Boxscore watchers (and regular game watchers, I guess) all around the league were keyed in to one matchup tonight: Pelicans versus Clippers. Unfolding in front of their eyes was a performance of epic proportions. Julius Randle finished the first half with 26 points, and the question was not if he was going to score 40, but WHEN. Every refresh of the boxscore was accompanied by held breath. How many more points would he have scored since the last update? 2? 4? 3? The third quarter proceeded apace. Randle hit 37 points with three and a half minutes to go in the third. The time was fast approaching. The F5’s came faster. But delight soon turned to confusion. Where were the points? He was still accumulating other stats, but where were the points? Confusion turned to anger. Why wasn’t he scoring any more points? The fourth quarter was now half over, and he was picking up nothing but fouls and bricks. As the game approached its conclusion, even those categories were no longer increasing. Anger turned to depression. He wasn’t going to score 40. How could he, when he wasn’t even in the game? The final refresh. Hopes for an overtime, an overtime to provide some final desperate scoring chances, cruelly dashed by the words on the screen. “4th Qu: 00:00 Pelicans 126, Clippers 129”. And, among the names of the players, a single row whose point total had not changed in aeons. Julius Randle. 37 points.