Every morning, we’ll give you five things from the night before in the NBA to start your day.
1: 4 OT’s
We all like to joke about Joe Johnson’s contract. And while it’s definitely a bloated deal, it’s not like he sucks. He’s certainly capable of having a superstar-like night. He just can’t do it consistently to earn the superstar contract.
But last night he played 55 minutes… FIFTY FIVE… in the NBA’s first quadruple OT game since 1997, dropping 37 points on 14-28 shooting and hitting big shot after big shot (more in the highlights) to beat the Jazz 139-133. More on the game:
The four overtimes tied for the third-longest game in NBA history. It was the ninth NBA game to go four OTs and the first since Phoenix beat Portland 140-139 on Nov. 14, 1997.
We can go back to making fun of Joe Johnson another time. He won that game for the Hawks last night.
2: Heat checked
Everyone keeps saying the West is wide open, but I don’t see anyone truly in the same class as the Oklahoma City Thunder. Sure, they can be beaten in a game or two, but I don’t know about beating them in a seven game series.
Last night, the Thunder laid the hammer down on Miami, using a big second quarter run to build a lead they’d never relinquish. They were able to hold the Heat off with a stingy defense that only gave up 38 second half points while getting scoring contributions from Kendrick Perkins (16) and Serge Ibaka (19).
They took advantage of Miami’s big weakness and won comfortably. It won’t always come that way. They play Miami again a week and a half, and the score may well be reversed. But they showed why they’re the class of the West last night.
This will be a hell of an NBA Finals.
3: HIGHLIGHTS!!!
Joe Johnson sends the game to triple OT
Dwyane Wade hits the 3/4 court buzzer beater
The dunk from Blair was nice… but the Manu crossover was HOT
4: Line of the night: Kevin Love – 30 points, 21 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 3 blocks
How many times is Kevin Love going to get the line of the night? As many times as he wants to keep putting up monster scoring/rebounding games. He had 51 and 14 on Friday night. Here’s the money line, from the AP:
Love had his seventh career 30-20 game, which leads all active players. At 23 years old, he already has done that more times than Tim Duncan (six), Kevin Garnett (five) and Dirk Nowitzki (two).
Damn.
5: You can quote me on that
“It’s his decision to make,” Bryant said. “He makes the decision. He’s the coach. If you guys are looking for a story, I’m not going to give you one. I can’t sit here and criticize his decisions. In leading this ballclub, that’s something I can’t afford to do. I got to have his back. I’ve had his back the whole season; I can’t start doing something crazy now. It wouldn’t make no sense.”
–Kobe Bryant, on being taken out of the game in the 4th quarter of a loss to Memphis
“I think we used to call him kind of a poor man’s Larry Bird. I think you can take ‘poor man’s’ off that comparison now. His ability to rebound is incredible and his offensive tools and skills are growing.”
-Denver coach George Karl, on Kevin Love
“I think it was a good test for us. We came out and did what we needed to do and protected home court. … Now, we’ve got to move on. I don’t think we should ride a rollercoaster over this one win.”
–Kendrick Perkins, on the Thunder win over Miami
