Two Monday Night Football streaks continue
•The Seahawks beat the Bills, 31-25, on Monday Night Football. Seattle has won its last 11 games on Monday Night Football, the second-longest winning streak in the history of the program. The record is 14 straight wins on MNF by the Raiders from 1975 to 1981. Seattle’s 23-8 (.742) record on Monday Night Football is the highest for any team.
The Bills haven’t won a game on Monday Night Football in over 17 years. The Bills’ last victory on Monday Night Football came on Oct. 4, 1999, when they earned a 23-18 road win against the Dolphins. Buffalo’s head coach was Wade Phillips; its starting quarterback, Doug Flutie (who is now 54 years old)! The two teams that went longer without winning on Monday Night since 1970 were the Falcons (18 years, 41 days from Nov. 23, 1981 to Jan. 3, 2000) and the Cardinals (23 years, 6 days from Nov. 4, 1985 to Nov. 10, 2008).
Wilson and Taylor strike early with legs and arms
•Russell Wilson and Tyrod Taylor became the eighth pair of opponents in NFL history to both have a rushing touchdown and a passing touchdown in the first half of a game, the first pair since Chad Pennington and Matt Cassel did it for the Dolphins and Patriots in 2008. Wilson and Taylor accomplished this faster than any of the previous seven pairs when Wilson hit Jimmy Graham on a 17-yard touchdown pass six seconds into the second quarter.
25 points is not enough for the Bills
•The Bills have lost their last three games despite scoring 25 points in each game: 28-25 at Miami, 41-25 against the Patriots and 31-25 on Monday night in Seattle. Buffalo is the fourth team in NFL history to lose three consecutive games despite scoring at least 25 points in each of them. The other teams to do this were the 49ers in 1965, Giants in 1966 and Browns in 2013.
Harden is carrying the Rockets
•James Harden had another terrific game in the Rockets’ win over the Wizards in Washington: 32 points, 6 rebounds, 15 assists. Harden has scored at least 30 points and handed out 12 or more assists in each of his last four games. Harden is the third player in NBA history to score at least 30 points and hand out at least 12 assists in four consecutive games. Oscar Robertson had a four-game streak like that in 1961 and Nate Archibald had a four-game streak in 1972.
Harden has scored 221 points with 89 assists and 50 rebounds in seven games this season. The only other player in NBA history with at least 200 points, 75 assists and 50 rebounds in his first seven games of the season was Oscar Robertson, who scored 209 points with 91 assists and 82 rebounds in his first seven games of the 1961-62 season
13 threes for Curry
•Stephen Curry made an NBA-record 13 three-point field goals in the Warriors’ win over the Pelicans. The NBA adopted the three-point line in 1979 and for the first nine seasons no team had made 13 three-pointers in one game. The first NBA team to make 13 or more three-pointers in a game was the Kings on February 9, 1989, a span of just over 9,000 NBA games before the first team reached that mark.
Butler 10-for-10 from the charity stripe
•Jimmy Butler scored 20 points with the help of 10-for-10 from the free throw line for the Bulls on Monday night. Butler is the second Bulls player over the last seven seasons to score 20 or fewer points in a game in which he went 10-or-10 or better from the free throw line. Pau Gasol scored only 14 points in a game in which he made all 10 of his free throws three days before Christmas in 2014.
Kanter leads Thunder in points and rebounds
•Enes Kanter came off the bench to lead the Thunder with 24 points and 10 rebounds (tied with Domantas Sabonis) as the Oklahoma City improved to 6-1with a win over the Heat. It was only the third time in his career that Kanter led his team in both points and rebounds - outright or tied - in a game his team won. Kanter’s two other such games came on March 1, 2013 for the Jazz and March 22, 2015 for the Thunder.
Hood scored 18 points for Jazz
•Rodney Hood scored 18 points in Utah’s win over the 76ers, the fifth consecutive game in which he scored at least 18 points. That’s the longest such streak of his NBA career.
Islanders spread the wealth
•Four Islanders forwards who had combined for only one goal this season, Jason Chimera, Nikolay Kulemin, Cal Clutterbuck and Andrew Ladd, each scored a goal in the Isles’ 4-2 win over the Canucks in Brooklyn. (Clutterbuck was the only one of the four who had previously scored this season, and that goal came in the season opener.) The Islanders got offensive contributions from many sources in Monday’s game, as 12 different players notched a goal or an assist for them. This was only the fourth game in Islanders history in which they scored exactly four goals and had the maximum of 12 players with one point each, with the most recent instance being their 5-4 loss at Minnesota on Dec. 9, 2014. Five of the 12 players who notched a point for the Islanders in that game also had a goal or an assist for them on Monday night: Nick Leddy, Thomas Hickey, Anders Lee, Brock Nelson and John Tavares.
A clean sheet for Rask
•Tuukka Rask took sole possession of third place on the Bruins’ all-time shutout leaders list when he whitewashed the Sabres in Boston, 4-0, on Monday. It was Rask’s second shutout this season and the 32nd clean sheet of an NHL career spent entirely with the Bruins. Rask, who had been tied for third place with Tim Thomas at 31 shutouts, now trails only a pair of Hall of Famers, Tiny Thompson (74 shutouts) and Frank Brimsek (35).
Luongo tames Tampa
•Roberto Luongo earned first-star honors by making his 34 saves in his 3-1 win over the Lightning. Luongo is 5-1-0 with a 1.81 goals-against average in his six games versus Tampa Bay over the last two seasons and in each of his last four wins against the Lightning he faced at least 35 shots on goal. The only other goaltender with more than two wins versus Tampa Bay over the last two seasons is Mike Condon with three.