Last Night In The NBA: Put Some Damn Respect On The Suns, Giannis Continues To Dominate, Upsets Everywhere 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 was another busy night on the schedule with 6 games total, and for the most part it was a night of upsets which is always fun. Monday night was a great example of how deep this league is and that on any given night even if you're among the best in the league you can still get your ass beat. If you were watching football or something and missed the action that's OK, here's what happened.
Detroit Pistons (3-5) 99 vs Washington Wizards (2-4) 115
Since the theme of this blog is upsets, we may as well start with our first of the night. Even if you aren't truly sold yet on the Pistons as a potential Eastern conference playoff team, you'd think they have enough talent to beat the Wizards right? Wrong. You have to give it to WSH, they are playing a bunch of teams tough to start the year which is certainly a surprise. They pulled this win out even with newly named starter Isaiah Thomas only having 9/6 which means other people had to step up
This thing was close pretty much the whole way outside of the third quarter where the Wizards came out and dominated 30-17, but I'm more impressed with their defense than anything else. It wasn't like they won this game by making a ton of threes (8-29), instead they played great defensively in the second half giving up only 38 points and only turned the ball over 11 times. For a team that may not win a whole lot this season, that's definitely encouraging.
For DET, they're just trying to survive until Blake gets back and Drummond and Luke Kennard are certainly doing their thing
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and honestly they didn't even shoot that poorly with 41/48% splits and 13 3PM so it just goes to show you how different that second half was. It also doesn't help that they turned the ball over 19 times on the road but if you're looking for any sort of positive as a Pistons fan in what might be called a bad loss, at least young big Christian Wood did stuff off the bench so there's that
New Orleans Pelicans (1-6) 125 vs Brooklyn Nets (3-4) 135
I'll say this, although BKN continues to play absolutely no defense which is 100% going to be a problem, the one thing they showed in this game was the ability to not only punch back but to also have guys other than Kyrie Irving step up in big moments. The Pelicans went nuts and actually made this a 2-4 point game late in the fourth and the Nets never panicked, never took a bad shot. Instead it was guys like LeVert and Allen who came up absolutely huge. It always felt that BKN had an answer which is nice. Oh and Kyrie did had 39/9 which isn't exactly terrible either
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but seriously though that defense is an issue. The Nets are giving up the most points in the East, they just gave up 125 in regulation to a 1-6 team at home, that shit can't continue if this team wants to go anywhere. As we see year in and year out, the good defensive teams are the ones that go deep.
For NO, hell of an effort. Their third quarter was pretty ridiculous scoring 48 points in 12 minutes, that's not exactly something you see every day. And how about Brandon Ingram with the 40 spot, this is a guy that continues to make himself so much goddamn money this summer
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his former Laker buddies weren't too bad either combining for 30 points
and for a team that was down 17 at the half don't let the final score fool you, they were very close to stealing this game on the road which is all you can ask from such a young team. At the same time they couldn't get those big momentum stops when they needed them, and are now 0-4 on the road which isn't exactly great. Man I can't wait until Zion gets added to this group though, that's going to take them up a level for sure.
Houston Rockets (4-3) 107 vs Memphis Grizzlies (1-5) 100
That sound you hear is every Rockets fan exhaling big time. Boy were they fucking around for most of this game and frankly nearly lost it which would have been pathetic. We already have the Warriors who stink but they have an excuse, I know Westbrook didn't play in this game but the Rockets can't be losing to MEM no matter what so at least they avoided that disaster. Mainly because James Harden went nuts
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and on a night where he needed some secondary scoring help guys like Eric Gordon were there
as was Danuel House Jr
The Rockets still shot like shit, just 37/34% but they did make 17 3PM and they did show signs of life defensively so I guess you'll take it as a Rockets fan. It sounds crazy but given their conference they can't exactly risk falling too far behind even if we're only 7 games in. Beating teams like MEM is a must so good for them.
For MEM, last time I checked all that mattered this year was being competitive and seeing growth from your young talent. Well, this game was competitive and Ja Morant looked awesome
as did Dillon Brooks
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So you only shot 12% from three, who cares! You have to love the compete level and basically they lost because of one bad quarter where they scored 16 points. That shit happens to the best of em. If I'm a MEM fan I woke up happy this morning and that's all that matters.
Milwaukee Bucks (5-2) 134 vs Minnesota Timberwolves (4-2) 106
Classic example of what the Bucks can look like when they are firing on all cylinders. When their three main guys combine for like 70+ points they are tough as hell to beat
I guess Giannis is just going to average like 35/15 now which is cool and not at all terrifying, but when MIL shoots 53% and makes 14 3PM while also going to the line 30 times I mean what are you going to do? Praying is your only option and that shit never works. Add in some quality bench play
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and this looked a whole lot more like the Bucks team we saw last year which I dunno if you knew this won a shit ton of regular season games.
For MIN, without KAT they are pretty limited offensively and their 35/30% splits show it. Credit Andrew Wiggins, he did everything he could to carry the offensive load with 25
and Convington had his moments
but you need a whole lot more firepower to hang with MIL and the Bucks simply didn't have the guns. Defensively things were a disaster but that's nothing new, and getting jack shit from your second unit with guys like Layman going 1-7, Napier 4-12, Okogie 1-6, and Culver 3-11 I mean what did you expect.
But hey, 4-2 is way better than anyone thought so don't be too down MIN fans.
Philadelphis 76ers (5-1) 109 vs Phoenix Suns (5-2) 114
Unlike MIN, the Sixers have the talent to survive without Embiid. At least that's the impression I get from being told everyday how the Sixers have the most talented starting lineup in the East and perhaps the NBA. Well then explain to me how they can't even beat the Suns and Ben Simmons scored only 6 points? Rough look for someone who I'm told is a top 10 talent. Thankfully Al Horford and Tobias Harris showed a pulse
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and Furkan continues to be perhaps the best shooter on this team with 20
but what happened to that best in the NBA defense? Allowing 59 second half points and 53% shooting? What happened to all world defender Thybulle? Couldn't stop fouling and only played 5 minutes that's what. Almost no bench production which is a problem Sixers fans probably are still trying to ignore, and a game they lost after leading at the break. West Coast trips are tough though and maybe this was just the Basketball Gods way of getting even after granting them that prayer in POR.
For PHX, are you taking them seriously yet? Because you fucking should.
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it sounds crazy to some, but Aron Baynes has completely changed this team. He's tough as hell, his defense has been a godsend, and all he does is finish games +19 like he did last night. Obviously Devin Booker does most of the scoring, his 40 was no joke, but he's always done that and the Suns were always terrible. You bring in Baynes and suddenly you're beating 5-0 teams? Not an accident. All without Ayton too which makes this even more impressive.
They may have been a laughingstock for years, but it's time to give the Suns some real credit as a team that could fuck with the 9-10 seed.
Portland Trail Blazers (3-4) 118 vs Golden State Warriors (2-5) 127
I told you this blog was all about upsets and well this may have been the biggest of the night. Portland, what the hell are you doing? You lose a backbreaker to the Sixers I get it, that shit happens and they are a good team no big deal. But then you come back and immediately lose to these Warriors? Inexcusable.
Even with Dame and Whiteside looking fairly dominant
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and only turning it over 6 times which is a crazy low number they still couldn't pull this out. That's why defense is important folks and the Blazers played none of it. These are the losses you can't have if you want to be a contender in the West and giving up 60 points and then 67 points in the second half is so pathetic I can't even describe it any other way. The Blazers should be ashamed of themselves.
For GS, what a win! Paschall continues to ball his face off and is maybe the only positive to come from this season of hell for GS
this is arguably the worst team in the league now given their circumstances so I say let them enjoy this one night of positivity. Feelings like this will be few and far between for the team and their fans and while we all are enjoying their downfall this season, at least have a heart and give them this. Beating the Blazers at home is just the type of win that can help you forget your entire season ended 5 games into the year.
Well maybe not, but it's better than the alternative.
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 6 more games and as always you can check back here tomorrow for anything you missed. Have a great Tuesday!