FloaterDaily Brief
Wednesday, December 26, 2012Regular season · 12 games
← Dec 25CalendarDec 27 →

12 games, 1 went to overtime. Biggest comeback: 4 points, by NOH (vs ORL) and CLE (vs WAS).

Final
MIA105
CHA92
Q1 MIA +9; Q2 MIA +17; Q3 MIA +7; Q4 MIA +13
Final
NOH97
ORL94
Q1 NOH +2; Q2 NOH -4; Q3 NOH +2; Q4 NOH +3
Final
CLE87
WAS84
Q1 CLE -4; Q2 CLE +2; Q3 CLE 0; Q4 CLE +3
Final · 2OT
DET119
ATL126
Q1 ATL +15; Q2 ATL +5; Q3 ATL +19; Q4 ATL 0; OT1 ATL 0; OT2 ATL +7
Final
PHI99
MEM89
Q1 PHI -3; Q2 PHI +2; Q3 PHI +5; Q4 PHI +10
Final
BKN93
MIL108
Q1 MIL -2; Q2 MIL +13; Q3 MIL +11; Q4 MIL +15
Final
HOU87
MIN84
Q1 HOU +5; Q2 HOU -3; Q3 HOU -3; Q4 HOU +3
Final
TOR80
SAS100
Q1 SAS +4; Q2 SAS +7; Q3 SAS +13; Q4 SAS +20
Final
LAL114
DEN126
Q1 DEN +3; Q2 DEN +3; Q3 DEN +9; Q4 DEN +12
Final
NYK99
PHX97
Q1 NYK -2; Q2 NYK +10; Q3 NYK 0; Q4 NYK +2
Final
GSW94
UTA83
Q1 GSW +5; Q2 GSW +12; Q3 GSW +17; Q4 GSW +11
Final
SAC91
POR109
Q1 POR +5; Q2 POR +18; Q3 POR +24; Q4 POR +18
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 · 2011–12Dec 26, 2011: 12 games. Top scorer: Kevin Durant (OKC @ MIN), 33 points.
The lead · NOH @ ORL

New Orleans holds off Orlando, 97–94

New Orleans led 78–76 after three and held on to win by three. Robin Lopez led New Orleans with 29 points, 3 rebounds and 0 assists.

Game flow · NOH margin at each break
Quarter-end scores only (4 points), so swings inside a period don't show.
-10-50+5+10TipEnd Q1HalfEnd Q3Final0+2-4+2+3NOH AHEAD ↑ORL AHEAD ↓
By quarter
Q1Q2Q3Q4T
NOH2623291997
ORL2429231894
Who led
Robin LopezPoints, last 10 games: 20, 2, 6, 10, 8, 6, 22, 10, 24, 29NOH29 PTS · 3 REB · 0 AST
Greivis VasquezPoints, last 10 games: 8, 5, 9, 15, 23, 20, 5, 14, 14, 27NOH27 PTS · 6 REB · 8 AST
Jameer NelsonPoints, last 10 games: 17, 4, 12, 10, 16, 6, 8, 9, 14, 28ORL28 PTS · 5 REB · 10 AST
Nikola VucevicPoints, last 10 games: 3, 12, 8, 12, 13, 14, 8, 16, 16, 19ORL19 PTS · 9 REB · 1 AST
Second story · the whole slate

Four games go down to the wire

Four of 12 games were decided by four points or fewer. Widest margin: San Antonio by 20.

NYK over PHX2NOH over ORL3CLE over WAS3HOU over MIN3ATL over DET7PHI over MEM10GSW over UTA11DEN over LAL12MIA over CHA13MIL over BKN15POR over SAC18SAS over TOR20Final margin, points. Pink = decided by 4 or fewer.
Fantasy angleRecent form and minutes against each player's season average from games before today.
Heating up
+9.7points, last 5 vs season avg
Points per game
10.9Season avg20.6Last 5

20.6 points a game over his last five games, against 10.9 in 28 earlier games. Today: 36 points in 42 minutes.

Losing minutes
−13.3minutes, last 3 vs season avg
Minutes per game
21.6Season avg8.3Last 3

8.3 minutes a game over his last three games, against 21.6 in 18 earlier games. Today: 2 points in 11 minutes.

Stepped-up role
+26.8minutes, today vs season avg
Minutes per game
11.2Season avg38Today

38 minutes today, against 11.2 a game in 12 earlier games. Line: 18 points, 9 rebounds, 0 assists.

Top performances

Kobe Bryant leads the day with 40

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.
Kobe BryantPoints, last 10 games: 35, 34, 42, 31, 30, 34, 30, 34, 34, 40LAL @ DEN · L
30.2 PPG season to date · +10.1 vs his regular-season average before tonight
Most like it since 1995–96: Mike Bibby SAC, Jan 19, 2006: 40 PTS · 4 REB · 6 AST
40 PTS · 4 REB · 6 AST
Jared DudleyPoints, last 10 games: 11, 8, 15, 15, 22, 20, 20, 8, 19, 36PHX vs NYK · L
11.8 PPG season to date · +25.1 vs his regular-season average before tonight
Career high36 PTS · 5 REB · 3 AST
Josh SmithPoints, last 10 games: 24, 22, 16, 18, 3, 17, 17, 17, 12, 31ATL vs DET · W
17.0 PPG season to date · +14.6 vs his regular-season average before tonight
Season high31 PTS · 10 REB · 6 AST
Will BynumPoints, last 10 games: 4, 0, 9, 2, 0, 0, 6, 8, 5, 31DET @ ATL · L
6.6 PPG season to date · +25.6 vs his regular-season average before tonight
Season high31 PTS · 4 REB · 4 AST
James HardenPoints, last 10 games: 29, 39, 31, 21, 28, 28, 33, 31, 26, 30HOU @ MIN · W
25.8 PPG season to date · +4.3 vs his regular-season average before tonight
30 PTS · 6 REB · 3 AST
Dwyane WadePoints, last 10 games: 13, 26, 26, 14, 13, 24, 19, 21, 21, 29MIA @ CHA · W
20.2 PPG season to date · +9.2 vs his regular-season average before tonight
29 PTS · 9 REB · 5 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
Marco BelinelliCHI+5.7 15.5 last 10 · 9.8 season
Jared DudleyPHX+5.6 17.4 last 10 · 11.8 season
Kobe BryantLAL+4.2 34.4 last 10 · 30.2 season
Rodney StuckeyDET+4.1 16.2 last 10 · 12.1 season
JR SmithNYK+4.1 19.8 last 10 · 15.7 season
Cold
Wesley MatthewsPOR−3.4 11.6 last 10 · 15.0 season
Al-Farouq AminuNOH−3.1 5.1 last 10 · 8.2 season
Kevin SeraphinWAS−2.7 7.8 last 10 · 10.5 season
Vince CarterDAL−2.7 9.1 last 10 · 11.8 season
Brendan HaywoodCHA−2.6 2.2 last 10 · 4.8 season