Last Night In The NBA: Porzingis Takes Down The Bucks, Massive Comebacks, Down To The Wire Finishes And More
Good morning 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 the Association. It was another wild night of basketball with 7 total games and 5 of them being decided by 7 points or less. It had everything, down to the wire finishes, epic comebacks, upsets, you name it we got it. If by chance you were watching MNF or something and missed the action, here's what happened.
Washington Wizards (8-17) 133 vs Detroit Pistons (11-16) 119
I'll tell you what, the Wizards may be headed for the high lottery, but damn are they fun to watch. It's sort of weird that a team with this good of an offense can be so far under .500 but once you get past the fact that they will never be anything close to respectable defensively you can just enjoy the show. You may have thought this was a fluke when they had the best offense in the NBA through the first few weeks, but they've proven every time they play you are going to get a score of 120+. It makes sense, with Bradley Beal and Isaiah cooking like they did in this game to the tune of 57 points, shit like this happens
It was awesome to see Isaiah drop 23 points in 25 minutes after missing time with his calf injury, and the Wizards had one of those nights where if you hit the floor, you made pretty much every shot you took. As a tema they finished with 55/54% splits and 18 3PM, and after dropping 43 in the opening quarter to build a 12 point lead they never really looked back. Another huge fourth quarter helped seal the deal, and it wouldn't be a Wizards game without the Latvian Laser showing out off the bench as well
They've already come out and said Bertans is not for sale, and frankly that's some bullshit.
For DET, before you go and freak out as a Pistons fan for losing this game at home, both Blake and Drummond didn't play. You can't exactly expect them to beat anyone when that happens, and giving up 133 starts to make a little more sense. Guys like Derrick Rose stepped up the scoring which was cool to see and he's someone who has really thrived in DET's system
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but the Pistons need to be a little careful here. They are currently tied with CHA for the 10th seed, they are 1.5 games behind ORL for the 8th, but they need to figure out a way to win at home, just 7-7 on the season with a negative point differential. Missing your two best players hurt, and hopefully they aren't out for too long because this team isn't good enough without them if they want to get into the top 8. The East is deeper than we thought, so any sort of slide here would be rough.
Cleveland Cavaliers (6-21) 113 vs Toronto Raptors (18-8) 133
Another brutal night for Kevin Love's trade value since he finished with just 9 points on 4-10 shooting, and honestly Cavs fans are mostly used to these type of scores by now, but it wasn't all bad! At least they got a very good night from their backcourt of the future, with Sexton and Garland combining for 45 points with both guys being very efficient! Progress!
The rest of the roster for the most part was trash, but again you knew that already. Now just 3-11 on the road, it's time to hit the phones and start selling.
For TOR, the win helped them keep pace with the 3 other teams ahead of them (nobody is on pace with MIL), and their building remains a tough place to play. Hard to beat this team on their home floor when they go 58/50% with 16 3PM and just 7 TOs. I don't care who you are, if the Raptors do that against you it's not going to end well for you. The starters did most of the damage with pretty much everyone playing well and it starts with Siakam
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good to see him get back to his All Star level. You pair that with 46 points from their backcourt
and there wasn't much to worry about as a Raptors fan. They led the whole way, had a 20 point lead heading into the fourth, and good on them for not fucking around against a bad team. You don't love the 59 second half points by the Cavs, but shit was over so my guess is they let up a little.
San Antonio Spurs (10-16) 107 vs Houston Rockets (18-9) 109
Ohhhhh Spurs. Your disaster season continues. I suppose being up by 25 on the road and then blowing it qualifies as a disaster right? Woof. You can't have Dejounte Murray doing this
and then lose. They were so close until they realized there are two halfs to every game, and I don't care how much you are up by, scoring 35 second half points against this Rockets team is never going to end well. Pop didn't even play DeRozan down the stretch and something tells me that probably wasn't the best idea, even if other guys had shown promise throughout the night
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Then again, he and Aldridge were a combined -24, the two worst +/- on the team, and if you've watched the Spurs this season that's basically the story of every one of their games. Now just 3-9 on the road, I know we have been trained to never count the Spurs out, and technically they are only 2 games out of the 8 spot, but this team stinks. The sooner we just accept that the quicker we can move on to teams that matter.
For HOU, it was the largest comeback in franchise history which feels good. Westbrook and Harden were monsters who got basically whatever they wanted
and it's not as if the Rockets shot all that well, just 40/25%, but when it came time to win then game their two stars stepped up and made the plays to get it done. This had to feel great especially after they just blew a 22 point lead the other night, and I wonder how often we see someone do that and then immediately have a comeback like that. Talk about a wave of emotion for Rockets fans.
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This win kept them tied with DEN for the 5 seed and just 0.5 behind DAL for the 3 who now has to live without Luka for a few weeks. Making sure you don't drop home games to a bad Spurs team is important.
Miami Heat (19-8) 111 vs Memphis Grizzlies (10-17) 118
I told you, there were weird upsets last night. You really don't think a healthy MIA team is going to lose to a rebuilding MEM team no matter where they play, but if you're going to get MIA the best chance you have is if they are on the road. Just 8-7 on the season, they are mortal away from home. Even with good shooting splits and almost everyone playing well
it was ultimately their defense that let them down which isn't something you often say about the Heat. Allowing 72 points in the first half is always going to give you problems, and even though they tightened things up over the last 24 minutes, the damage was done. They had issues with the MEM young talent and the loss dropped them to 4th in the East for the moment, which isn't bad but considering 2-5 are all separated by 1 game or less, every loss matters.
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For MEM, this season may be mostly a waste, but as long as they continue to get positive signs from their core young talent, who really gives a shit
Plus their alternate jerseys are so goddamn fire it's no surprise they pulled off the upset. They need to bring those back full time I think we can all agree.
Dallas Mavericks (18-8) 120 vs Milwaukee Bucks (24-4) 116
Raise your hand if you had the Luka-less Mavericks going into MIL and ending the Bucks 18 game winning streak? If you have your hand raised you are a liar and you should be ashamed. Nobody thought this was going to happen, but that's the beauty of NBA basketball. Anyone can get beat on any given night. Now huge streaks usually end in weird upsets/bad losses so this is pretty normal, and that run was pretty fucking impressive despite the disappointing ending. The problem was they didn't really have an answer for Porzingis, who more than made up for not having Luka
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Probably his best game as a Mav right? Eerie that it came against MIL, they team he was playing when he tore his ACL, but that's what the kids call coming full circle. You combine that production with the 26 that Seth Curry gave you off the bench
and that's how you pull this off., You have to give DAL credit, they built their nice lead early, immediately gave it up in the second quarter, then came out again with a strong third to give them some breathing room, then had to battle a 40 point MIL fourth to hold on. That's called earning your win if I have to say so.
For MIL, obviously not having Bledsoe hurt, but that's their reality for the next few weeks. This was a story of Giannis going fucking nuts with 48
and then no other starter finishing with more than 9. Hey Khris Middleton, where the hell you at buddy? A 4-12 performance? Gross. The bench did their best to keep them it it, especially Korver from deep
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but at what point does Giannis look around and realize the talent around him stinks?
I don't really think that, but now that they finally lost and everyone other than him played poorly, THAT is the comment you're going to hear today. This team is still 24-4. Losses happen to everyone, streaks end, and chances are they don't lose two in a row when they go up against the Lakers later this week.
Chicago Bulls (10-19) 106 vs Oklahoma City Thunder (12-14) 109
Is it me or do the Bulls have a ton of heart breaking losses this year? Feels like they do. This would have been a nice road upset for them, and even though they are lottery bound I feel like the Bulls play good teams tough. I don't exactly have the data right now to back that up, but I bet it's true. Most of that has to do with Zach LaVine having an All Star caliber year (which I predicted nbd)
he led everyone with 39, but I also continue to like what I see from Wendell Carter Jr, he's a big who is going to be really good for a long time
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Sadly, nobody told them how to adjust for the Chris Paul step up three, it killed them over and over and over in the fourth, and that was a bad time to have their worst offensive quarter of the game and only score 16 points. This became a FT contest late, and I don't want to say CHI choked, but they had a 19 point lead at the break, and a 8 point lead heading into the fourth, so if you wanted to say they choked I won't disagree.
For OKC, unless POR makes a run, I think OKC has a legit chance to make the playoffs. Sitting in the 8 seed now, maybe that's why they are already talking about how they have no interest in trading Chris Paul. I mean I get it, especially when he is turning back the clock and giving you vintage CP3 performances
Gallo did his thing as well, and then with the game on the line Steven Adams got it done at the FT line and gave an interview like only he can
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Another strong week could have this team as high as the 7 seed, which isn't bad considering most thought they were going to be lottery bound when they made that Paul George trade.
Portland Trail Blazers (11-16) 111 vs Phoenix Suns (11-15) 110
Hopefully you stayed up for this one because it was wild as hell. The Suns had the early lead, in large part because of their starters
and the fact that they played so well without Booker in the lineup was certainly a surprise. When it came time for the second unit of course Aron Baynes did his thing with 13 points on 5-6 shooting, and chances are you may have thought when Kelly Oubre hit that corner three late in the fourth that this thing was over. Sadly, it was not and it wouldn't end well for the Suns. Couldn't get a stop no Dame late and the rest was history. Their offense sort of fell apart over the final 24 minutes with just 43 points, and that's where not having Booker really hurt.
For POR, it may not seem like a huge win, but for a team that is fighting to get back into the top 8, every win matters. It's even better when your three stars all show up at the same time
the Dame/CJ/Melo trio combined for 80 of the 111 with 10 of the 14 3PM, which I would say is the best case scenario for the Blazers. The defense was a little suspect to start which it is going to be as long as they play Melo 35 minutes, and frankly it wasn't all that great before he got there either, and if they can figure that out and continue this sort of offensive production they can certainly come back from the dead. As of now they are just 1.5 games from the final spot.
And that's it! You are now all caught up with everything that went down last night in the NBA. We're back tonight with 6 more games so you know the drill. Have a great Tuesday!