Last Night In The NBA: Zion Put On A Show, Porzingis Is Still A Unicorn, Giannis Is Back To Crushing Dreams And More

Good morning everybody happy Thursday 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. We had another 6 games on the schedule last night and once again it was a rather entertaining night of fake basketball. We had dominant performances, and all time comeback, some unicorn sightings, it was fantastic. Now, if for whatever reason you missed the action that’s OK, here’s what happened.

Dallas Mavericks (0-2) 117 vs Detroit Pistons (1-1) 124

We finally got to see the Mavs regulars after they mostly sat out their preseason opener, and while they may have come away with the loss, the one thing we learned was that Year 2 Luka paired with a 100% healthy Porzingis is going to be one of the most fun duos we have in the entire league. See for yourself

The reigning ROY wasted no time giving the people what they want with his flashy play and I have to say Point Guard Luka is just as much fun as I remembered him being. His passing is better than I remember, his creativity is at another level especially when he starts feeling himself, all this did was make me even more excited to see what kind of jump he might make this season.

Then you have Porzingis. As a reminder, the player you saw in that video is the player the Knicks gave away for pennies on the dollar so they could have max cap space only to then use that space on Julius Randle and Marcus Morris. That worked out! Now that he’s healthy, you sort of forget what a unicorn player Porzingis was seeing as how we haven’t seen him play in forever. A 7’3 player who has handles and can cross you up, he can protect the rim and stretch the floor and he’s still young. The chemistry he has with Luka is already pretty apparent. No wonder Cuban gave him that massive extension without him playing 1 second of basketball for the Mavs. The dude is just different.

The Mavs may not make the playoffs, but those two alone make them worth watching.

For DET, the defense is still maybe an issue, but their two bigs in Blake/Drummond looked more like themselves and carried most of the load for the starters, but the real story was the play they got off the bench with both Derrick Rose and Luke Kennard

They were the sparks in the second half that helped the Pistons take control and eventually pull away with a massive 74 point second half. Both were extremely efficient and while it may be weird for Bulls fans to see Rose in a Pistons uniform, I think he can absolutely have success there given the opportunity he has to be a main rotation player. It wouldn’t shock me if one of these two made their way to the starting lineup because the Pistons didn’t exactly get much from their 2-3 spots.

Guangzhou Long-Lions 98 vs Washington Wizards (1-1) 137

You need to feel better about yourself as a basketball team? Play the Long-Lions. The good news is the Wizards second unit balled their dicks off, I’m talking 6 players in double figures and eight players with at least 8 points off the bench.

the bad news is the Wizards don’t get to face this team once the regular season starts. With all the injuries they already have before the season even starts it’s going to be a long year for WSH there’s no doubt, but there is one reason to be excited aside from Bradley Beal. That’s rookie Rui Hachimura

Remember on Draft night when the Wizards were sort of killed for reaching that high to snag this dude? Well whether it was during FIBA or the preseason every time I see him play and see his production it’s pretty damn good. His 11/7 on 4-8 shooting in his 16 minutes may not seem all that impressive but it led all starters and this kid is going to have an awesome opportunity given Isaiah and Wall are out. The shots will be there, the minutes will be there, and I think we’ll all look back and think this wasn’t such a reach afterall.

Orlando Magic (3-0) 97 vs Atlanta Hawks (0-2) 88

Look at the Magic!! I’m telling you, start buying their stock now because the more we see them play the more for real they look. On a night when they didn’t shoot the ball well at all, just 37/29% splits, they relied on their defense to come away with this win. That shouldn’t surprise anyone because if you paid attention last year you’d know they had one of the best defenses in the entire NBA over the second half of the year.

Guys like Jonathan Isaac and Vucevic carried the load for the starters with 26 combined points, but the real reason they won this game was mostly due to Terrance Ross’s 20 point performance off the bench. He could very well emerge as a legit 6th Man Of The Year candidate because the dude can flat out score.

We also got another extended look at Markelle Fultz, and if we’re being honest it certainly wasn’t the best performance we’ve seen from him

just 2-10 from the field in his 21 minutes, if there’s one thing you can say about his preseason play so far it’s that he definitely is showing flashes, but his efficiency still needs a ton of work. That’s to be expected from someone who hasn’t played in two years, and while Fultz does look like he belongs for him to really make an impact he’s going to have to figure out a way to not be so terrible from the floor.

For ATL, there’s no denying they are one of the most hyped up teams in the East heading into the season. A lot of people expect them to make a big time jump and who knows maybe even compete for a playoff spot. Well, it’s been a tough go of it so far this preseason even while some of the new young pieces look pretty good

But it’s tough when both John Collins and Cam Reddish combine to put up 1-15 (0-8) shooting and as a team they finish with 33/27% splits with 27(!!!!!) turnovers. That’s almost impossible to do in an NBA game but here we are. Just 44 points in the second half, the Hawks were in this game and had they just been terrible instead of god awful, they probably win.

Miami Heat (2-0) 108 vs Charlotte Hornets (0-2) 94

Tyler Herro may have come back to earth after his awesome debut and Jimmy Butler didn’t play but that’s OK because that just meant Dion Waiters was going to have to step up and be a factor and boy did he deliver

The Heat played him at point guard and he responded with a team high 19 points including 4 3PM, and they also got a nice performance from shooter Duncan Robinson

who when paired with Herro give the Heat some legit options from deep. This score was only this close because the Heat sor tof gave up in the fourth quarter which they lost 31-18, but everything we expected from MIA heading into the year which is good defense and some improved outside shooting is certainly what we’ve gotten thus far.

For CHA, I mean you may as well get used to games like this because this is your future. Terry Rozier leads the starters in FGA and has 18 points but outside of that there’s not much to write home about.

They didn’t score more than 23 points in any quarter until the fourth when this game was already decided, and I don’t mean to pick on them but it’s going to be a lonnnnnng year in CHA. You know its rough when Miles Bridges doesn’t even have a sweet dunk we can share.

New Orleans Pelicans (2-0) 127 vs Chicago Bulls (0-2) 125

This game was awesome and by far the best game of the night. Well maybe not for Bulls fans who saw an epic fourth quarter collapse but for a casual fan with no rooting interest it ruled. Obviously we had Zion who was pretty much perfect from the field and didn’t have to shoot from outside of 5ft

but don’t sleep on their other rookie Nickeil Alexander-Walker who played a HUGE role in their massive comeback

Just like we thought the Pelicans are proving to be very fun to watch even outside of Zion. Lonzo Ball is thriving in this Pelicans system, Jrue Holiday we knew was legit, and even guys like Okafor are looking better than they have in years. The defense is still an issue there’s no denying that, but this new era of Pelicans basketball is off to a great start. You almost have to watch every time they play because chances are you’re going to see some wild shit. The fact that they kept fighting and actually pulled off the comeback was huge as they try and build any sort of momentum/chemistry heading into the year.

For CHI, yeah not great. You never want to blow a giant lead like that at home, especially when for the most part you played pretty damn well offensively

I may sound crazy, but I think Zach LaVine can make an All Star team this year. He nearly made it last year and guys that got his votes (Wade, Lowry) probably aren’t going to do that again. Wade isn’t even in the league. If you factor that in and LaVine balls out like he has been ever since he arrived in CHI, I think he can get it done. If I were a Bulls fan I would focus more on that and not the 41-18 disaster that was the fourth quarter.

You have to like what you saw from Coby White, Otto Porter Jr looks like a guy that might actually be somewhat worth his massive extension, and then Baby Dirk did a little bit of everything. I do wish Wendell Carter Jr played last night because if he proves to be legit then the Bulls young core should not be overlooked.

Utah Jazz (1-1) 99 vs Milwaukee Bucks (2-0) 133

Yup. Giannis. That’s all you really need to know

For a team that many think can make the Finals, Giannis made the Jazz look like a JCC rec league team. That’s not news, he does it to virtually every team, and it’s just a reminder that as good as you think your favorite team may be, chances are they have nobody who is going to be able to stop Giannis. What that did was open up things for everyone else and against a really good defensive Jazz team (who were without Gobert) the Bucks shot a ridiculous 56% with 15 3PM. Never had a quarter below 32 points and had very balanced scoring. Basically, the Bucks are just as good as we thought and probably a little better.

For UTA, not great when your new point guard Mike Conley goes 0-6, your new SF in Bogdanovic goes 0-8 and you shoot 37/27% as a team with just three players in double figures. This thing got out of hand early and the Bucks never really took their foot off the gas which was a problem because the Jazz did not show up defensively. I guess this just sort of solidifies how important Gobert is on that end.

But hey, at least Tony Bradley balled out

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 another handful of games in fact some have already been played. Feel free to watch football tonight, I’ll catch you up tomorrow. Have a great Thursday!