Last Night In The NBA: KAT vs AD, Big Time Upsets, Late Game Drama And Much More!
Good morning everybody happy Sunday and welcome back 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. Despite a day filled with football, we had a total of 8 games on the schedule, and unlike the last few nights where things have mostly been blowouts, that could not have been further from the truth on Saturday night. Of those 8 games, all of them were decided by 10 points or less, with half of them being decided by 5 or less. That makes for some high drama basketball which is always fun, and what better way to kill some time this morning before the next slate of NFL games start than to enjoy some quality basketball highlights. If you were out and didn’t get to watch any of the action, here’s what happened.
Detroit Pistons (18-23) 109 vs Los Angeles Clippers (24-18) 104
For the first time as a Piston Blake Griffin returned to LA to play his former team. Safe to say he was a little motivated. This was a vintage “look how much better I’m doing without you” type of performance, and since we know the NBA is king when it comes to pettiness, this was a fun performance to watch
There was also the drama of him dodging his former owner pregame, which he didn’t exactly take kindly to
But back to the game. The Pistons held on despite nearly blowing their lead late in the fourth quarter thanks to a couple of gigantic back to back threes from Reggie Bullock
They got another monster 20/20 performance from Andre Drummond
and this was a much needed win, one that snapped their 4 game losing streak and hopefully helps them turn things around because it’s been a tough 2-7 stretch for DET as they try and get back into the top 8 out East.
For LAC, hard to lose at home when you have 48/50% splits, but for the most part it was a quite night for their starting group outside of Gallo who had 23/6. Lou Williams did his part off the bench with 22 including some huge buckets late
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and Montrezl Harrell continues his ridiculous season with a big 21/9/6/4 on 8-14 shooting
Sadly though they couldn’t get the stops late when they needed them, drop to 14-7 at home and given how bunched up things are in the West, find themselves in the 6 seed after dropping their last 2.
Boston Celtics (25-17) 103 vs Orlando Magic (18-24) 105
Believe me, we’ll be getting to the Celtics in the next blog, so in the meantime let’s focus on the big time win from the Magic. Did you know this team has won 3 out fo the last 4 against BOS? That’s some shit. Anyway, while most Celtics fans I think were mentally preparing for another long night of Nikola Vucevic, and he was good with 16/13/5, the story here was the absolute beatdown both Aaron Gordon and Terrance Ross put down
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The Celtics simply had no answers for either of these guys, they feasted on the second unit, and because of them the Magic were able to climb back from a 12 point third quarter deficit and end their current 4 game losing streak. After having just come back from a long West Coast trip this is pretty embarrassing for the Celtics, and this Magic team put up 64 points in the second half and is now 11-11 at home. As bad as this team may be, they do find themselves just 1 game out of the final playoff spot despite their awful -4.1 point differential.
Memphis Grizzlies (19-23) 108 vs Miami Heat (21-20) 112
The Memphis slide continues. They have now lost 7 of their last 8, are a full 3.5 games back of the final playoff spot, and only the Suns have a worst record than this team in the West. That’s pretty crazy considering they are relatively healthy. They certainly had their chances, especially after Mike Conley hit this big three
he finished with 22/73 on 7-15 shooting, and then Gasol was his standard solid self with 15/5/5, but by far the best Grizzlie of the night was JaMychale Green who had 24/11 off the bench
For a team that prides itself on defense 112 is a lot to give up to a MIA team that doesn’t really score and really they didn’t play defense until the fourth quarter where they held MIA to 21 points. As of now their pick this year comes in at 9th, which is bad for MEM because that means it gets shipped to BOS. If they are going to keep losing like this, they may as well really commit to it so that pick lands top 8 so they can keep it.
For MIA, you know who has been playing really really well this season? Justise Winslow
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he led the way with 26 points on 10-16 shooting, and as a team the Heat brought it for the second straight game with 50/48% splits and 15 3PM.
The bench was great for MIA, with four players in double figures combining for 51 points and this was with Dion Waiters only chipping in 3. There is still a gap between MIA who is in the 6 seed and BOS who is 5th, but they have starter to separate themselves from BKN/CHA, so perhaps this 6 spot is where the Heat end up.
New Orleans Pelicans (20-23) 106 vs Minnesota Timberwolves (21-22) 110
I don’t know about you but when I see there is a KAT vs AD battle on the schedule I am making it my business to make sure to watch. Two of the best young big men in the game, boy did they deliver in this one. The Pelicans are at the point now where they really need to start tallying wins, just 5-17 on the road and the third worst record in the West, this is not exactly an attractive situation for AD. He lived up to his end of the bargain with a ridiculous 30/14 on 10-22 shooting
and he had help from his fellow starters in Julius Randle and Jrue Holiday who combined for 47 points on 19-35 shooting
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Sadly this game was lost in the fourth quarter where the Pelicans could only muster up 17 points after dropping a nice 37 in the previous quarter. That allowed MIN to hang around and eventually take the lead late, and something tells me their 5-25 performance from deep may have played a role. Defense continues to plague this team because on a night where offensively they were below their average, they needed to rely on their defense late to get stops, and that just didn’t happen.
For MIN, you love seeing KAT show up and dominate a matchup like this. These were times he would often get bullied and pushed around in previous seasons, so to see him ball the fuck out like this must make MIN fans happy
you add some quality play from Josh Okogie
and some decent enough production from their bench, and that’s how you pull off a big home win. MIN is now 15-7 at home this season and suddenly look a lot better. Had they guarded Luka the other night, this team would be on a nice 3 game streak.
San Antonio Spurs (25-19) 112 vs Oklahoma City Thunder (26-16) 122
Remember just a few days ago when this team played the game of the year? Well they were back at it last night and while this may not have been a double OT thriller, it was still a great matchup. The Spurs didn’t get another 56 from LMA, or make a billion threes, but they did get a big night from Belinelli off the bench who had 24 on 8-10 shooting
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Sadly, they had an offensive lull in the third quarter in which they only dropped 20 points, and that was the difference. The Spurs had a 9 point lead at the half, only to get outscored by 15 points in the third and then it became a track meet in the fourth and OKC just had a little more gas. This isn’t all that surprising since the Spurs are 7-14 on the road this season, but we are very close to getting a playoff matchup between these two which personally I am rooting for.
For OKC, their big guns once again carried them
but this was also a very strong showing from the OKC bench. Dennis Schroder led the way with 19, but how about fucking Abdel Nader?! He had 15 points on 6-6 shooting!
Every Celtics fans head just exploded.
This win helped keep them within striking distance of GS for the 2 seed, and has them slightly ahead of the currently streaking Blazers, so yeah this one was pretty important not just for their own seeing, but for the H2H matchup against SA.
Denver Nuggets (28-13) 93 vs Phoenix Suns (11-33) 102
Well here is certainly a result no one on planet earth ever could have imagined. Just goes to show you on any given night it doesn’t matter who you are, there is always the possibility of being upset by someone even if they are hot garbage. A brutal shooting night for DEN as they finished with just 38/32% splits, they also missed 7 FTs so that’s not exactly great either.
Of course Jokic was his usual dominant self
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and he got some help with Malik Beasley also dropping 21
but with no Gary Harris and Jamal Murray turning in a 4-17 performance, they needed more. The good news was that this marked the return of Will Barton, and while he struggled going 2-10, having him back in the rotation is a huge addition for this second half run.
For PHX, they did this all while not having Devin Booker which is pretty damn impressive. To make up for that they rode the backs of Ayton
and new Sun Kelly Oubre Jr
what’s crazy about this win is that the Suns only scored 42 second half points, something that should have gotten them killed given who they were playing. Maybe that speaks more to DEN’s rough night, and honestly this win did more harm than good for the Suns who absolutely do not need wins right now.
Chicago Bulls (10-33) 102 vs Utah Jazz (23-21) 110
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And this is what I meant with the Suns. When you have tanking teams all around them losing left and right, you can’t be winning games against the Nuggets. The Bulls know that, and that’s why they’ve currently lost 7 in a row.
Surprisingly enough this team did have a halftime lead, but they got their shit together and made sure to get that all important loss.
For UTA, it was a big night for a couple reasons. First, Donovan Mitchell was awesome
but then also because Kyle Korver became 4th all time in threes
Don’t look now but the Jazz have now won 3 in a row and are within 0.5 games of that final playoff spot. They are 7-3 over their last 10, so maybe they will have that awesome second half just like last season.
Charlotte Hornets (19-23) 97 vs Sacramento Kings (22-21) 104
If you’ve watched the Hornets play this year, this is not surprising to you. They are 5-15 on the road this season, shot 40/33% in this game, and outside of Kemba, nobody else really showed up
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Pretty much is the same thing every time this team hits the road, which is going to cost them a playoff spot there is no doubt.
For SAC, these kids just keep winning.
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Balanced scoring, legit outside shooting threats, good defense, these are all things you see from playoff teams and the Kings are within a game of achieving that. I know LeBron is due back soon, but he could be returning to a team that finds itself outside of the top 8 if the Kings and Jazz keep this up.
And that’s it! You are now all caught up on everything that went down last night in the NBA. We’re back tonight with 7 more games today, but since you’ll be watching football just make sure to check back in the morning and I’ll bring you up to speed.