Every morning, we will give you five things from the night before in the NBA to start your day.
1: Manhattan takes Brooklyn
It was another supercharged night at the Barclays Center for the much-anticipated rematch between New York's two teams. And both came to play in this entertaining up-and-down affair.
Manhattan (aka New York) may have exacted some revenge. Or better yet, Carmelo Anthony might have.
Anthony continued his torrid play through the league, earning the various M-V-P chants that came from the large amount of Knicks fans that made their way to that other borough for this road game. Anthony scored a season-high 45 points on 15-for-24 shooting, playing 44 minutes and doing every thing for the Knicks.
His presence and the demands he placed on teh defense forced Brooklyn to double team him when he touched the ball late in the game. That opened up the passing lanes and the crisp ball movement Anthony is sometimes accused of halting. On the final possession for the Knicks the ball found its way to Jason Kidd who drained a three and (may have) stuck out his leg to draw a four-point play. The Nets missed a three-pointer to tie it up and fell 100-97.
With as much emotion charged into this game, it will be itneresting to see what happens when the series shifts to Manhattan and Madison Square Garden in eight days.
2: Kobe doin' work, not getting results
The struggle for the Lakers continues. It is nto because of anything Kobe Bryant is doing, at least on the offensive end.
Bryant scored 42 points, recording his 11th 30-point game of the season. Of course, Bryant really only cares about one stat though. And that is wins. Bryant's Lakers have only one win in those 11 games after Los Angeles' 100-94 loss to the Cavaliers on Tuesday.
The loss was reminiscent of some of those games from the mid-2000s when Bryant felt like it was necessary to score a large and sometimes ridiculous amount of points just to keep his team in games. Of course, now Bryant has Dwight Howard (19 points, 20 rebounds for what it was worth) and the expectations are much higher.
Another loss was not in the cards even with the Lakers heading out on the road.
Kyrie Irving was able to come back from his injury and tear up the Lakers defense, scoring 28 points. C.J. Miles also had 28. The Lakers defense was hapless and that is just simply startling with Howard back there. It is puzzling.
And the frustration is boiling over as Mike D'Antoni had a testy interchange with reporters after the game as the questions become about things that are very basic.
3: HIGHLIGHTS!!!
A pair of Piston slams
Jordan Crawford leads Wizards to win with plays like this
http://youtube.com/watch?v=QrH_G8WGnP0
Blake-shaka-laka
4: Line of the Night: Ty Lawson — 26 points, 7 assists
I am a sucker for grinding games where the team with clearly better talent just out last and outdo a team with less talent. Yeah, these games lack any entertainment value (for the most part) but this is where you see what teams are really all about. Lawson had such a game in the Nuggets' 101-94 win against the Pistons. There is not likely to be any other mention of this game other than it was a win with some good performances.
5: You can quote me on that
That first quarter, I thought I was getting my teeth pulled at the dentist without any novocaine. It was pretty painful.
–Wizards coach Randy Wittman on a 22-11 first quarter deficit his team had to overcome
When we were matched up at the top of the floor, yeah, I could feel the whole building kind of get behind that. Defensively I tried to take a stand. He's a fantastic, fantastic, fantastic player.
–Lakers guard Kobe Bryant on a one-on-one duel that ended with Bryant blocking Irving's shot
