The Golden State Warriors turned big performances from guards Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry into a comeback road win against the New Orleans Hornets. Ellis scored 29, eight of which came in a 27-7 run to open the fourth quarter as Golden State turned a 10-point deficit into a 10-point lead.
NBA Scores And More: Monta Ellis Outduels Chris Paul As Warriors Beat Hornets
Curry added 21 to stave off Chris Paul's excellent 24-point, 13-assists, six-rebound night. The Hornets' offense started hot, with 34 points against the porous Warriors defense in the first quarter. But New Orleans cooled off and coughed up too many turnovers, allowing the Warriors to hang around and eventually pull away. In the fateful eight-minute stretch in the fourth, New Orleans had four turnovers and shot 3-10.
The Hornets fell to 21-15. Golden State, 14-21, remains outside the Western playoff race.
In other action:
Nets 96, Bulls 94: Sasha Vujacic vanquished the East's No. 3 team, which proves that the NBA is where amazing happens. With the game tied and the clock winding down, Devin Harris attempted to fire a pass to Brook Lopez in the post. C.J. Watson tipped the ball. Enter The Machine.
That's called a lucky bounce in most circles, but let's be smartypantses and call it a "fortuitous carom." The Nets played solid defense throughout to get to the endgame situation, so kudos to that.
Bobcats 108, Wolves 105 in OT: Charlotte knocked off Minnesota despite the absence of Stephen Jackson (in addition to the expected absence of Gerald Wallace). It took a late comeback and overtime, but Paul Silas' squad got it done for three wins in five games since the coach took over. Kevin Love had 35 and 15 in the loss.
Hawks 110, Jazz 87: Utah suffered a bad home loss to a good team in this one, with Hawks' guards Joe Johnson and Jamal Crawford riding their hot shooting from Tuesday's game in Sacramento all the way to Salt Lake. J.J. had 28 on 10-17 shooting, Jam had 26 in 18 shots and Al Horford added 18 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three blocks. Paul Millsap, Utah's second best player, sat with a bruised hip, which helps explain the rough offensive performance for Utah. But 87 points in a low-pace game against a non-elite defense? That's not all Millsap. The Jazz played like crap.
Magic 97, Bucks 87: Orlando had to play its starters (Dwight Howard, especially) big minutes as Milwaukee's bench kept the Bucks in the game behind Corey Maggette's 21 and rookie Larry Sanders' 15. Howard ended up playing 43 minutes (yeowch), and took home 28 points and 13 rebounds for his trouble.
76ers 109, Wizards 97: John Wall had a huge night with 18 points and 14 assists. But Jrue Holiday, a point guard only three months older than Wall, had 26 points and nine assists as Philadelphia pulled off the win. The Sixers shot a blistering 56.7 percent from the floor. Philly was No. 22 in the league in FG% heading into the game. Nice defense, 'Zards!
Raptors 120, Cavaliers 105: Cleveland hung 38 points on Toronto in the first quarter, but the Raptors overcame a 15-points deficit to eventually hang an eighth straight loss on the awful Cavs. Jose Calderon had 17 assists. THE Christian Eyenga had 16 points off the bench, reaching double-digits for the first time since he played the NBA Jam arcade at Anderson Varejao's townhouse on Halloween.
Clippers 106, Nuggets 93: Blake Griffin is cool and all, but how about DeAndre Jordan? Young fella had 14 points, 20 rebounds and six blocks in L.A.'s home win over the Nuggets. Wait, did someone say Blake Griffin?
You know, Blake is going to save Jordan a lot of full-court sprints if the two stick together. When Griffin’s out on the break, there’s no reason for anyone but Blake’s point guard to cross midcourt. No reason.
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