NBA schedule and results: Hawks continue great start with win over Grizzlies

That was especially so with Kyle Korver. Known more for his three-point stroke, and for good reason (he hit 4-of-9 from behind the arc and had 14 points on Wednesday), Korver has also developed into an intelligent and valuable defensive player. Below are two examples why.

And then there’s this play which took place with 1:34 left in the game and with the Hawks hanging on to an 86-84 lead.

Update: NOTHING IS REAL.

The Clippers game has pretty much turned into a Fergie concert. It’s got Steve Ballmer going wild, and YO, THIS MOP BOY:

I don’t know what happened here.

Marcus Morris got what appeared to be an unexpected technical foul right as he was heading to the bench for a timeout. As soon as ESPN came back from commercial, there he was chewing out his own head coach. Can anyone read lips?

Lakers? Hello? You there?

Guess not.

Steve Ballmer goes bananas. It’s pretty much all he does besides make buttillions of dollars. Here is the latest example of bananas-going, via Dan Woike:

Wait, why is the guy next to Ballmer doing identical moves? And the guy in the Clippers jacket behind them! Was this choreographed? Maybe Fergie told them to do it, but I would absolutely not put choreographing a wacky-waving-inflatable-arm-flailing-tube-man-themed Fergie dance with friends past Steve Ballmer.

We’ve seen botched airball threes turn into uncontested dunks. But I can’t say we’ve ever seen a botched dunk turn directly into a wide open three:

Russell Westbrook must have 100 dunks like this now, but they are just as terrifying each time.

(via FOX Sports Oklahoma)

Kemba Walker has been uneven all year ... except when he has the ball and the game is tied or his team is down by two in the closing seconds. He already has game-winners over the Bucks and Knicks. Now, he can add the Pelicans to the list after this super floater and a foul.

The Hornets have 13 wins this year. Three are on Kemba game-winners.

Yup. The Pistons’ surge is all because of Anthony Tolliver and not the former Atlanta Hawks forward that was released immediately before one of the worst teams in the NBA started playing like one of the best. Nothing to see here.

Almost all of the Knicks’ top scorers are either out with injuries or just got traded. So we’re left with NBA SUPERSTAR Cole Aldrich doing pretty much whatever he wants. That doesn’t always go well!

At least Melo’s enjoying himself!

There’s no stopping the Memphis center this season. The degree of difficulty here is ridiculous.

Kyrie Irving returned from a back injury that caused him to miss Monday’s embarrassing loss to the 76ers and picked up right where he left off against the Houston Rockets. The Rockets have one of the league’s best defenses, but Kyrie doesn’t care.

He has 34 points midway through the third quarter and nobody can check him. Trevor Ariza can’t. Patrick Beverley can’t. James Harden? He obviously can’t.

We knew the Hawks were having a promotional night for the ubiquitous dating app. Let’s take a peek at how it’s going!

The team tried to explain how Tinder works in case anybody didn’t get it:

Rudy Gobert is 7’2 and has some of the largest hands the NBA has ever seen. Those attributes did not help him on this occasion!

The ball just slipped out, like Jimmy Butler squirted some oil on his palms as he went by. We forgive you, though, Rudy, because you once did this on a fast break:

I can confirm this is true, and I want to hug J.R. for saying it out loud. There’s more! On LeBron:

And on Shawn Marion’s forgiving response to the shoelace incidents:

Okay, several things are weird about this:

2. Waiters’ idea of forming his “own identity” is wearing perhaps the most meaningful number in NBA history, so associated with the league’s most iconic player* that teams besides his own have retired it!

Given that both picks are protected, it’s not certain that Denver will get either one this year. The Thunder pick is top-18 protected this year -- meaning it’ll only end up with the Nuggets if OKC keeps rising up the standings -- while the Grizzlies pick is top-5 and 15-30 protected, which means it’ll need to fall in the lottery but outside the top five to be sent to Denver. It’s also protected that way in 2016 before changing to merely top-five protected in 2017 and 2018.

The Nuggets will also trade a future second-round pick, according to Nate Timmons of SB Nation’s Denver Stiffs.

That set the stage for Jennings, who was 4-of-17 from the field prior to his last shot. But Jennings struck back on Star Wars Night in San Antonio, banking in a floater after the big defensive play:

With a sixth consecutive win in the post-Smith era, it’s safe to say Detroit is a completely different team without him. You probably could have said that before Tuesday, considering the last five victories came by an average of 18.2 points. But to go into the home of the defending champs, erase an 18-point deficit, and then win the way the Pistons did is more impressive than any of those other five victories.