FloaterDaily Brief
Thursday, December 26, 1996Regular season · 11 games
← Dec 25CalendarDec 27 →

11 games, 1 went to overtime. Biggest comeback: UTA trailed POR by 12 after the first quarter and won 99–94.

Final
CHI103
ATL108
Q1 ATL +3; Q2 ATL +3; Q3 ATL +3; Q4 ATL +5
Final
GSW113
DAL108
Q1 GSW -3; Q2 GSW +9; Q3 GSW +14; Q4 GSW +5
Final
PHI118
DEN89
Q1 PHI -1; Q2 PHI +14; Q3 PHI +27; Q4 PHI +29
Final · OT
IND95
DET89
Q1 IND +2; Q2 IND -2; Q3 IND -5; Q4 IND 0; OT1 IND +6
Final
ORL76
MIA96
Q1 MIA +7; Q2 MIA +17; Q3 MIA +9; Q4 MIA +20
Final
HOU101
MIL90
Q1 HOU +7; Q2 HOU +10; Q3 HOU +13; Q4 HOU +11
Final
NYK80
MIN88
Q1 MIN -3; Q2 MIN -8; Q3 MIN -3; Q4 MIN +8
Final
VAN88
SAC111
Q1 SAC +17; Q2 SAC +18; Q3 SAC +20; Q4 SAC +23
Final
SAS86
SEA94
Q1 SEA +7; Q2 SEA +10; Q3 SEA +9; Q4 SEA +8
Final
NJN96
TOR98
Q1 TOR -1; Q2 TOR +1; Q3 TOR +1; Q4 TOR +2
Final
POR94
UTA99
Q1 UTA -12; Q2 UTA -10; Q3 UTA 0; Q4 UTA +5
Bars under each score: who led after each quarter, from the winner's side. winner ahead behind behind in a 10+ point comeback tied
On this day · 1995–96Dec 26, 1995: 10 games. Top scorer: Karl Malone (UTA vs POR), 47 points.
The lead · POR @ UTA

Utah fights back from 12 down against Portland

Final: 99–94, after trailing by 12 after one. Karl Malone led Utah with 24 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists.

Game flow · UTA margin at each break
Quarter-end scores only (4 points), so swings inside a period don't show. Pink = the rally, from the biggest deficit to the final.
-20-100+10+20TipEnd Q1HalfEnd Q3Final0-12-100+5UTA AHEAD ↑POR AHEAD ↓
By quarter
Q1Q2Q3Q4T
POR3018212594
UTA1820313099
Who led
Karl MalonePoints, last 10 games: 21, 22, 27, 11, 29, 35, 20, 20, 22, 24UTA24 PTS · 9 REB · 5 AST
Bryon RussellPoints, last 10 games: 10, 5, 12, 2, 7, 8, 16, 13, 15, 23UTA23 PTS · 3 REB · 2 AST
Arvydas SabonisPoints, last 10 games: 22, 11, 13, 13, 18, 8, 9, 8, 23, 26POR26 PTS · 13 REB · 2 AST
Isaiah RiderPoints, last 10 games: 21, 18, 2, 11, 12, 23, 18, 8, 4, 19POR19 PTS · 3 REB · 2 AST
Second story · the whole slate

Eleven games, by the margins

Closest finish: 2. Widest: Philadelphia by 29.

TOR over NJN2ATL over CHI5GSW over DAL5UTA over POR5IND over DET6MIN over NYK8SEA over SAS8HOU over MIL11MIA over ORL20SAC over VAN23PHI over DEN29Final margin, points. Pink = closest and widest.
Fantasy angleRecent form and minutes against each player's season average from games before today.
Heating up
+9.5points, last 5 vs season avg
Points per game
6.1Season avg15.6Last 5

15.6 points a game over his last five games, against 6.1 in 17 earlier games. Today: 14 points in 30 minutes.

Losing minutes
−12.0minutes, last 3 vs season avg
Minutes per game
23.0Season avg11.0Last 3

11.0 minutes a game over his last three games, against 23.0 in 13 earlier games. Today: 13 points in 24 minutes.

Stepped-up role
+21.4minutes, today vs season avg
Minutes per game
24.6Season avg46Today

46 minutes today, against 24.6 a game in 24 earlier games. Line: 14 points, 3 rebounds, 9 assists.

Top performances

Christian Laettner leads the day with 37

Sparkline: points in his last 10 games, tonight in pink. Black tag: most points in a game this season to date, or in his career when his whole career is in our box scores (after 5+ games). Plus/minus: points tonight against his average before tonight.
Christian LaettnerPoints, last 10 games: 15, 16, 21, 22, 17, 9, 16, 24, 13, 37ATL vs CHI · W
18.4 PPG season to date · +19.3 vs his regular-season average before tonight
Season high37 PTS · 14 REB · 1 AST
Michael JordanPoints, last 10 games: 13, 27, 32, 29, 30, 35, 31, 24, 23, 34CHI @ ATL · L
30.6 PPG season to date · +3.6 vs his regular-season average before tonight
34 PTS · 3 REB · 1 AST
Allen IversonPoints, last 10 games: 23, 26, 36, 35, 12, 8, 11, 22, 32, 31PHI @ DEN · W
22.6 PPG season to date · +8.9 vs his regular-season average before tonight
31 PTS · 5 REB · 6 AST
Joe SmithPoints, last 10 games: 15, 24, 36, 12, 20, 16, 3, 30, 24, 30GSW @ DAL · W
18.5 PPG season to date · +11.9 vs his regular-season average before tonight
30 PTS · 16 REB · 0 AST
Hakeem OlajuwonPoints, last 10 games: 13, 29, 21, 9, 26, 23, 9, 20, 37, 29HOU @ MIL · W
23.6 PPG season to date · +5.6 vs his regular-season average before tonight
29 PTS · 6 REB · 0 AST
Robert PackPoints, last 10 games: 3, 19, 25, 23, 17, 7, 15, 29, 8, 27NJN @ TOR · L
15.2 PPG season to date · +12.3 vs his regular-season average before tonight
27 PTS · 7 REB · 9 AST
Hot and cold

Last 10 games against the season so far

Points per game in each player's last 10 games minus his season average through tonight. Regular season, players with 20+ games and 20+ minutes a game.
Hot
Rony SeikalyORL+5.3 20.5 last 10 · 15.2 season
Anthony PeelerVAN+4.8 18.1 last 10 · 13.3 season
Shareef Abdur-RahimVAN+4.5 19.0 last 10 · 14.5 season
Bryant StithDEN+4.4 20.0 last 10 · 15.6 season
Scottie PippenCHI+3.4 23.1 last 10 · 19.7 season
Cold
Eddie JonesLAL−3.9 12.5 last 10 · 16.4 season
Armen GilliamMIL−3.7 6.2 last 10 · 9.9 season
Shawn KempSEA−3.2 18.8 last 10 · 22.0 season
Mark PriceGSW−2.9 9.1 last 10 · 12.0 season
Blue EdwardsVAN−2.9 8.3 last 10 · 11.2 season