Last Night In The NBA: Maybe Joel Embiid Had The Shits, The Nets Won't Stop Winning Without Kyrie, Vintage Melo And More
Good morning everybody 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. Now I have good news for any stoolie that had to come into work today and is stuck in the cubes staring at the clock until Thanksgiving break. The NBA blessed you with 11 games last night which means this blog is about to be long as fuck which also means you will have a perfect way to kill a shit ton of your morning. No need to thank me, just hang in there. We'll get through it together. Now if for some reason you were watching that pathetic MNF game (unless you're a Ravens fan), you missed a ton of stuff on the hardwood last night, so here's what happened.
Brooklyn Nets (9-8) 108 vs Cleveland Cavaliers (5-12) 106
The record speaks for itself. The Nets are now 5-1 without Kyrie after being 4-7 with him and it feels nice to be able to make that joke without having to get defensive. That's what the Nets fans will do, because that's exactly what Celtics fans did when they won without Kyrie, but I mean there's no denying this looks so much more like the Nets team from last year, you know the one that made the playoffs and actually played hard. They're getting great performances from Spencer Dinwiddie who has turned into a legit option these last few seasons
and what a monster night for Jarrett Allen, something that if he can find a way to do consistently he'll easily be one of the best centers in the league. Remember he's like 22 or something and still super raw, but the potential is there
While Dinwiddie did lead them with 24 FGA, there was still some decent balance with three other starters getting at least 10+, and as a team they did a great job not turning it over (9) and when it got to the fourth quarter they had their best 12 minutes of the night. Dinwiddie is sneaky clutch as hell and it's no surprise that this stretch has basically saved the Nets season.
For CLE, look, you were without Love which matters, but also this is sort of what the Cavs do. They play good teams tough at home but in the end come up short. It's OK, they're rebuilding, and just because they lost doesn't mean there weren't positives to take away from this game. You had Larry Nance Jr filling in for Love and putting up an efficient 20/13
and Collin Sexton continues to develop into a fairly solid option at the two spot in his second year
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Cedi was an efficient 5-6, as you can see there are pieces there. Now Darius Garland continued to struggle and has had a rough rookie year, but how about Jordan Clarkson showing real life off the bench?
and then there was that whole Kevin Porter Jr dunking on two people thing
You have to give the Cavs credit, they were in this game until the end and were a stop or two away from pulling the upset. The record may stink, but this is a team you have to play hard against and that's a good place to start.
Orlando Magic (6-10) 88 vs Detroit Pistons (6-11) 103
With the Magic down Vucevic and Aaron Gordon, this isn't all that surprising. Hard to find scorers on this team outside of Fultz/Fournier/Ross who you guessed it, did almost all of their scoring
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The defense was still legit which you should expect from this group, Jonathan Isaac was still great on that end with 4 blocks, but you can't go on the road and have 38/32% splits and think you're going to win. Only 33 second half points it's too bad since the Magic had a slim lead at the break, but coming out with zero offense was probably not the best idea. They are now 0-7 on the road this year, and for a team I thought would be in the playoff mix, the Magic have sort of taken a step back. I suppose having one of the worst offenses in the league will do that to ya.
For DET, listen they didn't play all that great either, but they did enough
and while they have some work to do in order to climb back into playoff contention, at least now with Blake back we'll see how good they can really be. Their guard situation is still kinda fucked, Derrick Rose who has been great for them went 1-11 in this game so that's not great, but Kennard is having a leap year, and Blake/Drummond can do damage so I just hope everyone stays healthy and we see what they got.
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Memphis Grizzlies (5-11) 114 vs Indiana Pacers (10-6) 126
First and foremost, thank god Ja Morant didn't get seriously hurt falling into that photographer. I'm not going to show it but you can find it if you want. That would have been real shitty. Instead he came back and dropped 19/10
and if I'm a Grizzlies fan I am over the moon over this young core. Yeah you lost the game but who gives a shit, guys like Morant, JJJ, and Clarke all look great to start the year
Brandon Clarke basically never misses off the bench (8-9) and teams didn't want to draft him because they thought he was too old. Wild stuff. Unfortunately nobody on MEM played any defense which is a bit of a problem, but if the goal here is to just get the young kids experience and have them develop, well then the Grizzlies are well on their way.
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For IND, hard to lose at home when you shoot 54/54% and make 18 3PM. No surprise Brogdon was back and this team looked a whole lot better, this team was balanced, the new Pacers did their thing just like they have all season
and they are very much still alive in the East while they wait for Oladipo to return. The Pacers have done a good job just like last year of somehow finding ways to win even with guys out, and they seem to have found new life in Jeremy Lamb which is a surprise. They may not be the best team in the East, but they could absolutely be a tough out, especially if Oladipo returns to his All Star form. The fact that they are getting these wins without much from Myles Turner is impressive too.
Philadelphia 76ers (11-6) 96 vs Toronto Raptors (12-4) 101
Now this is odd because Sixers fans will tell you until they are blue in the face that the Sixers are better than the Raptors and basically won the series against TOR last year if not for a lucky Kawhi shot. That Embiid doesn't struggle against Gasol & Co, he just had the shits last playoffs and that's why they completely owned him. Which confuses me because here the Sixers were with their best lineup ever (their words not mine), facing a TOR team that not only didn't have Kawhi Leonard, but also didn't have Kyle Lowry or Serge Ibaka or Danny Green. You would think this far superior team would win and a 100% healthy Embiid would dominate right?
Oh, they lost? And Embiid went 0-11 in 32 minutes? Ben Simmons and Al Horford combined for only 20 points? Oh dear. Well there's only one explanation for this. Joel Embiid clearly had the shits and didn't tell anyone. It certainly can't be true that maybe the Sixers just aren't as good as their fans want them to be with a 3-4 record against teams over .500 and a 4-6 road record. But hey, at least Josh Richardson played well!
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and look on the bright side, max player Tobias Harris was second on the team in scoring with 18 points on 7-17 shooting! Not bad!
For TOR, I suppose you could call it a statement win as far as November wins go. Anytime a team like PHI comes into your building and you beat them shorthanded it's a big win for you. Especially all the shit that's talked about their series last year. I also loved Drake trolling the shit out of them
and on the floor it was the Pascal Siakam show, a guy who has taken a real leap and ultimately shoved the dagger right in Philly's heart
oh, and Fred VanVleet who may just find himself as the best guard on the market this summer
They held PHI to just 16 fourth quarter points, in fact it was the second time in the game they held PHI to 16 or under, which isn't great for the Sixers offense but goes to show how this team can defend even if they are short handed. Now 7-0 at home, the Raptors have made it clear they are not going anywhere and you should put some respect on the champs name.
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Minnesota Timberwolves (9-8) 125 vs Atlanta Hawks (4-13) 113
I don't really understand how MIN keeps doing this while playing exactly zero defense, but the answer might really be as simple as Wiggins and KAT are playing out of their minds
they combined for 53 of the 125, they were both mostly efficient and it's sort of been this way all season. Some decent secondary scoring from everyone else, this is a team that had a 38 and 39 point quarter, something they need to do if they are going to be giving up so many points. To their credit they only allowed 23 in the fourth which isn't terrible, but this is a team that is now 6-2 on the road! Who saw that coming?
For ATL, man, they are fun to watch, and Trae Young once again went nuts for 37
but this has to be a disappointing start for them no? After all their hype this summer to be 4-13 and 2-7 at home is not great. Neither was the 2-10 from Cam Reddish or 3-10 from Hunter. Honestly outside of Trae's magic and the fact that Jabari Parker looks like a real NBA player again
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this has sort of been a season of shit for the Hawks.
Sacramento Kings (7-9) 102 vs Boston Celtics (12-4) 103
We'll talk about the Celts in their normal blog, so instead let's just focus on Buddy Hield for a second because for the second time in like a week he tore the Celtics a new asshole. This time it was a career night, and he set the record for most 3PM against the Celtics in their FRANCHISE'S HISTORY. What an asshole but holy moly was this dude locked in
every time the Celts tried to pull away Hield made another goddamn three, and I am absolutely thrilled that they gave the last shot to Bogdanovic (3-12) than Hield who 100000000000% would have made it. I guess that was the Basketball Gods evening things out after Smart's game winner rolled out in SAC last week, but shit was that a stressful game.
Charlotte Hornets (6-12) 100 vs Miami Heat (12-4) 117
If the Heat had a bad taste in their mouth after getting shit pumped by the Sixers, the best cure on the planet for that is to immediately play the Hornets. All of the sudden they looked back to being the contender we thought they were before PHI, are now 7-0 at home and got contributions from pretty much everyone
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This game was close at times so don't let the final score fool you, but it was nice to see the MIA offense actually look like an offense after that disaster in their last game. A lot of that has to do with who they were playing, but whatever a win is a win.
For CHA, a 3-7 road team losing to a contender isn't all that shocking, and really only Rozier and Graham showed up and they weren't all that efficient
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as a team they shot like shit, missed a ton of FTs, and honestly it was more of the same. You know what CHA is, we can move on.
Portland Trail Blazers (6-12) 117 vs Chicago Bulls (6-12) 94
The Blazers won a game! The Blazers won a game and Melo turned back the clock! Sure it was against the Bulls but who cares because this team DESPERATELY needed a win!
good for them. Anything to stop the bleeding and give this team a positive moment can only help, and on a night where Dame was quiet at 4-10, it was essentially the Melo and CJ show
This was a big night for the Melo isn't washed club, and you have to credit the Blazers, they took control of this game in the second quarter and never looked back. The bad news is they won't play the Bulls every time, but I'm not going to rain on their parade, have you seen their record over the last like 8 games? Let them and their fans have this moment, don't be a dick.
For CHI, not sure what's happened to Baby Dirk but he has sort of fallen off the face of the earth, and really outside of Zach LaVine there wasn't much offensive life on this team
Defense was once again an issue, Coby White struggled at 3-13, just a bad performance all around from the Baby Bulls, but that shit is going to happen with a young team.
Utah Jazz (11-6) 118 vs Milwaukee Bucks (14-3) 122
Christ the Bucks are just never going to lose again huh. Now up to 8 in a row they are cruising and are back to being one f the best if not the best team in the NBA at the moment. Giannis with the cool 50/14/6 on 17-31, I mean this was a Jazz team without Gobert in the lineup but still, where's the defense on that guy
you combine that with some timely shooting from Wes Matthews
and the Bucks continue to not miss Khris Middleton whatsoever. That shouldn't make sense but it goes to show you how deep this team is. UTA is a legit opponent and they just dropped 122 on them shorthanded. That's impressive. I guess that's what happens when you don't turn the ball over and you have an unstoppable force in Giannis.
For UTA, they had their chance late but Donovan Mitchell was blocked by Lopez in the final seconds and while Mitchell/Bogdanovic did most of the scoring for the starters
their bench definitely stepped up with all four players finishing in double figures. In a sense, they kept UTA in this game, but a team who prides themselves on defense can't be giving up 74 second half points. That's ridiculous, especially since they held MIL to under 30 in both of the quarters in the first half. That's what we in the business call a complete defensive collapse.
Oh and Mike Conley's 2-10 didn't help, and maybe it's time to start talking about his season because……yikes.
Los Angeles Lakers (15-2) 114 vs San Antonio Spurs (6-12) 104
If you don't think MIL is the best team in the league right now, your other choice is most likely the Lakers, because let's be honest they have the best record in the NBA and are also riding an 8 game winning streak. As always LeBron and AD did most of the heavy lifting with LeBron continuing to play some of the best basketball of his career
but don't discredit some big time threes from Rondo off the bench, or the defense that was played over the final 12 minutes. To me that's the biggest key to the Lakers success so far, it's not just LeBron/AD on offense, it's how this team is defending. There's actual effort, and it's made a huge difference. Also do Lakers fans like KCP now because he's sort of come up huge in a few of these games during the streak which is weird because he definitely stinks.
For SA, you assholes. Oh cool Aldridge and DeRozan finally played well in a game together
a combined 54 points, pretty good! Well guess what, they were also a combined -8 on the floor which is basically the norm now in SA. Find me a game where the Spurs win or lose and they are both walking away with a positive +/-. Not sure that exists. It also doesn't help that they got jack shit from their bench at home, which if you're trying to beat one of the best teams in the league you sort of need your entire roster to play well. I know it feels weird to bury the Spurs because they're….the Spurs. But I dunno at 6-12, they may be porked.
Oklahoma City (6-10) 100 vs Golden State Warriors (3-15) 97
Brutal loss for GS considering they led the whole way only to see it fall apart in the fourth quarter in which they only scored 14 points. Really thought they had that one after Bowman and Glenn Robinson III played so well
I mean how often do you see two guys have career nights in the same game and their team loses? Of course that would happen to the Warriors in this season from hell. If they have just a normal terrible quarter and score like 18 points they win this game, but alas, they're cursed for this year and this result oozes a curse vibe.
For OKC, Chris Paul continues to actually be engaged and try for this team which may be the upset of the century
but you know who has been sneaky really good this season for OKC? Dennis Schroder. On a night where they needed some life injected into their offense, Schroder came off the bench and did exactly that
Here's the thing about the Thunder. Even if they end up being better than we thought, they are still in NBA purgatory. They are still 2 games out of the 8 seed and teams like PHX/MIL/SAC all look to be better so what does OKC do come February? Do they sell CP3/Gallo/Schroder and try and get even more assets? Will it depend on what the standings look like by then? The worst place you can be in the NBA is in purgatory and this team is too good to tank and might not be good enough to make the playoffs. Tough spot.
And that's it! Phew, I'm exhausted and if you made it to this point in the blog congratulations you just killed a ton of time in the cubes. We're back tonight with just two games so do yourself a favor and watch em. There's Luka vs LAC, you won't regret it. Have a great Tuesday!