Welcome to PBT’s roundup of yesterday’s NBA games. Or, what you missed while waiting five days for that goat cheese fire to butn itself out...
Thunder 109, Clippers 98: This was a four-point game at the half, then Kevin Durant happened. The Clippers were without their star in Chris Paul — bruised knee — but when Durant gets going like this it doesn’t matter who is defending. Our man D.J. Foster broke this game down for us.
Cavaliers 95, Celtics 90: Maybe the most entertaining game of the night, because it was close down the stretch and it became Kyrie Irving against the Celtics. In fact, the only reason it was close late was Irving dropped 23 on Boston in the first half.
The key plays started when it was 84-83 Cleveland with 2:30 remaining. Boston had the ball but Kevin Garnett missed an 18-foot jumper and in going for the rebound Jared Sullinger went for the back-tap but hit it so hard it was about to go out of bounds at the other end. Rajon Rondo raced down, beat Irving to the ball, then decided to do a leaping out of bounds move to save the ball, but quickly noticed he had no teammates to pass to. He tried to throw the ball out of bounds hard off Irving’s legs. But Irving thought fast, caught the ball and made an uncontested layup. It was a big mental error that gave Cleveland an 86-83 lead.
Garnett then hit a couple free throws, but Alonzo Gee answered with a driving layup. Garnett drove and got fouled again and again made it a one-point game after free throws. Then after a couple misses Irving made the play of the game, a coast-to-coast driving layup with 52 seconds and Cleveland up by three again. Then, again, Tyler Zeller fouled Garnett who again hit free throws. Then once again Irving answered, this time blowing past Rondo in isolation, drawing the foul and getting the and-1 with 22 seconds left. That sealed the deal.
Bucks 110, Sixers 102: This game was never a total 20-point blowout, but after they took the lead with a 10-1 run in the first quarter the Bucks were in control most of the way. For much of the game it was Ersan Ilyasova who led the Bucks with 27 points and 16 rebounds. But in the fourth quarter, when the Sixers got as close as five points midway through, Brandon Jennings hit a step-back three and drained the next seven points for Milwaukee as they held on to win. Jennings finished with 25.
Pistons 105, Magic 90: This was a close game at the half because the Magic were getting to the rim and making their shots — Orlando shot 14-of-17 in the restricted area in the first half. But in the third quarter the Pistons defense got better, their big men took over the game and Detroit went on a 24-10 run. Greg Monroe had eight straight points during that third quarter on his way to 16 points then Andre Drummond had he last six points of the quarter. That was pretty much the ball game. Brandon Knight had 18 to lead Detroit, J.J. Redick paced Orlando with 26 points.