The Golden State Warriors stopped the losing streak at 1 and a big night from Klay Thompson helped them overcome another Stephen Curry absence to win against the Houston Rockets. Meanwhile, the Indiana Pacers lost another close one, the Oklahoma City Thunder and especially Russell Westbrook annoyed the Phoenix Suns and the Los Angeles Clippers keep on winning while relying on J.J. Redick.
Milwaukee Bucks 120 Indiana Pacers 116: Another division loss for the Pacers, this time trying to come from behind, erasing a 111-95 Bucks lead but couldn’t quite finish. The Bucks finally had a good shooting day with 58.4% from the field, led by Khris Middleton with 33 points and Greg Monroe scoring 23 points. Paul George had a big night as well, scoring 31 points.
Minnesota Timberwolves 90 Detroit Pistons 115: A dominant performance from the Pistons, trying to keep up with the rest of the top guns in the East. Andre Drummond finished with 23 points and 18 rebounds, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope helped with 22 and Reggie Jackson finished with 19 points. Karl-Anthony Towns continues to have a solid rookie year, scoring 22 points to go with 9 boards, but he was a little bit outmatched under the basket against Drummond, giving up 7 offensive rebounds.
Golden State Warriors 114 Houston Rockets 110: The Warriors did a good job of fixing what went wrong for them in their first game without Stephen Curry, getting blown out by the Dallas Mavericks. In Houston, still without Curry, they slowed the pace down and found it easier to make shots, as Klay Thompson led the way scoring 38 points while Draymond Green helped out with another triple double. James Harden led the Rockets with 30 points, including five 3-pointers.
Los Angeles Clippers 95 New Orleans Pelicans 89: Another strong performance for J.J. Redick as the Clippers seem to be doing fine while Griffin is out. Redick scored 26 points, Chris Paul helped out with 12 assists and DeAndre Jordan finished with 11 points and 20 rebounds. The Pelicans got 17 points from Ryan Anderson and a typical double double from Anthony Davis, but once again, something just isn’t clicking on this team since the beginning of this season.
Phoenix Suns 106 Oklahoma City Thunder 110: The Suns keep losing, although they made it competitive this time. P.J. Tucker almost came to blows with Russell Westbrook at the end of the game and T.J. Warren also got involved in some harmless jarring. The duo combined to score 51 points for the Suns, but it wasn’t enough against a huge night from Westbrook with 36 points, 12 assists and 5 steals, while Kevin Durant helped out with 23 points, this time not needing any offensive support from anyone else.
Portland Trail Blazers 94 Utah Jazz 107: Derrick Favors, Alec Burks and Rudy Gobert still aren’t playing, but a great game (again) from Trey Burke, scoring 27 off the bench, and finally a good shooting night for Gordon Hayward (23 points) was enough to carry the Blazers, still without Damian Lillard. C.J. McCollum led them with 32 points, but he was all alone in the battle.
Eastern Conference Standings
| # | Team | W | L | PCT | GB | GP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cleveland Cavaliers | 21 | 9 | .700 | – | 30 |
| 2 | Atlanta Hawks | 21 | 13 | .618 | 2.0 | 34 |
| 3 | Toronto Raptors | 20 | 13 | .606 | 2.5 | 33 |
| 4 | Chicago Bulls | 18 | 12 | .600 | 3.0 | 30 |
| 5 | Orlando Magic | 19 | 13 | .594 | 3.0 | 32 |
| 6 | Miami Heat | 18 | 13 | .581 | 3.5 | 31 |
| 7 | Indiana Pacers | 18 | 14 | .563 | 4.0 | 32 |
| 8 | Boston Celtics | 18 | 14 | .563 | 4.0 | 32 |
| 9 | Charlotte Hornets | 17 | 14 | .548 | 4.5 | 31 |
| 10 | Detroit Pistons | 18 | 15 | .545 | 4.5 | 33 |
| 11 | New York Knicks | 16 | 18 | .471 | 7.0 | 34 |
| 12 | Washington Wizards | 14 | 16 | .467 | 7.0 | 30 |
| 13 | Milwaukee Bucks | 13 | 21 | .382 | 10.0 | 34 |
| 14 | Brooklyn Nets | 9 | 23 | .281 | 13.0 | 32 |
| 15 | Philadelphia 76ers | 3 | 31 | .088 | 20.0 | 34 |
Western Conference Standings
| # | Team | W | L | PCT | GB | GP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Golden State Warriors | 30 | 2 | .938 | – | 32 |
| 2 | San Antonio Spurs | 28 | 6 | .824 | 3.0 | 34 |
| 3 | Oklahoma City Thunder | 23 | 10 | .697 | 7.5 | 33 |
| 4 | Los Angeles Clippers | 21 | 13 | .618 | 10.0 | 34 |
| 5 | Dallas Mavericks | 19 | 13 | .594 | 11.0 | 32 |
| 6 | Memphis Grizzlies | 18 | 16 | .529 | 13.0 | 34 |
| 7 | Houston Rockets | 16 | 18 | .471 | 15.0 | 34 |
| 8 | Utah Jazz | 14 | 17 | .452 | 15.5 | 31 |
| 9 | Portland Trail Blazers | 14 | 21 | .400 | 17.5 | 35 |
| 10 | Sacramento Kings | 12 | 20 | .375 | 18.0 | 32 |
| 11 | Denver Nuggets | 12 | 21 | .364 | 18.5 | 33 |
| 12 | Minnesota Timberwolves | 12 | 21 | .364 | 18.5 | 33 |
| 13 | Phoenix Suns | 12 | 23 | .343 | 19.5 | 35 |
| 14 | New Orleans Pelicans | 10 | 22 | .313 | 20.0 | 32 |
| 15 | Los Angeles Lakers | 6 | 27 | .182 | 24.5 | 33 |