Wednesday Items February 12, 2020

NOTE ALL THINGS MENTIONED ARE FROM THE GAME AND TEAM FINDER FUNCTIONS ON BASKETBALL REFERENCE

LOS ANGELES LAKERS-DENVER NUGGETS

LeBron James got a triple-double with 32 points, 14 assists and 12 rebounds. That was his 12 triple-double this season and his 93rd of his career.

Of those triple-doubles, it was his fourth with at least 32 points, 14 assists and 12 rebounds. James also did it Feb. 18, 2010 against Denver, Nov. 14, 2007 against Orlando and Nov. 1 at Dallas.

James’ latest triple-double was the 278th in Lakers history and 10th against the Nuggets. 

The last Laker with a triple-double against Denver was Julius Randle on March 25, 2016 and the last Laker with a triple-double in Denver was Magic Johnson on Feb. 21, 1990.

The Nuggets allowed a triple-double for the 88^th time in their history and second one this season. Domantas Sabonis also had a triple-double in Denver on Jan. 19.

In terms of triple-doubles with at least 32 points, 14 assists and 12 rebounds, it was the sixth instance against Denver.

Russell Westbrook had the last one before Wednesday on Nov. 25, 2016 while James did it in 2010, Magic Johnson did it twice in 1981 and 1984 and Michael Jordan did it in 1985.

Jamal Murray finished with 32 points and 10 assists and that was his first career game of at least 32 points and 10 assists.

It also was the 42nd game of at least 32 points and 10 assists in Denver history and third time against the Lakers. The others to achieve the feat were Ty Lawson in 2015 and Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf in 1995.

ATLANTA HAWKS-CLEVELAND CAVALIERS

Andre Drummond posted 15 rebounds which is hardly anything new for him whatever uniform he wears.  It was the 18th time in his career he got at least 15 boards against Atlanta and his 15 rebounds marked the 45th instance of a Cavalier getting that many rebounds against the Hawks.

Tristan Thompson entered Wednesday averaging 11.8 points and ended it by scoring 27 points. It was his third-most points in any game and eight of his career high of 35 set Jan. 9 against Drummond and the Detroit Pistons.

Thompson’s 27 points are tied for the second-most by a Cleveland reserve all-time against Atlanta 

Heading up that list is Kyle Korver and Dion Waiters and Thompson matched the total set by color analyst Austin Carr, who scored 27 against Atlanta on April 4, 1976.

Trae Young collected 27 and 12 assists which would seem like a routine night for him. It is rare in games against the Cavaliers as the only other Hawks to achieve the feat were Jeff Teague (34 points, 14 assists) in 2013 and Pete Maravich (32 points, 14 assists) in 1973.

ORLANDO MAGIC-DETROIT PISTONS

Markelle Fultz continued his resurgence with 22 points, 10 assists, and five rebounds. It was his first 22-10-5 game of his career and the second instance by a member of the Magic in a game against the Pistons. The other instance was Darrell Armstrong’s 22 points, 14 assists and seven rebounds on Dec. 28, 2000.

Christian Wood totaled 26 points and 12 rebounds, which is his fourth game in his career with 26 points and third game with at least 26 points and 12 boards. It also was the fifth instance of a Piston totaling at least 26 points and 12 rebounds against Orlando. Andre Drummond did it twice, Grant Hill did it in 1998 and Terry Mills achieved it in 1994.

MILWAUKEE BUCKS-INDIANA PACERS

T.J. Warren’s 35 points marked the 11th instance of a Pacer getting at least 35 points against Milwaukee. The last Pacer to score 35 points against the Bucks was Danny Granger on April 15, 2009.

He shot 16-of-19 which is 84.2 percent and it is the third time this season a Pacer shot at least 84.2 percent. It is the fourth instance of a Pacer shooting at least 84.2 percent against Milwaukee. The others to do it were Rik Smits in 1990, Dale Davis in 1993 and Jordan Hill in 2015.

TORONTO RAPTORS-BROOKLYN NETS

The Nets picked up a rare win because of the opponent. Their 101-91 win was only the second in the last 20 meetings against the Raptors since April 3, 2015. Perhaps more interesting is that it was their first double-digit win over Toronto since a 109-93 road win on Feb. 4, 2015,and their first double-digit home win over the Raptors since a 98-84 home win in Newark on March 14, 2012.

Toronto’s 15-game winning streak was the 46th all-time in NBA history, including over two seasons such as the Los Angeles Lakers from April 3-Nov. 15, 2001.

Caris LeVert scored 20 points and has 57 in his last two games against the Raptors. What was interesting was the line of 20 points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals. It’s interesting because it was the fourth time a Net had a line like that.

The others were Pearl Washington (24 points, 7 assists, 7 rebounds, 4 steals) on Dec. 21, 1987 against Utah, Derrick Coleman (21 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals) on Dec. 2, 1992 against Atlanta and Ray Williams (20 points, 9 assists, 8 steals, 7 rebounds) on Nov. 8, 1981 against Indiana.

It also was the first time that line ever had been done against the Raptors.

Kyle Lowry had a triple-double in this one with (12 points, 12 assists, 11 rebounds). It was his 16th career triple-double and fourth against the Nets, all since the start of the 2016-17 season. 

Lowry also has four of the six triple-doubles by the Raptors against the Nets. The others to get a triple-double against the Nets were Ben Udoh on April 26, 2012 and Marcus Camby, who blocked 11 shots on April 14, 1998 in his penultimate game with Toronto.

WASHINGTON WIZARDS-NEW YORK KNICKS

Bradley Beal appeared in his 24th career game against the Knicks and scored 30 points. It was only his third game with at least 30 points, which is actually surprising a little.

The Knicks shot 13 percent from 3-point range (3-for-23). In games in which they attempted at least 20 3-pointers it was their sixth-lowest percentage. Their worst ever was 2-for-22 (.091) which was achieved April 4, 1997,against Orlando.

All-time it was the 126th such instance and fifth time this season. It was the second straight week in New York that it happened as the Warriors were 5-of-39 (12.8 percent) last Wednesday in Brooklyn.

It was the third-lowest percentage allowed by Washington in games with 20 3-point tries by their opponent. The Heat were 2-for-22 in Washington on Dec. 1, 2014 and the Celtics were 3-for-24 (12.5 percent) on April 2, 2014 in Washington.

CHARLOTTE HORNETS-MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES

Devonte’ Graham scored 28 points and hit five 3-pointers. It was his sixth career game with at least 28 points and five 3-pointers.

While it was the 107th such game in Hornets history, it was the third time a Hornet did it against the Timberwolves. Glen Rice did it in 1997 followed by Jason Richardson in 2008 and Kemba Walker in 2016.

D’Angelo Russell totaled 26 points and 11 assists in his home debut for Minnesota. Russell’s 26 points and 11 assists marked was the 29th such instance in Minnesota history. The last Wolve to achieve the feat was Jeff Teague exactly one year ago

PORTLAND TRAILBLAZERS-MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES

Brandon Clarke scored 27 points which matched a career-high and are amongst the highest total by a Grizzlies rookie who came off the bench. The record is Jevon Carter’s 32 points on April 10 against Golden State.

Clarke shot 12 of 14 (85.7 percent) and that is among the highest percentages of any rookie reserve who scored at least 27 points. The highest was Billy McKinney’s 14-for-14 performance for the Kansas City Kings against the Boston Celtics on Dec. 27, 1978.

Carmelo Anthony shot 1 of 15 and his percentage (.066) was his lowest in any game that he attempted at least 15 shots. It was the fourth-lowest percentage this season among players with at least 15 shot attempts.

It also was the second-lowest by a Trail Blazer in team history and in proof that even the great players sometimes experience rough nights, the lowest percentage on at least 15 shots was set by Clyde Drexler on Nov. 3, 1990 at Sacramento and matched by Damian Lillard Feb. 10, 2013 in Orlando as both players shot 1 of 16.

SACRAMENTO KINGS-DALLAS MAVERICKS

Luka Doncic was back and he returned with 33 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists. While he frequently racks up triple-doubles, it was his fifth such game with at least 33 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists.

Doncic has five of the 10 games with at least 33 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists in Mavericks history. Before he entered the NBA, Michael Finley did it twice in a span of 12 days in 1999 against Phoenix, Jimmy Jackson did it in 1994 against the Los Angeles Clippers, Jason Kidd did it in 1996 against Phoenix and Dirk Nowitzki did it in 2002 against Boston.

It also was the 17th time that was achieved against Sacramento, which is not surprising considering they began in Rochester before moving to Cincinnati and Kansas City. It was the first time a point guard did it and the first time since LeBron James did it for Cleveland on Dec. 23, 2009.

GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS-PHOENIX SUNS

Devin Booker scored 27 points but also handed out eight assists and grabbed five rebounds. That was his seventh game of at least 27 points, eight assists and five rebounds this season and he has the last 13 games with that line in Suns history.

It was the second time Booker did it against Golden State and the 11th instance of a Sun with 27 points, eight assists and five rebounds. Before Booker did it for the first time on March 10, the last Sun with that line against the Warriors was Jeff Hornacek when he had 28 points, 8 assists and five rebounds on April 11, 1992.

The last four instances by a Sun were produced on the road against the Warriors. The last time it occurred in a home game was Hornacek’s 32 points, 10 assists and six rebounds on Feb. 21, 1989 

MIAMI HEAT-UTAH JAZZ

Rudy Gobert his ninth career game of at least 20 rebounds and the 66th in the history of the Jazz, including their time in New Orleans.

This season there have been 44 games where a player got 20 rebounds. Last season there were 72 such games.

It was the 48th time a player got 20 rebounds against Miami. If you guessed Andre Drummond had the last one you would be right as he collected 24 on Nov. 5, 2018.

Jimmy Butler totaled 25 points and eight rebounds and it was his fifth such game this season. All-time Butler has 36 of those games and this was the third time an opponent got at least 25 and 8 on the Jazz this season. The others were Brandon Ingram and Giannis Antetokounmpo.