NBA wRap: Kobe scores 44 but Lakers lose again

MANILA, Philippines – The Knicks finally snapped their losing streak, the Bucks pulled out a win on the road, the Rockets won an ugly game, and the Lakers just looked flat-out bad on Monday, November 17. Check out Rappler’s NBA wRap for more:

New York Knicks (3-8) 109 – 93 Denver Nuggets (2-7)

NYK: Carmelo Anthony: 28 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists

DEN: Ty Lawson: 17 points, 9 assists, 2 rebounds

The Nuggets hung onto the Knicks in the first quarter with the game tied at 31 after 12 minutes of play. Then came the second quarter, where Denver only made one field goal and scored only 8 points. NYK took a 62-39 lead into the half and never looked back to snap their 7-game losing streak.

JR Smith started on Monday and torched his former team’s defense for 28 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists.

 

Milwaukee Bucks (5-5) 91 – 84 Miami Heat (5-5)

MIL: Brandon Knight: 20 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists

MIA: Mario Chalmers: 18 points, 5 assists, 2 rebounds

Chris Bosh, now Miami’s go-to-guy, was shooting bricks all night against Milwaukee. He scored just 10 points of two-of-17 shooting. Luol Deng wasn’t anything great as well, with just 10 points on 3-of-11 shooting. With Dwyane Wade missing his second straight game due to a strained hamstring, those were exactly the performances the Heat could not afford to have out of their two best players.

Greek Freak alert:

Houston Rockets (9-1) 69 – 65 Oklahoma City Thunder (3-8)

HOU: James Harden: 19 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists

OKC: Reggie Jackson: 15 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists

Normally, the ugly games are reserved for the teams from the Eastern Conference while those from the West have high-scoring matches. That wasn’t the case for the Oklahoma-Houston game, where the Rockets shot 28.8% from the field while the Thunder were 29.4%.

This dunk, though, was pretty nice:

Golden State Warriors (8-2) 136 – 115 Los Angeles Lakers (1-9)

GSW: Steph Curry: 30 points, 15 assists, 4 rebounds

LAL: Kobe Bryant: 44 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists

The Lakers’ script this season has been the same: let Kobe shoot and shoot while LA continues to be horrible enough to lose over and over again.

It’s the smartest way to tank, really (LA keeps their pick next draft if it lands in the top 5). This team is absolutely horrible. This team lacks effort on defense and relies too heavily on Kobe for offense.

Golden State and Steph Curry, on the other hand, are rolling:

Tweet of the Day: 

“If I put them in trash bags, they could leak. But if I put them in barrels…” pic.twitter.com/m4oKU5GGvt

— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) November 17, 2014

Hail Hydra: 

“I need to tell you something. I planned this with Mitch all along…. Hail Hydra.” pic.twitter.com/Gqbf7sQW2m

— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) November 17, 2014

Fantasy Line of the Day: Steph Curry torched the Lakers for 30 points, 15 assists, and 4 rebounds. He was 10-of-19 from the field, 5-of-9 from downtown, and 5-of-5 from the FT line. Other than his 3 turnovers, his performance was spotless. Playing the Lakers’ defense helped as well. – Rappler.com