NBA’s Black Friday: Lin’s Rockets best Knicks; Lakers tumble

From Lakers beat writer Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register:

D’Antoni revealed another reason for Friday’s late-game lineup change:

L.A. fell back below .500 at 6-7 while the Grizzlies improved to a league-best 9-2.

The 131 points the Knicks gave up was the most they have allowed in a game all season. Coming into Friday, they were third in the league in points allowed per game, giving up just 91.4 per contest.

Houston led by just three after the first quarter, but outscored the Knicks by 12 in the second to take a commanding 72-57 lead at halftime. The offensive onslaught continued from there for the Rockets, who notched 32 more in the third quarter.

The Thunder were the hot team early in this one, and a balanced OKC attack gave them a 28-21 lead at the end of the first quarter. Boston quickly responded, outscoring the Thunder by 19 points over the next two quarters. Oklahoma City made a run in the fourth quarter and pulled to within three with 1:22 left in the game. However, Garnett hit a pair of free throws, and Jason Terry buried a three-pointer to cement a 5-0 Celtics run and put the game away. The victory lifts the Celtics to 7-6, while the Thunder drop to 9-4.

Jeff Green scored 17 to compliment Pierce and Garnett while Jason Terry added 16. Rajon Rondo dished out 16 assists. Kevin Durant led Oklahoma City with 29 points while Russell Westbrook had a nice all-around game with 26 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. Serge Ibaka added 17 points and 13 rebounds. The Thunder shot 25 percent from behind the three-point line (6-24) while Boston shot 53 percent (9-17) from downtown.