Knicks set franchise record with 13 straight losses…
The Detroit Pistons made it seven straight wins on Wednesday night as they picked up a highly impressive road win over the Dallas Mavericks.
Coach Stan Van Gundy puts the turnaround down to a strong run of practices prior to Christmas, although many believe that it isn’t a coincidence that the Pistons have started winning since waiving Josh Smith.
Greg Monroe went for 27 points and 18 rebounds for his 13th double-double of the season, while DJ Augustin stole the show as he came off the bench to score 17 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter.
The Pistons outrebounded Dallas 60-43 overall, and Augustin was keen to stress that Detroit are not a one-man team as they now have confidence across the roster as they improve to 12-23.
In contrast, the Cleveland Cavaliers are undoubtedly short of confidence as they were beaten at home by the Houston Rockets, with James Harden putting up 21 points, seven rebounds and nine assists.
Kyrie Irving returned from injury for the hosts to score 38 points, but it wasn’t enough as the Cavs continue to struggle without injured pair LeBron James and Anderson Varejao.
The franchise appear to have addressed their needs in the last week or so by bringing in JR Smith, Iman Shumpert and Timofey Mozgov, but it remains to be seen how the team gels after seemingly being forced to start all over again with so many new faces.
Meanwhile, there is no slowing down the Atlanta Hawks who defeated the Memphis Grizzlies behind 25 points from point guard Jeff Teague.
The Hawks have now won six straight overall but they also have a nine-game winning streak against Western Conference teams too as they improve to 27-8 for the season and continue to lead the East.
Their closest rivals were unable to keep up the pace on Wednesday as the Chicago Bulls slipped to a disappointing home loss to the Utah Jazz.
It was a horrible shooting night for the Bulls who were led by Jimmy Butler with 16 points and 11 rebounds, but the Jazz held Chicago to a season-low point total on 28-of-84 shooting after they had averaged 103.1 points per game.
Elsewhere, Klay Thompson dropped 40 points on the Indiana Pacers to lead the Golden State Warriors to another win while the Sacramento Kings upset the Oklahoma City Thunder behind a strong performance from Rudy Gay.
The battle of LA was won by the Clippers who saw Blake Griffin put up 27 points, nine rebounds and eight assists in the win over the Lakers.
NBA Results
New Orleans Pelicans 94-98 Charlotte Hornets
Houston Rockets 105-93 Cleveland Cavaliers
Milwaukee Bucks 97-77 Philadelphia 76ers
New York Knicks 91-101 Washington Wizards
Memphis Grizzlies 86-96 Atlanta Hawks
Boston Celtics 89-81 Brooklyn Nets
Utah Jazz 97-77 Chicago Bulls
Detroit Pistons 108-95 Dallas Mavericks
Orlando Magic 90-93 Denver Nuggets
Phoenix Suns 113-111 Minnesota Timberwolves
Oklahoma City Thunder 93-104 Sacramento Kings
Indiana Pacers 102-117 Golden State Warriors
Los Angeles Lakers 89-114 Los Angeles Clippers
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