Around the NBA: Crazy Canucks keep Nuggets in mix . . . Fans buying what T-Wolves are selling
The Denver Nuggets might quickly become Canada’s second-favourite team thanks to a couple of local products who have been rolling. Jamal Murray of Kitchener and Trey Lyles, born in Saskatoon, have become a formidable duo, each scoring more than 20 points in three of Denver’s last six games. The Nuggets began play Thursday in a tight five-team race for the final four Western Conference playoff spots.
WOLVES HOWL: The Minnesota Timberwolves are without question a young, fun team on the rise, hanging tough among the Western Conference elite at the halfway point of the season. Fans are finding that out, too. An impressive win over Cleveland at home on Monday drew a sellout crowd of just under 19,000. It was the fourth consecutive sellout for the Wolves, who are in the bottom quarter of the NBA in attendance. But the last time Minnesota played to four straight home sellouts was May 2012.
20,000 LEAGUE: It came in a somewhat surprising loss at home to the Los Angeles Clippers — something that hadn’t happened in 12 games between the teams dating back to 2014 — but Golden State’s Kevin Durant became the second-youngest player to surpass the 20,000-point plateau. The 29-year-old Durant finished with 40 points in the game — Lou Williams had 50 for the Clippers — and the only player to get to 20,000 at a younger age is LeBron James. BEATA-BULLS: The Chicago Bulls had gone through some extremely difficult defensive times before beating the New York Knicks in double overtime on Wednesday night. They had lost five of six games before that win and been awful defensively in the process. They had given up 124 points in losing to Portland, 124 while getting beaten by Toronto, 124 in a win over Dallas and 125 in a loss to Indiana. It was the first time in franchise history that the Bulls had allowed 124 or more points in four straight games.
DEROZAN’S STAR TURN: DeMar DeRozan is moving closer to his fourth appearance in an NBA all-star game. With less than a week left in voting for the starters, DeRozan is second among Eastern Conference guards, trailing Boston’s Kyrie Irving but with about a 140,000-vote lead on Philadelphia’s Ben Simmons. Toronto’s Kyle Lowry is eighth. Voting by fans, players and media will go toward choosing the five starters from each conference, with coaches selecting seven backups. The conference captains — the leading votegetters, currently LeBron James and Stephen Curry — will hold a private “draft” to make up the teams for the Feb. 18 contest in Los Angeles. Information from wire services and websites was used in the compilation of this report. Doug Smith