NBA Week 5 Rewind: Warriors, Kobe Bryant rewrite history

The Key Games and Results of Week 5

As well as the Warriors’ record-breaking win against the Lakers on Tuesday 22nd, here’s a look at some of last week’s toughest contests and big results.

This was never going to be a close game. Kobe Bryant may have said he’s seen stranger things happen to give his fans some confidence, but the Lakers just never stood a chance against such a commanding Warriors team. Golden State’s defense made matters even more difficult as the Lakers proceeded to shoot a mere 37.3 percent for the game and made just 3 of their 21 three point attempts, while Kobe went 1-of-14 after hoisting up ugly shots and air balls all night.

When Larry Nance Jr. is scoring more than twice as many points as Kobe (10) on half as many shots, it was clear that the Black Mamba’s career was drawing to a close.

The Warriors played at their usual terrifying pace and simply out-ran and out-shot the Lakers all night. Stephen Curry had 24 points and 9 assists, Draymond Green had another well-rounded performance with 18 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists, and Leandro Barbosa was a spark off the bench with 13 points in 16 minutes. Their ball movement looked as sharp as ever as they toyed with the Lakers’ lost defense with 32 assists, and the Warriors made their victory to go 16-0 an easy one.

In a clash of two of the East’s top teams, the Pacers managed to come out on top. Both are top-six teams in defensive efficiency, both have a star shooting guard, and both are in the top four of the conference. They have a few similarities, although Paul George and the Pacers’ defense proved to be too much as the Bulls made the journey to Indiana.

George has been lighting up his opponents, and looks every bit the superstar he was before a gruesome leg break sidelined him last season. With 33 points in this contest, he led the Pacers on 11-of-24 shooting with 8 rebounds as he proved to be too much for Jimmy Butler and the Bulls to handle. To make matters worse for Chicago, they only shot 34.8 percent against the 3rd ranked defense of Indiana. They went down 18-30 after the first quarter and never managed to get their offense going to claw their way back into the game.

Finally, as Bulls fans will be so used to seeing by now, Derrick Rose struggled again. With a 4-of-16 shooting performance and 3 turnovers, he had the worst +/- (-19) of anyone in the game. Now, he has the worst player efficiency rating (10.4) of his career, besides the 9.7 he recorded in 10 games during his injury filled 2013-14 season. He can still be an important player for the Bulls, but it’s such a shame that he’ll never be close to the 22 year old MVP Derrick Rose that we saw just a few years ago.

Sunday’s game between the Rockets and Knicks showed just how much these teams have changed. Last season, the former made it to the Western Conference Finals while the latter was an absolute mess. On Sunday night, though, we saw the Rockets scrape through by the skin of their teeth to take down the Carmelo Anthony-less Knicks in overtime, and it could have easily gone the other way.

The Knicks were up 54-41 at half time, and they looked like they were in total control. Then, as the second half progressed and the Rockets started making some big shots, they clawed their way back, won the fourth quarter 32-24, and sent the game to overtime. In those final extra minutes, Dwight Howard threw a monstrous alley-oop down over Kristaps Porzingis, James Harden actually made something go in the basket, and Trevor Ariza hit a three to put the Rockets up 114-111 with just a minute to go.

If it wasn’t for some clutch shooting late in the game by Marcus Thornton and their 23 turnovers, the Knicks should have won. Porzingis had another stellar performance with 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting and 13 rebounds, Arron Afflalo had 31, they out-shot the Rockets in avery aspect of the game, and even won the rebound battle.

Last season, this would have been an easy game for the Rockets. This season, it showed just how far the Knicks are coming on their journey up the Eastern Conference.

Next: Who's Heating Up?