Elias Sports Bureau 7y

Elias Says: Feb. 24, 2017

LeBron posts his second triple-double of the season against the Knicks

LeBron James registered 18 points, 13 rebounds and 15 assists leading the Cavaliers to a win over the Knicks in Cleveland. It marked the second time James posted a triple-double against the Knicks this season, his first coming in Cleveland’s season opener, a 19-point, 11-rebound, 14-assist performance on October 25. James has now recorded 48 triple-doubles in his career, but this is only the second time he has had multiple such performances against a particular opponent in a single season. The only other time James did that was in 2007-08, when he had two triple-doubles against the Pacers.

Russell Westbrook has also produced two triple-doubles against the Knicks this season (November 28 and February 15). Prior to 2016-17, no player had registered multiple triple-doubles in a single season against the Knicks since Magic Johnson and Fat Lever both did it during the 1988-89 campaign.

Williams sets mark in his Rockets debut

Lou Williams made seven of his 11 three-point attempts and scored a team-high 27 points in his debut with the Rockets in the team’s win over the Pelicans. Those are the most three-point field-goals made by a player in his first game with a team since the NBA instituted the three-point shot in 1979-80. The previous record was held by J.R. Bremer, who made six shots from beyond the arc in his debut with the Cavaliers on October 29, 2003.

Warriors score 50 in the third quarter

After a sluggish first half, the Warriors exploded for 50 points in the third quarter and went on to beat the Clippers on Thursday. Over the last 25 seasons, only two other teams have scored 50 or more points in a single quarter: the Pacers on November 9, 2010 against the Nuggets (54 points in the third quarter) and the Lakers on March 25, 2014 against the Knicks (51 points in the third quarter).

The Warriors have scored 50 or more points in a quarter only three other times in their franchise history, and all three instances came in the same month. Golden State scored 57 points in the third quarter on March 4, 1989 against the Kings and had 50 points in the fourth quarter on March 7 against the Clippers and on March 21 against the Trail Blazers that same year.

33 points and no turnovers for Caldwell-Pope

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored a game high 33 points and did not commit a turnover in Detroit’s overtime win over Charlotte on Thursday night. Those are the most points scored in a game without committing a turnover by a Pistons player in over nine years, since Richard Hamilton had 39 points and no turnovers against Toronto on January 15, 2008.

Kemba Walker had 34 points and no turnovers for Charlotte in the game. It marked the second game this season that featured opposing players who each had 30 or more points and no turnovers. The only other time that happened was on February 15, when Brooklyn’s Brook Lopez (36 points) and Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo did it in a Bucks win over the Nets.

Lillard’s big second half lifts Blazers

Damian Lillard scored 26 of his game 33 points in the second half lifting the Trail Blazers to a victory over the Magic in Orlando. It marked the third time Lillard scored 25 or more points in the second half of a road game this season, having also done that on November 4 at Dallas (27 points) and on November 23 at Cleveland (25 points). The only player who has more 25-point second halves on the road than Lillard this season is Russell Westbrook (four). Four other players have three such performances: Devin Booker, DeMarcus Cousins, James Harden and CJ McCollum.

Kings ride subs to victory over Nuggets

The Kings received strong performances from reserves Willie Cauley-Stein (29 points, 10 rebounds), Buddy Hield (16 points), Tyreke Evans (15 points) and Skal Labissiere (12 points) in their win over the Nuggets on Thursday. That marked the first time that four Sacramento bench players each scored at least a dozen points in a regulation victory in over 10 years. The last time that happened was on December 30, 2006 when Sacramento subs Quincy Douby (21), Francisco Garcia (13), Corliss Williamson (13) and Shareef Abdur-Rahim (12) each scored at least 12 points in a win over the Warriors.

Monahan nets his 20th goal of the season and 100th of his career

Sean Monahan reached the 20-goal mark for the fourth time in his four seasons in the NHL when he scored for the Flames in their 3–2 victory against the Lightning. Monahan, who turned 22 years old on the first day of the 2016–17 season, is the eighth active NHL player who scored 20 or more goals in a season four times before his 23rd birthday. The others are Sidney Crosby (five times), Jaromir Jagr, Anze Kopitar, Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Steven Stamkos and John Tavares.

Monahan’s goal was also the 100th of his NHL career. He reached that milestone at a younger age (22 years, 134 days) than all but five other active NHL players: Stamkos (age 20), Crosby (21), Jagr (21), Alex Ovechkin (22 years, 25 days) and Kane (22 years, 115 days). Monahan is also the youngest player ever to score 100 goals for the Flames, breaking the standard set by Joe Nieuwendyk (22 years, 161 days).

Teenager nets the game winner for the Islanders

Islanders rookie Anthony Beauvillier scored the winning goal for the Islanders in their 3–1 victory over the Canadiens in Montreal. The 19-year-old Beauvillier is the first teenager to score a game-winning goal for the Islanders since John Tavares scored two at age 19 during his rookie season (2009–10). Beauvillier is the first Quebec-born rookie to score a game-winning goal against the Canadiens in Montreal since Patrice Bergeron did so for the Bruins in October 2003.

Back-to-back hat tricks for Forsberg

Filip Forsberg notched his second consecutive hat trick by scoring the final three goals of the game in the Predators’ 4–2 win against the Avalanche. Forsberg, who scored three goals in Nashville’s overtime loss to the Flames on Tuesday, is the first player in Predators history to produce back-to-back hat tricks and the first player on any NHL team to do so since the Canucks’ Alex Burrows on Jan. 5–7, 2010.

Lundqvist stays hot

Henrik Lundqvist and the Rangers beat the Maple Leafs in Toronto, 2–1, in a shootout. Lundqvist allowed 16 goals in just over 138 minutes of playing time (a 6.96 GAA!) while losing three consecutive games last month but he’s recorded more wins than any other NHL goaltender since then (10–2–1 with a 1.91 GAA in 14 games since Jan. 19).

Kane’s hat trick leads Blackhawks over Coyotes

Patrick Kane recorded his first hat trick of the season and the third regular-season hat trick of his NHL career by scoring three goals for the Blackhawks in their 6–3 win against the Coyotes. Kane had never produced a hat trick in a regular-season NHL game – though he had two in the playoffs – until he notched two last season. He’s the first player to register hat tricks in each of two consecutive seasons for the Blackhawks since Tyler Arnason had one in both 2002–03 and 2003–04.

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