NBA
March 16, 2017

Post Up: Blazing Ahead

Mavs 112 (29-38), Wizards 107 (41-26)

Maybe it was the strange potato that a fan sent Dirk. Whatever it was, Dallas was able to hand the Wizards just their second home loss this month.

The Mavs scored 39 points in the fourth quarter, opening up a 10-point lead and holding on to win the game.

Harrison Barnes led the way with 22 points (10-16 shooting) with 9 rebounds.

Hornets 77 (29-39), Pacers 98 (35-33)

Indiana cracked open a 19-point lead in the third quarter and never looked back.

Despite scoring just 18 points in the paint, the Pacers held Charlotte to 40 percent shooting and just 3-23 from the three-point line.

And they had Paul George, who scored a season-high 39 points on 15-21 shooting.

T-Wolves 104 (28-39), Celtics 117 (43-25)

Minnesota’s defense has cooled off recently, but the Wolves were coming off big wins against the Clippers, Warriors and Wizards within the past week.

Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins and Ricky Rubio have really been on top of their games, and some of their plays can’t get much prettier.

The Wolves have been good at stopping opposing point guards, but Isaiah Thomas is stopped by no one.

He extended his streak of leading Boston in scoring to 32 straight games, and wowed the Boston crowd with Rajon Rondo’s signature move.

With the game steadily in Boston’s favor, Lance Stephenson—getting a chance to play for just the second game during his 10-day contract—collided with Kris Dunn and had to be carried off the court.

His chances of playing again this season do not seem high.

Pelicans 112 (27-41), Heat 120 (33-35)

Since starting the season 11-30, Miami has become one of the best teams in the East.

Since the All-Star break, the Heat have indeed been the very best team in the conference, outscoring opponents by 10.2 points per 100 possessions.

After sitting out Sunday’s loss to the Pacers, Goran Dragic returned with a black eye to score 33 points with 5 three pointers.

To say the Boogie-AD pairing hasn’t quite lived up to expectations would be an understatement. Cousins picked up his 19th technical for something he’d surely like to take back.

Jazz 97 (43-25), Pistons 83 (33-35)

Nice win for Utah, who held a double-digit lead throughout the majority of the game.

Gordon Hayward (25, 9, 6) and Rudy Gobert (12, 9, 5, 4 blocks) were making it look easy on the court.

Grizzlies 98 (38-30), Bulls 91 (32-36)

Memphis took care of business against the possibly-tanking-but-who-really-knows Bulls.

Chicago shot just 37.4 percent from the field as the Grizzlies handed the Bulls their sixth loss in seven games.

Mike Conley (27 points, 8-12 shooting) and Marc Gasol (27 points, 10-21 shooting) were just too good.

Lakers 100 (20-48), Rockets 139 (47-21)

This game featured virtually no defense and tons of garbage time.

There were plenty of crazy stats in this game, like Houston’s 46-point fourth quarter, but Lou Williams takes the cake.

Williams became just the third player since the 1983-84 season to record two 30-point, 7-assist games off bench in a season.

Julius Randle had a career night for the Lakers, dropping 32 points on 13-17 shooting with 8 rebounds. He also was taking out Rockets right and left:

Blazers 110 (30-37), Spurs 106 (52-15)

Don’t look now, but Portland is making a serious push for the Playoffs. They’re only two games out, and their offense has been humming (fifth in the League since the break).

Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum put up a combined 62 points on just 38 shots.

Still, Kawhi Leonard was the most dominant player on the court, attacking the paint for emotionless poster dunks like this:

The Spurs fought back in the final minutes, and Manu Ginobili had a chance to cut the lead to one with two second remaining.

He accidentally missed his first free throw, and then made his second (despite trying to miss it). And thus, San Antonio’s hopes for a comeback were vanquished.

Kings 107 (27-41), Suns 101 (22-46)

For a battle between two teams trying to tank their way to higher draft picks, this was a pretty interesting game.

Skal Labissiere dropped 22 of his 32 points (11-15 shooting) in the fourth and became the first player of the 2016 NBA draft class to drop 30 points this season.

Willie Cauley-Stein nearly had a 5×5 with 14 points, 11 boards, 5 assists, 4 blocks and 4 steals.

Bucks 97 (33-34), Clippers 96 (40-28)

Something is wrong in Clipper Land. Despite having a fully healthy roster, the team is giving up 110.7 points per 100 possessions—good for fifth worst in the League since the All-Star break.

Giannis Antetokounmpo had a sub-par game by his standards (16, 5 and 5), but was still doing freakish things on the court.

L.A. had a five-point lead in the forth, only to watch it slip away with plays like this:

Blake Griffin had a chance to win the game on the final possession, but his shot rimmed out.

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