Last Night In The NBA: Somewhere, Magic Johnson Cried Himself To Sleep For Being A Complete Dummy

Good morning everybody happy Wednesday 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. With 6 games on the schedule we had a little bit of everything, from tight finishes, to massive comebacks to important playoff seeding results, things are getting pretty crazy as we approach the final 10ish games of the regular season. As always if you weren’t able to watch that’s OK just keep reading, here’s what happened.

Philadelphia 76ers (46-25) 118 vs Charlotte Hornets (31-39) 114

I don’t think it gets any more polar opposite than these two teams. On one hand you have the Hornets, who are one of the worst teams in the league in clutch situations, anytime a game is close you can pretty much take it to the tank that they’re going to lose. This season they’re 4-10 in 3 point games, and while this was a 4 point loss you get the idea as things were within 3 points for a majority of this game down the stretch. Then you have the Sixers, who are one of the better clutch teams in the league, they’re 9-7 in 3 point games which is the second most in the conference and third most in the entire NBA. Even playing without Embiid who was resting since they also play tonight against BOS, the Sixers got it done because the rest of their roster stepped up and carried the load. Ben Simmons was pretty damn ridiculous going 11-12 from the field, and from there everyone else followed his lead

However, the biggest play of the night really didn’t come from any of these guys, it was James Ennis III knocking down this dagger three to seal the deal

The Sixers have now won 5 in a row, swept their road trip and have a pretty good grip on the 3 seed. Depending on how the seeding shapes up that could actually be the harder path in the playoffs, but there’s no denying they are rolling right now.

For CHA, I mean this has to make you sick. Even if you’ve seen this movie a thousand times to blow a game like this at home is always tough. I guess that’s what happens when Kemba is your only starter in double figures. Jeremy Lamb certainly did all he could off the bench which a huge 26/11

but his game winning floater rimmed out and the next thing you knew the Hornets had blown their slim lead entering the final quarter and have now lost 4 of their last 5 which pretty much has killed their playoff chances. In the end, it just wasn’t meant to be because this team cannot stop themselves from puking on their shoes when games get close

Houston Rockets (45-26) 121 vs Atlanta Hawks (24-48) 105

Obviously given where these two teams are this season I can’t sit here and act like this result is a surprise. However, what did surprise me was with James Harden dropping a cool 30/10

He’s now dropped at least 30 on every single team the league has. That’s pretty cool and something I was not aware of. Doesn’t matter if you’re the Suns or the Warriors or the Bucks, you can’t stop James Harden from getting his 30. You add that to all the other ridiculous shit he’s done this year and I don’t know how you don’t give him the MVP, especially with the Rockets comfortably in the 3 seed. Now that they are healthy and guys are back we’re seeing the HOU team we expected, and that means Harden is getting his help from the two other crucial pieces to their puzzle

You may laugh, but Danuel House is a huge asset for this team. He’s cheap, he’s an athletic wing and he can shoot. Tell me that isn’t exactly what this team needed and it didn’t cost them dick to bring in? He certainly looks like one of those moves from Morey that will end up hitting a huge postseason three or something and we’ll all just bow down to Morey’s genius.

I’m just not sure what you can do when the Rockets shoot 51% and make 19 3PM. There’s no beating them when that happens I don’t care who you are.

For ATL, listen we’ve talked about it before, they may stink but they sure are feisty. Of all the tanking teams they are definitely entertaining at the very least, and part of that is because of how good their young talent is

Give them credit for at least somewhat hanging around in the first half, they did make 15 3PM which was nice, but you turn it over 19 times against a team like HOU and yeah they’re going to score a billion points and blow you out at home. That’s how it works.

The good news is they’re locked into the 5 spot tanking wise and have an outside chance at catching CHI, but they very well could have two top 7 lottery picks this summer which is pretty interesting when you consider what’s already there.

Los Angeles Lakers (31-40) 101 vs Milwaukee Bucks (53-16) 115

First off, a moment of silence for that poor bastard who dropped $7K in order to watch Giannis and LeBron only for them both to sit. My question is why on earth would anyone pay that much to see LeBron at this point in the season where he’s certainly not trying? Weird move. Even better was what happened with a former Laker, a player that Magic decided they didn’t need this season despite him turning into the EXACT player they currently need. Brook Lopez had the ultimate revenge game with his 28/9 and 5 3PM against his former team, and something tells me he had fun doing it.

now because it’s the Bucks, even without Giannis you know if they play well that means everybody eats and that was the case here

They were a little uncharacteristic in terms of turning the ball over, but when you’re scoring with such ease I’m not sure it really matters. To think they dropped 115 without two rotation players and then another two guys who did play but put up 0 points, it gives you an idea of just how scary the talent on this team is even outside of their Freak.

For LAL, I mean you go on the road and throw up 38/37% splits and turn it over 19 times and I’m not sure what you thought was going to happen. But hey, at least KCP dropped 35 off the bench!

With Doc Rivers coming out last night and killing the rumor that he may become the next Lakers coach, they just couldn’t stop catching Ls last night. They have risen all the way to 10th in the tanking standings and are just 1 game out of 8th, so if you’re looking for light at the end of the tunnel as a Lakers fan I guess it’s that you can get high enough for a decent pick even though this is an extremely top heavy draft.

Golden State Warriors (48-22) 117 vs Minnesota Timberwolves (32-39) 107

Much like the Rockets, I’m not sure what you’re supposed to do when the Warriors come out and nearly shoot 50% from the floor and make 19 3PM. When the Splash Brothers have it going like they did last night, all you can do is accept your fate because they get to a different level

No Boogie no problem, Durant had a relatively light workload which is big considering he’s working his way back from his sprained ankle. While expected, the win still gives GS the slight edge over DEN for the top spot in the West for the time being, and you saw why they are the best road team in the conference and perhaps the entire league last night.

For MIN, hey I give them credit for staying in this game as long as they did considering they couldn’t really shoot. Their starters played well outside of Tyus Jones, especially KAT who gave Bogut and really anyone who was matched up with him all sorts of problems

He’s going to make it really interesting with it comes to All NBA selections, because remember he has that clause in his contract that makes it a supermax if he makes one. But also don’t sleep on the rookie season that Josh Okogie has had for MIN. It may not get the publicity like Luka and Young do, but he’s been rock solid for them all season long

All they had to do was not lay an egg in that second quarter and maybe they pull off the upset, but on a night where they could have just mailed it in because GS was raining threes on them, they played hard and that should mean something.

Brooklyn Nets (37-36) 123 vs Sacramento Kings (34-36) 121

By far the craziest game of the entire night. You’ll notice a common theme here, as it was another former Laker and guy Magic Johnson gave up on that they 100% could use right now. D’Angelo Russell had the game of his life, with a career high 44 points, 27 in the fourth quarter leading the Nets to a ridiculous 28 point comeback

He took 1/3 of their shots and had 1/3 of their points and it was the type of performance that probably earned him max money this summer. Unless you’re the Boston Celtics you don’t see a team blow 28 point leads all that often, and given the fact that the Nets had lost 4 in a row and were sliding, this win was gigantic for a couple reasons. Most importantly it brings them to within 0.5 games of DET for the 6 seed which is big because I think everyone wants to avoid TOR for as long as possible. A potential matchup with PHI is much better for them, they’re 2-1 on the year and average 120+ points against the Sixers this season.

We’ve seen Russell get hot at times so far this season, but this was another level. Crazy to see the type of player he’s developed into because I don’t think anyone considered him a max guard to start the year, yet you know someone will cut the check this summer. Probably BKN.

For SAC, you can put a fork in their playoff hopes. Now 7 games back of the Clippers who are rolling, it’s pretty much a wrap for the Baby Kings. A very fun team and one with a bright future, but you can’t be scoring just 18 points at home in the fourth quarter while giving up 45. You get a 28 point lead at home you have to hold onto it. Not that a win would suddenly change their playoff outlook, but have some pride. They’re now 3-7 over their last 10 and don’t won their first round pick so some might call that NBA purgatory.

On a positive note their young talent showed out and should have you excited for their future as a Kings fan

Indiana Pacers (44-28) 109 vs Los Angeles Clippers (42-30) 115

Everyone outside of Pacers fans has been waiting for their eventual slide, and anyone who looked at the schedule and saw what a brutal stretch IND was about to go through had a feeling this is when it would finally happen. They’ve now lost 3 in a row and are 4-6 over their last 10 falling to just a 0.5 lead over BOS for the 4 seed, and things get no easier for them moving forward.

They shot the ball well sure, over 50%, but the 20 TOs were killer and were too much for even a 53 point bench performance to overcome. They got down early in the first quarter and never really recovered until late in the fourth where they made it a four point game, but by then the damage was already done. They could have secured a playoff spot with the win but that’ll obviously have to wait, and with GS/DEN/OKC/BOS up next, who knows when it’s coming.

For LAC, the win was huge because it helped them keep pace with a streaking UTA team who they are trying to catch for 7th, but things are so tight in the West that the 4-8 seeds are separated by just 2 games. Everyone outside of OKC seems to be on a winning streak so being able to take care of business against a good IND team at home is important for this stretch run. The second someone slips and has a bad loss, things could drastically change seeding wise.

What’s crazy is the Clippers are actually closer to the 1 seed than the 9 seed, which just goes to show you how impressive of a job Doc Rivers has done despite trading way his best player. No wonder he’d rather stay a Clipper than join that dumpster fire Lakers team.

And that’s it! You’re now all caught up on everything that happened last night in the NBA. We’re back tonight with 9 more games so as always if you can’t watch just check back in the morning and I’ll bring you up to speed.