Last Night In The NBA: Holy Shit James Harden
Hello everybody happy Tuesday 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 te Association. It was a jam packed Monday with 6 games on the schedule and it gave us a little bit of everything. We had emotional returns, frustrating losses, insane individual performances, quality displays of disrespect and much more. What better way to start your day than to avoid doing whatever your responsibilities are and enjoy some quality basketball highlights? Exactly, so if you missed the action last night that’s OK, just keep reading because here’s what happened.
Memphis Grizzlies (19-24) 94 vs Houston Rockets (25-18) 112
The slide for the Grizzlies continues. Now 2-8 over their last 10, they find themselves with the second worst record in the conference, 4 full games back of the final playoff spot, and it’s almost at the point where they may need to consider being sellers at the deadline to ensure they get to keep their own lottery pick this summer. What’s crazy is they got blown out like this despite having 50/45% splits. How is that possible? Well they turning it over an absurd 24 times. No player had more than 14 points, and Marc Gasol pretty much no showed his way to 5 points on 2-4 shooting. What if I told you they actually had a lead after the first quarter? It’s true. The grit and grind defense was nowhere to be found,
Maybe Gasol’s rough night was due to this hand injury he sustained in the first half, he said he lost feeling in his shooting hand so that’s not great, and really there’s nothing all that positive to show but I had to give the Grizzlies fans out there something so here ya go
For HOU, I mean what else is there to say about James Harden. Imagine watching him go for 57/9 on 17-33 shooting and think he isn’t fun to watch? Are these people blind?
We knew he was going to have to step it up one we learned Clint Capela was going to be out for 4-6 weeks, but I didn’t see domination like this coming. This team is going to be forced to play small and if they are going to be able to ride Harden like this well maybe things won’t be so bad. His 57 are obviously the most points scored this season, and he only got 17 of those points from the line!
You add some quality minutes from Gerald Green and a nice 15 points from Daniel House
and that’s how you find yourself on the right side of a blowout. Now 16-6 at home, this was an important win for the Rockets to stay in the top 4 conversation and as of now I don’t know how you couldn’t have Harden at the very lowest top 2 in the MVP standings. He’s been incredible once again.
Boston Celtics (25-18) 102 vs Brooklyn Nets (22-23) 109
Believe me, we’ll have plenty to talk about when it comes to the Celtics in their own blog, so let’s focus on the Nets and give them their moment in the sun. What a third quarter by them, dropping 44 points largely due to the fact that nobody on the planet could find a way to stop D’Angelo Russell
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It got so bad this dude was heat checking from 30 ft and honestly I thought every one was going in. It was such a tidal wave of offense by the Nets and then a lack of offense by BOS, all of the sudden a close game turned into a 27 point blowout. Don’t let the final score fool you, this game was over at the end of the third quarter.
And what the hell is with Rodions Kurucs always killing this team? Guy averages 9 points a night and had a 24 and a 19 point outing against the Celtics. Maybe read the scouting report next time Celtics I dunno just an idea I came up with while I try to not claw my eyeballs out of my face as a result of watching you play.
They also had all sorts of problems with Jarrett Allen, who continues to show why he’s one of the best young promising big men in the league
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The Nets are not in the 7th spot just 1 game out of 6th and that’s despite being the only team in the top 8 with a negative point differential.
Charlotte Hornets (20-23) 108 vs San Antonio Spurs (25-20) 93
Well I certainly did not see this coming. Not from a team that is 6-15 on the road against a team playing some of the best basketball in the NBA right now and someone who sits 18-6 at home. On Tony Parker night no less!
He ended up going 4-12 in his return to SA which wasn’t great but also wasn’t terrible. He had 8/3/4 and was a +0, but he did take the most shots of the second unit as he should, given this was his night
The Hornets pulled this upset off mostly because Kemba went all Kemba
and essentially this team led the entire way. Good job by them taking care of the basketball with just 7 TOs, and frankly for a team desperately trying to hold onto that final playoff spot, this was a big win for CHA. They still have a long way to go in terms of figuring out things on the road, but this was a nice step in the right direction.
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For SA, hate to say it, but that’s a bad home loss. Should definitely be beating CHA at home given how well they’ve been playing. LaMarcus Aldridge did his job, with a cool 28/10 on 11-17 shooting
They even got another rock solid performance from guard Derrick White who is sneaky having himself a breakout season of his own
the problem was there wasn’t much else. DeRozan only went 7-15, as a team the Spurs could only muster 21 fourth quarter points, and their 7-20 from deep certainly hurt. Now losers of 2 straight they find themselves in the 7th spot tied with LAC and only 1 game head of UTA who has won 4 straight. Not exactly the best time for a slide.
Detroit Pistons (18-24) 94 vs Utah Jazz (24-21) 100
Winning in UTA is tough when you only shoot 38/30% and barely break 90. They did get some cool stuff from Blake
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but it was mostly a forgettable night for a team that is now 2-8 over their last 10.
For UTA, well they had some fun. Whether it was Donovan Mitchell dropping 28/5
Rudy Gobert chipping in with a decent 18/25
and then there was Kyle Kover lighting it up from deep to the tune of 5 3PM
This game gave us everything. From Gobert cursing on live TV
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to Joe Ingles hitting a dagger three and then blowing a kiss right into that Piston’s fan’s face
The Jazz are rolling and look like they might turn in that same sort of second half we saw from them last year. They’re now tied with GS for the longest active winning streak in the conference and could be a top 4 seed before the week is over if they keep this up.
Portland Trail Blazers (26-19) 107 vs Sacramento Kings (23-21) 115
I get it, the Blazers were playing on a B2B after losing a tough one in DEN, and maybe that’s why they shot the ball like shit with just 40/32% splits. Dame had no problem on the way to his 35/3/5
but it seems like every other Blazer didn’t have their legs. A brutal 17 point second quarter is what did them in, and then from there their lack of defense made it especially hard to climb out of that hole. The good news is that despite the back to back losses they find themselves still tied with HOU and just 1.5 games out of a top seed, but they need to get back to playing an acceptable level of defense if they want to find a way to secure homecourt in the first round.
For SAC, they were balanced, they shot 49% from the floor, they had 6 players in double figures, three of which came off the bench, and all around it was a great home win over a very quality opponent. How nice.
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I think we can all agree that in a few years, this team is going to be really good. Their young talent is no joke. Just 0.5 games out of that final playoff spot, they’ve now won 3 in a row and could very well make this playoffs. That’s crazy.
New Orleans Pelicans (21-23) 121 vs Los Angeles Clippers (24-19) 117
Ho hum, just another 46/16/4/3 for Anthony Davis. Light work you could say
Did you know this was his 17th career game with that line? In the last 35 years only Shaq has more (19).
The Pelicans desperately needed this win, and to get it they needed more than just AD to do AD things. He needed help which is what he got in Julius Randle and Jrue Holiday
Jrue actually got poked in the eye after a late steal, and that will be something to monitor as it was clearly impacting him
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The Pelicans still have a long way to go until they get into the top 8, but wins like this are a step in that direction. Now they just need to get better at that whole defense thing.
For LAC, I would say their two of their best players this year have been Gallo and Montrezl Harrell, and both of those guys delivered last night
They also got a nice 21 from Tobias Harris who is having himself a fringe All Star caliber year
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and then another 18 off the bench for Lou Williams
This is a team that shot 47/50% and made 18 3PM, so you don’t often lose when that happens, this was just one of those nights they ran into an AD buzzaw. Shit happens. A little concerning that they’ve dropped 3 straight, but everyone around them also has dropped multiple games in a row so it’s mostly whatever.
And that’s it! You’re now all caught up on everything that went down last night in the NBA. We’re back tonight with 6 more games tonight and you know the drill. 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.