Ben Standig for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Jeff Teague leading the Atlanta Hawks in scoring, that’s not a stunner. Even the point guard’s 28 points against the Washington Wizards didn’t offer shock value seeing as he tallied 28 in the previous game. Mike Scott and Shelvin Mack sparking the decisive fourth quarter rally for a rare road win, now that’s a new wrinkle. Scott and Mack scored every point during a 12-0 run that put the Hawks up for good in the overall sloppy affair. That surge provided enough breathing room in the 106-102 victory over the Southeast Division-leading Washington Wizards. ... “When their number is called they’re always ready, always prepared," Teague stated following Atlanta’s second straight win. “Tonight their number was called and they stepped up and made big plays."

J. Michael of CSN Washington: Garrett Temple, who has started every game at shooting guard, didn't have a field goal for the first half -- and had been without a field goal in the previous four games -- but made a three-pointer and then had a drive past Kyle Korver for a layup. His five points were his most since Nov. 12 when he scored six on 1-for-5 shooting vs. the Detroit Pistons. Temple's defense on Korver, the NBA's No. 3 three-point shooter at 57%, was superb. Korver missed all three shot attempts and had just two points.

Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle: Marreese Speights has already revived his career, and now he may have added prophet to his resume. After Stephen Curry went 5-for-15 from the field and 2-of-6 from three-point range against Oklahoma City on Sunday, Speights said, “I feel sorry for Miami.” The Heat were the unfortunate ones who had to face Curry duringone of his bounce-back games, and Curry did more than just bounce back. He torched Miami for his seventh career 40-point game on a season-high eight three-pointers to lead the Warriors to a 114-97 victory Tuesday night at American Airlines Arena. “Maybe the most underrated aspect of Steph’s game is his competitive desire,” head coach Steve Kerr said. “The guy is an animal. … He hates to lose, and when he has a game that maybe isn’t up to his standards, you know he’s going to bring it in the next game.” Curry had one of those nights when he captivates the opposing crowd. They groan every time he’s open, ooh and ahh every time he releases his picture-perfect jumper, and then seem genuinely stunned the few times he misses. “When you start finding shots, it just feels good,” said Curry, who went 12-of-19 from the floor and 8-of-11 from three-point range. “Even the ones I missed terribly felt good, which is pretty funny."

Joseph Goodman of The Miami Herald: In releasing Shannon Brown, the Heat is gambling that Shabazz Napier is ready to play more minutes. Brown started two games in a row (both victories) before being waived, and made the roster this preseason to serve as something of a security policy against Wade’s history of injuries. Wade remains out with a hamstring injury, but could return to action after Thanksgiving for the Heat’s road back-to-back against the New York Knicks and Washington Wizards on Sunday and Monday. Tuesday marked the seventh consecutive game Wade has watched from the bench in a suit. “I think it’s good just to inject some young talent in there and try to bring them up to what we do here and, hopefully, it catches on,” Chris Bosh said.

Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee: His coach was in the locker room. Two starters were unavailable. So when the third quarter began, DeMarcus Cousins knew what he had to do as he sparked the Kings, who defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 99-89 Tuesday night at Smoothie King Center. Coach Michael Malone had been ejected in the second quarter. Darren Collison and Rudy Gay were out with injuries. But the Kings still had Cousins, who scored six quick points to start the third quarter and break a 49-49 halftime tie. “We had a little adversity at halftime with the whole coach situation, got a couple of calls that didn’t go our way,” Cousins said. “It would have easily went their way with the momentum. So I just tried to come out and be aggressive, hit them in the mouth early and get our team rolling.” Cousins scored 10 of his 22 points in the third, when the Kings regained control following Malone’s ejection in a shaky second quarter that saw the Kings squander a 15-point lead from the first quarter. Watching from the locker room, Malone knew the Kings would be fine if Cousins brought that kind of intensity. Cousins also had 12 rebounds, five assists, three steals and a blocked shot.

Jimmy Smith of The Times-Picayune: Since New Orleans Pelicans power forward Anthony Davis arrived in the NBA as the first pick in the 2012 draft, he has earned quite a few impressive accolades. Aside from his first NBA All-Star Game nod earlier this year in his professional hometown, Davis has won an Olympic gold medal and this past summer took home a FIBA World Cup gold medal. And don't forget all those Western Conference player of the week and player of the month honors that have come Davis' way. Uh, wait. Davis hasn't won the conference player of the week award yet. Player of the month, either. As startling as that might seem, considering the types of numbers Davis has put up on a regular basis, especially this season and particularly last week, the high tribunal that selects players for these designations can't seem to bring themselves to pencil in Davis' name at the top of the ballot. According to the NBA office, this figurative award – no plaque or monetary rewards are bestowed – is determined by a committee based at league headquarters in New York. The group makes its selections from nominations that come from the 30 teams.

Mark Kiszla of The Denver Post: On the strength of 20 points and 12 assists from point guard Ty Lawson, the Nuggets held on for a difficult 114-109 victory against the depleted Chicago Bulls, who began the game without center Joakim Noah and ended it without Derrick Rose. Surprise, surprise, surprise: Denver now owns a 7-7 record, after a miserable 1-6 start that made folks sentimental for the self-aggrandizing whining of George Karl. It's too early to suggest Denver is a legitimate playoff contender in the brutally tough Western Conference. But it's not too early to declare that Brian Shaw has earned respect as a legitimate NBA coach, after battling through a rookie year in which injuries gave the young coach no chance and a crisis so severe to start this season that Shaw himself wondered aloud if he could survive it. "Our energy has been good defensively, Ty (Lawson) has been aggressive offensively and the offense is starting to come around," Shaw said. The coach's gutsy decision to play to his personnel, instead of bowing to Nuggets tradition, and recast this team as a defense-first squad that doesn't need to run to win has paid dividends.

Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times: Thibodeau was again asked if it was more about what he was seeing – or wasn’t seeing – from Rose, and said, “I just didn’t want to take a chance, so we have a couple days now, regroup, and the way they were playing, the way we were playing, I wanted to see if we could change it with a different type of ball pressure." What also came up was if Rose wasn’t injured, why was the face of the franchise not even on the bench in the second half to pull for his teammates? After all, the Bulls were already without Joakim Noah (left knee, left eye) and Taj Gibson (left ankle). “Just to get treatment, you know, I just thought it was better for him to be in there," Thibodeau said. “I talked to him at the half, and I just said, ‘Look, I think the smart thing right now is for you not to go,’’ and he was fine." So the Rose season now looks like this: Of the 15 regular-season games the 9-6 Bulls have played, Rose has started seven of them and only finished four. A bigger concern is he is yet to finish two games consecutively. Thibodeau keeps insisting that Rose needs to “string some games together," in order to “take off," but that doesn’t appear to be happening in the immediate future.

Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel: O.J. Mayo never complained about coming off the bench while playing a key role for the Milwaukee Bucks in the first 14 games. On Tuesday night the 6-foot-5 shooting guard got his first starting assignment of the season and looked plenty comfortable in the Bucks' 98-86 victory over the Detroit Pistons. He finished with 17 points and three assists and sank 3 of 4 three-point attempts in 28 minutes. "I think if you're in a pickup game, you want to be in that first 10 guys that go out there and play, right," Mayo said. "It's just going out there and giving effort and energy, if that's what coach needed for this game." Mayo admitted he is approaching the game differently this season. "After having a year like last year, it was really important to rebound from that as an organization," Mayo said. "Individually, you have to look in the mirror and bring that as well."

Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News: With the considerable physical distance Pistons owner Tom Gores is away from the daily operation of his team, Stan Van Gundy is in constant contact with the man who signs the checks — who also wants the delicate balance walked between competing and developing young talent. Van Gundy, after a chunk of games that has his team at the bottom of the Eastern Conference, paying an early deposit with the 76ers for a good seat at next May's draft lottery, has begun to realize that balance is probably more delicate than his dual titles as coach and president of basketball operations. "I don't think it's gonna be overnight," Van Gundy said. "I'd like it to be. Tom would like it to be, but I don't think it's gonna be an overnight thing." "Last night it was an hour and a half, just talking about our roster and where we're headed and the whole thing. What I feel good about, what I don't like. It was two days of texts." Whether it's a 90-minute conversation or the usual text communication that happens 4-5 times during the week, much of the focus is on where things stand currently, as this wasn't the start either envisioned.