Last Night In The NBA: Shit Got Crazy In San Antonio, Jimmy Butler Took Over, The Lakers Shut Everyone Up 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 went down from the night before in the Association. It was another doozy of a night on the hardwood with 7 games in total including a couple of OT thrillers, statement wins, insane individual performances, we really got it all. At this point you should be watching the NBA every night, but in the event you got busy and missed the action here's what happened.
Detroit Pistons (8-13) 127 vs Cleveland Cavaliers (5-15) 94
I'm not exactly sure where the Pistons have been hiding this offense, but I guess everyone gets the offensive bump when playing a team like CLE. For a team that is just 2-9 on the road and is looking to get back into the top 8 and has some work to do, if you're a Pistons fan you absolutely take this win. It's not every day you see this team shoot 54/51% and make 18 3PM in regulation, and if Blake is 100% and going to look like he did in this game
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I wouldn't rule out the Pistons just yet. Him and Andre Drummond are definitely a handful for opposing front courts when they are both going
it's not often you see Blake make 6 3PM, which just goes to show you how much he's developed his game over the years. I truly think healthy Blake can put up All NBA caliber numbers and you combine that with the bench production they got in this game and you see why this was such a blowout. Four players off the bench had at least 10, five had at least 8 points and that's how you score a minimum of 30 points in every quarter
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The Pistons pulled away in the second quarter and never looked back, and as of now they are the only team outside of the top 8 with a positive point differential so my thought is things will even out for them.
For CLE, as bad as DET is on the road, that's how bad this team is at home. Now just 3-8 on their own floor, that's not all that great. Granted we expect them to stink so this isn't really a surprise, and her at least Collin Sexton continues to improve
but he didn't exactly get much help. Darius Garland is having a tough rookie season and went 3-8, Love and Osman only combined for 8 points, and they shot just 42/29% as a team. Their offense went cold after the first 12 minutes and if you ar also going to play zero defense I'm not sure what to tell ya. Your ass is going to get blown out on your own home floor, that's how it goes.
I will say Kevin Porter Jr intrigues me though. Good seeing him get 20+ minutes because he's producing
Orlando Magic (9-11) 127 vs Washington Wizards (6-13) 120
I love Wizards games because their scores are always insane. A top 5 offense paired with the worst defense in the league will get you results like this but every night it's an offensive show for both sides it's great. No surprise then that the Magic scored this many and shot 51/48% with 15 3PM and had great nights from pretty much everyone who played
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those three were great and combined for 73 points, but they weren't the story for me in this game. That had to be Markelle Fultz returning home and having the best game of his career so far
Is he the perfect player? Of course not. He still struggles shooting the three but here are the facts. Markelle Fultz is a serviceable starting guard in this league and that's a pretty big deal. He is showing flashes of being the player most thought he would be, and remember the Magic got him for basically nothing. To go from having the yips and not being able to play to being a legit starter is great to see and honestly he should get some MIP votes. Who knows what the deal was with him in PHI, but he has found new life in ORL and sometimes a change in scenery is all it takes.
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For WSH, it's the same old story you've heard 100000 times. Bradley Beal did most of the heavy lifting to the tune of 42 points while taking 30 FGA
Isaiah did his thing with an efficient 20/7 which you love to see
and then Bertans who may be on the trade block provided some additional outside shooting
I swear if the Wizards ever figured out that playing just a lick of defense would go a long way, I feel like they would beat a lot of teams. The offense is there. The star power is there, but christ man figure it out on the other end and stop giving up 120+ points every damn night.
Miami Heat (15-5) 121 vs Toronto Raptors (15-5) 110 F/OT
This was our first OT thriller and boy was it a good one. Say what you want about MIA but they are the only team in the NBA to go into MIL and win, and now to go into TOR and win. That's impressive as hell. And even though they sort of blew this game in regulation giving up like 8 points in 1 minute to end it, Jimmy Butler basically said fuck everyone in the OT, scored 8 straight points and that was that.
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This team has their star and closer in Jimmy, they have their legit young big who is taking a big time leap this season in Bam
they have the shooting with Tyler Herro and Duncan Robinson, a guy who made 6 3PM in this game
and they have the bench scoring in Olynyk and Winslow. Not to mention the potential ROY in Nunn but he had a down night at 3-16. Basically what I'm saying is this Heat team is loaded and they can beat the best of the best on any given night even on their home floor. They won that OT period 13-2 which was pretty dominant, and if you aren't taking this team seriously by now I don't know what your deal is. They are about as complete as any contending team in the East as of this moment.
For TOR, it was a weird night for Siakam, he wasn't aggressive like he normally is so I don't know if he's sick like the rest of the league is or he's hurt or what but it definitely wasn't our typical Siakam night. It also wasn't the best return for Kyle Lowry who came back and put up 2-18 (0-11) and if those two are going to have off nights I'm not sure what you expect.
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Instead they had to rely on guys like Fred VanVleet who is playing his way into a big time deal this summer
and Norman Powell off the bench
they did a great job keeping TOR in it, but the 38/25% as a team hurt, and it's also probably not the best idea to have your best player in Siakam take 1 FGA in the 4th quarter/OT of a close game. Granted they should have never even made it to OT if MIA didn't collapse down the stretch, but this was your classic case of running out of gas at the wrong time combined with Jimmy Butler taking over.
Dallas Mavericks (14-6) 118 vs New Orleans Pelicans (6-15) 97
Oh what do you know, another night another game where Luka Doncic goes absolutely nuts and does some crazy shit in only 28 minutes. Like 33/18/5 on 9-18 shooting crazy
Every night it's something with Luka and of course there is another ridiculous historical stat to mention just like there always is
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I'm almost running out of things to say about him at this point. You could tell me he tied or broke any sort of NBA record and I'm at the point now where I will blindly believe it. It's Luka's world man, we're all just living in it.
His night was important because he overshadows Porzingis' 2-11 performance, but let's also give some credit to Seth Curry who was big off the bench with 19
For NO, it was pretty much the same story with them. Not a whole lot of defense, Brandon Ingram does most of the scoring
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and ultimately their offense went cold in the second half and before they knew things got out of hand. A rough 2-12 outing for Lonzo paired with not much bench help is going to do you in every time, but the bigger issue was their lack of defending the three point line. NO allowed 19 3PM, and really had no answer for Luka, which we've learned is bad news if you're looking to win a basketball game.
Houston Rockets (13-7) 133 vs San Antonio Spurs (8-14) 135 F/2OT
So this was the part of the night that started to get really crazy. If I told you that James Harden would score 50 and Russell Westbrook would finish with a triple double there's no way you would say they lost right? Well then you learn that they went a combined 18-68. That is OUTRAGEOUS.
As I'm sure you've seen by now, things got fishy when the refs decided not to count a James Harden dunk that clearly went through the hoop, a play that they told the Rockets was not reviewable, which I guess isn't true? The refs just decided not to review it or something because the Rockets called for it immediately but then the ref said they asked for it too late??? What?
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What I don't get is why couldn't they look at the play during a commercial like they do when a foot is on the line or something and then get it right? That happens at all times of the clock, not just in the last 2 minutes or whatever. Seems like something you should be able to make sure you get right. At the time it was no big deal, the Rockets were up like 7 with a few minutes left, but then disaster happened. I hate to say it, but it wasn't the refs fault that the Rockets blew a late lead in the final minutes. They didn't give up those threes to Lonnie Walker to force OT. That's on HOU, even if that call was 100% bullshit. It also was some salt on the wound that this is how they lost
The best part about this is the Rockets think the league will grant them a win or a do over. Are they on crack?
For SA, listen it hasn't been the best season for the Spurs so maybe let them have this moment OK? Big win for them without LMA, and they stole it there's no other way to say it
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you have to give them credit, once this game got to OT the Spurs answered every single one of the Rockets momentum plays with one of their own. They were able to read Harden's offense at the end in beautiful fashion and did it without fouling down the stretch which was huge.
Los Angeles Lakers (18-3) 105 vs Denver Nuggets (13-5) 96
For some reason Lakers fans are very sensitive when you talk about who they've played. Nobody thinks they aren't really good, but it was a fact that they have played 14 games against teams under .500. It was fair to wonder what they would look like against some better competition. Well we have our answer and you may not like it. The answer is just as fucking good
it doesn't get much better in terms of competition in the West than DEN at home and the Lakers went into the Pepsi Center and basically led wire to wire. LeBron and AD did most of the damage per usual, but they also got really good minutes from Rondo and Dwight like it was 2012 or something. The outside shooting stunk, just 7-24, but it clearly doesn't matter if they are going to defend like this and get that sort of production from their two stars.
The defense AD played on Jokic was why he's a legit DPOY candidate and maybe even the favorite, and they start their brutal December off with a great win.
For DEN, this may just be who they are. Good enough to hang with the elite teams, but not good enough to get over the hump. Jamal Murray and Millsap were both pretty good
but in a game like this they needed to play more through Jokic and he was quiet basically all night. They also didn't get much from their bench which is odd for them at home, and this was a bad night to have a down offensive showing. The defense was fine, holding LA to 105 is good, but 40/20% shooting is not going to cut it against the best team in the conference.
Portland Trail Blazers (8-13) 97 vs Los Angeles Clippers (16-6) 117
What we learned here is that there is a difference between the Bulls and the Clippers. POR had looked much better over the last week because they played CHI and OKC, but matched up against a real contender in the West well, it was more of the same. Melo came back to earth with a 2-9 performance, Dame and CJ did most of the scoring but were not efficient
and Whiteside showed a pulse which was a surprise, but it was mostly the same old story. Bad defense down the stretch and an offense that disappeared over the final 24 minutes. They were in this game at the break, but came out and dropped 17 points in the third quarter. What do you think is going to happen?
For LAC, is it me or do the LA teams play every game at home? Especially the Clippers. If you count their game against LAL, 15 of their 22 games have been played at Staples. That feels like a lot for this point of the season but maybe it's just me. The surprise was a 20 point win on a night where Kawhi only had 11 and Lou Williams had 9, and that's probably because Paul George and Montrezl Harrell did most of the damage
they suffocate you with their length and their defense, then they run you into the ground with P&R, we've seen this plan unfold time and time again for the Clippers. If a few guys have an off night it doesn't matter because they have the depth to make up for it, they are well coached, and none of that is changing anytime soon.
And that's it! You're now all caught up with everything that went down last night in the NBA. We're back tonight with 10 more games so you know the drill. Have a great Wednesday!