Last Night In The NBA: Now We Know Why LeBron May Want John Wall
Good morning everybody happy Monday and welcome to another edition of Last Night In The NBA where we bring you up to speed on everything that went down from the night before in the Association. With a full day of football it wouldn’t surprise me if you weren’t able to catch all 7 basketball games we had on Sunday, but seeing as how nobody wants to work this morning what better way to keep you distracted than to watch some awesome basketball highlights? It was a busy night on the hardwood with a ton of exciting matchups and some pretty surprising blowouts, so if you’re interested keep on reading because here’s what happened.
Atlanta Hawks (6-23) 127 vs Brooklyn Nets (13-18) 144
I think when people talk about the explosion in offense this year, this game is sort of what they are talking about. Look at these scores in a game that didn’t even go to overtime! There’s a lack of defense, and then there’s what we got in this contest and boy if you love offense this was the game for you. Things started off great for the Nets, they shot out to a 42-23 lead in the first quarter and we were off to the races. They had a ridiculous 8 players in double figures with 6 of them reaching at least 15 points, shot 55% and made 16 3PM for the night, and went 30-33 from the line. This is some rookie level 2K shit
Advertisement
Maybe having Caris LeVert on the bench inspired them or something
but the Net have now won 5 in a row and are slowly working their way back to .500. Now giving up 127 to the Hawks is a separate issue, one that’s pretty terrible, but at the end of the day if they aren’t going to stop you from scoring I say no harm no foul. Also, don’t sleep on the possibility that they move Russell as we get closer to the deadline especially since they didn’t offer him a rookie extension and just signed Dinwiddie.
For ATL, now 2-14 on the road, pretty impressive they dropped 127 points with just four players in fouble figures, but they were shooting lights out as well with 44/48% splits, 143PM and this was with Young going just 4-10.
Guys like Dewayne Dedmon and John Collins were great though, with Dedmon snagging a career high 24 points on 8-12 shooting and then a solid 29/8 for Collins on 13-19, even if he was a team worst -29
Advertisement
The Hawks have fully embraced the tank right now losing 7 of their last 8, so if you’re a fan of a team that is trying to snag a high lottery pick, you have some work to do.
Philadelphia 76ers (20-11) 128 vs Cleveland Cavaliers (7-23) 105
After losing at home already to this Cavs team, the Sixers got Jimmy Butler back, went on the road and got their revenge. That may not seem like a big deal but at 6-8 on the road so far this season, every road win for the Sixers is big, especially with how well the top 4-5 teams are playing in the East right now. If other teams are going to beat up on bad competition, than the Sixers needs to keep pace and do the same, I would say a nice easy blowout win does the trick
When they get that sort of production from their three best players and then some solid shooting from Redick they are tough to beat, and finishing the night with 56% shooting and just 10 TOs is no joke. Their 128 points were the most they’ve scored all year in regulation, and I don’t think that’s by accident given who they got back and who they played.
Advertisement
For CLE, not much you can do when you can’t get a stop to save your life, even if guys like Sexton, Delly, Osman, and Clarkson all played pretty well offensively.
Advertisement
CLE has now lost 3 of their last 4 and have the red hot Pacers on deck, so I’m thinking it’s going to be more of the same for a while.
New York Knicks (9-22) 99 vs Indiana Pacers (20-10) 110
With the Celtics losing tot he Pistons this weekend, you know who the hottest team in the NBA is right now? The Indiana Pacers. Time to put some respect on their name, and yeah even though they just beat the Knicks and that’s no big deal, they have won 7 in a row which is a big deal and find themselves tied with MIL for 2nd in the East. Oladipo being back is huge for them and he looks as good as he ever did before his injury
and if Myles Turner is going to be this aggressive and play like this consistently, well then they may have something brewing
Now don’t let the final score fool you, the Knicks were able to hang around for like 85% of this game with every quarter being decided by 5 points or less. As you can expect the Pacers got a balanced attack, with Sabonis continuing to snag double doubles off the bench and Dougie McBuckets doing his thing getting buckets in his 22 minutes. Now 11-4 at home, it’s time we start including the Pacers in the conversation when we talk about BOS/PHI/MIL. They are every bit as good right now.
For NYK, hey what’s the problem. Played a competitive game, ultimately got the much needed loss given the other tanking teams already got theirs.
Advertisement
Now 5-13 on the road, the Knicks shot just 41/31% and had 15 TOs so it’s surprising that it was even that close to begin with. Probably could have pulled it out if they didn’t have their worst defensive quarter in the fourth, but then again maybe that was on purpose.
Los Angeles Lakers (18-12) 110 vs Washington Wizards (12-18) 128
Soooooo, maybe this is why LeBron wants to trade for John Wall? Holy shit did he go off in this one to the tune of 40/6/14 on 16-27 shooting
I mean he got all up in that ass and then some. This is why he considers himself one of the elite guards in the NBA, because he can pull off a dominant performance like this. He even made 4 3PM! The Wizards played great all around him too, with Jeff Green tossing in another 20/7, Bradley Beal continuing his strong season with 25/12, and then even Sam Dekker got into the fun with 20 of his own off the bench
Advertisement
Is it possible Kelly Oubre Jr was the problem here? A one game sample suggests maybe he was.
For LAL, they are now under .500 on the road so far which isn’t great, and they got a rare off night from LeBron who only had 13 points on 5-16 shooting.
Their starting backcourt went just 6-21, and while some guys tried to fill that void
Advertisement
it just wasn’t enough. I will say, Lonzo did have a point to get a little mad on this play
that’s 100% a foul with the body, but with how well Wall was playing and it being at home, not surprised he didn’t get that call. The Lakers have now lost 2 of their last 3 and have the hot Nets up next, and now is not the time to go on any sort of slide given how tight things are in the West. Chances are they won’t get too many more of these off nights from LeBron, so I wouldn’t sweat it.
Sacramento Kings (16-13) 120 vs Dallas Mavericks (15-13) 113
Ummmm what the hell. I was led the believe that the Mavs never lost at home, what did they win like 11 straight or something crazy like that? Now their going to let the Kings come in there and drop 120 on them? Unacceptable for Celtics fans everywhere, but awesome if you root for the Kings. Now 3 games over .500 this late into the season that’s surprising everyone, but it’s maybe because their talent is actually pretty good
Advertisement
Despite shooting just 29% from deep the Kings did everything else well, they had balanced scoring, they took care of the ball, and perhaps the most impressive part of their start is the fact that they are 9-7 on the road. Who saw that coming? I’m sitting here waiting for them to go on their slide and it just isn’t happening. To think they were going to fire their coach is just laugh out loud funny.
For DAL, Dirk made his home debut which was an awesome moment
and Luka was once again fucking awesome which always rules
but outside of those two things it was a pretty poopoo night for the Mavs. They shot just 41/25%, couldn’t play a lick of defense, and really missed DSJ and Barea. They are still 13-3 at home which is legit as hell, but this is a game you thought they would be able to win, but that’s why you can’t sleep on the Kings anymore. They may be #actuallygood.
Advertisement
Miami Heat (13-16) 102 vs New Orleans Pelicans (15-16) 96
For whatever reason the Pelicans are having trouble with Eastern Conference teams.
AD had 27 in the loss which was nice
and Jrue Holiday had 22 on 8-19 shooting and Randle a nice 17/10, but even that wasn’t enough to beat the lowly Heat. To think that his loss came at home where the Pelicans actually play well doesn’t make things all that much better, and they need to get their shit together if they want to get back into the top 8 converastion. In case they didn’t know, AD can turn down his extension this summer if he feels they can’t win, and in order to convince him, they have to ya know…..win.
For MIA, vintage DWade is always nice
and Josh Richardson was probably their best starter with 22
Advertisement
and don’t look now but MIA is starting to climb back. Now 8-7 on the road and almost at .500, they are a good week away from being back in the top 8.
Toronto Raptors (23-9) 86 vs Denver Nuggets (20-9) 95
Now for the best matchup of the night, two top teams in their respective conferences I was very curious to see how this would play out. The Raptors were once again without Lowry, but that hasn’t really stopped them from beating good teams, and then you factor in that 95% of DEN’s team is injured, it was an interesting matchup. Things were close mostly the whole way, TOR was showing once again that they can be a well oiled machine no matter who is in
but things sort of fell apart for them in the fourth quarter. They scored just 14 points which ultimately is why they blew their lead, and I would say the 39/20% splits had something to do with it as well. The best bench in the NBA struggled, going a combined 6-24 which stinks, and they didn’t really have an answer for Jamal Murray.
For DEN, despite guys being out they still have Jokic, and when you have Jokic you always have a chance
As I mentioned Jamal Murray exploded in that fourth quarter which ultimately won them the game
and the Nuggets have a 0.5 game lead over everyone in the West. They’ve won 3 in a row, are 8-2 over their last 10 and have proved that their hot start was not a fluke, but that they are for real. To think they are this good without so many rotation players has to have their fanbase feeling pretty high for another reason.
And that’s it! You’re now all caught up on everything that happened last night in the NBA. We’re back tonight with 8 more games and as always if you can’t watch just make sure to check back in the morning and I’ll bring you up to speed on what you missed.