Last Night In The NBA: Steph Curry Trolls, Jahlil Okafor Proves He Actually Has a Pulse, We Got Sneaky Asshole Rondo And Much More!

Good morning everybody and welcome 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 a relatively light night of hoops on Thursday with only 4 games on the schedule and despite some final scores that looked relatively close, it unfortunately was mostly a night of blowouts. The good news is since it’s Friday and I know for sure you don’t want to start your 9-5 bullshit yet, allow me to tell you all about it. If you didn’t get to see any of the action keep reading, because here’s what happened

Golden State Warriors (34-14) 126 vs Washington Wizards (20-27) 118

We all remember what happened the last the Steph Curry played these Wizards right? No? Well allow me to refresh your memory. Just a cool 51 points in 3 quarters

So with their final matchup of the season last night, you should have been on high alert. There are few things in this world Steph Curry loves more than completely humiliating you on the basketball court, and the Wizards given their current status were a prime candidate. This time around Curry was still lethal to the tune of 38 points, and he even had some disrespectful moments in front of the Wizards bench. His threes weren’t dropping like the first meeting, but he was every bit as unstoppable

If that’s not scary enough, GS took it up another level. How about a little 17/6/3 on 8-12 for Boogie?

You know he’s getting back to his old self because he even got a tech. That’s how you know he’s back

You tell me, how on earth are you supposed to beat this team when they shoot 56% from the field? This is with Klay Thompson having an off night at 4-13 too. Poor Kevin Durant was “quiet” with only 21 points, but he shot 50% from the floor

and we talk all the time about the Warriors starting five, but their bench is every bit as ridiculous. In this one the second unit combined to go 12-15, and not one second unit player missed more than 1 FGA. Fuck you GS you assholes. Start the game off with three straight 30+ quarters, two of which were 37, and again this is the WORST they are going to look as they start to get Boogie back into shape. What a disaster for everyone else in the league and I don’t care that the Wizards stink. They are going to do this to everyone (minus BOS on Saturday), which only confirms our deepest fears when we first learned Boogie was coming. This is now 9 in a row for GS and they are showing nbo signs of slowing down. God dammit.

For WSH, hey you hung in there! You actually made GS try in the fourth quarter which is not usually your calling card so congrats! A nice 45/36% splits with 15 3PM and only 10 TOs, you didn’t lay and egg and you should be proud of that. For the most part your starters hung with the Warriors behind Ariza and Satoransky

A nice 11-2 run got them back into it in the fourth and we even had this get down to a 2 point game before Curry came back in and helped GS pull back away. At this point the Wizards need to make a decision with the deadline coming up seeing as how they are 2.5 games out of 8th. Either add and try and make that final push into the top 8, or sell, tank as much as possible and prepare for the future. Right now they’re stuck in NBA purgatory and that’s a death sentence.

New Orleans Pelicans (22-27) 116 vs Oklahoma City Thunder (30-18) 122

This is one where you shouldn’t let the final score fool you. OKC had as much as a 23 point lead in this game and Westbrook messed around and threw up a triple double basically in a single half.

you sprinkle in a little 23/11/7 from PG13 combined with 20/13 from Steven Adams and 49/43% splits with 14 3PM and a 16-7 home record and you can see why OKC is making a push for that top 2 seed

The Thunder have now won 4 in a row which is the second longest active streak in the West and they also now own the 2nd best point differential in the conference. If I’m DEN I’m getting a little nervous. Now it is a little concerning that at home you gave up 116 to a AD-less Pelicans team, but I think a large part of that was them letting off the glass once they got such a big lead. This team still has the defensive talent to lock teams down when it has to.

For NO, the facts are that without AD this team stinks out loud. That’s even more true on the road where they are now a cool 7-20 and with their 2nd loss in a row they find themselves a full 4.5 games out of that final playoff spot. Things do not get any easier for them moving forward and AD isn’t quite back yet so I would expect more of the same unfortunately.

They did have some guys play well and did have 6 guys in double figures

and honestly the biggest takeaway I have form this recent stretch from them is that maybe Jahlil Okafor has a pulse? He’s been surprisingly decent filling in for AD and I don’t think anyone saw that coming. Sadly it says a lot about your team if you’re relying on Okafor at all, but give the kid credit he’s played well after it seemed like he was going to be out of the league.

Portland Trail Blazers (30-20) 120 vs Phoenix Suns (11-39) 106

If I’m a Blazers fan, I didn’t love how close this game was to start. Only a 4 point lead at the break, things weren’t exactly ideal and really only Dame/CJ showed up for the starting group

The good news is the bench was ready to close the deal largely in part because Jake Layman may be the best basketball player on the planet. He’s on a hell of a run recently and last night was no different

The Blazers have needed a player like him for what seems like forever, and this is his 3rd game of 18+ points in his last 5. Maybe he cna finally fill that wing role this team has never been able to find. That would be huge for a team trying to catch OKC and snag a top 3 seed.

For PHX, they didn’t have Ayton who was out with a sprained left ankle, they also didn’t have TJ Warren who was out with a sprained right ankle, so naturally that left Devin Booker in charge of pretty much everything

which is fun for us fans to watch but bad for the Suns if their goal was to win. Maybe it wasn’t considering they are in the thick of a tank race, because anytime you have to give extended burn to Dragan Bender, well that speaks for itself

The Suns have now lost 6 in a row and are 2-=8 over their last 10 and sit in the 3rd best lottery odds position. That’s perfect for them.

Minnesota Timberwolves (24-24) 120 vs Los Angeles Lakers (25-24) 105

OK one thing we now know for sure. The Lakers cannot stop KAT in any way shape or form with any current big on their roster. The man ate them alive

Did you know only two 7fters have 8 performances of 25/10/5 this season? KAT is one of them, I’d say that’s pretty impressive. The thing is, MIN didn’t even shoot all that well and still dropped 120! Just 43/30% splits and only 3 starters in double figures, that just goes to show you how fucking pathetic the Lakers are on the defensive end. To have that happen to you at home too? Brutal. This all came with the MIN starting backcourt going 5-21, there’s no excuse for getting run out of the gym like this if you’re the Lakers. Have some pride.

For LAL, cool Brandon Ingram played well with 20/6 on 8-14 shooting but the story of this game was the return of Rajon Rondo. While it makes my physically ill to see him play in the purple and gold, deep down in my heart I still love him and missed watching him play

We even got prime asshole Rondo which is my favorite as he continued his FT distraction method that he’s been doing his entire career

This is such a savvy next level veteran move I can’t even stand it. Sure it didn’t work but that’s not the point. Look how he timed it perfectly, he knew what he was doing and it’s what makes Rondo so awesome. You think he gave a shit that he got a tech? What I love is that he tried to play it off like he didn’t do anything almost like he forgot everybody could see him. Whether it’s shit like this, walking into an opposing team’s huddle, I love smart ass Rondo more than you love your own mother. I just wish he would go to a different team because as is my rule in life, fuck the Lakers.

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 10 more games but go ahead and enjoy your Friday night and just check back in the morning and I’ll fill you in on what you missed. Have a good Friday!