NBA Friday round-up: Warriors improve to 62-6, Cavs and Thunder clinch Playoff spots
Golden State Warriors 130-112 Dallas Mavericks
The reigning NBA Champions landed in Dallas, where they had their second loss of the season, on the first night of a back to back with the San Antonio Spurs waiting on Saturday. The Warriors lost on New Year’s Eve in Dallas 91-113 playing without league MVP Stephen Curry but they exercised their revenge on Friday winning big 130-112.
The Splash brothers combined for 70 points (Klay Thompson 39 points) and Marreese Speights scored in double digits (13) off the bench once again (five in last six games).For the Warriors it’s their seventh straight win however for the Mavericks it’s a gut-wrenching loss. It’s their seventh loss in eight games and their fifth straight at home.
They now only hold a half game lead over the surging Utah Jazz, who have won four in a row. They didn't do much wrong with 12 turnovers (same as the Warriors) and shooting 44% from the field, 31.1% from the 3-point line and 95.5% from the free throw line, it’s just that the Warriors did much better shooting 50.5% from the field, 57.9 from the beyond the arc and 86% from the charity stripe.
Toronto Raptors 105-91 Boston Celtics
Clearly the Boston Celtics are missing Small/Power Forward Jae Crowder, who's out with a sore right ankle with an approximate two-week timetable. They have now lost four in a row and five of their last six games, including their last two at home after winning 14 straight. They have now slipped from a strong third seed to a slipping sixth seed and at the bottom of a 3rd-6th seed pack consisting of the Atlanta Hawks, Miami Heat and the Charlotte Hornets.
However more than the struggles of the C’s, the Toronto Raptors continued their quest for the conference’s top seed with a dominating 105-91 win. Kyle Lowry had 32 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds while back court mate DeMar Derozan 15 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists. Forward Luis Scola scored all of his 17 points in the first 11 minutes of the game to give the Raptors a lead they never gave up the rest of the game.
Cleveland Cavaliers 109-103 Orlando Magic
After sitting last night out against the Dallas Mavericks, LeBron James came back to the line-up to help his Cleveland Cavaliers just about take care of business against the young Orlando Magic. James had an all round game with 18 points, 8 assists and 7 rebounds while point guard Kyrie Irving had a 26 points, 5 assists night. The Cavs once againc made a huge game of a match-up they should have easily taken care off.
Cavaliers locked up their Playoff spot with this win, for the second straight year after failing do so for four straight years.
Cleveland has been mighty inconsistent over the past two weeks, dropping odd games against teams like the Utah Jazz and the Memphis Grizzlies. Here against the Magic, the Cavs almost dropped the game courtesy of Victory Oladipo’s career night of 45 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. With his box score, Oladipo became the only second Magic player to have 40+ points, 5+ rebounds and 3+ steals and end up on the losing side.
Watch Oladipo’s career scoring night here:
Oklahoma City Thunder 111-97 Philadelphia 76ers
Kevin Durant (26 points, 13 rebounds and 6 assists) and Russell Westbrook (20 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists) led the way as the Oklahoma City dominantly won against the lowly Philadelphia 76ers. The win helps the team clinch a Playoff spot, one season after they missed out on the post-season last year due to multiple injuries. This is how bad the 76ers are, the Thunder won this game by 14 points despite turning the ball over 20 times (76ers had 8).
Only Nik Stauskas played really well scoring 23 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals on 9 of 15 shots and 5 of 7 on 3’s in just 34 minutes of court time. The rest of the 76ers had a tough time getting their shot into the basket. The teams shot 39.3% from the field and 63% from the free throw line.
Portland Trailblazers 117-112 New Orleans Pelicans
Damian Lillard (POR): 33 pts, 8 rebs, 6 asts
C.J. McCollum (POR): 30 pts and 8 asts.
Detroit Pistons 115-108 Sacramento Kings
DeMarcus Cousins (SAC): 31 pts and 10 rebs.
Reggie Jackson (DET): 19 pts, 9 asts and 7 rebs.
Houston Rockets 116-111 Minnesota Timberwolves
James Harden (HOU): 29 pts, 14 asts and 5 rebs.
Karl Anthony Towns (MIN): 32 pts and 11 rebs.
Phoenix Suns 95-90 Los Angeles Lakers
Devin Booker (PHO): 21 pts, 7 asts and 5 rebs.
Lou Williams (LAL): 30 pts, 3 rebs, 3 asts.