Last Night In The NBA: Perhaps It's Time To Consider Relegation
Happy Friday everybody and welcome to another edition of Last Night In The NBA where we catch you up on everything that went down from the night before in the Association. With the NCAA tournament back and the matchups last night being mostly dogshit, I wouldn’t blame you if you decided to pass on a night of NBA basketball. Despite a couple blowouts there were some games that I would say qualified as quality entertainment, so allow me to tell you what happened
Grizzlies (19-53) 79 vs Hornets (32-41) 140
I know at times this blog can have typos in it. I start it ridiculously early in the morning and that shit happens sometimes. This however, is not one of those times. That’s a real score, from a real NBA game that consisted of “real” NBA players. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a 61 point beatdown, or at least I can’t remember it at this moment without Googling it. The Hornets double upping an opponent is impressive enough given they have their own issues and did this without Dwight Howard. I guess when you have Kemba Walker going insane during March you never know what might happen
46 points on 13-18 shooting (10-14 deep) this was one of those performances where you just want to sit back and enjoy the dominance. He couldn’t miss, and it wouldn’t have shocked me if he outscored MEM by himself when it was all said and done. As a team CHA finished with 53/47% splits,m 19 3PM, 27 FTA, and just 8 TOs. That’s how you double up an opponent folks. They got balance too, with five other guys finishing in double figures, including this dude Dwayne Bacon who not only had 15 off the bench but also has a pretty good name too
For MEM, that’s it. It’s a wrap for you. Time to take the best team in the G League and give them your spot. You bring shame not only upon your city and your fans, but the game of basketball as a whole. For that I can not let you slide. You need to feel the consequences of your actions.
I am digusted with you.
But shouts to Wayne Selden who had another 18 points off the bench. He’s been good
Sixers (41-30) 118 vs Magic (21-51) 98
Same story with the Sixers as their last game. Don’t let this score fool you, it was much worse than that throughout the game. The Sixers are smashing teams right now, find themselves in the 4 seed, and are feeling pretty good about themselves and for good measure. Nobody is showing the ability to stop their two best players, and last night was no exception.
I know ORL is a joke but let’s give PHI credit. They’ve now won 5 in a row, are 7-3 over their lats 10 and are just 1.0 games behind pathetic CLE for the 3rd spot in the East. Pretty legit rise for a team that spent the majority of the year stuck in that 6 seed. For PHI fans I think it’s OK to start dreaming of that top 3 seed because this is how you finish the season: MIN/DEN/NYK/ATL/CHA/BKN/DET/CLE/DAL/ATL/MIL
That’s not the hardest schedule these eyes have ever seen.
For ORL, hard to win when your best player only scores 10 points an no other starter reaches double figures. Even at home, that usually is going to come back to bite you. Also you can form your own conclusions as to what it means when someone named Rodney Purvis comes off your bench and has the best night of anyone
At least you’re 3rd in the lottery odds!
Pistons (32-40) 96 vs Rockets (58-14) 100 F/OT
Finally, some excitement. Credit the Pistons, they came out firing in that first quarter and didn’t let up, forcing HOU to actually try in order to pull this one. They were without CP3 so that obviously impacts things, but what makes HOU so good is Eric Gordon can just slide into that starting guard spot an drop 22/5 on you like it ain’t no thang
That was important because Harden was just 4-20 and 0-8 from deep in this game, which is probably why it was so close
If HOU is going to win on their bad days, where they shoot 35/23% and miss 10 FTs, well then they may never lose again. HOU has now won 7 in a row, is 9-1 over their last 10 and has a 4.5 game lead over GS. Safe to say they ran away with things and props to them for not shutting anyone down like some other NBA contenders are doing.
For DET, their bigs did everything they could to keep DET in it, both Blake and Drummond for the most part got whatever they wanted. A nice 21/10/10 for Blake and 17/20 from Drummond, at least those two showed up
What a disaster this franchise is right now, I hope Chauncey Billups knows what he’s getting himself into.
Lakers (31-40) 125 vs Pelicans (43-30) 128
As the night went on, the games definitely got more exciting and this matchup definitely qualifies. The Pelicans need every win they can get as they look to stay a top 4 seed in the West, plus this game us Rondo vs Isaiah which did not disappoint because they hate each other.
As is often the case when NO needs a big win, they turn to their unicorn to bring it home and once again Anthony Davis came through
To go along with this dominant performance, the Pelicans also got really strong guard play from Rondo and Holiday. I’m talking a combined 50 points and 16 assists, with just 3 TOs on 23-34 shooting
It took a big fourth quarter for them to pull it out, winning it 31-17, and this was one of those games where both teams decided defense could take the night off, so the Pelicans changing things up and actually playing defense in the last 12 minutes was a smart move. They’ve now won 4 in a row and are still tied with OKC for the 4 spot but own it due to a tiebreaker, and find themselves 2.0 games behind POR for the 3 seed. As you can imagine, things are going to be tense for the next few weeks.
For LAL, look they had great performances everywhere you looked. Chances were that if you started, you finished with at least 20 points
Then from the guard position Lonzo had one of the worst shooting performances I’ve ever seen but was still productive
And Isaiah had 15 off the bench on 50% shooting which was nice, but also had 6 TOs which I would deem not as nice.
The slim hopes the Lakers and their fans may have had of a playoff push are probably dead, they’re 9.5 games out, but that doesn’t mean their young guys aren’t showing a ton of promise. It’s sad that Magic is going to trade them all away in an attempt to bring in a big time FA only to settle on someone not nearly as good, so enjoy the young guys while you can.
Jazz (41-31) 119 vs Mavericks (22-50) 112
A very important win for the Jazz here. They’re fighting for their lives in the 7/8 seeds, but also still have an outside chance at a 6 seed or higher. Basically every game for them is sneaky a must win given how bunched everything is. That’s not a problem when you get this sort of performance from Donovan Mitchell
Throw in a nice 22 points from Ricky Rubio, and an 18/10- performance from Joe Ingles, and that’s how you avoid a bad loss on the road folks
All the sudden UTA is this offensive powerhouse and my brain doesn’t really know how to comprehend it. I’ve seen this team struggle to score 80 points, and now they’re scoring 110+ with ease. Crazy what can happen when guys come back and your chemistry is at an all time high. Mitchell is making his care for ROY, Rubio is playing fantastic, Gobert might be the DPOY, they’re deep. I’m hoping they can somehow get up to a 6 seed and avoid GS/HOU because I want to see this team keep playing.
For DAL, I mean at this point you’re just waiting for the season to be over, but they are trying! Here’s the proof
Fuckin JJ Barea man, guy is unstoppable.
Hawks (21-51) 90 vs Kings (24-49) 105
This game started with a little drama, as citizens of Sacramento were holding a protest outside of the arena in honor of the police shooting of Stephon Clark
Obviously this is a horrific and sad situation and personally I thought it was cool not only that the community spoke out, but that the team also wasn’t silent
In terms of the actual game, it doesn’t mean much for either side, but at least the Kings got to see some young talent play well
For ATL, they all suck, we know this, but Isaiah Taylor played well, leading his team with 18 points on 7-10 shooting
Congrats ATL, you now move up to 4th in the lottery standings!
And that’s it! You’re now all caught up on everything that happened last night in the NBA. We’re back at it tonight with 10 games including BOS/POR, LAC/IND, DEN/WSH, MIA/OKC< and UTA/SA. As always go live your life this Friday night and come back tomorrow and I’ll tell you all about it.