Category: NBA News Blog

These are through NBA games of Sunday, March 20:

Thunder forward Kevin Durant has scored at least 20 points in 55 straight games, one shy of his career high.

The Pacers need one victory at Bankers Life Fieldhouse to secure a winning home record for the 27th consecutive season, the longest active streak in the NBA. Indiana has three home games this week, starting tonight against Philadelphia.

Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki needs one three-pointer to pass former teammate Steve Nash (1,685) for sole possession of 15th place on the NBA’s career list. Nowitzki, 37, made three triples as part of a 40-point effort in Sunday’s overtime win over Portland, becoming the oldest player to score 40 points in a game since 39-year-old Karl Malone scored 40 for the Jazz against the Magic on March 12, 2003.

Raptors center Bismack Biyombo has three double-doubles in his last four games, including 16 points and a franchise-record 25 rebounds in a victory at Indiana on March 17.

Jazz guard Shelvin Mack is averaging 16.8 points, 8.7 assists and 5.3 rebounds and shooting 60.9 percent (14-of-23) from three-point range in his last six games – a 5-1 stretch for Utah.

The Cavaliers have made 10 or more three-pointers in a season-high seven consecutive games. Their season average for threes made (10.3) is on pace to be a franchise record.

The Pistons are 2-1 on their franchise-record nine-game homestand.

Bulls forward Doug McDermott has scored at least 20 points in three of his last four games.

Lakers guard Marcelo Huertas, a 32-year-old rookie from Brazil, is averaging 8.6 points and 6.0 assists in his last eight games.

Guard Isaiah Thomas has scored 20 or more points in nine games in a row, the longest streak by a Celtics player since Paul Pierce’s 16-game run in February-March 2006. Thomas is averaging 26.3 points in those nine games.

In the Kings’ win over the Knicks on Sunday, Sacramento center DeMarcus Cousins (24 points, 20 rebounds) and New York center Robin Lopez (23 points, 20 rebounds) became the first opposing players to have at least 20 points and 20 rebounds since Cleveland’s Michael Cage and San Antonio’s David Robinson on Jan. 10, 1996.

Swingman Joe Johnson is averaging 15.7 points and shooting 57.1 percent from the field and 59.0 percent from three-point range in 11 games with the Heat. Miami is 8-3 with Johnson in the lineup.

— NBA Broadcasters Bulletin

Triple-doubles are piling up around the NBA. Through games of Sunday, March 20, the league has produced 59 triple-doubles this season with more than three weeks still to play. That number is a single-season record for a 30-team league, as well as being the fifth most all time and only six behind the second most. The NBA record is 78 triple-doubles in the 1988-89 season, followed by 65 in 1961-62 (when Oscar Robertson recorded 41 and averaged a triple-double). This season’s barrage is led by Thunder guard Russell Westbrook, who on Saturday became the first player to post 11 triple-doubles in a 30-game span in one season since Michael Jordan in 1989; Oklahoma City is 14-0 when he puts up a triple-double this season. Also Saturday, Grizzlies forward Zach Randolph registered his first triple-double in his 974th game, an NBA record for most games before a triple-double.

— NBA Broadcasters Bulletin

Buying online tickets is generally safer these days thanks to many services that use technology to make the transfer of ticket ownership a near certainty. But then stuff like this still happens. Here’s the NY Daily News reporting:

An NCAA racket brought nothing but March sadness to one man who bought $500 in fake tickets off of Craigslist, police said on Sunday.

The 20-year-old man purchased the fraudulent tickets off of someone he met through the online classifieds site on Thursday, police said.

Once at the Barclays Center, just steps from the national college basketball tournament, he was informed the tickets were fakes.