Last Night In The NBA: Ja Morant Is A Beast, The Jazz Stay Streaking, Blowouts Everywhere And More

Good morning everybody happy Wednesday and welcome back to another edition of Last Night In The NBA where we bring you up to speed on everything that happened from the night before in the Association. We had a total of 6 games on the schedule on Tuesday, and one thing was pretty consistent. It was a night of blowouts. None of the games were decided by single digits, we had three 20+ point beatdowns, but we also had some pretty ridiculous individual performances as well as some upsets. If for whatever reason you were busy and missed any of the action, here's what happened.

Phoenix Suns (16-24) 110 vs Atlant Hawks (9-32) 123

I know the Suns aren't exactly world beaters, but they are 7-10 on the road and they did have all their guys active, so really there is no excuse to losing to this Hawks team. This is especially true when they get a monster night from Devin Booker

He had 39/7/3 on 12-23 shooting, and single handedly brought this team back late in the third quarter. It was a rough night for all other starters seeing as how they combined to shoot 6-28, but Booker kept them alive until the second he got tossed. That ejection was the latest weak ass ejection we've seen in about a week, and if you thought what he did was taunting you're just blind. Who knows what might have happened if Booker stays in the game, but we'll never know. 

It was also a good night for Ayton who had an efficient 20/10 off the bench

But it's the same old shit with the Suns. Until they figure out how to not be fucking pathetic on the defensive end, they are going to lose games to bad teams they have no business losing. It's looking more and more like, they are destined for the lottery, but the good news is they are just 2.5 games from the 8 seed. The bad news is the teams ahead of them are playing way better, but they technically do still have life if they can figure out how to play defense. 

For ATL, normally when we talk about them it's just to show you Trae Young highlights and nothing else because they stink. Well we are still going to do that because Trae Young was awesome to then tune of 36/10 

but this time he had help. The Hawks were great offensively with 49/45% splits and 14 3PM, with three starters notching at least 20 points

and it just goes to show how potent this offense can be on any given night, and if you don't bring it offensively they have the firepower to light your ass up. By now it's probably a lost season for the Hawks, they certainly aren't as good as their hype suggested heading into the year, but on any given night they can give you buckets. That's something!

Utah Jazz (28-12) 118 vs Brooklyn Nets (18-21) 107

Every year it seems like Jazz fans are insecure that nobody talks about their team. Well it's impossible to ignore the hottest team in the NBA, winners of 10 straight and sole owners of the 2 seed in the West. The Jazz got to a soft spot in their schedule and they have certainly taken advantage, which is similar to what we've seen in year's past. They did beat the Clippers which is great, but the rest of the streak is made up of POR/DET/CHI/ORL/NO/NYK/CHA/WSH/BKN so it's not exactly a murderers row of opponents. At the end of the day though 10 in a row is 10 in a row and when their big guns all show up in the same game this can be a tough team to beat

It'll be interesting to see what version of the Jazz is real. Is it the team that got off to the sort of slow start and underachieved? Or is it this version that is beating everyone in their path? Probably somewhere in the middle, but they sure look like a top 4 seed given what we know they can do on defense. 

For BKN, stop me if you've heard this before but Kyrie Irving led the team in FGA, had 32 points and they…..lost.

They Nets are now 2-8 over their last 10, the second quarter is what did this team in, and lucky for them they have a large enough lead in the 8 spot where they don't have to worry yet about missing the playoffs, but this is the only team in the top 8 with a negative point differential which isn't all that great. This team is starting to get healthy and still has glaring issues but hey, this was mostly a throwaway year until KD gets back right? Not like this was an exciting young team that played well last season. Wonder what changed.

Houston Rockets (26-13) 110 vs Memphis Grizzlies (19-22) 121

No Westbrook meant we were going to be blessed with James Harden vs Ja Morant and boyyyyy did it not disappoint. In one corner we had Harden, an MVP candidate who is having one of the most ridiculous offensive seasons we've ever seen. All he did was drop 41, but it took 37 FGA to get

The Rockets got off to a good start, but that's where the good times ended. Even with Capela putting up 16/16 and Eric Gordon 23 points off the bench, that couldn't mask the issues they had at stopping the Grizzlies from scoring

The Rockets allowed 36 points in the fourth quarter to lose that frame by 9 which was significant because they lost the game by 11. Play a lick of defense in the fourth quarter and you probably escape with the much needed road win. 

For MEM, this game was a bit of a statement win. James Harden called out Ja Morant and dared him to beat him, and holy shit did Morant steal the show. What an incredible performance from the rookie who honestly will probably get some All Star votes

We're at the point where Morant is now in Must Watch territory. Shit he probably should have already been there for you given how good he's been this season. The thing is, these Grizzlies are balanced, they are getting great seasons from all their young dudes

and a huge 14-3 run is what gave them life and helped them pull off this upset. MEM has now won 6 in a row, is 8-2 in their last 10, and is sitting in sole possession of the 8 seed. They play well and get a slump from OKC, you can't rule out the 7 seed just yet either. It's pretty clear the duo of Morant/JJJ is going to be very good for a very long time, and if this is the worst they'll ever be that's pretty damn terrifying.

New York Knicks (11-30) 102 vs Milwaukee Bucks (36-6) 128

Fucking Knicks man. I'm pretty sure no Buck player even broke a sweat in this game. Every starter outside of Wesley Matthews played 22 minutes or fewer and that was still more than enough time for Giannis to murder this team. The guy had 37 points in 21 minutes. How is that even fucking possible

Sprinkle in some efficient secondary scoring from Khris Middleton who had 17 on just 9 FGA

and this shit was over by the half. A huge second quarter is what gave them their separation and they never looked back. At the end of the day they shot 48/41% with 15 3PM while getting most of the minutes from their second unit. Pretty nice luxury to help them be rested for their game against BOS tomorrow. That's cool.

For NYK, hey, at least they had three guys score at least 20 points including two young assets!

But that's pretty much it. I won't make you think about this team anymore because it's depressing as shit.

Dallas Mavericks (25-15) 124 vs Golden State Warriors (9-33) 97

Even with no Porzingis I think we all expect the Mavs to blow out the Warriors and that's exactly what happened. They got a 10 point lead after the first quarter and never looked back. It was nearly 20 by the break and nearly 30 by the fourth quarter. The shot 51% from the field, Luka did some Luka shit

which went nicely with a 9-9 performance from Dwight Powell

and the Mavs now improve to 13-5 on the road. They still have a little separation from OKC and the 7 seed, and trail HOU by like 1.5 for the 5th seed. This team is going to have to go on a bit of a run if they want to get back into the top 4 like they were earlier in the season, and being 5-5 over their last 10 isn't exactly going to cut it. 

I will say though it was awesome to see extended Boban minutes

For GS, same shit just a different day. No starter over 13 points, no defense to be found from anyone at any point during this game seeing as how they never gave up fewer than 29 in any quarter, and I guess their two best players came off the bench which isn't great

They've now lost 9 in a row and have the worst record in the NBA with a -8.7 point differential. It's weird because it's the Warriors., but this isn't an NBA roster so what do you expect. Home, away, it doesn't matter this team fucking blows.

Cleveland Cavaliers (12-29) 103 vs Los Angeles Clippers (28-13) 128

You may not want to believe this, but I think then Clippers are a little bit better than the Cavs. This result is pretty much what you expect with LAC shooting 52% and Kawhi getting basically whatever he wanted in his 29 minutes. Dropping 43 and making 6 3PM is about what you expect

Basically every Clipper played well that touched the floor, and when Kawhi is cooking like that and you have Lou Williams going 10-13 off the bench, well that's how blowouts happen

This win kept them even with DEN and right on the heels of UTA, and by now we know the 2-5 seeds are going to be fluid the rest of the year. Making sure you beat up on terrible teams is important because every game is going to matter for all those teams. A bad loss here could screw you come Spring.

For CLE, the throwbacks are awesome, the quality of basketball not so much. Cedi and Sexton were really the only consistent offense for this team

they combined for 46 of the 103, and with no Love in the lineup you pretty much had no other options. CLE is now 3-7 over their lat 10, they are destined for the high lottery….again, and none of this is really all that surprising. It's how their entire season has gone and it'll get worse once they become sellers at the deadline. But again, this season is all about getting the young backcourt reps anyways, and they've had their moments.

That's it! You are now all caught up with everything that went down last night in the NBA. We're back tonight with a full slate of 10 games so if you can't watch just check back in the morning. Have a great Wednesday!