Every morning, we will give you five things from the night before in the NBA to start your day.
1: Not yet Nets
The Miami Heat are still a really good team. There was no doubt about that. Are the Nets a really good team? That is a question still worth asking. One that will not be answered in a November matchup between the two teams.
This though? This was probably not what Brooklyn had in mind. Not at all.
The Heat trounced the Nets by 30 points, 103-73 at American Airlines Arena on Wednesday. LeBron James had a ho-hum near-triple double with 20 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists. Dwyane Wade had only 22 points.
Of course, the Heat make their work on the defensive end and this is where the Nets were completely suffocated. Deron Williams scored 14 points and had seven turnovers. Joe Johnson shot 4 for 14 and scored only nine points. As a team, Brooklyn shot 37.5 percent from the floor. The Heat shot 51.9 percent and made 13 of 16 free throws.
That is thorough domination. Miami put Brooklyn in its place a little bit. Just a little bit. It is November after all. But if the Nets had any dreams of challenging the Heat, they need to look at their own team first and get their house in order. They are not quite ready to challenge the top spot.
2: Clippers hand Spurs first loss
After Milwaukee and San Antonio lost, only one team is undefeated in the NBA — the New York Knicks. Thanks Clippers for giving us that experience.
It was the big matchup of the evening and it turned out to be kind of a dud. San Antonio does that sometimes because the team likes to rest its best players to pace them through the season. But through three games, the Spurs were playing as well as anybody. It looked like a typical Spurs unit.
And like a typical Spurs unit, they sometimes takes evenings off and sometimes they get beat like this.
The Clippers did their work, picking up the pace and executing on offense. Blake Griffin had 22 points and DeAndre Jordan had 20 points. Five other players scored in double figures for the Clippers. It was just that kind of night.
3: HIGHLIGHTS!!!
Derrick Williams flies in
Kenneth Faried is a Manimal
Rashard Lewis can still dunk
4: Line of the Night: Greg Monroe 21 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists
If you had Greg Monroe as the first player to record a triple double in the 2013 season, congrats. This game kind of came out of nowhere and followed a 27-point effort Tuesday night against the Nuggets. It still was not enough for Monroe's Pistons. The Kings got big late-game performances from Marcus Thornton and Isaiah Thomas to win 105-103.
5: You can quote me on that
I promised myself that I’ve got to be a better rim protector. With my athleticism, ability to move laterally and to jump, I’ve got to block more shots. I quit kind of taking those charges. Hopefully, I get more blocks. That’s what we need.
–Phoenix center Marcin Gortat after recording seven blocks in a 117-110 win at Charlotte
I appreciate it when everyone tells you to keep shooting when you miss a few in a row. It’s actually one of my pet peeves. I know. I will. It’s what I do. But it’s good. You want your coach and your teammates to have your back.
–Hawks guard Kyle Korver after scoring 13 points in a 24-9 run in Atlanta's 109-106 win over Indiana
