Last Night In The NBA: Welcome To Milwaukee Eric Bledsoe
Welcome back to another edition of Last Night In The NBA where we catch you up on everything that happened from the night before in the Association. Maybe you’re spending the day watching college football and you need something to do during halftime. Well, allow me to fill you in on everything you missed.
Pistons (9-3) 111 vs Hawks (2-10) 104
There have certainly been a few surprises so far in the Eastern Conference, but few are more susprising than the early success of the Detroit Pistons. Not only do they have the second best record in the East, but they also have the second best point differential at +5.0. A team that was 24-17 at home last year is off to a 6-1 start at home in 2017, and they’re doing it by playing the best defense in the East from a team not named Boston.
They got the win from solid contributions from their usual guys. Avery Bradley and Reggie Jackson had 42 points combined including 10 made threes, and Drummond was an effective 16/20/7. Reggie Jackson stepped up huge down the stretch, basically taking this game over and ending it himself
For ATL, sadly they can’t play CLE every game. Done in by a poor second quarter despite good outings from Schroder/Bazemore/Collins the Hawks couldn’t get that one stop they needed. An epic comeback always need one final stop, and you have to tip your cap to Jackson for coming through.
Pacers (6-7) 105 vs Bulls (2-8) 87
I’m sure Pacers fans were happy to see Sabonis back active, as they finally snapped their four game losing streak. Sometimes the schedule helps you in that regard. Victor Oladipo was once again fantastic, with 25/6/6 on 11-20 and one pretty fucking nice 360
He definitely has to be in the discussion for Most Improved Player right?
For CHI, well there’s not much to show off when you have 39/28% splits. 87 points just isn’t going to cut it I’m sorry to say. I will say this though, Baby Dirk is still playing well (12/10) and Kris Dunn had this nice dunk as part of his 16 points on 8-14. That’s promising.
Not to mention Bobby Portis was probably the best player for the Bulls in this game with 20/11 of his own. Sure he may have single handedly ruined the chemistry in your locker room, but you take that for 20/11 from Bobby Portis.
Celtics (11-2) 90 vs Hornets (5-7) 87
Thunder (5-7) 120 vs Clippers (5-6) 111
And the losing streak has ended for OKC as well thanks for Paul George.
42/9/7 is some big boy stuff. To do it on 22 shots is impressive as well. I think it was offensive performances like this that most Thunder fans hoped for when these trades happened, and for them to do it against the Clippers is important. Remember these head to head matchups are going to be reaaaallly important in the West.
Dakari Johnson wasn’t all that bad in his spot start filling in for Steven Adams. He had 9 points in 23 minutes.
For LAC, tough second quarter. Sure getting down by 20 hurts, but they recovered. Being shorthanded didn’t help, and the starters weren’t that efficient either, so it was up to Lou Williams to bring this team back from the dead
Am I surprised a Doc Rivers team turned it over 18 times and lost? Not one bit.
Bucks (5-6) 94 vs Spurs (7-5) 87
Welcome to Milwaukee Eric Bledsoe. You wanted out of PHX and a better situation, well you now have it in MIL. Guess what? You’re first game is against the machine that is the SA Spurs! Well, not a bad debut if you ask me
As impressive as Bledsoe may have been, the story as usual was Giannis. 28/12/5 on 12-24 against a defense like SA is impressive even if they don’t have Kawhi.
For SA, LMA once again led the way with 20/12/4 on 8-14, but it was Manu that stole the show for me. Guy turned back the clock and put in 18 points in 25 minutes and it was as vintage as ever
But don’t ignore the 42/31% splits and 18 TOs. MIL is long as hell and it can terrorize even the best.
Magic (8-4) 128 vs Suns (4-9) 112
Whenever things are going poorly, the answer seems to be just play the Suns. The Magic’s 128 points were a season high, and they got it by a pretty balanced attack. Five players had at least 14 points, and they had 52/46% splits including 13 made threes. This looked a whole lot more like the offense we saw from ORL to start the year, but again, it’s PHX
For PHX, Mike James continues to be really impressive. Another solid 18/6 on 7-14, the way he’s playing he’s showing why he deserves to be in the league. This was also one of Josh Jackson’s better efforts, a career effort some would say, his 18/6 led all bench scorers
One of these days the Suns will realize you need to stop the other team from scoring once in a while, and when they do, watch out.
Heat (6-6) 84 vs Jazz (5-7) 74
What an offensive shootout in Utah! Love a game in which neither team shoots better than 39%. Not surprised at all a gamer like this took place in Utah. Those dudes can’t shoot for dick. You should not be allowed to score 84 points and win. You should get relegated to the G-League or something if you can’t break 75 points. The Heat won the 3rd quarter 20-8. I am disgusted just thinking about it.
At least we saw Waiters dominate which is always fun
For UTA, I mean maybe practice shooting? I will say this though. Despite the loss, I am with Rudy Gobert here, this was kind of a lame move by Waiters
Nets (5-7) 101 vs Trail Blazers (6-6) 97
EVERY damn Blazers game man. They are all stressful as hell I don’t know how their fans do it. In this surprising turn of events, D’Angelo Russell was the best player on the court
Remember he’s just 21 and he certainly looked comfortable in clutch situations there. I certainly didn’t expect the Nets to pull this out, but credit to them for pulling off what felt like a 17-0 run or something close to it in that third quarter. From there they held on for dear life.
For POR, they have to stop losing these close games. The West is too hard to be dropping games at home to the Nets and falling to .500. One bad quarter did them in, but we’ve also seen better performances from Dame/CJ. Nurkic helped as best he could and had 20, but for some reason didn’t play in the fourth quarter. That seems like an odd move. What’s the kick to the dick was Terry Stotts said he left Ed Davis in because of his athleticism, but it was a foul on Davis at the end of the game that essentially lost it for POR. That’s tough.
And that’s it! You’re now all caught up on everything that happened last night. Things don’t slow down as there’s 11 more games on tonight. If you happen to be watching football or out drinking or whatever and miss it, don’t worry just come back here in the morning and I’ll fill you in.