Last Night In The NBA: Nikola Jokic Is A Basketball Wizard

Good morning everybody and welcome to another edition of Last Night In The NBA where we bring you on to speed on  everything that happened from the night before in the Association. It was another jam backed evening of hoops with 7 games on the schedule, and it certainly wasn’t without drama. With over half being decided by 3 points or less, no matter where you looked you were able to find a quality basketball game which at the end of the day is the only thing I want on a nightly basis. If you were busy or watched MNF or something and didn’t catch it all, keep reading. Here’s what happened.

Oklahoma City Thunder (15-7) 110 vs Detroit Pistons (13-8) 83

Remember that slow start to the season for the Thunder? Yeah me neither. As of today they are now in the 3 spot in the West just 0.5 games back of the top spot. They’re 8-2 over their last 10 and going into DET who is no push over themselves and putting on this type of performance is mighty impressive. They came out firing right from the jump with a 26-17 lead after th first quarter, and then a huge 37-19 third pretty much made this a blowout.

As a team OKC shot 50% from the field which tells you a lot considering they shot 7-25 from deep. Again, the Pistons are not a push over anymore, they had won 5 of their first 5 of a 6 game homestand, which happened to include a pretty good team in GS. A huge part of their success was how they treated Blake, consistently doubling him and daring anyone else to beat them, and they are now 4-0 when holding opponents to under 90 points.

For DET, tough to win shooting 33/18%, and outside of Blake and his 20/5/4 there wasn’t much else to write home about in this one

The Pistons have been playing well so there’s no need to panic, but a look at their upcoming schedule is a little scary. They have MIL/PHI/NO/PHI/CHA/BOS/MIL/MIN/CHA up next, and that is pretty brutal. Come out of that with a winning record and a lot more people will buy into this Pistons team I think.

Golden State Warriors (16-9) 128 vs Atlanta Hawks (5-19) 111

How often do you get to see Steph Curry vs Steph Curry? Pretty rare for sure, but the results were not all that surprising. The score says 17 points, but really it felt like a billion. The band is back together in GS and just as you would expect they look pretty much as unstoppable as ever, even if this was against the Hawks

58/54% splits, 13 3PM, and 120+ points sounds about right. Not too often do you see a team turn it over 20 times like the Warriors did and still blow a team out like this, but again, Hawks. Warriors now move to 5-7 on the road this year and have CLE up next so my guess is things won’t really change. It’s the MIL/MIN/TOR after that is much more interesting.

For ATL, yeah I mean nobody though you had a chance, so forget the win. How did the young guys look? Not bad!

At the end of the day that’s all that matters right? Jeremy Lin even was serviceable off the bench with 14/5/5 on 5-9 shooting

We learned that Trae Young isn’t quite Steph Curry, but that won’t stop people from making that comparison. I also thought this was pretty funny

Who the HELL thinks the Hawks resemble the Warriors??? People are losing their goddamn minds

Cleveland Cavaliers (5-18) 99 vs Brooklyn Nets (8-17) 97

If I’m a Cavs fan I am pretty upset they are winning games like this. Totally not part of the plan and you’d hate to see it cost them in a few months. On the plus side, that Kyle Korver trade is already paying dividends!

It must have been confusing for Cavs fans to be happy Alec Burks made the game winning dunk, but also mad because winning is not what they are supposed to be doing. That is quite the pickle. This thing was close the whole way and while the Cavs may gave struggled to shoot the ball, they did a great job taking care of it with just 9 TOs. This win brought them to 2-10 on the road this season, and thankfully with GS up next things will get back on track

For BKN, with LeVert out, D’Angelo Russell has stepped up his play and last night was no different

Spencer Dinwiddie was also solid with 18 points including some clutch plays late, but it was him to was lined up against Burks at the end for the final clear out play. The Nets have now lost 7 in a row and 9 of 11 overall, and that kids is how you get back into the tanking game.

Washington Wizards (10-14) 110 vs New York Knicks (8-17) 107

Have to imagine this result made both fanbases happy. The Wizards get themselves a much needed win and the Knicks get themselves a much needed loss. Love when a good plan comes together. As usual the Wizards were led by Wall/Beal who combined for 45 points

but surprisingly they also had a great night from their second unit. Guys like Kelly Oubre Jr had 21 points on 8-11 shooting

and then Markieff Morris also chipped in with 18 points on 7-13 shooting. Sure every other bench player missed every shot they took, but that was more than enough to help the starting unit out. Sometimes you just need to get to a soft spot in your schedule, so after losing to NO/TOR, the Wizards have now won two in a row against BKN/NYK and they have ATL on deck. Do I smell a little run maybe?

For NYK, this is what you want. Good performances all around, but not too good that you can’t find a way to blow it at the end. Well done Knicks, you seem to have done this a few times before.

Denver Nuggets (16-7) 106 vs Toronto Raptors (20-5) 103

In my opinion, this was the game of the night. Two really good teams doing battle in a game that was huge for DEN. This is a team that as it stands right now is atop the West, they’ve won 6 in a row and are 7-3 over their last 10. That tells us that their hot start was no fluke. They also have the highest point differential in the West, so yeah, it’s time to put some respect on their name. It’s also important that we talk about Nikola Jokic, because the man is a legit wizard

I think by now enough people know about Jokic where I wouldn’t say he’s underrated, but last night was a great example of how he can dominate almost every facet of the game. He’s an all time passer, great rebounder, and when he is actually aggressive and not afraid to shoot, the dude can score. But as we know, to beat a team like TOR in their own building where they almost never lose, you need help, and that’s what Jamal Murray gave him

The back and forth at the end of this game between Jokic and Kawhi was must see stuff, and we even got a little bit of drama. See for yourself

I can understand why some Raptors fans may be a little upset over this. You would be too if this happened to your favorite team. It also sucks that Gary Harris got hurt with a hip injury, hopefully he isn’t out too long.

For TOR, they are now 7-5 against teams over .500, which isn’t something you can totally ignore. They beat up on the bad teams (13-0) sure, but they’ve been about as good as any other team in the East against the quality teams. At the end of the day though a loss to a Western Conference team is no big deal, and they are still very much a wagon who are playing the best basketball in the East, so I would shrug this off

They play PHI/MIL this week and those are much more important matchups. Even down a good amount throughout this game, it never felt like TOR was out of it, and as expected they made their fourth quarter run. I could have sworn they were going to pull it out after that late Kawhi jumper because they always seem to, but I’ll take it.

Houston Rockets (11-12) 91 vs Minnesota Timberwolves (12-12) 103

Yup, the Rockets are still broken

Chris Paul was back and it didn’t make all that much of a difference. Not the best look to be blowing a 14 point lead because you lost the third quarter 38-20, and then scored only NINE points in the final frame. The Rockets scored 29 points in a half, think about that. If that’s not the sign of a broken team than I don’t know what is. Turning the ball over 20 times, going 11-39 from deep, just an overall disaster.

For MIN, great win! Way to claw back and stay in it. They were almost the exact opposite as HOU with 44/50% splits, and five players in double figures

They are now 10-4 at home and just 0.5 games out of the final playoff spot. I guess they don’t need Jimmy Butler to win after all!

Los Angeles Clippers (16-7) 129 vs New Orleans Pelicans (12-13) 126

The last game of the night sure was awesome, which is why you should never, ever go to sleep until the final buzzer sounds. The Clippers came out firing, and got great performances from pretty much everyone

including 20 points from Lou Williams off the bench, and you guessed it, the game winner

It’s true, the man is a certified bucket getter.

For NO, they matched the Clippers punch for punch

and usually you get that type of production from their main guys, they walk away with a win. But what do we see with this Pelicans team over and over again, defense matters. all this offense is great but does nothing if you can’t ever get a stop. NO is now 9-3 at home, and a full game outside of the final playoff spot while they’ve gone 4-6 over their last 10. Such a weird team that should probably be better than it is.

And that’s it! You’re now all caught up on everything that went down last night in the NBA. We’re back tonight with 5 game s but the matchups are “meh” at best so don’t feel the need to watch, just come back in the morning and I’ll fill you in on what you missed.