And this was before he dropped 46 on the Thunder

Sam Presti's Cat: Now that the Thunder no longer have the best record in the league, certain felines, belonging to certain general managers, have lost the carte blanche they enjoyed earlier in the season. Now I'm not saying that Presti spent all night reading 101 Ways to Skin a Cat, but I doubt Mr. Fluffy had his customary kitty treats mixed in with his wet food. 

Harden got his first win against his former team and enjoyed a career-high 46 points on 19 shot attempts, including 7 of 8 from deep. Meanwhile, Jeremy Lin scored 29 points, the 2nd most of any player present.

The Raptors: Memphis GM Chris Wallace's cat, in contrast, has nothing to worry about, not with Rudy Gay needing 15 shots to score 13 points against the victorious Grizzlies. 

Andrea Bargnani has seen a drop in playing time lately between injuries, Rudy Gay's acquisition, and everybody realizing how terrible he is. Apparently, that even includes the Chicago Bulls. I'm not sure what Reggie Rose had in mind when he suggested the Bulls should've made some moves, but I doubt he'll be lamenting the absence of Bargnani's 0 points in 22 minutes.

The Bobcats: The worst team in the league lost again. Yawn.

The Pistons: Somehow, the Pistons seemed to have more go wrong for them than the Bobcats, even though they were the team that won. Brandon Knight hyperextended his right knee late in 3rd, before briefly returning in the 4th for a single possession, in which time he injured an ankle. Knight has had a rough time lately against the guards of his draft class, the recent footage of Kyrie Irving loosening up his ankles has been making the rounds, and now he's injured himself tripping over Kemba Walker.

Greg Monroe exemplified the Piston's 'failure in victory' attitude, not so impressively tying a career-high 3 blocks while getting blocked 4 times. In the end, it was a shot that he didn't block that will be remembered.


Yup, Greg definitely could've used one more block.

The 76ers: Normally, i don't give teams much slack when they lose to the Timberwolves, but Nikola Pekovic was in full Superman II mode with 27 points and 18 rebounds. Nick Young eased Minnesota's transition into winning by shooting 1-7 for the Sixers.

The Magic: Another day, another double-digit loss for the Magic. This time it was the Mavericks, next time it'll be...(hold on a second, let me check the schedule)...the Memphis Grizzlies.

The Knicks: Mid-bloviation during last night's TNT halftime show, Charles Barkley switched his target from the Clippers to the Knicks. When NYC's own Kenny Smith protested, saying that the Knicks weren't even playing that night, Sir Charles retorted with, "so they can take time to get the foot out of their ass".

It was a size 34 shoe, one for every point they lost by. Carmelo missed both free throws he attempted and only scored 15 points on 21 shots. The Pacers bested the Knicks in numerous statistical categories, including some that are normally mutually exclusive, such as field goal percentage and offensive rebounds. Meanwhile, Amar'e Stoudemire evened out his percentages from the time he couldn't miss a shot against Sacramento.

The Knicks did squeeze one good moment out of their annihilation. 


So what if it wasn't intentional, Iman Shumpert came through with the assist of his career.

RIP Jerry Buss: I can't even give the Celtics a WotN for losing to the Lakers in the first game since Jerry Buss passed away. For a night at least, everything went right for the '13 Lakers. The Celtics were obviously fighting against forces beyond their control, and this time it wasn't even the result of the Stern Button.

Lacktion:

Pacers-Knicks: Ben Hansbrough could've used his brother's help to avoid a +4 suck differential in 5 minutes and 34 seconds against the Knicks. Meanwhile, on behalf of the Orange and Blue, James White and Ronnie Brewer used 2 minutes and 2 seconds to turn in a +1 and a +2 suck differential, respectively.    

Mavericks-Magic: Dahntay Jones played 1:42 and Rodrigue Beaubois played 1:24 with neither Maverick accumulating any statistics in either time period.