Last Night In The NBA: Well That's More Like It

What’s up everybody happy Saturday and welcome to another edition of Last Night In The NBA where we bring you up to speed on everything that happened last night in the Association. It was a pretty full slate on Friday night with 8 total games, and I think it’s fair to say that things are starting to get back to normal. Teams that were dogshit are starting to figure it out, and sadly there was really only one close game on the schedule. but that doesn’t mean there weren’t  great performances, so if you’re hung over as shit and are just looking for something to get you through until the football starts, well then keep reading because here’s what you missed

Los Angeles Clippers (5-4) 120 vs Orlando Magic (2-6) 95

On paper, this is about what you expected when you saw this game on the schedule. The Clippers are a fairly deep team with good talent who show up every night, and the Magic are well….the Magic. Nothing you can really do when the Clips come out and shoot 47.7/50%, make 13 3PM and only turn the ball over 113 times. After things were tied in the first quarter, they woke up and had three straight 30+ quarters.

It has to be nice to have someone like Lou Williams off your bench where you know the second you put him in he can go for 28 without breaking a sweat. Just a natural born bucket getter. But the story of this game was not the strong play of these two, but rather the fact that Boban not only started, he DOMINATED!!

I know you can only play him and short spurts because given the fact he’s a gigantic human* he doesn’t have the best conditioning. It’ll just never not be awesome to see him on the floor and beasting people all without jumping. Love me some Boban.

For ORL, tough break that it looks like Jonathan Isaac hurt his ankle, and Aaron Gordon was essentially a non factor, but at least Vucevic showed up!

The Magic are now 1-4 at home and lost four in a row, three of which came in their own building. If you go back further they’ve lost 6 of their last 7. About what we expected no?

Houston Rockets (2-5) 119 vs Brooklyn Nets (3-6) 111

The Rockets were due to get back to normal sooner or later right? Last night may have been the first step in that direction, even if they did it without Harden in the lineup. I’m sure they didn’t expect BKN to put up such a fight, but we finally got a great game out of CP3 and that really helped set the tone

This was much more like what we are used to, with the Rockets finishing with 49/38% splits, 15 3PM and 32 FTA while turning it over just 9 times. That’s their recipe for success and it also helps when Melo actually turns back the clock and shows he can actually be an asset on the floor

Rockets fans saw this and immediately were like  “See!!!! We told you he was going to be a perfect fit!! Ignore our 2-5 record!! Look at those threes!!” I say let them have this moment because their season has been horrific thus far. This was a night when all the Rockets were firing on all cylinders, and it was a reminder of what this team CAN be when they get their shit together

For BKN, I feel like this player is having a breakout year, and it was a career night for Caris LaVert who had 27 points in his 30 minutes on 10-17 shooting

not many people even know who the fuck this is, and that’s too bad because he’s having a great season. The good news is, if the Nets keep playing like this, they are going to beat a lot of the teams in this league. Dropping 111 points and ending with 49/44% with 15 3PM is pretty hard to beat, they just ran into a team that could match that. There aren’t a lot of those out there so if I was a Nets fan I wouldn’t be all that mad about this loss. They continue to show they are going to be a tough out no matter who they play, and that’s part of the rebuilding process.

Oklahoma City Thunder (4-4) 134 vs Washington Wizards (1-7) 111

Speaking of getting their shit together, don’t look now but the Thunder have won 4 in a row. Granted it’s been against mostly poop teams, but hey they needed wins and they’ve snagged them. It helps when Russell does stuff like this

and he gets a great deal of help from Jerami Grant who had probably his best game of the entire season

I know it was the Wizards, but this OKC offense was buzzing, finishing with 57/47% splits and 15 3PM. Look at that shooting! They had 79 points….AL THE HALF. This was one of those nights they didn’t have to worry about Westbrook running out of gas in the fourth quarter, and finally OKC fans saw the team I think they all expected when the season started. I feel like there were people out there ready to write OKC off, and I’m not so sure that’s a good idea.

For WSH, blow it up. Blow it the fuck up and start over. Maybe you thought things would be different with Dwight making his debut last night, but guess what, it wasn’t.

Once again, Wall/Beal were great, combining for 48 poitns on 18-29 shooting, and it still didn’t matter

This team is broken, there’s no other way to say it. They are tuning out their coach

They refuse to play defense, everything about this team right now is cancerous. I don’t know who is going to take the Beal/Wall/Porter jr contracts on, but it’s time to make some phone calls. It would not shock me if Scott Brooks doesn’t make it past the weekend,

Indiana Pacers (6-3) 107 vs Chicago Bulls (2-7)

Finally, a close game! Seems like the Bulls are either getting blown out by 100, or playing teams close down to the final possession, there’s no in between with them and frankly I don’t hate it. I just want entertaining basketball and that’s what this game gave us. The Bulls came out firing with 37 points in the first quarter, and sure they immediately gave up 38 points in the second quarter to blow their 15 point lead, but whatever don’t be so mean about it. From there it was a dogfight largely because Zach LaVine did his thing and  Antonio Blakeney came out of nowhere to drop 22 off the CHI bench

The Bulls even made one final push in the fourth quarter, but a Darren Collison late  jumper ultimately was the difference. As I keep saying, if I’m a Bulls fan, I have no problem with this type of game. Wendell Carter Jr looked awesome with his 11/8/6, and outside of Cameron Payne almost everyone played well. That’s what matters more than a silly win.

For IND, now 4-2 away from home that’s pretty impressive considering they only have 6 wins. They can thank the play of Victor Oladipo who had 25/14/5

and this came saving block from Myles Turner as the reason they were able to avoid disaster in this game

They have the Celtics up next, and this is a team that has won 4 of their last 5, so they are playing some decent basketball at the moment. That should be a great game.

New York Knicks (3-6) 118 vs Dallas Mavericks (2-7) 106

Those feisty Knicks man. I would have thought DAL was going to take this game given the talent difference and the fact that they were at home, but the Knicks are playing hard right now and it’s showing. It also helps that Tim Hardaway Jr is on some sort of tear right now

and undrafted Rookie Alonzo Trier is showing he may be one one the best steals of this entire “draft” class

You add that with what Mitchell Robinson  did and suddenly the Knicks are good at drafting/finding undrafted guys? What planet is this?

For DAL, their record has me feeling weird because in my opinion they should be better. This team has talent, and for whatever reason they haven’t put it together just yet

Luka has proven that he’s the real fucking deal, and seeing as how I’m not a Mavs fan all I care about is that they make this shit entertaining, and I don’t know how you could watch Luka play and not come away with that feeling. The problem was the 18 TOs, Harrison Barnes going 4-14 and Wes Matthews 2-6, and then that whole playing defense thing. That’s important too.

Memphis Grizzlies (5-2) 110 vs Utah Jazz (4-4) 100

Wait, are the Grizzlies good again? I mean going and winning in UTA is no joke, and their record sure suggests it. I guess this is what they look like when they have a healthy Mike Conley because oh yeah, he’s pretty damn good

Ending the night with 50/50% splits, just 11 TOs and keeping their opponent to 100 points, this was about as classic a grit and grind Grizzlies performance as it gets. And sure Gasol helped out with 17/10/7 on 6-12 shooting, they got 19 off the bench from Shelvin Mack, but the story has to be the strong play of Conley who finally looks like himself after that heel injury last year.

For UTA, they’re now 0-3 at home. Who saw that coming? Now it should be stated they did not have Donovan Mitchell in this game, but even still this is a tough one to stomach. Honestly they played well, had four players in double figures, three of which had at least 18 points, they got a great night out of Rubio

but that league best defense that we expect from them just wasn’t there. In watching this game you could tell they were one player short, so missing Mitchell obviously hurt them. Also doesn’t help when Dante Exum only goes 1-6.

Toronto Raptors (8-1) 107 vs Phoenix Suns (1-7) 98

Ok cool, Raptors are either going to play at home or play the dogshit of the NBA. Cool.

For PHX, hey at least your young guns looked great! Devin Booker back in the lineup after missing th last three games and he got right back to his scoring ways

and then you had to like DeAndre Ayton putting up a massive 17/18 against this front line of TOR, it’s clear he is having no problem whatsoever at this level

But we can be honest here. Nobody expected the Suns to win this game and frankly it’s impressive they only lost by 9. That 29-19 third quarter was the difference, and that’s pretty standard for TOR.

Minnesota Timberwolves (4-5) 99 vs Golden State Warriors (9-1) 116

Oh look Jimmy Butler is healed! Hooray! And just like something a totally healthy person does, he came out and was pretty darn good

Same goes for Wiggins, who you would think turtled in this matchup because he has no spine, but he played well!

Outside of that? Pretty bad. The Wolves finished with 37/28% splits, and guess what you can’t do on the road against GS? Miss all your shots. That never works out well for anyone, and that’s why they got run out of the goddamn gym. A little 33-12 fourth quarter will do that to ya.

For GS, whatever, they’re unreal. Just watch the highlights

Watching them toy with MIN was just mean. Some Harlem Globetrotters type shit. Even though we always know it’s coming with every game they play, it still impresses me every time I watch this team play. We hate them because we want our favorite teams to play like them, whether you want to admit that or not, it’s the truth.

But yeah, fuck the Warriors,

And that’s it! Hopefully this helped your hangover a little bit this morning, and we’re right back at it today with 8 more games. Go ahead and enjoy the big day of college football, just make sure to check back in the morning and I’ll catch you up on everything you missed.