Last Night In The NBA: The Blazers Reach A New Low, Drama In Milwaukee, RIP Aron Baynes And More
Good morning everybody happy Thursday 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. For most of you, today marks the first day back in the cubes in quite some time. I know what a traumatic experience that can be after being off for 10+ days, so allow me to help you ease back into then swing of things with some quality basketball highlights so you can keep ignoring whatever it is you have to do this morning. It's the least I could do really. Wednesday night gave us 4 games on the schedule, and while only one of them was actually close, it was still plenty eventful. We're at the point of the season where teams need to make the all important buy or sell decision with the trade deadline quickly approaching, and if maybe you were a little hung over and went to bed early last night and missed the action, here's what happened.
Orlando Magic (15-19) 122 vs Washington Wizards (10-23) 101
First and foremost, early reports are that Jonathan Isaac is going to be OK, and that he just has a hyperextended knee. Watching him go down was tough because the kid is having the best season of his career and is really scratching the surface of his insane potential. Knowing he didn't blow his knee out is a huge relief.
In terms of the actual game, these two kept things close for 3/4 of the way through before ORL got their shit together and pulled away in the fourth quarter. Despite their record the Magic currently hold onto the 8th seed in the East and trail BKN by just 2 games so a good week or so could see them move. It'll help if they get nights like last night from guys like Nikola Vucevic
a 20/12 performance from him isn't all that surprising though. If you want to be surprised, well then enter Markelle Fultz
Would you look who is developing into a legit starting point guard? Almost like maybe don't give up on a player when he's like 20 years old. Just an idea. A team high +20 in his 22 minutes, remember the Magic got Fultz for basically free. Sometimes a change of scenery is all you really need because this kid can play. He's not perfect, his shot isn't the best from three, but the progress he has made in ORL is something you love to see.
Oh, and there was that whole DJ Augustine thing where he went nuts and had 25 off the bench
For WSH, stop me if you've heard this before. All the starters stunk and couldn't reach double figures except for Bradley Beal.
he finished with 27, there were a couple bench guys who finished in double figures but they weren't efficient at all, and as a team the Wizards shot just 37/29% at home. We already know this team plays zero defense as evident by the three straight 30+ quarters they allowed, but for them to struggle like this on offense was weird considering WSH has one of the best offenses in the NBA. That makes no sense so don't ask me to explain it, just know that it's true. Clearly they were missing Bertans, because they couldn't buy a damn bucket.
Portland Trail Blazers (14-21) 92 vs New York Knicks (10-24) 117
The Blazers really can't get out of their own way huh. First they look dead, then they bring in Melo and somehow seem to find some life and turn their season around. Now they are losing by 20+ point to the KNICKS of all teams. Woof. I suppose that'll happen when Dame/CJ combine to go 11-36, you get pretty much zero bench scoring, and you defense forgets to come out of the locker room after halftime. But hey, at least Melo had the best night of his season coming back to MSG
that was probably cool for Knicks fans to see, well at least the ones that liked Melo. The bad news is this wasn't the type of game where one quarter got away from POR, they were outplayed all night. Sure they fell apart in the fourth quarter with only 16 points, but the Knicks dominated them for the entire 48 minutes. There's more bad news, they've lost 5 in a row, rumors are swirling that this is the final straw keeping this group together, things you just don't want to hear this time of year. At the same time they are just 1.5 games out of the 8th spot so I don't think we're going to see this team blow it up. They may not be able to reach the 7 seed, but the 8th seed is definitely in play. Now whether they should prefer to get swept by LAL instead of being in the lottery, that's for you to decide.
For NYK, well if they are looking to pull off some trades at least Julius Randle and Mook are helping their trade value
If you're someone who is willing to just completely ignore watching him play and instead prefer to just look at the box score Julius Randle has been killing it lately. Like around 30ish points a night.
If you want to look ahead as a Knicks fan, it's hard to not be excited about Mitchell Robinson. This dude is simply a beast
22 points on 11-11 shooting in 27 minutes, maybe it's time to start Robinson over someone like….Taj Gibson. This was a weird Knicks game where they shot the ball well at 48/39%, made 14 3PM and only turned it over 7 times. If you can believe it, maybe 2020 is about the Knicks looking like a competent basketball team!
Minnesota Timberwolves (12-21) 104 vs Milwaukee Bucks (31-5) 106
A ton of credit to MIN for actually hanging in a game being played in MIL. That's not something everyone does. To nearly win it? Even more impressive when you consider both Wiggins AND KAT didn't play. Who on earth predicts a 2 point game with that being the case? Nobody, so they deserve some credit for that. Guys like Shabazz Napier and the second unit stepped up and despite shooting like dick this team wouldn't go away
Now of course this game wasn't without some typical NBA drama, this time coming from Jarrett Culver and Robin Lopez
Look I'm sorry but Robin has to be better here. Culver wasn't even that disrespectful after putting Lopez on a poster, so to run after him like that all upset about it is a tough look. You don't want someone talking shit on you, don't let them dunk on your face. Pretty simple in my opinion. I didn't think Lopez was so sensitive but dude relax guys get dunked on all the time. You'll go viral for like 10 minutes while everyone tweets out the dunk and then it's over. This only make it more embarrassing for you.
For MIL, yup Giannis was his typical ridiculous self
but it wasn't your typical Bucks performance from the rest. No other player had more than 13 points, the bench had nobody in double figures and as a team they shot just 42/25% with 17 TOs. Some might say they were lucky to pull this one out and it's a little terrifying that Giannis sealed this win with a 27ft three. At the end of the day though good teams find a way to pull these type of off nights out, especially at home, and seeing as how MIL is 17-2 in that building this shouldn't really be a surprise. Always nice when you can play like shit and still win, and that's something that makes MIL so scary. Even on down nights they still find ways to win.
Phoenix Suns (13-21) 107 vs Los Angeles Lakers (27-7) 117
There are a lot of reasons to love Aron Baynes, and high on that list has to be his willingness to get dunked on. I mean this man has no fear whatsoever and will be there time and time again to challenge a dunk it doesn't matter if it's Giannis or in last night's case, AD
Which is why I would like to ask everyone for a moment of silence for Aron. He will be missed.
To be honest that sort of summed up the night for LAL, both AD and LeBron were monsters
and on most nights when those two combine for 57 points that's usually enough to beat a team like the Suns, but then they also got some good bench production from Kyle Kuzma
and that was pretty much it. A 43-17 lead after the first quarter, they did sort of stink in the second half with only 43 points which allowed the Suns to make this score look more respectable, but this was never really in jeopardy.
For PHX, to beat a team like the Lakers, you basically need your entire roster to play well on both ends for 48 minutes. The Suns got that from 3 players, so not quite the full roster
Where the rest of their roster was, nobody knows. It's a good sign when your three best players all play well against elite teams, but without the secondary scoring you just aren't going to win on the road against that sort of competition. It's even harder when you're down a billion before you can even blink.
Much like POR though, the Suns are technically still alive, just 2 games back of the 8 seed. Now with Ayton back, it wouldn't shock me if they go on a little run and find their way into that slot, it's not like any of the teams ahead of them are all that good either so why not. It's not as if they play the Lakers every game or anything.
And that's it! You are now caught up on everything that went down last night in the NBA. Hopefully that helped ease you back into cube life, I know what a bitch that is. Have a great Thursday!