NBA scores 2018: Doc Rivers is somehow coaching Clippers towards playoff & 7 more things from Wednesday

Don’t give shit if you can’t take it, and don’t criticize head coaches if you can’t acknowledge when they’re finally doing a great job. We still have questions about Doc Rivers in the front office, but it seems like his August demotion from having complete control to just being the Los Angeles Clippers’ head coach has done wonders for him. Certainly, it has provided fabulous results for the Clippers.

Los Angeles beat the Golden State Warriors Wednesday, 125-106. Though the Warriors were missing Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, Los Angeles is also dealing with massive injury problems, most notably Blake Griffin, Austin Rivers, and Milos Teodosic.

Consider the Clippers’ starting lineup: DeAndre Jordan and Lou Williams, sure, but also Wesley Johnson, C.J. Williams, and Jawun Evans. They played someone named Tyrone Wallace for 34 minutes off the bench. Los Angeles seriously beat the Warriors with a rotation full of NBA 2K create-a-players, which is a feat that should always reflect on smart coaching.

The biggest contributor, of course, was a known quantity in Williams, a figure who has been playing at this high of a level for nearly the entire season. On Wednesday, he scored 50 points, a career-high that included 27 in the third quarter. Seriously, uh, what? The journeyman who has suited up for six teams in the past seven seasons is having a career year, good enough that he has a legitimate Western Conference all-star case.

Griffin has only played 24 games, Danilo Gallinari has only made it onto the court 11 times with an extremely unclear timetable for returning this season, and Patrick Beverley definitely won’t be back this year after knee surgery. The Clippers have logged heavy minutes to two-way players and rookies, and they’re still only one game back from the New Orleans Pelicans in the No. 8 seed.

At some point, you can only shake your head and point to Rivers coaching the season of his life.

Kevin Durant’s new milestone

Durant is the second quickest player to reach 20,000 points in NBA history, and the fifth to do it before he turned 30 years old. LeBron James beat him by more than a year, while Kobe Bryant, Wilt Chamberlain, and Michael Jordan all followed him.

Of course, Durant has had two “severe” injuries, a lost season in 2014-15 where he dealt with foot problems while playing just 27 games and last year’s MCL sprain, which fortunately wasn’t much, much worse. (For a moment, Durant and others thought it was.) Without those moments, perhaps Durant could have pushed James’ record — but they happened, and he didn’t.

Still, Durant has averaged 25 points or more in every season but his rookie year, which is simply absurd. Has there ever been someone who put the ball in the basket as easily as him?

Mavericks steal a ‘schedule loss’

ESPN has been tracking the schedule all season, and Wednesday’s Charlotte vs. Dallas game had the toughest schedule difficulty score all season — a clean 10 on their 1-to-10 scale. It made sense! The Mavericks were playing their fifth game in eight days and had suited up Tuesday night in Dallas, only to fly to the East Coast that evening, a two-hour flight which included them losing an hour due to the time zones on the way. Meanwhile, Charlotte wasn’t just in their home stadium, but had the previous four days off.

And, well, the Mavericks won, 115-111.

You can credit a highly efficient Harrison Barnes, vintage Dirk Nowitzki, and seven three-pointers from Yogi Ferrell. And man, what a bad loss for the Hornets, who wasted 41 points from Kemba Walker.

Donovan Mitchell saves the Jazz (again)

The transcendent rookie in Utah has been incredible at making winning plays, and that doesn’t just mean hitting shots. Here is Mitchell recovering to contest Bradley Beal’s potentially game-tying three and forcing him into a turnover, despite a slight stumble as he comes out to meet him.

It wasn’t Mitchell’s best shooting night — 16 points on 7-of-20 — but he made up for it in other ways.

This is Gerald Green’s world and we’re just living in it

Green had a quiet 12 points on 11 field goal attempts, but he hit two more triples, increasing his streaks of double digit scoring and multiple three-pointers to seven games. Mind you, Green has only suited up for Houston eight times so far, and was literally signed off the street by the Rockets after a rash of injuries.

What a cool story that keeps on giving.

Lauri Markkanen outdueled Kristaps Porzingis

Markkanen dropped 33 points in a double overtime win against the Knicks along with eight three-pointers, and Porzingis managed just 24 points. It’s a one-game sample size, but Markkanen did indeed outplay the other young European 7-foot shooter, which is absolutely impressive.

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