Last Night In The NBA: Get Well Soon Boogie
Happy Saturday everybody, hope you aren’t too hung over and welcome to Last Night In The NBA where we catch you up on everything that went down on a very busy Friday night in the Association. There were 10 games last night, so if you are hungover, get comfortable on the couch, or the toilet, and allow me to kill a little of your day. Here’s what happened
Hornets (20-27) 121 vs Hawks (14-24) 110
The Hornets may want to rethink the whole “maybe we should trade Kemba” thing. He led the team with 29 points on 10-22 shooting, made 5 threes, and had a huge fourth quarter to help secure the win.
Sure it may be a lost season for the Hornets, but Kemba is still fun as hell to watch, especially when he gets it going like he did in this game. The good news is he wasn’t alone. This win over ATL was one of the more balanced CHA wins in a while, with all the starters basically playing well. Dwight was a beast with 18/15 and 7 blocks while also going 10-14 from the line which was a surprise, Kidd-Gilchrist poured in 19,
Batum had 19 too
and even though Marvin Williams just had 11, he did made this huge dagger three as part of a nice 12-0 run to finish this game off.
It makes you wonder how this team would look if they weren’t killed with injuries early, because Kemba has bene just as good as last year where he was an All Star player, and Dwight really has turned things around after it looked like it may be curtains for him after his ATL debacle.
For ATL, really the only thing to mention is the play of Kent Bazemore who was great, especially in the second half, with 26 points on 9-16 shooting including 4 made threes
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Then you also had Taurean Prince who had 21, which is the most he’s scored in a game since 12/29
And wait…John Collins can shoot threes?
Jazz (21-28) 97 vs Raptors (32-15) 93
Well this is a surprise. A full health Raptors team loses at home to the Jazz? You better believe it, and if you’re a Jazz fan you can thank Donovan Mitchell because ooooohhhh boy was he great
He finished with 26 points on 9-20 including 4 made threes, and was a team best +11. It’s been 14 years, but can we agree that we MAY have a draft class that could end up being as good as the 2003 class? Insane how good some of these rookies are this quickly.
When you look at UTA their record is a bit deceiving in my opinion. Not having Rudy Gobert for long stretches really matters, and now that he’s back it’s no surprise they are playing much better and are able to beat these type of teams. He was solid last night with 18/15/3/2 in his 31 minutes
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And like most things when talking about UTA and Gobert, the Jazz pulled this off with their defense. TOR never had a quarter over 24 points, and they shot just 38/29%. The Jazz have now won 3 of their last 4 which is good, and their reward is the Warriors are on deck. Sorry!
For TOR, it’s not rocket science. When Kyle Lowry shoots 2-14 and scores just 5 points, and then DeRozan shoots just 7-22 for 19 points, they probably won’t win. A real shame too because Valanciunas was dominant, with an impressive 28/14 on 12-16 shooting
This marked just the 4th time all year the Raptors have lost at home (17-4), and after losing just 3 times in their easy December, the Raptors have 5 losses this month with LAL and MIN on deck. February doesn’t open up any easier with games against WSH/POR/BOS. If the Raptors want to take over the top spot in the East, they’re going to have to earn it.
Cavaliers (28-19) 115 vs Pacers (26-23) 108
Looks like the Cavs took 48 minutes away from hating each other to finally win a basketball game. Very proud of them. Pretty rare night for Lebron, who had the elusive quadruple double with 26 points 10 rebounds 11 assists and 11 turnovers
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Cavs fans were also pretty relieved to finally see JR Smith play with any sort of pulse, he got things started early in that fourth quarter making a bunch of threes and finished with 23 points and 7 made threes
What’s crazy is JR only had 9 made threes this entire MONTH prior to this game. Safe to say this was by far his best shooting performance of the season.
This win wasn’t without drama though because with CLE how could it not be. After scoring 73 points in the first half, they scored just 42 in the second including 18 in the final quarter. Isaiah was really the only starter that struggled, he had 12/5 with 5 TOs on 5-13 shooting, but it’s encouraging he was able to play 29 minutes. He clearly still has a long way to go though before he looks completely right.
I don’t know if he’s having a good enough season to win Most Improved Player, but this Jeff Green season feels like the best I’ve seen him play in years. Him and DRose going for 25 off the bench was huge.
For IND, hard to stop a Lebron team when they shoot 56%, but that’s not to say the Pacers didn’t have some solid performances themselves. For example Oladipo went for 25/6/7 on 9-19, Collison a solid 19/7 with 6 steals, and Sabonis chipped in a double double of his own with 17/11
IND now finds themselves in a three way tie with MIL and PHI for seeds 6-8, and just 0.5 games behind WSH for 5th and just 3 back of CLE for 3rd. As you can see, the second half in the East is going to be wild.
Clippers (24-24) 109 vs Grizzlies (17-31) 100
At this point, all we can do is watch in awe of Lou Williams
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But this dude isn’t an All Star. Lol OK.
It’s not a real surprise the Clippers were able to pull this out, you know given the fact that MEM fucking sucks, but with relatively quiet nights from Jordan and Blake, it was Lou and Milos The Passing God who stepped up
Still 1 game back of the 8 spot, the Clippers need any win they can get. Obviously with the Boogie news they are the most likely candidate to take over one of those lower seeds in the West, which means we don’t have to completely shut the door on a potential HOU/LAC playoff series.
For MEM, Gasol did his thing, messed around and got a triple double
Jarell Martin had one of his best performances of the season with 17/6 on 8-11 shooting in just 23 minutes
and if you can believe it even Mario Chalmers was impressive with 17/10 of his own
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The Grizzlies played some unselfish basketball with 31 assists on 39 baskets, and these are all things that tend to lead to wins, but when someone is dropping 40 on your head, you can throw that out the window.
Lakers (19-29) 108 vs Bulls (18-31)
The fucking Lakers will not stop winning. This now makes 4 in a row, and the Celts can probably kiss that Lakers pick goodbye. For shame. Even without Lonzo it hasn’t seemed to matter, and in this game it was Brandon Ingram that looked fantastic with 25/9/5 on 10-18 shooting
Believe it or not, the Lakers won this game with defense, holding CHI to just 48 second half points including a 15 point third quarter. It ended up being a quiet night for Kuzma on the court, but he more than made up for it postgame
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Crazy how this team looks without all the Ball drama surrounding them isn’t it?
For CHI, sure hurts when you shoot 37% for the game and don’t have any starters finish with more than 11 points. Baby Dirk did have 11/11, but he shot 3-10. LaVine not much better at 3-17. Their scoring came from their second unit, where Mirotic (18), Portis (16), and Valentine (16/11/4) did work
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Also not for nothing, but I really liked those Bulls jerseys.
Bucks (25-22) 116 vs Nets (18-31) 91
New coach, same Giannis. Christ is he incredible
Finally back in the lineup after missing the last two, it doesn’t appear there is any rust with Giannis.
The Nets have been playing teams tough as of late, so to blow them out like this was impressive. I suppose that’s what happens when you have 51/52% splits and turn it over just 9 times, while also getting help from Middleton who had 21 on 9-14 shooting.
As I said, MIL is right in the thick of it, so the more wins the better for their playoff seeding aspirations. In addition to the win, there is a bit of a tradition forming after Bucks games with Giannis and the Greek community, and it’s cool every time
For BKN, hard to win when you can’t score. And it’s hard to score if you can’t shoot, which BKN could not do last night to the tune of 37/23.5% splits. I find it wild that STILL Okafor can’t really see the floor. He hasn’t played more than 13 minutes since 1/10, and hasn’t scored more than 4 points since the 12th. What did they trade him for if they aren’t going to use him? Makes no sense to me.
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I dunno what it says when Jarrett Allen gets the call and turns in 12/6 in his 20 minutes
Pelicans (27-21) 115 vs Rockets (34-13) 113
This should have been one of the best wins of the season. Instead, disaster. We all know by now Boogie tore his achilles and will be out for quite a while. An injury that took guys like Wes Matthews about 3 full years to truly look like himself again, I really really really really really hope that isn’t the case with Boogie. Even crazier was before he got hurt he already had a 15/13/11 triple double in 30 minutes
This just sucks so much. But despite losing Boogie the Pelicans still had a game to win, one that they really needed given how tight things are in the West. Luckily for them, AD was up to the challenge with his 27/11/5 with 5 blocks
as was Darius Miller who had 20 off the bench with every FG he made coming from behind the arc and Jrue Holiday who had 21 /5/7 as well
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Who knows what this means for the Pelican’s future. There are reports out there that they are still going to be buyers at the deadline, but I don’t know how anyone could like them in a playoff series without Boogie based on who they’d end up playing. The popular narrative will be maybe now AD will become more available, and if there’s one thing the internet needs more of it’s Anthony Davis availability rumors.
The whole thing blows, and let’s just hope Boogie is back to 100% soon.
For HOU, not often they lose a game in which Harden/CP3/Gordon combine for 88 points.
This loss snapped what was a four game winning streak, and a 7 win in 8 tries run for HOU. They’re pretty locked into the 2nd spot in the West, being 4 games behind GS, but also having a 4 game lead over SA. Safe to say this is probably where they end up.
Also shouts to Harden for becoming the second all time assist leader in Rockets history passing Allen Leavell.
Trail Blazers (27-22) 107 vs Mavericks (16-33) 93
Per usual, it was get the ball to Dame/CJ and get the hell out of the way. The pair combined for 49 of the 107, and were pretty unstoppable
but that’s not the real surprise. We all know those two are filthy. The surprise came from Ed Davis, who came off the bench and out of nowhere dropped a 15/13 performance
A big win for POR despite the opponent, because like every team in their division they are battling for playoff positioning. Seeds 6-8 in the West are all on a winning streak, as are seeds 9-11. This is insanity.
For DAL, by now you know the rules. Watch them for Dennis Smith Jr, because you won’t be disappointed
Sixers (24-21) 97 vs Spurs (32-19) 78
Jesus. Don’t look now but PHI is currently the 6th seed only 0.5 back of 5 and 1.5 back of the 4th seed. See what a 2 game winning streak can do? It started with Embiid and his 18/13
and you pair that with a 21/5/7 from Simmons on 10-11(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) shooting, and the Sixers become really tough to beat. Also, whatever slump Simmons was in during January, is officially over. After 19/17/14 in his previous game., he’s playing some great basketball right now
PHI fans also are pretty pumped that this happened on the road where the Spurs are ridiculous, and the fact that they didn’t blow a huge lead! I mean SA only scored 31 points in the first half, and had three quarters under 20 points. Maybe an off night, but maybe the Sixers are starting to play better defense as we get into the second half. Give them credit.
For SA, gross.
Knicks (22-28) 107 vs Suns (17-32) 85
By now you’re probably tired of reading, so just watch
Now who really cares about the basketball part. The story of the night for the Knicks was Enes Kanter BODIED Jared Dudley after
I’ll say this, I respect Kanter giving no fucks and talking all the shit on Twitter. Who cares the caliber of player, nobody is safe. From Lebron to…..Jared Dudley? Whatever! This is why the NBA is the best and why Twitter rules the world.
For PHX, eh, Josh Jackson played well
And that’s it! Hopefully now that you’re all caught up on everything that happened last night in the NBA you’re a little less hung over. We’re right back at it tonight, with 7 more games. Some good ones too, like BOS/GS, OKC/DET, and BKN/MIN. As always, you can come back here tomorrow to see anything you may have missed.
Have a great Saturday!