Last Night In The NBA: Zion's Debut, The Magic May Be For Real, Hold Me Back Fights And More

Good morning everybody happy Tuesday 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’s starting to feel more and more like basketball season with 5 games on yesterday’s schedule and I have to admit, even though these are fake preseason games they have certainly not disappointed. If anything they have me dying for the actual real games to start. We got a little bit of everything last night from some awesome rookie debuts to some on the court hold me back fights. If you were watching playoff baseball or Monday Night Football I get it, but here’s what you missed.

San Lorenzo 89 vs Cleveland Cavaliers (1-0) 120

Hey the Cavs may not win a whole lot during the regular season, so you gotta take the wins where you can get them even if it’s in a preseason game against non NBA competition. At this point the Cavs are more about their youth movement and rebuild with guys like Colin Sexton, Darius Garland and Kevin Porter Jr, but they do still employ to legit vets in Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson. Maybe they move Love for assets during the year. but his 1-5 performance in 15 minutes certainly doesn’t help. But we know what he is so let’s not waste time on him. Instead, let’s focus on the two rookies who actually played pretty well in their first NBA action

Together these two combined for 25 points on 11-13 shooting and were a very impressing +21 and +10 on the night. Kevin Porter Jr may very well end up being one of the steals of this past draft given where he was taken, and while we didn’t see Garland/Sexton start next to each other I feel like that’s only a matter of time. Things were a little dicey early with the Cavs losing after the first quarter, but you have to like how the kids looked if you’re a Cavs fan. You know TT is going to rebound well like he did last night, you know Jordan Clarkson is going to be that solid reserve guard, and you know Larry Nance Jr is probably going to have some awesome dunks. What can really change their season though is if these young guys take a leap and Cedi proves he can be a #1/#2 scoring option.

Orlando Magic (2-0) 115 vs Detroit Pistons (0-1) 91

Look at the Magic! Two wins over two legit NBA teams and they are doing it on both ends. Yeah it’ preseason but this team continues to intrigue me with their length and talent. Just look at some of the performances we saw last night

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everywhere you looked things were solid. Fultz out there looking like a serviceable NBA player which is a low bar of course but that’s this reality at the moment and is a huge step in the right direction. Mo Bamba looks like he’s starting to put it together and should earn minutes this year. Jonathan Isaac and his ridiculous length is making elite defensive plays, and Aaron Gordon looks to already be in midseason form. It may not be warranted, but watching them put up like 122 against the Spurs and then another 115 tonight while playing legit defense, I am buying all the Magic stock right now. Given what we’ve seen so far, this is a 5-6 seed I can feel it in my bones.

For the Pistons, well it sure wasn’t great. Not much from Blake Griffin, and then there was Andre Drummond trying to show off his range that well, wasn’t exactly Steph Curry.

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Pretty brutal when you never score more than 25 in any quarter, shoot 33.7/27% for the game while also having 19 turnovers. Derrick Rose did show some flashes off the bench in his Pistons debut

but this certainly wasn’t how the Pistons probably wanted to kick off their preseason. This is most likely still a playoff team, but not if they play like that.

New York Knicks (1-0) 104 vs Washington Wizards (0-1)

You can read both Clem’s and Reags’ takes on the events last night from a Knicks fans perspective and everything that went down with Mook fighting and I’ll just say this. I may have hated his shot selection while he was a Celtic, but everything you saw last night from Mook whether it was the “fight” or the production is why I’ll miss him

He’s the true definition of a guy who takes no shit and is absolutely in no way afraid.

But we also got some pretty damn solid debuts from some new Knicks

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not to mention Kevin Knox who had 12/7 off the bench. If there’s one thing you can bank on from this group it’s that they are going to play hard and physical, which in the East will certainly win you some games. I think Knicks fans are exhaling a little bit when it came to RJ Barrett who looked a million times better last night than he did in Summer League, which means the overreactions about that were silly and the new overreactions about a preseason performance are now the rule. That’s how it works with every single rookie and he’s earned the praise.

For WSH, I mean look they aren’t going to win a lot this season with John Wall out, Isaiah injured and really only Bradley Beal as an option who also didn’t play in this game. Keeping it competitive is a plus, even if it was the Knicks, and their new prized rookie played pretty well

To go along with that, buy all the Thomas Byrant stock you can right now. He in my mind was the best value signing of the summer, threw up 14/14 on 5-10 shooting in his 27 minutes and he’s going to have a huge role on this team moving forward. A Bryant/Hachimura front court is definitely worth watching on a team that on most nights will be painful to watch.

New Orleans Pelicans (1-0) 133 vs Atlanta Hawks (0-1) 109

Now this was the matchup I think we were all waiting for. A ton of rookies making their debut, there’s Zion obviously, two young teams with a ton of potential who people are really excited about and for good reason. We may as well start with the Pelicans who everywhere you looked got great performances

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not to mention Jrue Holiday’s 21 points on 7-9 shooting. But the story here is the kids and not just Zion. How about the former Lakers! Lonzo doing a little bit of everything nearly snagging a triple double, Ingram showing that scoring ability and efficiency in what is a huge contract year for him, hell even Josh Hart was solid off the bench in his 16 minutes. These guys are showing progression and improvement from the versions we saw in LA and that’s a great sign.

But of course, Zion coming in and putting on a dunk show was the big thing. I wish we saw more of Jaxson Hayes who only played 5 minutes, but man this Pelicans team is stacked with young talent up the asshole.

For ATL, they are a team that people are definitely hyping up heading into the year given how exciting they were last season, and their additions this draft are certainly no joke. Trae Young was his usual must watch self doing a little bit of everything including a sweet nutmeg on JJ Redick

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but then you look at the rookies and they showed why they were worth lottery picks

Hunter got the start and made an impact right away, then Reddish off the bench with 11 points on 4-7 shooting including 3-4 from deep which is big for him. Defense is obviously going to be an issue with them as it is with a lot of young teams, but man do they play an exciting brand of basketball. If those rookies end up being legit and then you add Hueter and Evan Turner to the mix, there’s definitely some talent on this roster. Will they make the playoffs? Maybe not, but absolutely are they a league pass team.

Milwaukee Bucks (1-0) 122 vs Chicago Bulls (0-1) 112

No Giannis or Middleton or Bledsoe no problem. Instead we got a whole lot of Lopez Twins

which is still pretty weird to see them both on the same team like it’s college or something. It’s no surprise the Bucks won this game, they’re going to win a lot of games and not just because of their stars but because of their depth and that’s what was on display last night. Things were balanced, they were efficient, and somehow able to overcome 25 turnovers which is an insane number.

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For CHI, it was a chance for their fans to see their new prized rookie point guard who didn’t start but played 25 minutes and showed some things

and then there was Zach LaVine who is looking to build off his breakout year and who knows maybe fuck around and make an All Star team if everything goes right

and honestly the Bulls were in this game outside of that third quarter. Everything else was close, but like we saw a bunch of times last year the Bucks come out of the break and just hit you right in the goddamn mouth. Usually it’s Giannis, but that’s just how they play. The Bulls are a young rebuilding team so you take the fact that they actually made this a competitive game while also giving you some reasons to be excited about their youth. That’s a win/win while actually not winning in my opinion.

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 7 more games so you may as well clear your schedule tonight and fill it with hoops. Have a great Tuesday!