Last Night In The NBA: Believe It Or Not Basketball Was Played Yesterday, And It Was Exciting!
Good morning everybody happy Monday, 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. Believe it or not, even though Sunday was a day for football and both games delivered in a big time way, there was also some basketball being played. We had a total of 3 games on the schedule and luckily two out of the three were actually somewhat competitive. There weren’t any big time key matchups so chances are there’s no way you even gave any of these games a second of precious TV time, so if you’re stuck at work today allow me to help ease you into things by letting you know what you missed. If you were at the bar all day and all night enjoying some quality football, here’s what you missed
Charlotte Hornets (22-24) 95 vs Indiana Pacers (31-15) 120
Man, it has to be so frustrating to be a Hornets fan. Just no sense of consistency whatsoever the second they find themselves on the road. Now 6-16, this thing was never close, and while I don’t fault them for losing in IND, could you have at least been competitive? Finishing with 40/34% splits with 16 TOs is how you get your ass beat, watching key starters like Jeremy Lamb go 4-13, Kemba 8-18, and then Marvin Williams 3-13, I mean there’s your ballgame right there.
This is even with Kemba trying his best and leading them with 23/7
I will say their second unit was much better and did have their moments. Malik Monk showed some life with a bench leading 11 points on 4-6 shooting
but at the end of the day this was an effort you often see from a lottery team, not one trying to hold onto their 8th spot in the East
For IND, they are looking to create some separation from themselves and PHI, have won 2 in a row and as a team they did not have the same shooting woes. They finished with 47/51% with 14 3PM, Oladipo led the way with 21/7
and we’re starting to see this team get on a roll with Myles Turner back in the lineup. He only had 9 points on 3-9 shooting but he did have 16 rebounds and 3 blocks, and I bet Pacers fans won’t complain much about that defense.
Darren Collison had his best performance in a while with 19/9 on 8-14 shooting
which is certainly much better than his season averages, and this is a team that finished strong, dropped 37 in the fourth quarter and had 48 second unit points. That the style of Pacers basketball that makes them so tough to beat. Having someone like Sabonis who dropped 16/8/3 come off your bench is such a goddamn luxury
Phoenix Suns (11-37) 114 vs Minnesota Timberwolves (22-24) 116
Listen the Suns may be an insult to the game of basketball, but at least they are playing teams pretty tough recently. They took TOR down to the wire the other night and they were back at it with this high drama ending out in MIN. They did it without DeAndre Ayton which is impressive considering they went super small with a Booker/Melton/Warren/Bridges/Bender starting lineup. The fear was that nobody would be able to stop KAT, and that was true, but they were able to hang in the rebounding battle 44-38. That was impressive. TJ Warren continued his strong season leading the way with 21
and he’s a player that is super versatile that I don’t think we talk enough about when it comes to young wings. TJ Warren can play, make no mistake about that.
Remember Dragan Bender? Probably not because who the hell is paying attention to Suns scrubs, but he turned in 12 points last night and took the most of his opportunity
What a disaster pick that was though. Probably a big reason why they fired their GM this year. He made some big buckets late sure, had a good amount of help from guys like Kelly Oubre Jr who had a bench high 18
Same with Josh Jackson who after falling out of the rotation in PHX is starting to find his way a little bit. He had 15 points in this one as well as he continues to try and get that efficiency up. He has sort of been a disappointment this year as well, joining a handful of other second year players that have seemed to take a step back
For MIN, as expected with no big man in the lineup, it was time for KAT to eat and eat he did
He had 28 in the first half, finished 8-22 which isn’t great but he did make all 13 of his FTA. With Wiggins struggling going 3-14
it was really only KAT and Taj Gibson who showed up and played well among the starters
but the story of this win comes from someone else. That has to be the wonderful comeback story of Derrick Rose. Not only did he drop another 31 off the bench, the man hit another game winner
This is why you see him so high in the fan All Star Voting. He’s having a great year and is a fantastic comeback story. Nothing has really changed post Thibs just like he said, and I’ll always root for him to play well on the court after everything he’s been through to get back to this point. For a team still trying to catch the Clippers in the 8th spot and find themselves 3 full games out, beating a team at home like PHX is sort of a must have situation. Can they pull it off and go on a streak and get back into the top 8? Not until they learn to play some defense, but we’ll see.
Los Angeles Clippers (25-21) 103 vs San Antonio Spurs (27-21) 95
We end the night with a pretty important H2H matchup out West. Heading into this game SA had a 2-1 lead over LAC head to head, and that’s important because the two teams are separated by just 1 game in the standings. Chances are that stays pretty close for the rest of the season, so this outcome could be important once we figure out seeding. The win brings LAC even, finally got them in the W column as they are 4-6 over their lat 1, and also gave them a 0.5 lead over the Lakers for the final playoff spot. To secure the win they needed big time performances from Tobias Harris and Montrezl Harrell
You see with Gallo out due to injury, someone was going to have to fill that type of scoring production, and honestly it was a collective effort. Even their backcourt played well with Avery Bradley and Patrick Beverly combining for 33 points
because remember they were also without Lou Williams who is dealing with a hammy issue. That’s two of their main scorers out, so they were going to have to win by playing defense, something this team doesn’t always do. Factor in they were playing in SA where the Spurs are nearly unbeatable, and this was a hell of an impressive road win. Their good start helped, dropping 38 in the first quarter usually does, and then from there they played SA pretty much even. Great win.
For SA, rough night where only 3 players end the night in double figures
DeMar DeRozan was a tough 4-16, the SA guards who have been so awesome lately struggled as well combining for 4-13 as well, and the fact that they had 18 TOs at home is not exactly something you see all the time from the Spurs. Good news is this loss doesn’t do much for them, they are still the 6th seed within striking distance of the 3 spot, it was just an off night, that stuff happens to everyone. Maybe next time just don’t give up a 20-2 run in the first half, just an idea.
And that’s it! You’re now all caught up with everything that went down last night in the NBA. We’re back today with 11 games where a bunch are starting this afternoon since it’s MLK Day, so if you’re at home great you have something to entertain yourself with, and if you’re stuck in the cubes it’s just the thing to get you through a brutal Monday. If you can’t watch, just check back tomorrow morning and I’ll fill you in!