Last Night In The NBA: Joel Embiid Destroys Souls, Luka Doncic Does More Ridiculous Shit, A Legend Returns And More

Good morning everybody happy Friday 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. It was a relatively light night with only 4 games on the schedule but we had close finishes, some NBA history, legends returning to where it all started and a whole lot more. In the event you spent the night watching a blogger fuck like a goddamn champ and you missed the action, here's what happened

Philadelphia 76ers (19-7) 115 vs Boston Celtics (17-7) 109

We'll be talking about the Celts in their normal blog and believe me I have a whole lot to say, but for this blog let's focus on the Sixers because this was a big time win for PHI. They didn't have Horford, and his replacement was a huge reason why they won this game. The Sixers hadn't really had too many good road wins this season, a dominant team at home they've struggled on the road, so to go into Boston and win like this is huge. Not just for their psyche, but now they can't lost the season series and own the H2H matchup 2-0. I'd like to take a moment to say what the hell to Shaq and Chuck for saying all that shit about Embiid before this game, like Shaq you used to be a Celtic what the fuck was that. Because make no mistake about it, Embiid was dominant. Big time dominant.

even if the Celtics two centers matched this production, when the Sixers needed someone to make a play down the stretch they went to Embiid and there was no resistance. Jump hooks, jumpers, dunks, it didn't matter. Embiid was massive in the fourth quarter with 16 points and he was every bit the monster the Sixers need him to be.

But we've seen this before with the Sixers, The difference for me was both Mike Scott going 5-7 from three, something he's only done one other time all year

His shooting early is what kept the Sixers in it, and you combine that with Tobias Harris carrying them in the second half and almost all of the secondary Sixers options came through

They turned up their defense over the course of the second half, had 34 fourth quarter points and we're starting to see a team that does not blow it when games get close. This all with getting pretty much nothing from Ben Simmons who finished with 7 points, 6 assists, and 5 turnovers, but when they make 14 3PM that tends to not matter. They also did a better job taking care of the ball with only 11 turnovers, and when you add all that up this is a tough PHI team to beat.

I don't care about the drama late and the no calls or any of that bullshit. The Sixers came in and took this win, and fellow Celtics fans are just going to have to accept that.

Cleveland Cavaliers (6-19) 117 vs San Antonio Spurs (9-15) 109

Jesus Christ Spurs get your shit together. What the hell are you doing losing to the Cavs at home in overtime? Have some self respect. I expect this from you on the road where you are pathetic, but at home? With both DeRozan and Aldridge playing? Gross. But give credit to the Cavs, they got great offensive performances from Love/Sexton/Clarkson who combined for 83 of the 117

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and sure they blew things in the fourth quarter which allowed this to get to OT, but hey at least they pulled it out and Kevin Love played great which will only help his trade value. It's sort of hard to believe this team won when it's clear everyone hates their coach and last night was a prime example of that 

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but hey a win is a win!

For SA, safe to say they should start considering blowing this thing up right? This has to be a low point in a season that has been filled with low points, and it's no surprise DeRozan and LMA were a combined -24. It's been that way all season long

Poor defense, poor outside shooting, got killed on the glass and had only 19 assists on 42 FGM. That's gross basketball and if you play like that you deserve to be embarrassed at home. A bad first quarter dug them an early hole, and it makes you wonder if they simply ran out of gas in the OT. Either way, rough loss.

Dallas Mavericks (17-7) 122 vs Detroit Pistons (10-15)

This matchup was part of the Mexico City Games and as you know it wouldn't be a Mavs game without Luka doing some crazy shit and making more history. I'd say his 41/12/11 qualifies

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So what was the history? Well

I'm serious when I say we get tweets like this literally after every one of Luka's games. What makes the Mavs so good is you can bank on this sort of production every night, and then they sprinkle a little Porzingis into the mix

and then Seth Curry can do Curry things off the bench like he did in this game and it gives them a legit shooter off the bench

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and the next thing you know they're dropping at least 30 in 3 of the 4 quarters and win comfortably. The Mavs being this good this soon has to be one of the biggest surprises of the season, and as long as Luka is breathing I don't think they're going anywhere anytime soon. 

For DET, they almost didn't have Drummond due to some sort of reaction to an avocado, but he played and was fairly dominant since DAL doesn't really have a center to match up with him

unfortunately for the Pistons to be successful they need both of their big men to have good games and Blake's 3-16 (1-10) certainly didn't help. The secondary scoring mostly came from the bench and Derrick Rose, someone who I think you could make the case should get some MIP votes

and the Pistons need to start to get their shit together quick because as of now they are a few games out of the 8 spot and are 5-5 over their last 10. This was a team many had at least making the playoffs, so things aren't exactly great at the moment.

Portland Trail Blazers (10-16) 99 vs Denver Nuggets (15-8) 114

Melo made his return to where it all started last night and it's weird because he was awesome on the Nuggets but also demanded to be traded so I can understand why fans might have booed. At least he was able to turn back the clock and give them some vintage Melo moments

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and Hassan Whiteside came out of nowhere with 33/11

and you would think of both of those things happen the Blazers are in a good spot right? Well, Dame and CJ went 11-27, they only got 9 points from their bench and offensively they did not have enough fire power to match DEN, especially when they play the way they did. 

For DEN, they needed a win like this after their brutal East Coast trip. They returned to the Pepsi Center and threw up 47/50% with 18 3PM and just 10 Tos, and unlike POR things were very balanced within both units

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It was cool that the new #15 out dueled the old #15 and that's why I don't think the Nuggets will ever retire Melo's number like he wants. They're saving that shit for Jokic. The win was important because it keeps DEN within reach of teams like HOU/DAL, and also keeps some space between them and UTA. A team that is much better at home, the Nuggets have to find a way to get into the top 4 if they want to make a deep run.

And that's it! Hopefully this helped you kill a little time this morning because fuck working. We're back tonight with another 9 games so if you don't want to waste money at the bar you have something to do. Have a great Friday everyone!