Post Up: Here We Go Again

Bucks 87 (2-2), Pacers 81 (1-3)

With their win in Indiana last night, the Bucks ended a 16-game road losing streak. Against the bruised up Pacers, Milwaukee were up by as many as 17 points during the game led by their starting guard Brandon Knight (23 points and 7 rebounds). With three of the Pacers’ regular starters out of the lineup—Paul George, David West and George Hill—Chris Copeland (19 points) showed up off the bench. His shot from beyond the arc with less than a minute to go in the game brought the Pacers within 3, but the Bucks weren’t having it…a road win was finally within reach. Knight answered Cope back with a jumper, and the Bucks walked away with a W.

Rockets 108 (5-0), Heat 91 (3-1)

Houston, we have no problem—not with a 5-0 record to start the season! The Rockets handed the Miami Heat their first loss of the year, while keeping their own record perfect. When you’ve got guys like James Harden (24 points,10 assists, 9 rebounds) and Dwight Howard (26 points and 10 boards) recording double-doubles on the regular, that kind of thing happens. Despite solid numbers from Dwyane Wade (19 points) and Chris Bosh (21 points and 8 rebounds), the Heat couldn’t stop the visiting Rockets who shot 51.5% from the field, and scored twice as many points in the paint as the home team. The Rockets will face a more challenging test tomorrow when they host the NBA Champions, the San Antonio Spurs.

Wizards 98 (3-1), Knicks 83 (2-2)

Welp…looks like New York’s #3QofDoom is alive and well. The visiting Washington Wizards went on a 14-0 run in the third to outscore the Knicks 32-15 after heading into halftime down 5. Paul Pierce and Garrett Temple (both with 17 points) led the Wizards in scoring, while Carmelo Anthony (18 points) had less than expected on 8 of 23 shooting. A nice block from Iman Shumpet (19 points) on one end culminating in a 3 on the other end to cut the Wizards’ lead to 6 in the fourth simply wasn’t enough for New York.

Raptors 100 (3-1), Thunder 88 (1-4)

‘Tis been a series of unfortunate injuries for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Perry Jones headed to the locker room early last night after a collision with Toronto’s Patrick Patterson. Jones joins a long list of Thunder players who are either day-to-day or out for at least a few more weeks. Double-doubles from Serge Ibaka (25 points and 11 rebounds) and Reggie Jackson (13 points and 14 assists)—who also missed games due to injury earlier on—couldn’t keep the Raptors under control. Toronto owned OKC in fast break points 16-3 and scored 42 of their points in the paint, including this fun exchange between Kyle Lowry and Terrence Ross:

Bulls 98 (3-1), Magic 90 (0-4)

Despite not having their two biggest stars in Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah available last night, the Chicago Bulls came away with a victory to keep the Orlando Magic winless in the 2014-15 season so far. Pau Gasol (16 points and 13 rebounds), Jimmy Butler (21 points and 9 rebounds), Taj Gibson (16 points), Aaron Brooks (13 points) as well as rookie Doug McDermott (12 points in 11 minutes) all provided double-figures for Chicago. Nikola Vucevic’s double-double performance (19 points and 12 rebounds) couldn’t snag the Magic their much sought-after first win of the season…and this play really didn’t help their efforts:

Pelicans 100 (2-2), Hornets 91 (1-3)

OK, so Anthony Davis is good. Like really good. MVP-caliber good. He led his Pelicans to their second win of the season last night with another double-double (24 points, 13 rebounds, 3 blocks). Two of those 24 points came from this beauty:

Five of Davis’ teammates also scored double-figures, and the team shot a perfect 19-19 from the stripe to even up New Orleans’ record. The Hornets however, fell to 1-3, despite the strong games from Gary Neal (21 points and 6 rebounds) and Al Jefferson (20 points and 5 rebounds).

Blazers 101 (2-2), Cavaliers 82 (1-2)

Although the King was coming to town, Rip City’s own king (as the NBA YouTube Channel called him), Damian Lillard (27 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds) wasn’t about to let the Cavaliers raid his court:

King Lillard’s fine performance was accompanied by those of his teammates, Sirs LaMarcus Aldridge (16 points), Robin Lopez (19 points and 6 rebounds) and Wesley Matthews (21 points and 6 rebounds). The Blazers kept LeBron James at only 11 points and allowed Cleveland less than 20 points in each of the second through fourth quarters.

Suns 112 (3-1), Lakers 106 (0-5)

All is not well in Lakerland. They remain the only team in the Western Conference without a win. Even the Black Mamba’s 39 points couldn’t lead Los Angeles to a victory over the visiting Suns last night, but he’ll be forever highlight-worthy:

The Phoenix Suns presented a better all-around game and shared responsibilities among their roster. Markieff Morris (23 points and 10 rebounds) recorded a double-double, and reserves Isaiah Thomas (22 points and 9 assists) and Gerald Green (26 points) had standout performances off-the-bench. And now, what better way to leave off than re-watching one of Gerald Green’s awesome poster dunks on repeat?