Daily NBA Fix 2-24-14: Jason Collins’ 714th NBA Game Is A First

Welcome to your Daily NBA Fix for Monday, Feb. 24, the morning after Jason Collins played for the Brooklyn Nets, becoming the first openly gay player in one of the four major North American sports.

Collins was signed to a 10-day contract by the Nets and played 11 minutes in his return to the franchise he began his career with in 2001 and played 6½ seasons with before beginning the backup NBA big man’s magical mystery tour through Memphis, Minnesota, Atlanta, Boston and Washington. Brooklyn got the win over the Lakers (and hey, nowadays, who doesn’t?) to keep pace with Toronto in the Atlantic Division.

Collins announced he was gay in April 2013, after the 2012-13 regular season ended, and wasn’t signed over the summer or invited to a training camp last fall. But the Nets have been wrecked by injuries in the frontcourt and needed a big body, creating an opening for Collins, the 35-year-old who happened to be a teammate of coach Jason Kidd’s for 5½ years in New Jersey.

It’s just strange, a bit anyway, that a man’s 714th game can be a first anything.

Elsewhere, the Thunder took a second straight loss at home, the Miami Heat won without LeBron James, the Wizards got back to .500 (this is not a recording), the Raptors won again, the Kings won in Denver for the first time in nearly six years, the Rockets got a big road win in Phoenix and Portland topped the Timberwolves.

The Daily NBA Fix will deliver highlights, game capsules, the top and bottom five players, the dreaded Goose Egg, Clean and Sober and Ironman awards, we’ll recap who’s circling the drain, there will be some interesting pieces of relevant (and not-so-relevant) information and we’ll look at today’s daily lines for those people who like to wager a buck or two.

Check out the highlights below from the night that was, then get into the game capsules (home teams in CAPS).