01-08-20 NBA Blog Train Wednesday
Nine games on a wonderful Wednesday night, but first, we have to lead off with a Woj bomb.
Slugs, not thugs! Listen, John, slugs ain’t much better. The John Beilein NBA Experience was short lived — we have a dead man walking.
Now back to your regularly scheduled programming:
Wizards at Magic -9.5 Under 218.5
We have officially had enough of the Magic’s city edition jerseys. Once or twice, okay fine. But that’s it. We’re done.
“I’m a Magic.”
Magic 123, Wizards 89.
The Magic swept the season series with the Wiz 4-0.
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Heat +1.5 at Pacers OVER 210
Our new favorite highlight of the 2019-2020 NBA Season. “This is my shit. This is my shit! THIS IS MY SHIT!!!” is always our favorite.
Jimmy Butler is the best.
Heat 122, Pacers 108.
Jimmy Butler is the best!
The rematch is Friday, March 20th. Circle your calendar now, cause Jimmy Butler already has. (Several times.)
11.2k Likes, 1,133 Comments - Jimmy Butler (@jimmybutler) on Instagram: "@t.warren1 don't be mad you can't guard me. we will see what you about in March."
Jimmy Butler really is the best.
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Spurs +7 at Celtics OVER 220.5
The Spurs snagged a HUGE lead early. It was 22 to 3. We had to ask Coach if he took his Celtics. He said that he did not. Whew.
Spurs 129, Celtics 114.
It took nine years, but Kemba finally earned the first ejection of his career.
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Raptors at Hornets +2.5 Over 207
Monk power dunk! Where does this fall on the power dunk scale? We are thinking in the 2.5 to 2.8 range. (Out of 5). Still working out the kinks to the system, but we are going to start talking these out.
He put his own man on a poster!
Eric Collins with the call of the night:
“Everything’s better with Bacon!!!”
Raptors 112, Hornets 110. OT
Devonte’ missed the potential game-winning buzzer beating floater at the end of regulation. And then Rozier missed the potential game-winning buzzer beating three at the end of OT. But our beloved Hornets still covered!
Gerald Henderson was living through an episode of “WHO HE!?” tonight, saying during the Hornets halftime show that the Raptors had a bunch of guys that he had never seen play basketball before.
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Rockets at Hawks +8 Push 237
The Hawks got off to a “spirited start” that we knew was fools gold. Harden owns the Hawks. But props to the Hawks for fighting back and covering the spread. No props to the Hawks announcers who at one point were complaining about the Rockets complaining. We love these guys, we just are not fans of listening to complaining. Especially when it is about complaining. (Wait a second… so now we are complaining about the guys who were complaining about the guys complaining. Oof.)
Red Velvet behind-the-back to JC for the breakaway power dunk. Maybe Level 2 to 2.5? No rim movement but def still power behind it. Not a regular dunk!
The Beard now has six 20-point quarters so far this season. Quarters.
Harden was only 4 of 20 from three, but 19 of 23 from free.
Rockets 122, Hawks 115.
Westbrook did not play, so Mike D’Antoni deployed just 8 Rockets. Hartenstein only played 4 minutes, so really, only 7 players accumulated minutes.
Our favorite segment is back! Paul Watson Jr., #2 for the Hawks… WHO HE?! A 6-7 rookie from Fresno State, Watson signed a 10-day contract on Monday, January 6th. Have you ever seen a more bare Basketball-Reference page?? Tonight was Watson Jr.’s NBA debut with 4 minutes played. He missed his only shot attempt, a three, but did snag a rebound! He also recently celebrated his 25th birthday on December 30th. Happy belated and welcome to The League, rook!
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Nuggets +4 at Mavericks Under 221.5
Talk about creating SPACE.
Another game-winner for Jokic. Big Honey comes through when you need him. Also, the slow-mo #PhantomCam really does make his arms look like salamis.
We felt just like Luka at the end of the game after the Mavs last possession, sitting on the floor after the ball was thrown away, depriving us from a potential game-winning buzzer beater.
Nuggs 107, Mavs 106.
Jokic matched Luka’s big quarter on Monday night, dropping 21 points in the 3rd quarter, a new career-high for most points in a quarter.
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Bulls at Pelicans -3.5 Over 224.5
Zach LaVine wyd?
Pelicans 123, Bulls 108.
Brandon Ingram: 29 points, 7 of 19 shooting, 4 of 11 from three, 11 of 12 from free, 11 assists and 8 rebounds.
If not for Devonte’ Graham, it would be Ingram winning Most Improved Player. Although there is a lot of season left…
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Knicks at Jazz -14 OVER 213.5
Welp, our little snippet preview from last night advocated pretty hard for this Jazz Under, so basically, we swung the line by 5 points! Opening at 218.5 and dropping all the way to 213.5. It sure seems like Vegas has been keeping a keen eye on Basketballin.net since day one. Hopefully you also had the Jazz -14 like we did. Jazz -14 was the Pure Lock. The Jazz Under (Junder?) was an Anti-Lock. We should have known the Knicks would not be able to stop the Jazz, who continue to roll on.
A Don Mitch power dunk, but a lite one, considering the attack on the rim. This might be another Level 1.5? Not much rim movement like John Collins earlier, but he definitely pulled it back.
Three goggles are another favorite of our’s.
Jazz 128, Knicks 104.
The Jazz have now won 12 of their last 13 games and are up to 7 in a row.
Points in the paint: Jazz 60, Knicks 38.
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Bucks at Warriors +13.5 Under 217.5
Is it time to start talking some more about Giannis’ poor free throw shooting? How many air balls does he have this season? The Freak actually made 9 of 13 freebies tonight but is shooting a career low 61.5 percent on the season. This is our MVP? (Answer: Yes, but this is something to monitor.)
Bucks 107, Warriors 98.
Points in the paint: Bucks 44, Warriors 20.
Three pointers: Warriors 15 of 38, Bucks 9 of 41.
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Four games ahead on the Thursday night slate. The Blog Train will not be leaving the station, but you know we will still be watching Westbrook’s return to OKC oh so very closely.
We love this game!