Last Night In The NBA: You Never Know What You Have Until It's Gone

Good morning everybody, happy Monday and welcome back to another edition of Last Night In The NBA where we bring you up to speed on everything that happened from the night before in the Association. Chances are you spent the day watching all the football and didn’t even realize we had ourselves 5 basketball games last night, where we not only saw some more history be made, but also things are getting pretty real for a team that swears nothing is wrong. There is never a dull night when it comes to this league and last night was no exception. I know you don’t want to do too much today considering this week is all about mailing it in for a few days before the break, so allow me to tell you everything that happened yesterday on the hardwood.

Memphis Grizzlies (10-5) 100 vs Minnesota Timberwolves (7-10) 87

It’s no secret the Wolves have been playing much better basketball since the departure of Jimmy Butler, but yesterday was one of the few games in which they may have wished they had him. Nobody could hit a damn shot for MIN as they finished with 39/41% splits and 20 TOs. That’s gross, and something that will get you smoked nearly every single time. That’s not to say everyone played poorly, KAT and DRose were still legit

and MIN actually had the lead after the first quarter, they just immediately then shat the bed. It happens. The positive is that their new guys in Saric/Covington made a combined 8 3PM, and for a team that desperately needed outside shooting, at least they are living up to their reputations as legit outside threats. This was just the second loss at home for MIN all year, but that second and third quarter really killed them.

For MEM, easily they are one of the better surprises of the season. Crazy what can happen when your team is healthy isn’t it? As you expect they were carried by both Gasol and Conley

but don’t sleep on how consistent and solid Jaren Jackson Jr has been for them since he was inserted into the starting lineup. He had another 13 points on 6-10 shooting with 3 blocks, and while his rebounding numbers certainly leave more to be desired, he’s been rock solid for them so far this season.

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The Grizzlies have now won 5 of their last 6, but their schedule is about to get a little tougher so we’ll know in a few weeks just how for real they are.

Los Angeles Lakers (9-7) 113 vs Miami Heat (6-10) 91

Just like you want to when you go home to your local bar this week, you want to show everyone how great your life is and how jealous your ex should be. Well I’m not sure that’s all that different from what LeBron just did on his way to dropping 51 points down in Miami. He gave those fans a taste of what they had, and let them know that he’s better than ever and doesn’t even miss them one bit

LeBron now became the 5th player to drop at least 50 points with three different teams , and I would say this was a pretty good encore to his crazy performance in their last outing. We all know that when LeBron tries there are very few humans on this planet that can stop him, and I would say right now he’s trying big time. The Lakers have completely turned things around and won 5 of their last 6, and while it’s a little wild he took 31 of their 95 shots, when he has it going like this how could you really want anyone else to shoot it. The kids chipped in where they could

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but like most things, the story here was LeBron’s dominance. He just isn’t even remotely slowing down, it’s insanity.

For MIA, hard to win when you only have 4 players in double digits and put up 40/40% splits at home.

they now dropped to 3-6 at home which you never want to see, and I would say giving up 67 first half points was a bit problematic. They just don’t have the offensive talent to be giving up this many points. It’s probably not your night when the best part of the game is your best player throwing his shoe into the crowd

New York Knicks (4-13) 117 vs Orlando Magic (9-8) 131

That is how you do it Knicks! Tanking to perfection right here folks. Give your fans an exciting high scoring performance with guys having great showings all over the place

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but when it’s time to get serious and actually make sure you don’t win this game to slightly lessen your Zion odds, you make sure to give up a billion points. So well done I’m not even kidding, that’s tanking perfection. If I’m a Knicks fan this morning I am thrilled at what my team is doing, and how long has it been since a Knicks fan has been able to say that.

For ORL, nobody told them they should be tanking. They keep beating people and I’m not sure why. We’ve seen these hot starts from them before and we ultimately know how it ends, so I’m not sure why they are so keen on actually winning. But hey, if you’re going to go for it, dropping 131 is fun as hell to watch so there’s that

Portland Trail Blazers (11-5) 119 vs Washington Wizards (5-11) 109

Do not be fooled by the final score, this game was not even remotely this close. As is so often the case with both these teams it was a night where each had to be carried by their backcourt, and guess which one came out on top

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The POR bench didn’t really give much, and there was only one other starter in double figures, so it’s safe to say this was the Dame/CJ show. POR fans are used to being carried by these two on a nightly basis, and with 28 points being the lowest they scored in any quarter, I would say they certainly held up their end of the bargain. This win helped snapped a little two game skid by the Blazers on this East Coast trip, and with NY/MIL/GS on deck, it’s important that they get back to playing great basketball.

For WSH, stop me if you’ve heard this before. Everything was about Wall/Beal and they didn’t really get any help from anyone on the roster not named Kelly Oubre Jr

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The Wizards now move to 3-5 at home, and considering this was yet another blowout, I think we all can agree things have to chance in Washington, the only problem is nobody on earth wants any of these brutal contracts. They made it clear Beal is not available, but who is taking that max money for Otto Porter Jr, or is going to be willing to pay Wall 40M+ over the next handful of years. The reality is they are stuck with this group, and it’s clear this group is not going to work. Rough.

Golden State Warriors (12-6) 92 vs San Antonio Spurs 8-7) 104

That sound you hear are Warriors fans trying to convince themselves that there’s nothing to worry about with this team. My only question is, how long has it been since we’ve seen this team lose three in a row? That number of days has to be ridiculous. Will they be fine come Spring? Sure, Curry will be back, but things are not fine right now and it’s obviously impacting them on the court. What this has done is show us all how valuable Curry really is to this team. It’s why in my opinion he’s the most important Warrior, and why it confused me that KD was higher than him on the MVP ladder. Steph stans are secretly loving life right now, even if their team has hit a speed bump.

Common sense will tell you playing without Draymond and Steph made this loss predictable, but it’s not like the Spurs are some sort of powerhouse or that KD and Klay are chopped liver. You know you’re in something when even Steve Kerr admits it, and that’s just the reality for GS at the moment.

For SA, they’re now 6-2 at home, and this was a much needed win after dropping 3 in a row and 5 of their last 6. They got great performances from their top two dogs in DeRozan and Alridge

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and finished with 44/41% splits and just 10 TOs. As we know to beat this powerhouse you need to make shots and take care of the ball, and that’s exactly what they did. What continues to impress me about DeRozan’s season isn’t so much the scoring, but it’s his passing. He had another 9 assists in this one and I feel like we’re seeing a phase of his game in SA that we never saw in TOR. You probably always thought of him as just a scorer, but his passing has been awesome so far this season as well.

And that’s it! You’re now all caught up on everything that happened last night in the NBA. We’re back tonight with 9 more games tonight, so just make sure to check back in the morning and I’ll make sure to kill your last morning before Thanksgiving.