The Wrap-Up: Indiana move to 5-0 and Utah move to 0-5

Keith Firmin brings you The Wrap-Up on all of last night’s NBA games, including Steph Curry’s through-the-legs dime and Charlotte’s second straight win.

The Bobcats are on a two-game win streak after beating the Raptors 92-90 last night. Gerald Henderson had a game-high 23 points for the ‘Cats as they moved up to 4th in the conference standings. Rudy Gay led the Raptors with 20 points.

Chicago’s tough start to the season continued as they dropped to 1-3 after losing to the unbeaten Indiana Pacers, 97-80. Joakim Noah played only 27 minutes in the contest due to foul trouble and it was his absence that allowed the Pacers to grab 52 rebounds to the Bulls’ 40. Derrick Rose and Luol Deng were joint leading scorers for the Bulls with 17, while for Indy, Paul George had 21. Roy Hibbert once again had a strong game as he recorded a line of 8 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks.

Weird things are happening this season with teams projected to contend, dropping games and ball clubs that were thought likely to struggle, winning. And the Magic’s 98-90 win over the Clippers epitomises this season. Vucevic’s 30 point, 21 rebound performance led the Magic to their third win of the year. Chris Paul had his fifth double-double of the year in defeat. J.J Redick had 17 points in his return to Orlando.

John Wall’s 24 points and Gortat’s 19 point-12 rebound performance helped the Wizards snap their losing streak, as they beat the Sixers 116-102. Spencer Hawes finished with 23 points and 13 boards in defeat. MCW had another decent night with 19 points and seven dimes. The Wizards set a franchise record with 18 made three pointers.

One team was going to break their losing streak when the Jazz visited the Celtics and thankfully for Boston, they were the ones who got the win, 97-87. A shoddy second quarter for the Jazz really hurt them, as did their 10% shooting from distance. A strong showing from Boston’s bench, led by rookie Olynyk’s 14 points, helped the Celts register their first W of the season. Enes Kanter led all scorers with 22 points.

The Pelicans held a comfortable lead heading into the final period and held off the Grizzlies to take the win 99-84. Eric Gordon had 19 points in the win while Mike Conley had 26 points in defeat.

The Bucks’ first quarter set them up for the 109-104 win over the Cavaliers, with O.J Mayo going for 28 points on the night. Kyrie Irving had 29 points for the Cavs while 1st overall pick, Anthony Bennett, hit his first field goal to break a streak that was at 0-for-15 heading into Wednesday night’s game.

The Timberwolves have now lost consecutive games for the first time this season after dropping this one to the visiting Warriors, 106-93. Klay Thompson lit up Minnesota with 30 points (6/9 from deep). In the battle of the power forwards, David Lee had 22 points and 15 rebounds, while Kevin Love recorded 25 points and 16 rebounds. Curry sat out the 4th quarter with a bone bruise to his foot.

Tony Parker scored 15 points in the final seven minutes as the Spurs beat the Suns 99-96. Parker finished with 20 points in the game as his Spurs team were able to hold off a spirited Phoenix performance. Markieff Morris had a double-double from the bench, scoring 23 and grabbing 12 boards in the loss.

The Thunder beat the Mavs 107-93 thanks, in part, to Serge Ibaka’s big night of 17 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks. He was one of three starters who scored 17 or more points in the win, with Westbrook and Durant scoring 22 and 23 respectively. Monta Ellis led the Mavericks in scoring with 20. Vince Carter got himself ejected from the game for elbowing Steven Adams in the face.