NBA wRap: Kobe and Dirk make history

MANILA, Philippines – Kobe Bryant and Dirk Nowitzki altered the NBA record books with a couple of plays on Wednesday, November 13. All of that and more in this edition of Rappler’s NBA wRap.

Toronto Raptors (7-1) 104 – 100 Orlando Magic (2-6)
TOR: Kyle Lowry: 19 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds
ORL: Tobias Harris: 23 points, 13 rebounds, 5 assists

Home cooking: Five of the Raptors’ first 8 games this season have been at the Air Canada Centre, and they’ve made the most of it by sweeping the competition off their own floor. Against Orlando, Toronto used a 32-17 fourth quarter to steal the victory – a run like that wouldn’t have been possible if not for their home crowd.

More good news for the Raps, their next 4 games are all at home. Bad news: their next match is against the Chicago Bulls.

 

Memphis Grizzlies (7-1) 107 – 102 Los Angeles Lakers (1-6)
MEM: Mike Conley: 23 points, 3 assists, 3 steals
LAL: Kobe Bryant: 28 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals

Mamba makes history, but not for a good reason: On Wednesday, Kobe Bryant set a record for the most missed shots in NBA history when he bricked a fadeaway over Memphis guard Courtney Lee in the fourth quarter. That was the 13,418th shot The Black Mamba has missed in his career, passing John Havlicek in the process.

In fairness to Kobe, he misses a ton of shots, but he can make a lot, too, like this:

All of LA’s starting five scored in double figures. Carlos Boozer had 20, Wesley Johnson put up 15, Jordan Hill scored 13, and Jeremy Lin finished with 12 while Kobe led them all with 28.

LAL also limited Memphis’ bigs Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol to a combined 7-of-20 shooting. The Lakers still lost, though pair their performance against the Griz with their win over Charlotte a few days prior and they could have something positive brewing after a disappointing 0-5 start to the season.

Marc Gasol pulls a Kevin Love:

Dallas Mavericks (5-3) 106 – 98 Sacramento Kings (4-3)
DAL: Dirk Nowitzki: 27 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists
SAC: Rudy Gay: 26 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists

Dirk makes (good) history: Sorry Hakeem Olajuwon, it’s time to make room for Dirk Nowitzki:

The Mavericks rallied from a 24-point deficit to beat the Sacramento Kings. Their win was punctuated by this Monta Ellis slam:

Second runner-up to Tweet of the Day:

You can use Ben McLemore in the commercials, but Isaiah Thomas will always be the one true Pizza Guy in my heart.

— Kevin Pelton (@kpelton) November 12, 2014

– pizza’s still pizza, though, right?

Chandler Parsons, the ladies man: the new Dallas player seemed to have another disappointing game vs the Kings then flipped the switch in the second quarter and finished with 19 points, albeit on 7-of-19 shooting. He’s also the poster boy for Ladies Night:

Get well soon, injured Thunder players:

Here’s Serge Ibaka, Telfair, Ish, Lance Thomas, and Jeremy Lamb tonight. #getwellsoonKD #andRuss #androberson #andpj3 pic.twitter.com/bSAdOpsk7N

— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) November 12, 2014

Everybody loves Perk, especially the OKC Thunder bench (check out how they celebrate):

Portland Trail Blazers (5-3) 102 – 100 Charlotte Hornets (3-5)
POR: Damian Lillard: 29 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds
CHA: Lance Stephenson: 14 points, 14 rebounds, 3 assists

Close, but not close enough: The Blazers were up two with three seconds to go and just had to either run out the clock or wait for Charlotte to foul them. However, Damian Lillard took an ill-advised shot, giving the Hornets an opportunity to tie or win the game with a three-ball.

It looked like Hornets guard Gary Neal managed to do the former, but it turns out he was a tad too late:

Replay Review: if Neal’s made FG was released before time expired, Q4, #CHAvPOR. Ruling: Overturned, shot no good http://t.co/alMn2cgUJM

— NBA Official (@NBAOfficial) November 12, 2014

First runner-up to Tweet of the Day:

Evidence. #blazers win. pic.twitter.com/4LIrRiGjak

— Bruce Ely (@bruceely) November 12, 2014

The Blazers played without Nic Batum, who could miss his team’s next two games as well. Allen Crabbe started in his place and put up 2 points on 1-of-4 shooting.

San Antonio Spurs (4-3) 113 – 100 Golden State Warriors (5-2)
SAS: Tony Parker: 28 points, 7 assists, 1 rebound
GSW: Klay Thompson: 29 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists

Tweet of the Day:

Kerr: "I retired 12 years ago and the same 3 top players and the same coach are over there. It’s insane."

— Ethan Strauss (@SherwoodStrauss) November 12, 2014

 – I’m assuming 28 other teams in the NBA feel the same.

After limping to a 2-3 start in the 2014-2015 NBA season, the Spurs have won back to back road games against the Clippers and Warriors without Tiago Splitter, Marco Belinelli, and Patty Mills. Looks like they’ll be fine.

NBA Fantasy Line of the Day: The Kings lost, but Rudy Gay kept his fantasy owners happy with a splendid performance. He put up 26 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists, and 2 steals. He also shot 7-of-14 from the field, 1-of-3 from downtown, 11-of-13 from the FT line, but did throw away 7 turnovers.

– Rappler.com