FloaterDaily Brief
Saturday, March 14, 1998Regular season · 8 games
← Mar 13CalendarMar 15 →

8 games, 1 went to overtime. Biggest comeback: HOU trailed SAC by 5 after the first quarter and won 89–86.

Final
WAS83
CHH80
Q1 WAS +10; Q2 WAS -2; Q3 WAS +10; Q4 WAS +3
Final · OT
NYK85
CLE88
Q1 CLE +3; Q2 CLE 0; Q3 CLE -1; Q4 CLE 0; OT1 CLE +3
Final
NJN108
DAL93
Q1 NJN +3; Q2 NJN -1; Q3 NJN 0; Q4 NJN +15
Final
POR82
DEN92
Q1 DEN +6; Q2 DEN +7; Q3 DEN +11; Q4 DEN +10
Final
SAC86
HOU89
Q1 HOU -5; Q2 HOU -4; Q3 HOU -3; Q4 HOU +3
Final
PHI93
MIL89
Q1 PHI -3; Q2 PHI -1; Q3 PHI +7; Q4 PHI +4
Final
CHI96
SAS86
Q1 CHI +10; Q2 CHI +1; Q3 CHI +9; Q4 CHI +10
Final
MIN80
SEA114
Q1 SEA +3; Q2 SEA +12; Q3 SEA +21; Q4 SEA +34
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 · 1996–97Mar 14, 1997: 10 games. Top scorer: Glen Rice (CHH @ ORL), 39 points.
The lead · SAC @ HOU

Houston wins a tight one over Sacramento

89–86. Neither team led by more than 5 at any break. Hakeem Olajuwon led Houston with 23 points, 11 rebounds and 3 assists.

Game flow · HOU margin at each break
Quarter-end scores only (4 points), so swings inside a period don't show.
-15-10-50+5+10+15TipEnd Q1HalfEnd Q3Final0-5-4-3+3HOU AHEAD ↑SAC AHEAD ↓
By quarter
Q1Q2Q3Q4T
SAC2424231586
HOU1925242189
Who led
Hakeem OlajuwonPoints, last 10 games: 13, 19, 20, 18, 18, 13, 20, 13, 16, 23HOU23 PTS · 11 REB · 3 AST
Clyde DrexlerPoints, last 10 games: 17, 13, 25, 24, 9, 21, 15, 24, 33, 19HOU19 PTS · 4 REB · 1 AST
Mitch RichmondPoints, last 10 games: 19, 23, 34, 21, 17, 32, 22, 21, 22, 18SAC18 PTS · 3 REB · 4 AST
Corliss WilliamsonPoints, last 10 games: 16, 30, 29, 12, 40, 23, 27, 21, 19, 15SAC15 PTS · 5 REB · 4 AST
Second story · the whole slate

Four close finishes and one SuperSonics rout

Four of 8 games were decided by four points or fewer. Seattle beat Minnesota by 34.

WAS over CHH3CLE over NYK3HOU over SAC3PHI over MIL4DEN over POR10CHI over SAS10NJN over DAL15SEA over MIN34Final margin, points. Pink = decided by 4 or fewer, plus the widest win.
Fantasy angleRecent form and minutes against each player's season average from games before today.
Heating up
+10.9points, last 5 vs season avg
Points per game
6.3Season avg17.2Last 5

17.2 points a game over his last five games, against 6.3 in 62 earlier games. Today: 21 points in 42 minutes.

Losing minutes
−12.5minutes, last 3 vs season avg
Minutes per game
25.5Season avg13.0Last 3

13.0 minutes a game over his last three games, against 25.5 in 53 earlier games. Today: 2 points in 14 minutes.

Stepped-up role
+24.5minutes, today vs season avg
Minutes per game
20.6Season avg45.1Today

45 minutes today, against 20.6 a game in 62 earlier games. Line: 18 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists.

Top performances

David Robinson leads the day with 35

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.
David RobinsonPoints, last 10 games: 20, 10, 17, 22, 18, 23, 11, 19, 29, 35SAS vs CHI · L
22.6 PPG season to date · +12.7 vs his regular-season average before tonight
35 PTS · 8 REB · 3 AST
Johnny NewmanPoints, last 10 games: 18, 7, 4, 15, 22, 23, 10, 20, 17, 33DEN vs POR · W
14.3 PPG season to date · +19.0 vs his regular-season average before tonight
33 PTS · 2 REB · 2 AST
Michael JordanPoints, last 10 games: 16, 19, 17, 33, 28, 30, 42, 37, 26, 30CHI @ SAS · W
28.5 PPG season to date · +1.5 vs his regular-season average before tonight
30 PTS · 5 REB · 3 AST
Joe SmithPoints, last 10 games: 14, 5, 12, 15, 15, 10, 16, 15, 17, 27PHI @ MIL · W
16.1 PPG season to date · +11.1 vs his regular-season average before tonight
27 PTS · 8 REB · 2 AST
Glen RicePoints, last 10 games: 31, 33, 17, 9, 22, 29, 31, 22, 24, 27CHH vs WAS · L
22.9 PPG season to date · +4.2 vs his regular-season average before tonight
27 PTS · 3 REB · 0 AST
Arvydas SabonisPoints, last 10 games: 14, 23, 21, 7, 23, 12, 23, 17, 28, 24POR @ DEN · L
15.9 PPG season to date · +8.2 vs his regular-season average before tonight
24 PTS · 12 REB · 2 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
Nick AndersonORL+13.1 25.9 last 10 · 12.8 season
Derek FisherLAL+8.4 14.1 last 10 · 5.7 season
Bryant ReevesVAN+7.5 22.5 last 10 · 15.0 season
Cedric CeballosDAL+6.9 18.6 last 10 · 11.7 season
Eric PiatkowskiLAC+5.9 17.0 last 10 · 11.1 season
Cold
Brent BarryMIA−8.0 4.7 last 10 · 12.7 season
Kobe BryantLAL−6.5 9.7 last 10 · 16.2 season
Rony SeikalyORL−6.0 9.0 last 10 · 15.0 season
Sherman DouglasNJN−5.4 3.5 last 10 · 8.9 season
Olden PolyniceSAC−5.3 3.2 last 10 · 8.5 season