FloaterDaily Brief
2025–26 season archive
Thursday, January 8, 2026Regular season · 3 games
← Jan 7CalendarJan 9 →
Final
IND114
CHA112
Final
CLE122
MIN131
Final
DAL114
UTA116
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 RandleMIN28 PTS · 11 REB · 8 AST
Jaden McDanielsMIN26 PTS · 5 REB · 1 AST
Donovan MitchellCLE30 PTS · 7 REB · 8 AST
Sam MerrillCLE22 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.

Our take: Start everywhere
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.

Our take: Bench until the minutes return
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.

Our take: Add in deep leagues
Top performances

LaMelo Ball leads the day with 33

LaMelo BallCHA vs IND · L
20.0 PPG season to date
33 PTS · 3 REB · 8 AST
Lauri MarkkanenUTA vs DAL · W
27.9 PPG season to date
33 PTS · 7 REB · 4 AST
Pascal SiakamIND @ CHA · W
23.9 PPG season to date
30 PTS · 14 REB · 3 AST
Donovan MitchellCLE @ MIN · L
29.8 PPG season to date
30 PTS · 7 REB · 8 AST
Julius RandleMIN vs CLE · W
22.3 PPG season to date
28 PTS · 11 REB · 8 AST
Cooper FlaggDAL @ UTA · L
19.1 PPG season to date
26 PTS · 10 REB · 8 AST