Ballin': LeBron Leads Heat to 17th Straight Home Win; Spurs Quietly Win 9th in a Row
By Jason McIntyre
Miami 98, Oklahoma City 93: That’s 17 straight wins at home for the Heat. LeBron made his case for MVP (34 points, 10 assists, 7 rebounds) and got some help from D Wade (19) and Mario Chalmers (13). This definitely wasn’t Russell Westbrook’s finest game. He had the cheap, flagrant foul on LeBron which could have started a brawl. And he shot 9-for-26 and had four turnovers and just two assists. Durant got his (30 points) but had a career-high nine turnovers.
Milwaukee 107, Cleveland 98: The Ellis-Jennings backcourt will be fun. If they beat out the Knicks for the 8th playoff spot (one game back), Monta Ellis (30 points) vs. Derrick Rose might be fun for four games. With Kyrie Irving out (shoulder), the Cavs started former Texas A&M point guard. He’s on his third team this season. He scored 12 points and had eight assists in 36 minutes.
LA Lakers 113, LA Clippers 108: You already saw Blake Griffin’s two nasty dunks. But it wasn’t enough: Andrew Bynum scored 36 for the Lakers, and Kobe added 31. The pair shot a combined 26-of-39. Chris Paul had 22 points and 16 assists but the Clippers fell 2.5 back of the the Lakers, plus don’t have the tiebreaker. Is the Pacific over? Probably.
Phoenix 107, Utah 105: The Jazz continue to plummet out of playoff contention. They’re not 1.5 games out of the 8th spot, and half a game back of Phoenix, which moved ahead of Utah into 9th. I don’t know where Chad Ford keeps coming up with these silly Jared Sullinger comparisons. He wrote Kevin Love, which was absurd, but also Paul Millsap. There’s zero chance of either.
Dallas 95, Memphis 85: Back-to-back-to-back blues – the Grizzlies permitted a 21-4 run in the fourth quarter and lost. The Mavericks tied Memphis for the 5th spot in the West. As of now, whoever finishes 5th with play the Clippers; 6th place in the West likely draws the Lakers.
Indiana 109, Washington 96: If you’re going to attack Roy Hibbert, you need to come correct.
Boston 86, San Antonio 87: Paul Pierce missed what would have been a game-winning 16-footer at the buzzer. Quietly, the Spurs have won nine in a row.