Last Night In The NBA: The Best Part Came Late Night

Happy Saturday and welcome to another edition of Last Night In The NBA where we catch you up on everything that went down the night before in the Assoication. We had a full slate last night, 7 games in total, with nearly all of them pretty damn competitive. It was night of upsets and great back and forth battles. There was great late game execution and outrageous offensive explosions. A lot went down, here’s what happened.

Raptors (31-13) 86 vs Spurs (30-17) 83

You know what’s annoying? That the Raptors can have a game where offensively things aren’t great, they can finish under 90 points, but they win. Not only that, but they beat SA. The Raptors won their 17th game at home, good for second most in the East. Let’s just say TOR fans should be happy that on a night where they would shoot 40/34% and only have 3 players in double figures, that Lowry/DeRozan would carry them.

All the sudden the Raptors are 2 games back of the top spot and like BOS has been 7-3 over their last 10. As of now this is the hardest building to get a win as a visitor in the East, which SA should be able to appreciate because they have the best home record in the league at 19-2. A big second quarter was really the difference, but also you have to tip your cap to how TOR closed this game out. With every big Spur play, there was an immediate TOR run as a response. Whether it was the back to back Lowry/DeRozen makes with about 5 minutes left to the 6-0 run with about 3 minutes after another made Spurs three.

Aside from two meetings with MIN, the end of January isn’t that bad for TOR, who will play ATL/UTA/LAL as well.

For SA, no Kawhi, no Manu, I get it, they were undermanned. They’re also 25-13 w/o Kawhi and as nasty as Manu is, he’s averaging just 9 points. The Spurs lost this game simply because they shot like absolute shit. Having Manu wouldn’t drastically their 34/25% splits. The reality is the Spurs just aren’t that good of a road team at this point of the season. They’re now 11-15, and you look down the list and when your best players can’t buy a shot, you aren’t beating TOR at home.

LMA at 6-25, Parker 1-9, Green, 2-8, Murray 4-10, Mills 4-14, I mean that’s their whole team for the most part. The good news is they play the best defense in the NBA so they’ll always be in the game, are chances are they won’t shoot that poorly too often.

Nets (17-29) 101 vs Heat (26-19) 95

Another game with tremendous late game execution. Few teams in the East have been played as good of basketball as MIA, and BKN came out and game them all they could handle. A career night for DeMarre Carroll who had 26/6 on 9-12 in 31 minutes

Carroll has been a little more aggressive on the offensive end of late, and it’s been working. Over his last 5 he’s averaging 17/7.8 with 51/42% splits and over 2 made threes a night. His play kept the Nets in it, but it was Dinwiddie and especially LeVert who closed the door. Back to back late jumpers including this one to seal the deal, great late game execution here

Big win for the Nets who have struggled to close games recently, as 4 of their last 6 losses have come by 6 points or less.

For MIA, given how they had been playing, this is probably a disappointing loss. Blowing a 16 point lead against a poor team never sits well no matter who does it. Especially when that lead is in the 3rd quarter. As a team they didn’t shoot it too wellm just 41/31%, but Whiteside was pretty dominant which has to be encouraging for Heat fans

I think we’re seeing as this team gets healthier, they’re really a lock for the 4-5 slots in the East. That’s not too shabby considering they are rebuiling

Wizards (26-20) 122 vs Pistons (22-22) 112

We should have known based on how this game started that it would be defined by runs. An early DET run got them up by 10 after the first. Then a WSH run in the second got them tied at half. From there, things got out of hand. I’m talking a 45 point third quarter for the Wizards. I suppose those happen when you shoot as well  as WSH did, 50/45% and 16 made threes isn’t too shabby.

Kelly Oubre had a career high 26

as did Beal

Add in Wall’s 16/11 and this was one of those games that you point to when you think of how dangerous WSH could be in a playoff series. Are we headed for a WSH/CLE first round series? Their schedule is going to get much harder during the second half, but they’re healthy and the talent is definitely there for them to make a run. Winning on the road AND getting huge bench performances is basically their weakness, and if that doesn’t hurt them anymore then look out.

For DET, not sure what you expect when you lose the second and third quarters by a combined 27 points. But hey, at least rookie Luke Kennard made some big baskets late!

If I could just give one bit of advice, don’t let Stanley Johnson, a career 29% three point shooter take the most important shot of the game from three. Even if he’s in rhythm. That shot had a ZERO percent of going in, and killed the entire comeback attempt. This is now the second game the Pistons have lost due to some spotty late game execution, and probably a big reason they are now out of the playoff picture.

Grizzlies (16-28) 106 vs Kings (13-32) 88

A nice reunion for ZBo, unfortunately he didn’t really do much and his team got killed. You know who we don’t really talk about in terms of rookies? Dillon Brooks. He’s having a really solid January, averaging 12 points on 54/50% splits with 2 made threes a night. Last night he led all scorers with 22 on 8-13 shooting

It wasn’t just a reunion for ZBo, but also Ben McLemore who was drafted and then given up on by SAC. Well, here’s how he responded

All the sudden the Grizzlies have won 3 in a row and I kindly must ask them what the fuck they are thinking. What good does winning do you? I get it’s hard to outtank the Kings but you have to try.

For SAC, they know the importance of tanking. They know when you tank you get a player like De’Aaron Fox, and players like De’Aaron Fox can do stuff like this

To go along with Fox, the Kings also got a solid night from Bogdanovic who had 15 and is turning into quite the player. He’s probably surprising a lot of people who didn’t really know about his game in Europe. Great find

And of course in a game that had a couple old dudes, the Kings’ old dude made some threes

I hope Vince plays forever.

Suns (17-29) 108 vs Nuggets (23-23) 100

This was probably the most fun game of the night, and that’s solely due to the battle between Kentucky guys Jamal Murray and Devin Booker. Enjoy.

Both unstoppable, we had Booker mocking Murray’s 3PT celebration, and then Murray coming right back and dunking/flexing all on Booker. This was fun as hell and basically a preview of the next 10+ years.

But Booker wasn’t alone, the Suns pulled off the upset because they also got a great game from TJ Warren who had 26

and 16 from rookie Josh Jackson

hell even Isaiah Canaan came out of nowhere with 16 points off the bench

The Suns are the perfect “they stink and never win but are really fun to watch” team. You know how some bad teams can play just brutal basketball and be a bore to watch? That is in no way the case with PHX.

For DEN, they never could really recover from that second quarter where they scored just 19 points, and sadly wasted not only the Murray performance, but also a 14/17/5 from Jokic

DEN is picking a poor time to go into a little slide, losing 3 of their last 4 and 6 of their last 8. They now find themselves out of the playoffs by a full game, and to also lose this game at home where they were 16-5 sure does sting. No bench production from either Mudiay or Barton, I’m not sure what DEN will be at the deadline. Not quite out of it enough to sell, but can they even get anything on the market to get them over the hump?

Knicks (21-25) 117 vs Jazz (18-27) 115

The Knicks will take it. They need all the wins they can get, and even if they had to hang on for deal life to get it in UTA, who cares. A great performance from Tim Hardaway Jr who had 31 probably makes Knicks fans a little happy

He’s picked up right where he left off before getting hurt, averaging 17/3 with 52/43% splits. Between him, Porzingis, and a surprise 18 points from Lee, the Knicks finally have something to be happy about

They sit 3 games from the 8 spot in the East, but before they got killed with injuries they were definitely in the MIL/IND/DET/PHI 6-8 conversation.

For UTA, Rudy Gobert returned after missing like 15 games with a knee injury he had against BOS, and he looked great with 23/14 and 3 blocks in 30 minutes

Rumors are swirling that Rodney Hood could be had at the trade deadline, and well, I’m sure there are a few teams that could use this wing scoring

But with every Jazz game, it’s all about Donovan Mitchell. Avergaing 24 a game in January, he just had 17 in this one, but his presence was most definitely felt

It will probably take UTA making up the 5.5 game difference and getting into the playoffs for Mitchell to win ROY, but even without it you can tell he is a blue chip player.

Lakers (16-29) 99 vs Pacers (24-22) 86

Might as well end the night with an upset win. The Lakers can thank potential trade deadline piece Jordan Clarkson and his 33, because not only did they win this game, they did it without Lonzo Ball or Brandon Ingram

Randle and Kuzma were the only Lakers starters in double figures, as Ennis/Brewer/Hart weren’t all that effective. It really was just the Jordan Clarkson show, but there was that one moment it became the Alex Caruso show

For IND, bad loss. Oladipo did his part with 25/5/4, but it wasn’t efficient, going just 11-26. In fact, the entire team shot the ball poorly. I mean really poorly. Like 38/8% poorly. 2-25 from deep, a 1-12 performance from Lance, no bench production and an early lead wasted.

Not great.

And that’s it! You’re now all caught up on everything that happened last night in the NBA. We have another jam packed day today with 9 total games and some very intriguing matchups like OKC/CLE, MIL/PHI, GS/HOU, TOR/MIN, and LAC/UTA. As always if you can’t catch it all just come back here tomorrow and I’ll fill you in.

Have a great Saturday!