01-11-22 NBA Blog Train Tuesday (Fast Break)
Welcome in to a rare Tuesday night
F A S T B R E A K edition of the NBA Blog Train!
The Blog Train is usually reserved for Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights — the nights with a heavier dosage of games on the menu — but what a Tuesday night of hoops this was.
All aboard!
Warriors at Grizzlies +2 Over 222
Not only did the marquee matchup of the evening live up to the billing, but it’s safe to say it exceeded it.
The Grizzlies were ripping through the Warriors, showing off their speed, athleticism and spring-loaded high-flying brand of basketballin’ that keeps piling up W’s.
Ja Morant? He is THAT dude. We have known it, and we keep shouting it from the mountaintops because night in and night out, he continues giving the top teams and superstars of this league the business.
The rookie Ziaire Williams? In the starting lineup for just the third time ever, Ziaire and Ja had a two-man alley-oop game going in transition that was so beautiful the two could be spotted hugging immediately after one of the many oops, during the middle of the game.
But the third quarter is still the Warriors calling card. Golden State opened up the 2nd half with a 17-2 run that gave the Warriors an 8-point lead after trailing by 18 halfway through the second quarter.
Klay started them off with a 3, then Steph was cookin’.
Gary Payton II showed that the Warriors have their own above-the-rim alley-oop game. Steve Kerr elected to start GP2 in the 2nd half after a shift in the game occurred once GP2 started guarding Ja Morant.
Kevon Looney stepped up in Draymond’s absence (also: no Dillon Brooks for Memphis).
The Grizzlies took the Warriors third quarter punch in the mouth and punched right back. Brandon Clarke was a catalyst, flying around and making shit happen. Ja ooped it up to BC. Ja ooped it to Ziaire again, too.
It was a tie game early in the 4th quarter, and we had ourselves a good ole fashion Western Conference top-tier battle on a random Tuesday night in January.
Klay Thompson checked into the game with 4:39 remaining in the 4th. The Warriors were down by 4, and that’s precisely when we locked in a Warriors live MoneyLine, riding with Klay, hoping he would save the day.
But Klay would not go on to be the hero. Not tonight.
The biggest shots of the game were back-to-back 3s from… Tyus Jones.
That’s right: we got taken out by a guy with the nickname T-Raw who went to Duke.
It was not just those two 3s in the fourth either. No sir. Tyus Jones scored 17 points in all, dished out 8 assists and was a perfect 5-for-5 from 3. He was game-high plus-20 (!!) in 23 minutes off the bench.
Jones hit the back-breakers but Ja Morant put the icing on top of the cookie cake with a floater and a blow-by lefty-scoop layup-And-1 with 30 seconds left.
Grizzlies 116, Warriors 108.
We should have just stuck with Over 222. It sailed in the 2nd half.
Klay was 5-of-13 shooting in 20 minutes. Not very efficient, but he was aggressive, had 3 assists, a steal and a block. And Klay was actually the highest plus-minus on the Warriors at +17.
Jaren Jackson Jr. deserves a shout out. JJJ was in foul trouble and struggled with some push-shots, but he stayed with his game and made a crucial bucket with two minutes left: a push-shot off the glass, no less.
The Memphis Grizzlies have won 10 games in a row and are now currently tied with the Utah Jazz for the 3-seed in the West.
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Before the second game of tonight’s double-header on NBATV — a late-night West Coast showdown at the Cryp between the Nuggets and Clippers — there was a game tied down at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans with 3.6 seconds left. Pelicans ball on the inbounds.
Josh Hart passed it in to Valanciunas who dished it right to Brandon Ingram above-the-break. Ingram caught the pass and immediately fired up a high-arcing 3 that ripped through the net.
Another Pelicans game-winner!
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Nuggets at Clippers +2.5 UNDER 213.5
Folks, we were looking at Nuggets -2.5 ALL DAY.
Like, it just kept staring back at us, relentlessly. We had to suspect that it must be a trap? It MUST! But what were we missing?
Final Verdict: Suspected trap be damned! We locked in the Nuggets -2.5, and it looked like we had a Pure Lock on our hands. It was the worst first half of the season for the Clippers who only managed to score 28 points.
In the 3rd quarter, the Nuggets were up by 25! No traps around here!!
Except here came the Clippers…
Marcus Morris for 3.
Amir Coffey for 3.
Eric Bledsoe back-to-back 2s.
Terance Mann for 3.
Nicolas BATUM for 3.
Terance Mann again and then another cup of Amir Coffey!
Before we knew it. The Clippers had tied the game!?!
Not to fear, for the Sombor shuffle was near as we cackled into the night.
Speaking of laughing, Brian Sieman had us lol’ing as Reggie Jackson dunked on Jokic “with the guts of a daylight burglar!”
And it was the Clippers who would have the last laugh. Amir Coffey for 3 and BATUM for 3 once more.
The Clippers led by 5 with 1:47 left, a WILD 30-point turnaround that left us thinking that the Clippers turned the Nuggets into the Clippers (a la the bubble).
But WAIT. Jokic got a bucket and the Nuggets got a stop!
The Nuggets trailed by 2 with 7 seconds left, and here came the Joker lumbering up the court. A 2 could tie it and send it to Overtime!
But Jokic fired up a 3. He missed it, but Aaron Gordon grabbed the miss and shot back up a 2-pointer…
Alas, she did not fall. It was halfway down and out, and there was no OT.
Clippers 87, Nuggets 85.
At least we didn’t have the Over!
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There is always tomorrow night with a sparkling nine games ahead on the Wednesday night menu.
Catch you then.
We love this game!
