GRIZZLIES GRIT AND GRIND OUT THE HAWKS:
The Atlanta Hawks have been one of the best shows in the league this season and the Memphis Grizzlies keep bubbling to the top of the standings around the league. Mike Conley and Marc Gasol played great and the Hawks just couldn't get into any kind of rhythm offensively. Jeff Teague was the best Hawk on the floor with 22 points and six assists, but the typical ball-sharing of the rest of the Hawks wasn't there.
The Grizzlies turned them into more of an individual scoring effort. Atlanta only had 17 assists on their 33 made shots when they're usually up around 25-30 assists. The Hawks shot well from downtown in the game, making 40 percent of their 3's. They just couldn't get to the line and they couldn't hit shots inside the 3-point line.
Conley led the way for Memphis with 21 points. The Grizzlies shot the ball horribly (under 40 percent from the field, 23.1 percent from 3) but they dominated on the offensive glass 17-3.
How good was the Grizzlies' defense? This was just the fourth time the Hawks have shot under 40.0 percent from the field this season and it was their first loss when doing so.
HAWKS' FRONTCOURT REALLY STRUGGLED AGAINST THE GRIZZLIES' FRONTCOURT:
All-Stars Paul Millsap and Al Horford have helped carry the Hawks all season long but they were shut down by Gasol, Zach Randolph, and Kosta Koufos. Millsap had just four points on 2-of-10 from the field and Horford had just six points on 2-of-11 shooting. Horford did grab 12 rebounds and Millsap had six, but they couldn't keep the Grizzlies' frontcourt off the glass.
It wasn't just the 17-3 offensive rebounding advantage. The Grizzlies had 38 defensive rebounds to the Hawks' 37 total rebounds.
KYLE KORVER DID SOME MOP-UP DUTY:
Kyle Korver almost made this shot.
DEMARCUS COUSINS WINNING JUMPER!DeMarcus Cousins is out here hitting winning jumpers with that sweet, sweet shooter's roll! First Anthony Davis and now Boogie.
LIFE AFTER BLAKE GRIFFIN ISN'T GREAT FOR THE CLIPPERS:Just a couple hours prior to their showdown with the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Los Angeles Clippers announced that Blake Griffin is going to undergo elbow surgery to remove a staph infection. It's a huge blow to the Clippers considering Griffin is their best player this season and has meant so much to scoring the ball and setting up teammates. Their first test without Griffin ended up being a disaster.
The Thunder destroyed the Clippers from start to finish. The Clippers needed 17 first half points from Spencer Hawes, just to stay within striking range, and the Clippers controlled the game all afternoon. Eventually they blew the game wide-open in the second half and it ended up being a laugher fro the Clips. Chris Paul led the way for the Clippers with 18 points and 13 assists, but it wasn't even close to being enough to have a chance to win.
The Clippers gave up 131 points on the afternoon. They got destoyed on the boards 54-29 and gave up 38 free throws attempts to the Thunder.
YOU'RE DOWN 20, HOMIE:Kevin Durant not only led the Thunder with his 29 points, six assists, and five rebounds, but he delivered the line of the day while OKC was blowing out the Clippers. Paul hit a jumper and was barking at the Thunder bench on his way back up the floor.
Durant quickly reminded him what the score was:
KEVIN DURANT SLAPPING THE GLASS:
The pass from Russell Westbrook is the real MVP of this play, but Durant finishes off the pinache of the play by slapping the glass. Perhaps it was a tribute to Corey Maggette? But seriously, that one-handed, left-handed bullet from Westbrook was great.
STEVEN ADAMS' LEFTY FREE THROW:Bad news for the Thunder with Steven Adams injuring his right arm, but in order to be eligible to remain in the game, the rough and tumble Kiwi big man stayed in the game to shoot his free throw. Much like Westbrook's one-handed, left-handed gem above, Adams used just his left hand to loft up the free attempt and he knocked it down cold.
He left the game shortly after and did not return to play.
HOW BOUT THAT SPENCER HAWES SHOW?
Spencer Hawes received the starting nod in place of Griffin, and he managed to score 17 points in the first half. He even had this array of moves to try to get off a clean shot against Serge Ibaka.
He didn't score at all in the second half and was a minus-28 for the game, but you can't take that highlight away from him.
MITCH MCGARY WAS DOING STUFF:Thunder rookie Mitch McGary made the third appearance of his career and came alive on the court. In 23 minutes off the bench, McGary had 19 points on 8-of-9 shooting and 10 rebounds.
KYRIE IRVING WAS BEING RUDE TO JEREMY LIN:If you've ever wondered what it would look like if Jeremy Lin went ice skating, Cleveland Cavaliers' ankle abuser Kyrie Irving showed us. Irving threw all kinds of crossovers and spin moves at the Los Angeles Lakers' point guard before dropping down a one-handed bounce pass to Timofey Mozgov for the dunk.
The Lakers are really bad defensively, but I'm not sure you can really do anything against those handles.
IMAN SHUMPERT CATCHING THE SIDE OUT OF BOUNDS LOB:
"Hey guys, we're not tanking. We've got Carlos Boozer as our backline defense on this play."
CAVS' MASCOT VS. JORDAN CLARKSON:Robin Lopez isn't the only NBA player messing with NBA mascots. Jordan Clarkson left Moondog hanging on the baseline and the Cavs' mascot started charging after him to get his dap. Tarik Black had to be so confused here.
LOS ANGELES BASKETBALL 213, OPPONENTS 251:The Clippers lost by 23 points to the Thunder and the Lakers got blown out by 15 (it wasn't that close) thanks to the Cavs.
KEVIN LOVE'S SHOOTING TOUCH IS BACK?Kevin Love has struggled to find his comfort zone within the Cavs' attack all season long, but he finally looked like the Kevin Love of old against the Lakers. He had 32 points (17 in the second quarter) on 11-of-18 from the field and 7-of-8 from 3-point range. He also had 10 rebounds and three assists.
The Cavs just took turns destroying the Lakers by quarter. Kyrie Irving had 13 of his 28 points in the first quarter. Then Love had his big second quarter. The third quarter belonged to LeBron James as he scored 14 of his 22.
JON LEUER'S SPIN MOVE:Jon Leuer is a pretty good athlete. He surprises people out there because... well... they're not that familiar with his game. But he can get up and dunk on people, and he has great, quick feet to pull moves like that spin out of nowhere.
GREGG POPOVICH DIDN'T GET TO 1,000 WINS:The San Antonio Spurs went into Toronto and had a chance to give coach Gregg Popovich his 1,000th career regular season win. Instead, the Spurs laid an egg and that egg hatched into a vicious Raptor that overtook the entire island. The Spurs made one-third of their shots, one-quarter of their 3-pointers, and couldn't stop James Johnson, who had 20 points.
ANDREW WIGGINS AND ZACH LAVINE ARE GOING AERIAL:These kids are just warming Zach LaVine up for the dunk contest next weekend. Andrew Wiggins selflessly tossed up the lob and LaVine brought the show on the catch and dunk.
WAIT, THE TIMBERWOLVES HAVE WON THREE STRAIGHT GAMES?Speaking of the Minnesota Timberwolves, they won their third straight game with a 112-101 victory over the Detroit Pistons. Nikola Pekovic was a monster with 29 points on 9-of-16 from the field and 11-of-12 from the line. Kevin Martin had 24 points on 21 shots with nine rebounds, and Andrew Wiggins had 18 points.
The Wolves shot 51.3 percent from the field, just their sixth such game of over 50 percent from the field this season. They're 4-2 when they shoot over 50.0 percent. The previous two wins made some sense with Ricky Rubio back from injury, but he sat this game out to rest the ankle as a precaution to not overwork him.
GEORGE HILL RUINED AL JEFFERSON'S BIG GAME:Charlotte Hornets' big man Al Jefferson had a phenomenal game with 30 points on 13-of-22 from the field and 13 rebounds. Unfortunately for him and the Hornets, George Hill was there to ruin the day. For some reason, Cody Zeller just ran away from Hill and the Indiana Pacers' point guard ended up being the hero.
PAU GASOL WAS SIMPLY TOO MUCH FOR ORLANDO:The Orlando Magic didn't really have an answer for Jimmy Butler (27 points) for most of the night, but the Chicago Bulls' other All-Star Pau Gasol ended up being too much for the Magic's frontcourt. Gasol had 25 points, 15 rebounds, and four assists but his two biggest points came on a winning tip dunk 9.4 seconds left.
JAMES HARDEN HAD HIMSELF A GAME AND IT DIDN'T MATTER:James Harden isn't the leading scorer in the NBA for nothing. He had a monster line of 45 points on 11-of-25 shooting and 19-of-23 from the free throw line. He also had nine rebounds and eight assists. Aside from Harden's 45 points, the rest of the Rockets didn't really do much. Josh Smith had a good game off the bench with 16 points, and nobody else contributed.
The Blazers received 47 points from the LaMarcus Aldridge-Damian Lillard duo, and the entire Portland team made 52.6 percent of their shots.
Give James Harden some help here.
MARKIEFF MORRIS DIDN'T HAVE A GREAT SHOOTING LINE:Bad news is Markieff Morris went 3-of-20 from the field. Good news is... he didn't shoot more than 20 times.
