It’s a one of a kind, the only palindromic Rundown for the next 1,010 years.
Ten games last night saw the Warriors embarrass the Cavaliers in their own crib, the Lakers come together for a complete team win and Damian Lillard went off again, giving Portland its fourth straight win and Utah its fourth straight loss.
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Minnesota Timberwolves 106
Los Angeles Clippers 118
A 62 point first half was all the Los Angeles Clippers needed to keep the Minnesota Timberwolves at bay last night in L.A. Kawhi Leonard put out 30+ points for his ninth straight (played) game (not counting all the load management games which he sat out) to lead the Clippers, who had everyone healthy for the first time this season. Paul George came back and added 21 and seven. Karl-Anthony Towns led all scorers with 32 points and 12 rebounds, but got little help from his teammates in the loss.
| TIMBERWOLVES (15-33) 14th in the West | CLIPPERS (34-15) 3rd in the West |
| Karl-Anthony Towns 32 points – 12 rebounds – three assists – one block | Kawhi Leonard 31 points – five rebounds – six assists – four steals |
| Josh Okogie 13 points – six rebounds – one assist – one block | Paul George 21 points – seven rebounds – two assists – two steals – one block |
| Andrew Wiggins 13 points – five rebounds – three assists | Lou Williams 17 points – four rebounds – six assists – one steal |
NEXT GAMES
Timberwolves at Kings – Monday
Spurs at Clippers – Monday
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New York Knicks 92
Indiana Pacers 85
Indiana only scored 11 points in the first quarter and 14 in the fourth quarter, and that lethargic start and meager finish hobbled the Pacers giving the New York Knicks the advantage at Bankers Life Fieldhouse last night. The loss didn’t cost them in the standings as Philadelphia lost, too; but the loss was to a non-playoff team, which could cost Indiana if the race in the Eastern Conference tightens up in the last 30 games as it usually does. The loss negated a nice 25 and eight performance by Domantas Sabonis, who seemed to be the only Pacer out there with any pride, grit, or hustle.
| KNICKS (14-36) 13th in the East | PACERS (31-18) 5th in the East |
| Marcus Morris 28 points – six rebounds – one steal | Domantas Sabonis 25 points – eight rebounds – two assists |
| Julius Randle 16 points – 18 rebounds – three assists – two steals | Myles Turner 12 points – six rebounds – one assist – one steal |
| Taj Gibson 10 points – seven rebounds – one assist | Jeremy Lamb Nine points – two rebounds |
NEXT GAMES
Knicks at Cavaliers – Monday
Mavericks at Pacers – Monday
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Miami Heat 102
Orlando Magic 89
Sis three pointer and 23 points off the bench – that’s why Tyler Herro is Miami’s hero, game in and game out most games this season. Jimmy Butler led the Miami Heat to the 13 point win against the Orlando Magic in Orlando, but Herro has been getting things done all season long, along with Kendrick Nunn (six points coming back from an Achilles injury), Bam Adebayo (14 rebounds, 11 defensively), and Duncan Robinson (nine points last night). Orlando’s Aaron Gordon tied Butler for leading scorer, but that was about it. The rest of the Magic were about as flat as my Doug Henning home magic set from the late 1970s.
| HEAT (33-15) 4th in the East | MAGIC (21-28) 8th in the East |
| Jimmy Butler 24 points – three rebounds – three assists – one steal – one block | Aaron Gordon 24 points – five rebounds – one assist – two steals |
| Tyler Herro 23 points – three rebounds | Nikola Vucevic 21 points – nine rebounds – four assists – two blocks |
| Meyers Leonard 18 points – 14 rebounds – one assist | Evan Fournier 12 points – one rebound – four assists – two steals |
NEXT GAMES
Sixers at Heat – Monday
Magic at Hornets – Monday
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Golden State Warriors 131
Cleveland Cavaliers 112
Who thought the Golden State Warriors had it in them to score a 44-19 quarter on any team, even the Cleveland Cavaliers? Well, that happened last night in Cleveland, and the Cavs ought to be damned embarrassed about it, because it catapulted the league’s worst team to a 19 point win over Cleveland in their own crib. The Cavs should be darn grateful that the Atlanta Hawks lost last night as well, or they’d be close to taking the Hawks’ place as the worst in the East. Golden State featured seven players in double digit scoring, led by Glenn Robinson III, while Draymond Green had a career high tying 16 assists in the win.
| WARRIORS (11-39) 15th in the West | CAVALIERS (13-37) 14th in the East |
| Glenn Robinson III 22 points – one rebound – one assist – three steals – one block | Collin Sexton 23 points – two rebounds – four assists – three steals |
| D’Angelo Russell 19 points – seven rebounds – eight assists | Kevin Porter, Jr. 19 points – three rebounds – two assists |
| Damion Lee 18 points – four rebounds – two assists – one steal | Darius Garland 15 points – three rebounds – four assists |
NEXT GAMES
Warriors at Wizards – Monday
Knicks at Cavaliers – Monday
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Brooklyn Nets 107
Washington Wizards 113
Brooklyn broke out with a 61 point first half, but it was the Washington Wizards’ 32-23 fourth quarter surge that gave them their second win in a row back at Capital One Arena last night. Kyrie Irving scored a season low 11 points and left with an injury to his knee, a sprain, as x-rays turned out to be negative. Spencer Dinwiddie would lead the Nets as he has done most of this season and last, while non-All Star Bradley Beal flew the finger at the league with a 34 point, six rebound, three steal, three block performance in the win.
| NETS (21-27) 7th in the East | WIZARDS (17-31) 10th in the East |
| Spencer Dinwiddie 26 points – four rebounds – six assists – one steal | Bradley Beal 34 points – six rebounds – two assists – three steals – three blocks |
| Joe Harris 22 points – three rebounds – three assists | Thomas Bryant 17 points – 10 rebounds – one block |
| Garrett Temple 17 points – five rebounds – one assist – one steal – one block | Isaiah Thomas 12 points – two rebounds – three assists |
NEXT GAMES
Suns at Nets – Monday
Warriors at Wizards – Monday
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Philadelphia 76ers 95
Boston Celtics 116
Nineteen points in the first quarter and 16 in the third is why the Philadelphia 76ers are languishing in the sixth spot in the Eastern Conference, after being touted as one of the favorites – if not thee favorite – to challenge the Los Angeles Lakers for the NBA Championship later this spring. Boston showed us last night why it may be them instead. Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum combined for 57 points, but it was all about the ‘nines’ last night; Tatum scored nine points in 99 seconds last night and Al Horford went for nine points and nine rebounds against his former team. This game demonstrates a couple of conversations and articles about the Sixers and the NBA: one writer wrote on five possible destinations for Ben Simmons before the trade deadline – Simmons isn’t going anywhere, not the way he’s playing. Another commented to me how the league is broken – with Joel Embiid shooting threes and missing all four, and not making more than one of his shots overall, it indeed may be as broken as Embiid’s finger looked a couple of weeks ago.
| SIXERS (31-19) 6th in the East | CELTICS (33-15) 3rd in the East |
| Ben Simmons 23 points – nine rebounds – five assists – one steal | Jaylen Brown 32 points – nine rebounds – one assist – two steals |
| Furkan Korkmaz 14 points – four rebounds – two assists – one steal | Jayson Tatum 25 points – three rebounds – four assists – one steal – one block |
| Joel Embiid 11 points – five rebounds – one assist – two blocks | Marcus Smart 16 points – four rebounds – four assists – two steals |
NEXT GAMES
Sixers at Heat – Monday
Celtics at Hawks – Monday
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Atlanta Hawks 100
Dallas Mavericks 123
If the Atlanta Hawks could pull themselves up by the bootstraps and not get outscored by double digits in the first and third quarters, they could be off the basement floor of the Eastern Conference. Since the Cleveland Cavaliers were embarrassed in their own arena by the Golden State Warriors, both Atlanta and Cleveland are parked at 13-37, having won 26 percent of their schedule so far, and are tied virtually for the lowest record in the East. Kevin Huerter hit six three pointers for the Hawks in the loss, while Willie Cauley-Stein got his first start for the Mavericks, and went seven and 10 on the night.
| HAWKS (13-37) 15th in the East | MAVERICKS (30-19) 6th in the West |
| John Collins 26 points – 11 rebounds | Jalen Brunson 27 points – four rebounds – eight assists |
| Kevin Huerter 20 points – one rebound – three assists – one steal | Dorian Finney-Smith 22 points – seven rebounds – four assists – two steals – one block |
| Trae Young 12 points – six rebounds – one assist | Maxi Kleber 18 points – six rebounds – one assist – one steal – four blocks |
NEXT GAMES
Celtics at Hawks – Monday
Mavericks at Pacers – Monday
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Charlotte Hornets 90
San Antonio Spurs 115
The Charlotte Hornets outscored the San Antonio Spurs 35-20 in the second quarter last night at the AT&T Center, but couldn’t muster more than 27 points in the entire second half (11 in the third, 16 in the fourth) as they died right there in front of 18,615 Spurs’ faithful to give San Antonio its 22nd win of the season, just four games under the .500 mark. If that wasn’t enough of a magnanimous collapse, it gave the Spurs the opportunity to come back from 19 down without the typical LaMarcus Aldridge, Bryn Forbes, Dejounte Murray, or Patty Mills performances. Mills outscored all of his aforementioned teammates with a meager 11 point output.
| HORNETS (16-33) 12th in the East | SPURS (22-26) 10th in the West |
| Miles Bridges 25 points – six rebounds – two assists – two blocks | DeMar DeRozan 24 points – two rebounds – six assists – two steals |
| Cody Zeller 14 points – 12 rebounds – eight assists – two steals – one block | Jakob Poeltl 17 points – seven rebounds – one assist – two steals – one block |
| Malik Monk 11 points – four rebounds – two assists – two blocks | Derrick White 12 points – five rebounds – one assist |
NEXT GAMES
Magic at Hornets – Monday
Spurs at Clippers – Monday
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Los Angeles Lakers 129
Sacramento Kings 113
An 81 point first half (honoring Kobe Bryant? Or coincidence?) and the Sacramento Kings couldn’t catch up, despite their best effort. It was just one of those games the Los Angeles Lakers had to win to get things back on track. The beautiful part is, it was one of those games that you’ve wanted to see all season long, and you hope to see in the 34 games remaining on the schedule – a total team effort. Sure, the team was once again led by Anthony Davis and LeBron James, who had his 11th triple double this season, and his 92nd of his career. But the Lakers featured seven players in double figures, including four off the bench in Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (15), Rajon Rondo (13), Alex Caruso (13), and Kyle Kuzma (12).
| LAKERS (37-11) 1st in the West | KINGS (18-31) 13th in the West |
| Anthony Davis 21 points – four rebounds – six assists – two steals – one block | De’Aaron Fox 24 points – six rebounds – five assists – one block |
| Avery Bradley 19 points – two rebounds | Buddy Hield 22 points – four rebounds – two assists – one steal – one block |
| LeBron James 15 points – 10 rebounds – 11 assists – two steals | Harry Giles III 16 points – eight rebounds – one assist – one steal |
NEXT GAMES
Timberwolves at Kings – Monday
Spurs at Lakers – Tuesday
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Utah Jazz 107
Portland Trailblazers 124
Don’t look now, but the Portland Trailblazers have won four straight and five out of their last six games on the shoulders of Damian Lillard, who scored 51 points last night and has scored 414 points in his last 10 games to give the Blazers this much needed surge. Mike Conley made his first start since a return from a hamstring injury, and scored half of his 22 points in the first quarter. But Lillard hit nine three pointers and dished out 12 dimes to give the Blazers their fourth consecutive win and send Utah to its fourth consecutive loss. The four straight wins is a season high for Portland, who go for No. 5 against the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night.
| JAZZ (32-17) 4th in the West | TRAILBLAZERS (23-27) 9th in the West |
| Donovan Mitchell 25 points – two rebounds – four assists – one steal | Damian Lillard 51 points – two rebounds – 12 assists – one steal |
| Mike Conley 22 points – four rebounds – four assists | Hassan Whiteside 17 points – 21 rebounds – one steal – three blocks |
| Bojan Bogdanovic 22 points – two rebounds – one assist – one steal | Carmelo Anthony 15 points – five rebounds – one assist |
NEXT GAMES
Blazers at Nuggets – Tuesday
Nuggets at Jazz – Wednesday
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SUNDAY’S LINEUP
(All Times Eastern Standard Time)
| 12:30 p.m. Denver Nuggets Detroit Pistons Altitude, Fox Sports Detroit | 2 p.m. New Orleans Pelicans Houston Rockets ABC |
| 2 p.m. Phoenix Suns Milwaukee Bucks Fox Sports Arizona, Fox Sports Wisconsin | 3 p.m. Chicago Bulls Toronto Raptors NBC Sports Chicago, TSN 1/4 |
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Tracy Graven is a Senior NBA Analyst for BackSportsPage.com.
He has written the NBA, and done NBA radio, for the last two decades for HoopsWorld, Swish Magazine, and HoopsHype, the Coach Scott Fields Show and NBARadioShow.com, and is also tackling the NFL, NCAA, and will be pinch-hitting on some Major League Baseball coverage for BackSportsPage.
He’s spent 20 years in locker rooms in
- Orlando
- Boise (G League)
- San Antonio
- Phoenix
- Denver
- Oklahoma City
- Atlanta
A corporate trainer by day, he currently resides in SEC Country near Knoxville, Tennessee.
Reach him on Twitter at @RealTMoneyMedia
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