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Hayward, the rookie out of Butler, had no problem filling the bucket on Tuesday. Kobe, on the other hand? Yikes. In other action, Kevin Durant dominated Denver and the Celtics had no problems with the Sixers.
The Oklahoma City Thunder dropped some real-world problems on the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night with a 101-94 victory in the Mile High City. The Nuggets had been flying miles high, having won six straight and coming off a superlative and widely seen win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday. But Kevin Durant let the world know he wasn't that impressed, and hung 32 points on 10-21 shooting on Denver.
Russell Westbrook struggled from the floor, shooting 5-17 on his way to 18 points and six assists. His counterpart Ty Lawson racked up 28 on 10-18 shooting. That could be an issue if the teams meet in the first round of the NBA Playoffs (as seems likely); the Thunder need Westbrook to be the second-best player on the court, because Denver has a huge depth advantage. Lawson played far better than Westbrook on Tuesday.
Oklahoma City, and Kendrick Perkins in particular, did a great job keeping Denver off of the offensive glass. The Nuggets are a poor offensive rebounding team, but Nene and Kenyon Martin are capable of causing trouble in that realm; just ask the Lakers. Denver had just five offensive boards in 47 opportunities, a really low number.
These teams should meet in the first round, unless the Thunder catches the Dallas Mavericks for the No. 3 seed. OKC has a tiebreaker, but Dallas is two games up with a week to go.
Rajon Rondo had 16 points and 13 assists as the Boston Celtics knocked back the Philadelphia 76ers 99-82 at the TD Garden on Tuesday. Boston's starting five, in particular, had little trouble with the Sixers. Paul Pierce scored 18 points on 6-11 shooting, Kevin Garnett had 14 on 6-10 and Ray Allen had 13 on 5-7. The vaunted Philly defense couldn't slow a team that's had trouble getting points on the board lately.
Evan Turner had a solid game off the bench for the Sixers, with 22 points on 9-14 shooting and five assists. But Philadelphia was in too deep a hole, thanks to lackluster performances from Jrue Holiday (11 points, 4-12 shooting) and Spencer Hawes (six points, 3-14 shooting). That Turner performed in the absence of Lou Williams, who is sidelined until the end of the regular season, is a positive, though.
In other action:
Clippers 82, Grizzlies 81: Zach Randolph and Blake Griffin played to a stalemate; Mo Williams took advantage of a late Z-Bo turnover to score six straight points and give L.A. the edge. Cheers to the Clippers for refusing to give up. There were post-game murmurs on the internet that perhaps Memphis would rather play San Antonio than L.A. in the first round. HMMM.
Kings 104, Rockets 101: Houston choked up an opportunity to put some pressure on New Orleans and Memphis by losing to the bad Kings at home. Marcus Thornton is a stone cold assassin; he hit a icy jumper with 30 seconds to go to freeze the game. Sacramento hasn't finished a season this strong since 2006.
Spurs 97, Hawks 90: San Antonio handled business without hitting their three-pointers (1-8). A big part of the win was control of the boards; the Spurs had nine offensive rebounds in 31 opportunities while holding Atlanta to three in 33.
Bulls 97, Suns 94: Derrick Rose (6-15 shooting) and Steve Nash (six points, 16 assists) didn't exactly set the floor on the fire. Vince Carter tried to, scoring 23 points and hitting three three-pointers. (A real Jason Richardson performance.) Rose was great late, though, hitting two buckets and a free throw in the final two minutes to clinch the victory.
Knicks 131, Raptors 118: More of the same for New York -- killer offense, absent defense. The Knicks scored 78 (!) in the first half to make life difficult for Toronto; Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire had 23 each, and Toney Douglas poured in 28. Ed Davis shredded Amar'e for 22 points, and DeMar DeRozan threw in 36. Offense!
Magic 78, Bucks 72: Milwaukee's starting lineup shot ... 11-45. That's how Orlando was able to win despite shooting 2-21 on three-pointers. Butler-UConn: Pro Edition.
Warriors 108, Blazers 87: Brandon Roy and Rudy Fernandez shot a combined 3-20 from the field off the bench. But Portland's starters were crummy on defense; Monta Ellis had 30 on 19 shots, Stephen Curry had 28 on 21 shots and David Lee thoroughly outplayed LaMarcus Aldridge with 29 points and 20 rebounds to LMA's 17 and 12.
Cavaliers 99, Bobcats 89: It's hard to discern whether Charlotte has given up or simply doesn't have the horses to compete. Maybe it's both? Boris Diaw's performance (three points in 38 minutes) was embarrassing.
Wizards 107, Pistons 105: John Wall attacked hard, and was rewarded with 16 free throws on his way to 26 points and 12 assists. Greg Monroe was a monster with 22 points, 14 rebounds, four assists and four steals. Two kids on the up-and-up.
Nets 107, Wolves 105: Brook Lopez and Deron Williams gave fans and opponents a glimpse of what's in store next season with great personal performances against an admittedly awful opponent. Lopez had 30 and 12; Williams had an incredible 21 assists to go with 18 points.
Jazz Vs. Lakers: Gordon Hayward, Utah Edge Kobe Bryant, L.A.
Gordon Hayward led an improbable charge as the Utah Jazz knocked off the Los Angeles Lakers 86-85 at Staples Center on Tuesday, just days after the champs had no problem pulling aces in Salt Lake City. Hayward, the rookie out of Butler who has struggled all season, dropped 22 points on the Lakers, including 10 in the fourth quarter. He came up big in the clutch, facing off against the league's best supposed closer in Kobe Bryant.
Hayward laughed in the face of that challenge, drawing a foul on Bryant on the Jazz's last possession to give Utah a one-point edge; with six seconds left at the other end, Kobe fumbled the ball away and couldn't get a shot up. Most surprising about Hayward's game, though, wasn't his steely reserve; he showed plenty of that at Butler last season. Hayward showed a real ability to make good passes in traffic after the Lakers defense converged on his penetration moves. That's a facet I hadn't seen this season, and it bodes well for his transition from bit reserve to featured scorer, if that's where this is headed.
In part because Hayward has been inconsistent this season, Tyrone Corbin relied on a three-big lineup again, using Paul Millsap at small forward and Al Jefferson and Derrick Favors up front. Millsap and Favors thrived; the burly veteran had 22 points on 7-18 shooting (though he was blocked eight times) and Favors had a solid 14 points and 11 rebounds. On the other end, it couldn't stop Andrew Bynum, who feasted on a career-high 23 rebounds, seven on offense. The triple-big lineup isn't supposed to allow that to happen.
Kobe for the game, by the way, had 20 points on 6-18 shooting and seven turnovers.
Apr 06 8:03a by Tom Ziller - 1 comment