FloaterDaily Brief
Thursday, January 8, 2026Regular season · 3 games
← Jan 7CalendarJan 9 →

3 games, none went to overtime. Biggest comeback: MIN trailed CLE by 4 at halftime and won 131–122.

Final
IND114
CHA112
Q1 IND +3; Q2 IND +2; Q3 IND +3; Q4 IND +2
Final
CLE122
MIN131
Q1 MIN +1; Q2 MIN -4; Q3 MIN +17; Q4 MIN +9
Final
DAL114
UTA116
Q1 UTA +5; Q2 UTA +3; Q3 UTA -1; Q4 UTA +2
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 · 2024–25Jan 8, 2025: 8 games. Top scorer: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (OKC @ CLE), 31 points.
The lead · CLE @ MIN

Minnesota makes it four straight

Minnesota beat Cleveland 131–122 and moved to 25–13. Julius Randle led Minnesota with 28 points, 11 rebounds and 8 assists.

Game flow · MIN margin at each break
Quarter-end scores only (4 points), so swings inside a period don't show.
-25-15-5+5+15+25TipEnd Q1HalfEnd Q3Final0+1-4+17+9MIN AHEAD ↑CLE AHEAD ↓
By quarter
Q1Q2Q3Q4T
CLE31362233122
MIN32314325131
Who led
Julius RandlePoints, last 10 games: 12, 25, 32, 13, 17, 19, 23, 22, 15, 28MIN28 PTS · 11 REB · 8 AST
Jaden McDanielsPoints, last 10 games: 13, 0, 21, 16, 7, 8, 5, 12, 19, 26MIN26 PTS · 5 REB · 1 AST
Donovan MitchellPoints, last 10 games: 32, 30, 27, 34, 16, 10, 34, 33, 30, 30CLE30 PTS · 7 REB · 8 AST
Sam MerrillPoints, last 10 games: 20, 4, 22, 11, 13, 5, 16, 15, 19, 22CLE22 PTS · 2 REB · 3 AST
Second story · DAL @ UTA

Utah wins a tight one over Dallas

116–114. Neither team led by more than 5 at any break. Lauri Markkanen led Utah with 33 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists.

The whole night · final margins
IND over CHA2UTA over DAL2MIN over CLE9Final margin, points. Pink = UTA over DAL.
Fantasy angleRecent form and minutes against each player's season average from games before today.
Heating up
+6.5points, last 5 vs season avg
Points per game
12.3Season avg18.8Last 5

18.8 points a game over his last five games, against 12.3 in 35 earlier games. Today: 16 points in 32 minutes.

Losing minutes
−8.0minutes, last 3 vs season avg
Minutes per game
22.0Season avg14.0Last 3

14.0 minutes a game over his last three games, against 22.0 in 35 earlier games. Today: 8 points in 18 minutes.

Stepped-up role
+12.4minutes, today vs season avg
Minutes per game
23.6Season avg36Today

36 minutes today, against 23.6 a game in 34 earlier games. Line: 10 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assists.

Top performances

LaMelo Ball leads the day with 33

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.
LaMelo BallPoints, last 10 games: 23, 23, 22, 26, 27, 12, 17, 16, 15, 33CHA vs IND · L
20.0 PPG season to date · +13.5 vs his regular-season average before tonight
33 PTS · 3 REB · 8 AST
Lauri MarkkanenPoints, last 10 games: 26, 33, 27, 30, 29, 22, 35, 22, 29, 33UTA vs DAL · W
27.9 PPG season to date · +5.2 vs his regular-season average before tonight
33 PTS · 7 REB · 4 AST
Pascal SiakamPoints, last 10 games: 25, 15, 11, 33, 23, 26, 23, 34, 22, 30IND @ CHA · W
23.9 PPG season to date · +6.3 vs his regular-season average before tonight
30 PTS · 14 REB · 3 AST
Donovan MitchellPoints, last 10 games: 32, 30, 27, 34, 16, 10, 34, 33, 30, 30CLE @ MIN · L
29.8 PPG season to date · +0.2 vs his regular-season average before tonight
30 PTS · 7 REB · 8 AST
Julius RandlePoints, last 10 games: 12, 25, 32, 13, 17, 19, 23, 22, 15, 28MIN vs CLE · W
22.3 PPG season to date · +5.9 vs his regular-season average before tonight
28 PTS · 11 REB · 8 AST
Cooper FlaggPoints, last 10 games: 24, 16, 33, 27, 23, 15, 12, 10, 20, 26DAL @ UTA · L
19.1 PPG season to date · +7.1 vs his regular-season average before tonight
26 PTS · 10 REB · 8 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
Peyton WatsonDEN+5.4 18.1 last 10 · 12.7 season
Caleb LovePOR+4.9 15.0 last 10 · 10.1 season
Anthony BlackORL+4.8 20.1 last 10 · 15.3 season
Kawhi LeonardLAC+4.7 32.7 last 10 · 28.0 season
Jusuf NurkicUTA+4.6 15.0 last 10 · 10.4 season
Cold
Malik MonkSAC−4.5 6.9 last 10 · 11.4 season
Bam AdebayoMIA−4.3 12.6 last 10 · 16.9 season
Dylan HarperSAS−3.9 7.1 last 10 · 11.0 season
Bennedict MathurinIND−3.7 14.1 last 10 · 17.8 season
Rui HachimuraLAL−3.5 9.2 last 10 · 12.7 season