Daily NBA Fix 1-26-14: Ross The Boss In A Loss
By Phil Watson
Welcome to your Daily NBA Fix for Sunday, Jan. 26, a night when Terrence Ross of the Toronto Raptors became the least likely 50-point scorer in NBA history.
Ross erupted for 51 points—nearly doubling his previous career high of 26 points—but it wasn’t enough as the Raptors lost at home to the Clippers.
Ross came into the game averaging 9.3 points per game—the lowest average of any player at the time they had a 50-point performance.
Kevin Durant returned after sitting out Friday night with a sore shoulder and had an awful night, scoring just 32 points while recording his fifth career triple-double in a win at Philadelphia. But, seriously folks. Durant ran his streak of consecutive 30-point games to 10, matching the longest such run in the NBA over the last 10 seasons.
Meanwhile, the Portland Trail Blazers needed 69 games last season to get their 33rd win … then didn’t win again, losing their final 13 games to finish 33-49. We can safely assume they’ll top 33 wins in 2013-14, considering they reached that mark in just their 44th game by beating Minnesota Saturday night.
Memphis completed a home-and-home sweep of the Rockets, Utah beat the Wizards—who continue to be perhaps the most puzzling team in the Association—the Nuggets dropped Indiana, the Hawks bounced back from a 26-point loss at home on Friday with a 25-point win on the road Saturday (the opponents were the Bucks and the Spurs … I’ll let you guess which was which). Chicago got a win, as well, at Charlotte.
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).