01-13-21 NBA Blog Train Wednesday
We were just settling in for a nice nap on a busy Wednesday afternoon during a late lunch break when the Woj bomb landed.
Rafael Stone and the Rockets finally said enough and sent Harden packing to Brooklyn, exactly where he wanted to go.
It’s safe to say at this point that The Beard and The Brodie reunited did not work out.
Now it’s The Beard and The Slim Reaper… with Uncle Drew!?
Color us skeptical but the Nets have ZERO depth, will be considerably lacking in the defensive department and are putting an incredible amount of trust in DeAndre Jordan. Expect to see a LOT of small-ball lineups with KD at the 5.
Kyrie, Harden, Joe Harris, Jeff Green and Durant.
Brooklyn has a lot of firepower, no doubt, but winning in today’s game requires so much more than that.
And now the Nets future is completely compromised like Danny Ainge’s HEIST of Billy King.
Tick tock.
Mavericks -3 at Hornets UNDER 220.5
The question all day was could we resist a Hornets Over against Luka? The answer was ultimately no, we could not.
We regret to inform you that this Hornets Over was an Anti-Lock. It never stood a chance.
Neither did the Hornets who scored 16 points in the first quarter. The Hornets were discombobulated on offense while Luka was on top of his game. The Don. Wonderboy. We stated in our most recent Power Rankings: “Luka has still been brilliant, but his three-point shooting has been quite bad, 19.5 percent (!!) on 6.8 attempts per game. Can you imagine when that number starts to climb and he gets KP back?”
Tonight was a culmination of both. KP’s first game of the year (16 points, 4-of-9 from 3) and Luka’s best 3-point shooting game of the season (5-of-9).
Mavs 104, Hornets 93.
Luka almost got the 30-point triple-double (34/13/9) as the Mavs got their revenge from two weeks ago when the Hornets stung them by 20 in Dallas.
Willie Cauley-Stein was out there looking like Dennis Rodman tonight. Big facts.
After combining for 42 points in the first matchup, LaMelo and Miles Bridges totaled just 8 points tonight.
_____________________________________
Bucks at Pistons +10.5 Under 225.5
We wish that we had not, but we took this Over which was most assuredly another Anti-Lock.
Hindsight is 20-20 and it was shortly after tipoff in the 1st quarter that we were already wondering why exactly we locked this in. The first two meetings between these two were high scoring affairs, but then you see Detroit’s offense when you have money behind them, and you realize quickly that is not something you should ever do.
Last night started with a Triple Lock, and tonight commenced with a Double Anti-Lock. That’s not what you want. But we live and we learn.
To take this one step further, even though we lost, we actually won. How? Tonight marked the grand return of a beautiful segment.
The Pistons Injured Bench Gang!
We were also treated to a Greek Freak power dunk with a mean mug, gotta give it a 3.8.
Bucks 110, Pistons 101.
The Bucks led wire-to-wire and were up by as many as 23 points. But just like the first meeting, the Pistons were determined to cover. A Josh Jackson 3 with 17 seconds left completed the backdoor come-from-behind cover! Bucks -10.5 would have been a BAD BEAT.
Points in the paint: Bucks 62, Pistons 42.
_____________________________________
Nets -2.5 at Knicks Over 217
The Nets blew this one open in the 2nd quarter, outscoring the Knicks 35 to 20 in the frame.
Nine games into his Nets career.
Nets 116, Knicks 109.
Obi Toppin returned tonight, playing for the first time since 12/23/20 Opening Night Round II. Toppin played one minute… lol that’s SO Thibs!
The Knicks have lost 4 straight.
_____________________________________
Grizzlies +2 at T-Wolves Over 222.5
The T-Wolves were up by 10 points heading into the 4th quarter. That’s when the Grizzlies gave them the business, completing a 21-point turnaround behind a sound team effort.
Grizz 118, T-Wolves 107.
No Ja. No JJJ. No Justise. No problem for the Grizz who have won 3 in a row.
Anthony Edwards had another rough game, just 2 points on 1-of-6 shooting, but we have to ask again: Why is the #1 pick in the draft playing 17 minutes a game? Free the Ant-Man!
Points in the paint: Grizzlies 80, T-Wolves 44.
EIGHTY.
_____________________________________
Lakers -10.5 at Thunder Over 219.5
LeBron and AD were in the starting lineups on the second night of a back-to-back (already the Lakers third back-to-back of the young season), so we rolled with the Lakers again at -11. For the second straight night, the Lakers were a Pure Lock. The Lakers are the team that we can count on the most!
Lakers 128, Thunder 99.
LeBron was outstanding yet again: 26 points in 27 minutes (5-of-8 from 3) with 7 assists and 6 boards.
It is sure starting to feel like LeBron is the early early season frontrunner for MVP. In year 18 at 36 years old.
Meet us at the fucking cleaners!
_____________________________________
Pelicans +11.5 at Clippers Over 216
No Zion tonight (protocols) was a letdown. Also no Lonzo or Eric Bledsoe. As you can imagine, the Pelicans spacing was better than usual.
The Pels covered behind Nickeil Alexander-Walker who had the best of his career: 37 points, 5-of-8 from 3 and 15-of-23 shooting from the field. Perhaps NAW can be the key that unlocks more for this offense.
Clippers 111, Pelicans 106.
Kawhi and PG combined for 55 points.
Three-pointers: Clippers 18-of-37 for 48.6 percent. Pelicans 10-of-28 for 35.7 percent.
Points in the paint: Pelicans 52, Clippers 20.
_____________________________________
Blazers -4.5 at Kings OVER 237.5
E-Babs was over and he was advocating hard for the Blazers -5. You might recall that E was the one who talked us into betting on the Blazers the night Steph erupted for 62 points. You might also remember that the Kings just burned us on Monday night when they outlasted the Pacers. So it’s understandable that we would be hesitant, and we actually tried to turn it around and suggested that we take the Kings. We settled for a friendly wager between us to eliminate the juice.
The Kings jetted out to an early lead in what was clearly going to be a track meet. There was no defense whatsoever in this game all night, just a predacious, frenetic and relentless pace throughout. Thoughts and prayers if you had the Under… Yikes.
The Dash Bros were firing on all cylinders:
Fox: 29 points, 5-of-8 from 3.
Hield: 26 points, 8-of-18 from 3.
At one point, the Kings led by 30 points!
But the Blazers never let up, no way.
Dame: 40 points, 6-of-15- from 3.
C.J.: 28 points, 6-of-16 from 3.
Once the 4th quarter got going, it really started to feel like the Blazers were inevitable.
That’s because they were. Free throws from Dame with 14 seconds left gave the Blazers a 6-point lead. Our only hope was that the Kings would make a shot on the next possession…
Buddy misfired and that was it. A Slippery Lock that slipped away and a Comeback Lock for E. Oh well, we would rather lose to a friend than to Vegas, and this was still a fun, high-octane late game.
And at least we got a Level 4 power dunk from Big Rails of Whiteside:
And a 3.7 power dunk oop by Airplane mode:
Blazers 132, Kings 126.
The Blazers have now on 4 in a row (T-Wolves, Kings, Raptors and Kings again.)
_____________________________________
Five games (hopefully) on the Thursday night schedule, but the blog train will not be leaving the station.
We’ll be back up and running soon enough, though.
We love this game!
