's dynamic duo of Gordon Hayward and George Hill. Those two combined to tally 47 points while each shooting 8-of-14 from the field (Hayward went 7-of-7 at the line; Hill hit 5-of-8 from three).
Atlanta can thank a weak Southeast for owning a division lead. But the Hawks, like everyone else in the East these days, are merely trying to track the Cavaliers' footsteps as Cleveland continues to sprint past.
For the third game running, the defending champs churned out a double-digit lead early, this time at the Dallas Mavericks' expense. Kyrie Irving set the table with 19 first-quarter points for a 128-90 feast in The Land. LeBron James (19 points, 11 assists) logged his sixth game with double figures in those categories, while Kevin Love followed up his flame-throwing performance against Portland with 27 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and three steals.
All told, Cleveland continued to rain fire from beyond the arc. The Cavs combined to knock down 20 threes, despite seeing J.R. Smith brick nine of his 10 tries and missing Channing Frye on account of another family tragedy.
The East may be deeper than it's been in a while, but none of that will matter if at least one of those challengers can't rise up to Cleveland's level by April and May.
Russ to the Rescue Again
Russell Westbrook stuffed the stat sheet like a Thanksgiving turkey in the Mile High City. The All-Star guard notched his sixth triple-double of the season—the 43rd of his career, tying Fat Lever—while guiding the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 132-129 overtime win against the Denver Nuggets.
Westbrook finished with 36 points, 18 assists, 12 rebounds and 17 free-throw attempts, becoming just the second player in NBA history to record at least 30 points, 18 dimes and 10 boards in one game.
The other? Magic Johnson, who did it three times.
More importantly for OKC, Westbrook's breathtaking efforts helped end a pair of skids. The Thunder had lost three in a row overall and four straight on the road coming into Colorado. Now, they're 37-6 when Westbrook lines up a triple-double.
Upcoming games against the Pistons, New York Knicks, Washington Wizards and New Orleans Pelicans should afford OKC an opportunity to string together some wins and solidify an early spot in the West's top eight. The Thunder's odds of doing so will leap considerably if they can count on more balanced scoring efforts like the one they got in Denver, with six players in double figures.
A Melo Night at the Garden
The New York Knicks needed all the heroes they could find to fend off the Charlotte Hornets in overtime, 113-111.
Kristaps Porzingis made his presence felt with a trio of blocks and four threes, the last of which put the Knicks ahead with 45 seconds remaining. Derrick Rose looked explosive during a 16-point, five-assist outing, and he was at his bounciest in blocking a Kemba Walker corner three at the buzzer.
Carmelo Anthony could've ended it in regulation, but he misfired on a 12-footer as the clock wound down. The All-Star made up for it with another jumper from that same distance to put New York ahead for good with three seconds to go in overtime:
That last bucket extended Anthony's season-high scoring total to 35 points (on 25 shots) to go with team bests in rebounds (14) and a tie for the team high in assists (five) and steals (two).
"I think this game is an example of how much talent we have," Porzingis said, per ESPN.com's Ian Begley. "Everybody can make big plays."
New York's passel of playmakers has shown its truer colors of late. With five wins during their last six games, the Knicks now sit in a tie for the sixth-best record in the East. Another victory over the Hornets on Saturday, this time in Charlotte, would move Jeff Hornacek's squad out of that dead heat and into another one—with the Celtics for fifth place.
Wiz-Magic Gets Heated
The Washington Wizards' 94-91 win over the Orlando Magic was a testy affair throughout, but never more so than in the middle of the fourth quarter.
Wizards wing Kelly Oubre Jr. set off tensions with an after-whistle shove to Bismack Biyombo's back. Biyombo took exception, and soon enough, players on both sides joined in on a baseline tussle. Four were hit with technicals, including Bradley Beal, who at one point took Orlando's Evan Fournier by the throat:
Washington took control thereafter by sharing the ball, logging four assists on six makes from then on. The two unassisted baskets belonged to John Wall (26 points, 10 assists, seven rebounds, three steals), who drew a foul on one of those makes and hit four critical free throws to carry D.C. to the finish line.
Both teams remain well under .500—the Wizards at 5-9, the Magic at 6-10—but Washington, with Wall and Beal, looks like the better bet to make at least a peep come spring. For now, Washington can take some comfort in scoring its third win in four outings and first of the season on the road.
Little Dog Gets Big Run in Indy
No Paul George? No problem!
That is, when Glenn Robinson III is around...and Brooklyn comes to town.
With their resident superstar sidelined by a sore back, the Indiana Pacers rode six double-figure scorers to a 118-97 annihilation of the Nets. Robinson III led them all with a career-high 20 points during a game-high 40 minutes. He hit four shots from deep, grabbed six rebounds inside and added a block and a steal.
The big night came in just the eighth start of Robinson's three-year NBA stint so far, but his third in the Pacers' last four games. By the looks of things, he'll add more to his tally going forward. Indiana will miss George for at least the next two games—home vs. the Clippers, at Portland—as the team announced, and maybe deeper into a five-game Western swing with stops in L.A. and Golden State.
"If he couldn't play tonight, we were going to hold him a few days so that everything can heal up," head coach Nate McMillan explained, per the Indianapolis Star's Nate Taylor.
There's no time like the present, then, for the son of former No. 1 pick Glenn "Big Dog" Robinson to make his own mark in the Association.
LaVine Leaps Over Len
A 98-85 win by the 5-10 Minnesota Timberwolves over the 5-12 Phoenix Suns might not seem like it's worth much mention. Neither would a 13-point effort from Zach LaVine, who came in averaging 19.0 points per game and checked in behind a 25-point night from Andrew Wiggins and a double-double (22 points, 10 rebounds) by Karl-Anthony Towns.
But if you know anything about LaVine, you'd do well never to discount the potential wonder he can produce at any moment. The two-time dunk champ didn't disappoint in Phoenix, where he put Suns center Alex Len on a poster:
What that slam may lack in artistry compared to his All-Star Weekend efforts, it more than compensates with the force, lift and sheer fearlessness required to scale a 7-footer at the rim.
Rockets Roll to Three-Point Record
The Houston Rockets were destined to light up the Golden 1 Center on Friday. They brought one of the league's elite offenses to contend with a Sacramento Kings defense that's once again languished toward the bottom of the rankings.
The Rockets reeling off a 117-104 win by way of a three-point barrage was no surprise, either. They've been bound to the arc ever since James Harden landed in Houston four years ago.
But none of the team's previous wins—let alone any effort by any other in NBA history—had been built on the back of 50 three-point tries. Houston etched that in the Association record books with a whopping 21 makes at Sacramento's expense.
James Harden did his part by knocking down three triples and handing out 10 assists en route to his fourth triple-double (23 points, 10 rebounds) of the 2016-17 season.
Stats via Basketball-Reference and NBA.com unless otherwise noted.
