Every morning, we will give you five things from the night before in the NBA to start your day.
1: Extra curriculars
Weird things always seem to happen in the NBA. Nothing weirder happened in the Association on Monday night than what happened, or allegedly happened, after the Knicks played the Celtics at Madison Square Garden.
It almost did not matter that the Celtics scored the 102-96 upset over the Knicks on the road.
What did matter was that Carmelo Anthony reportedly had to be restrained from going after Kevin Garnett in the Boston locker room. The anger from Anthony was born out of a double technical foul in the third quarter when Anthony and Garnett were jostling for position. Anthony did not make himself available to the media to say the least.
The jostling got in his head though. He had only three points after that. And that mattered for the Knicks. Anthony scored only 20 points and missed 20 of his 26 shots. New York just could not score enough.
And so the Celtics won for just the second time without Rajon Rondo.
Paul Pierce scored 23 points and Kevin Garnett added 19 points and 10 rebounds for Boston.
2: The Beal deal
No doubt, life can be tough at the bottom of the standings. Just ask Wizards fans who are becoming used to blow outs, long losing streaks and little hope. John Wall is still waiting in the wings, but perhaps Monday served as a notice that things are turning up.
With a whole lot of Thunder fans in the building to cheer on Kevin Durant's homecoming it was the St. Louis native Bradley Beal who stole the show and gave hope to the Wizards masses.
Beal hit a floater with 0.3 seconds left to give Washington a 101-99 win in a game Washington controlled virtually throughout in one of several surprising finishes in the NBA on Monday. None may have been bigger than the team with the league's worst record pulling out this stunner against the team with one of the league's best.
Beal scored 22 points as did Martell Webster as Washington recovered from a beat down the previous night in Miami to steal this win from Oklahoma City. The Thunder still got 29 points from Kevin Durant and 26 points from Serge Ibaka. Monday was just the Wizards' night.
And Beal, who has had some struggles adjusting to the NBA, got a big confidence booster. Perhaps this team will show vast improvement once Wall makes his return in the next few weeks.
3: HIGHLIGHTS!!!
Beal strikes
Keep your eyes on the ball
Hayward CAN jump
4: Line of the Night: Wayne Ellington — 26 points, 10/11 FGs, 6/7 3FGs
When you think of efficiency off the bench, these are the kind of nights you are talking about. Ellington, a 3-point marksman at least in theory, just put on a scoring onslaught for the Grizzlies in their 113-81 win over the Kings. Some advanced numbers for you: Ellington shot a 118.2 percent effective field goal percentage and posted a 118.2 percent true shooting percentage. You do not see many nights like this. John Hollinger must have been giddy.
5: You can quote me on that
We’ve got all-around people who can do everything. Only Wes can’t do everything. Just score.
–Blazers forward Nicolas Batum joking after his team's 125-119 overtime win over the Magic
Coach said, 'If you think I’m taking you out, you’re crazy.'
–Bradley Beal on playing nearly 45 minutes and finishing Monday's game.
