Hawks Taking Warriors' Title of NBA's Best Team and Other Friday NBA Takeaways
The Larry O'Brien Trophy isn't awarded in January, but if it were, the Atlanta Hawks would be planning their victory parade right now. The Hawks officially overtook the Golden State Warriors for the NBA's best record on Friday.
And they didn't arrive at the summit easily, either, in what turned out to be a 105-99 win over a quality Western Conference foe. Atlanta played host to the Portland Trail Blazers, with LaMarcus Aldridge celebrating his third straight All-Star selection and Damian Lillard still smarting over his exclusion—if not the team's six losses in eight games since mid-January.
The Blazers stars' results mirrored their respective All-Star statuses. Aldridge exploded for 37 points on 15-of-24 shooting (2-of-3 from three), despite an injured digit that nearly put him under the knife. Lillard, on the other hand, had more missed shots (14) than points scored (13) and plenty of turnovers (six) to accompany his 11 assists.
Even so, there were times when Portland looked like it might put out Atlanta's lengthy winning streak. The two teams traded leads throughout their tiff at Philips Arena, at least until the home team took control in the fourth quarter.
And they did it in the typical Hawks way: by spreading the wealth. Atlanta scored 36 points on a scorching-hot 72.1 percent shooting during the final frame. No Hawk took more shots than Dennis Schroder's five, none scored more than Mike Scott's eight and none faked more Blazers out of their shoes than Jeff Teague did on this one play:
All told, six Hawks—including the All-Star trio of Jeff Teague, Al Horford and Paul Millsap—tallied double-digit points. Kent Bazemore chipped in 12 points while pressed into major minutes once Thabo Sefolosha strained his calf in the first quarter, with DeMarre Carroll already sidelined by a sore Achilles.
That total team effort earned Atlanta its 39th win of the season—and 18th straight since just after Christmas—and gives these Hawks some exciting, historic company, as NBA on ESPN noted:
Meanwhile, the Warriors looked like anything but championship material in Salt Lake City. Golden State shot the ball as though it left its legs back in Oakland, going 8-of-27 from beyond the arc. A week after sending a jolt through the basketball world with his record-breaking 37-point quarter—and after follow-ups of 31 and 30 points—Klay Thompson ran out of magic, managing just 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting against a highly attentive Utah Jazz defense.
Stephen Curry stepped up with 32 points, but Draymond Green (2-of-6 shooting, one assist, two turnovers) did more damage to Dante Exum than he did to the stat sheet:
The Warriors fell behind by as many as 18 points in this one, and though they made some mini-runs in the second half, they weren't able to narrow the gap any closer than six points in what wound up as a 110-100 win for the Jazz.
This, with a two-day break in the wake of a taxing 113-111 overtime loss to the Chicago Bulls at Oracle Arena.
It's far from panic time for the Dubs, who'd won five straight prior to their now-two-game hiccup. At 36-8, Golden State still owns a surprisingly comfortable cushion atop the West; three games separate the Warriors from the second-placed Memphis Grizzlies.
But in the grander scheme, the Warriors, for now, can't count on complete control of home-court advantage come playoff time—unless, of course, they were to face a team other than Atlanta in the Finals if the postseason were to start tomorrow.
Then again, given how well the Hawks are playing and have been since Thanksgiving (32-2 in that span), Atlanta would probably wind up hosting the first two games of every series in which it played, on the way to the franchise's first title since 1958.
Which, for those keeping track at home, was simply known as the NBA Finals trophy at the time—six years before Walter A. Brown, the original owner of the Boston Celtics, had his name attached to it and 26 prior to Larry O'Brien having that hardware named after him by then-new commissioner David Stern.
Snubbed Bigs Battle, Cavs Keep Streaking
Kevin Love didn't get an All-Star nod from fans or coaches this year. Neither did DeMarcus Cousins, though he'll be representing the Sacramento Kings in New York City this month as the commissioner's pick to replace the injured Kobe Bryant, per NBA.com.
As it happens, Cousins wasn't so sure he'd be on his way to New York City. "Honestly, I really didn't expect myself to make it," Cousins told ESPN.com's Baxter Holmes. "I mean, the West was so tough this year and there are so many talented guys in the West. But the crazy thing is, me and Dame were texting after the results came out and I was telling him, 'Man, you know you're going to make this team, like, it's nothing.' It's just kind of crazy how things worked out."
Both Boogie and Love did their best to state their respective cases with their play on Friday during the Cleveland Cavaliers' 101-90 win.
Love stole the show in LeBron James' return from a wrist injury, scoring 16 of his game-high 23 points in the opening frame. Boogie (21 points, 13 rebounds, four assists, five steals, one block) was beastly throughout, balancing out a bad shooting night (5-of-17 from the field) by bullying his way to the free-throw line 12 times.
Still, Cousins' efforts weren't enough to help the Kings stave off a Cavs winning streak that now stands at a season-high nine games. Cleveland will look for its 10th straight on Saturday, when Love returns to Minnesota for the first time since the Timberwolves traded him last summer.
MCW's Triple-Double Downs Timberwolves
In a preview of next month's Rising Stars Challenge, it was Michael Carter-Williams who rose above the rest.
Carter-Williams—one of six players between the Philadelphia 76ers and Minnesota Timberwolves who will partake in the reformatted rookie-sophomore game during All-Star Weekend—tallied his third triple-double of the season (and the fifth of his young career) with 17 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in a 103-94 win over the Wolves in Minneapolis.
Nerlens Noel, who will join MCW on the U.S. Team in mid-February, put together a pretty impressive line himself, one that Sixers.com writer Max Rappaport noted is very rare:
Big Nights from Jack, Lopez Not Enough for Nets
It's not every day that a team sees two of its players go for 35 points in the same game, much less when one does it off the bench—and even less when said team doesn't pull out the win.
Such is the curiosity of the Brooklyn Nets' ongoing futility, which overran Jarrett Jack and Brook Lopez both matching Kevin Durant's jersey number in the scoring column. For Jack, it marked a career high in points. His 13 assists also matched a career high, which he set on Wednesday during a loss to the Hawks.
As for Lopez, his 35-point explosion was the second largest of the season by a reserve, bested only by Lou Williams' 36 in a win for Toronto in Cleveland back in late November.
Williams went for 25 in Brooklyn, but it was DeMar DeRozan whose 26 points, nine assists and one answered prayer put the Raptors on top in overtime, 127-122, despite the best efforts of Jack and Lopez.
Mavs Maul Miami in Milestone Win
The Dallas Mavericks scored as many points in the fourth quarter of their 93-72 win over the Miami Heat (33) as they did during the entire first half, and as many points in the third quarter (27) as Miami managed in two frames following the mid-game break.
Hassan Whiteside (16 points, 24 rebounds) did his best to keep the Heat in the game, but even he was no match for a 37-2 run that turned a nine-point Miami lead into a 26-point chasm between the third and fourth quarters.
Those anomalies aside, this victory was of surprising historical significance to the Mavs. For one, the win was the 600th of Rick Carlisle's remarkable career as a head coach. It also marked Dallas' first win over the Heat since Game 6 of the 2011 NBA Finals, as ESPNDallas.com's Tim MacMahon tweeted:
The Mavs weren't awarded the Larry O'Brien Trophy this time around, though the sheer size of Dallas' win shows just how far this team has come since its post-championship malaise—and how far the Heat have fallen without LeBron James.
Harden Gets Help in Beantown
James Harden can't be the Houston Rockets' MVP every night. Fortunately for him and the Rockets, Harden didn't have to be on Friday.
The MVP front-runner had his second subpar showing in as many games, this time scrounging up 14 points on 4-of-21 shooting with five turnovers. But Houston wasn't exactly up against the '86 Celtics; rather it was the 2014-15 edition, one that ended the evening with a record of 16-29.
Avery Bradley had a strong hand in Harden's off-night, though The Beard did plenty to repay the favor. Bradley and his backcourt buddy, Evan Turner, were held to 5-of-22 shooting in a 93-87 Houston win.
But if not for Donatas Motiejunas' 26-point explosion, the Rockets would've taken a loss, poor opponent or not. Instead, they secured their 11th win in 15 tries sans Dwight Howard this season.
Clippers Nipped in New Orleans by Brow-less Pelicans
Not all of the league's lengthier winning streaks survived the night on Friday. The Los Angeles Clippers saw their six-game spurt snapped by the New Orleans Pelicans, who were operating without Anthony Davis on account of a groin strain.
In his stead, Eric Gordon, the last remaining vestige from the haul New Orleans nabbed in exchange for Chris Paul just over three years ago, stepped up with a season-high 28 points against his old team to propel the Pelicans to a 108-103 win.
If not for Paul dropping 14 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter, the final score would've more accurately represented the flow of a game in which New Orleans led by as many as 14 in the last period.
Josh Martin covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter.
