FloaterDaily Brief
Thursday, December 15, 2005Regular season · 3 games
← Dec 14CalendarDec 16 →

3 games, none went to overtime. Biggest comeback: SAS trailed MIN by 7 after the first quarter and won 90–88.

Final
DEN85
CLE94
Q1 CLE +5; Q2 CLE +4; Q3 CLE +1; Q4 CLE +9
Final
SAS90
MIN88
Q1 SAS -7; Q2 SAS +10; Q3 SAS +5; Q4 SAS +2
Final
HOU104
SEA98
Q1 HOU -2; Q2 HOU -3; Q3 HOU +2; Q4 HOU +6
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 · 2004–05Dec 15, 2004: 10 games. Top scorer: Paul Pierce (BOS vs DEN), 31 points.
The lead · SAS @ MIN

San Antonio holds off Minnesota, 90–88

San Antonio led 63–58 after three and held on to win by two. Michael Finley led San Antonio with 21 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists.

Game flow · SAS margin at each break
Quarter-end scores only (4 points), so swings inside a period don't show.
-20-100+10+20TipEnd Q1HalfEnd Q3Final0-7+10+5+2SAS AHEAD ↑MIN AHEAD ↓
By quarter
Q1Q2Q3Q4T
SAS1425242790
MIN218293088
Who led
Michael FinleyPoints, last 10 games: 12, 12, 15, 5, 7, 8, 11, 9, 21, 21SAS21 PTS · 4 REB · 2 AST
Tim DuncanPoints, last 10 games: 24, 16, 13, 16, 26, 28, 20, 12, 27, 13SAS13 PTS · 9 REB · 6 AST
Kevin GarnettPoints, last 10 games: 26, 29, 29, 11, 21, 16, 30, 19, 22, 24MIN24 PTS · 21 REB · 6 AST
Wally SzczerbiakPoints, last 10 games: 16, 10, 34, 18, 26, 19, 25, 23, 25, 23MIN23 PTS · 6 REB · 3 AST
Second story · HOU @ SEA

Houston makes it five straight

Houston beat Seattle 104–98 and moved to 9–12. Tracy McGrady led Houston with 34 points, 6 rebounds and 8 assists.

Streak strip · HOU
Lvs PHX88–100L@ MEM81–86Lvs CHI89–94Wvs ATL100–85Lvs MEM75–90Wvs BOS91–73W@ SAC106–95W@ POR100–86W@ GSW111–105W@ SEA104–98HOU: last 10 games through Dec 15, oldest first. Pink = win.
Fantasy angleRecent form and minutes against each player's season average from games before today.
Heating up
+7.9points, last 5 vs season avg
Points per game
22.9Season avg30.8Last 5

30.8 points a game over his last five games, against 22.9 in 21 earlier games. Today: 23 points in 42 minutes.

Losing minutes
−8.4minutes, last 3 vs season avg
Minutes per game
21.4Season avg13.0Last 3

13.0 minutes a game over his last three games, against 21.4 in 11 earlier games. Today: 0 points in 5 minutes.

Stepped-up role
+14.5minutes, today vs season avg
Minutes per game
21.4Season avg35.9Today

36 minutes today, against 21.4 a game in 21 earlier games. Line: 15 points, 3 rebounds, 0 assists.

Top performances

Tracy McGrady leads the day with 34

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.
Tracy McGradyPoints, last 10 games: 25, 27, 6, 25, 12, 35, 28, 35, 23, 34HOU @ SEA · W
24.8 PPG season to date · +10.0 vs his regular-season average before tonight
34 PTS · 6 REB · 8 AST
Ray AllenPoints, last 10 games: 19, 15, 32, 21, 25, 25, 19, 24, 35, 30SEA vs HOU · L
24.6 PPG season to date · +5.7 vs his regular-season average before tonight
30 PTS · 8 REB · 4 AST
LeBron JamesPoints, last 10 games: 19, 38, 28, 34, 30, 30, 32, 52, 39, 26CLE vs DEN · W
30.5 PPG season to date · −4.7 vs his regular-season average before tonight
26 PTS · 4 REB · 9 AST
Yao MingPoints, last 10 games: 8, 15, 30, 25, 29, 12, 21, 9, 30, 26HOU @ SEA · W
19.8 PPG season to date · +6.5 vs his regular-season average before tonight
26 PTS · 10 REB · 1 AST
Kevin GarnettPoints, last 10 games: 26, 29, 29, 11, 21, 16, 30, 19, 22, 24MIN vs SAS · L
22.0 PPG season to date · +2.1 vs his regular-season average before tonight
24 PTS · 21 REB · 6 AST
Wally SzczerbiakPoints, last 10 games: 16, 10, 34, 18, 26, 19, 25, 23, 25, 23MIN vs SAS · L
18.3 PPG season to date · +4.9 vs his regular-season average before tonight
23 PTS · 6 REB · 3 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
Wally SzczerbiakMIN+3.6 21.9 last 10 · 18.3 season
Marquis DanielsDAL+3.1 16.1 last 10 · 13.0 season
Andre MillerDEN+3.0 16.2 last 10 · 13.2 season
Desmond MasonNOK+2.9 12.5 last 10 · 9.6 season
Brevin KnightCHA+2.9 15.1 last 10 · 12.2 season
Cold
Peja StojakovicSAC−4.1 13.3 last 10 · 17.4 season
Kobe BryantLAL−3.6 27.6 last 10 · 31.2 season
Jalen RoseTOR−3.4 6.4 last 10 · 9.8 season
Raef LaFrentzBOS−2.8 6.5 last 10 · 9.3 season
Eddie JonesMEM−2.4 10.2 last 10 · 12.6 season