01-17-20 NBA Blog Train Friday

Seven games on the Friday night menu.

Not even the flu could keep us from running the Blog Train tonight.

ALL ABOARD!!!

Bulls at 76ers -7.5 Under -213.5

Sixers -7.5 and Under 213.5 was a nice double Pure Lock to start the night. Gotta roll with the Sixers at home on a Friday night and the Bulls are still rather offensively challenged.

Simmons coast-to-coast lite power dunk.

76ers 100, Bulls 89.

Korkmaz was cookin’ with a career-high 24 points, 6 of 9 from three. Philly really needs Korkmaz to continue being a knock down three-point shooter off the bench, a la Belinelli and Ilyasova two years ago.

We have seen a lot of “Zach LaVine is an All-Star” takes lately, but we are not so sure that we are there yet.
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Wizards at Raptors -10.5 OVER 230.5

Another double Pure Lock, Toronto and the points were killin’ it from the jump.

Casual.

john-wall-bee-pin.jpg

This John Wall bee pin is awesome.

Raptors 140, Wizards 111.

Both teams were sniping threes: Raptors 22 of 43, Wizards 15 of 35.

Toronto controlled the paint: Raptors 58, Wizards 40.

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Timberwolves +6.5 at Pacers Over 217.5

BIG KAT BACK, finally. Towns tallied 27 points in his return, albeit on 9 of 21 shooting. Ready for the Pro Bowl.

Dipo is a little stitious. (Dipo is the best!)

Pacers 116, T-Wolves 114.

Brogdon hit the go-ahead floater with 18 seconds left to complete the Pacers 2-game season series sweep of the T-Wolves, having just won in Minny two nights ago.

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Cavaliers +9 at Grizzlies Under 230.5

A shit ton of Murray State fans made the 3-hour trip to Memphis to cheer on their boy, and they were sure glad they did.

Springs. Ja has springs in his shoes.

Watching this live, we said out loud: “Ja Morant is ridiculous.”

You know that we are obligated to include Tristan Thompson getting ejected for slapping Jae Crowder on the ass.

Grizz 113, Cavs 109.

The Cavs actually won the first meeting between these two on December 20th thanks in large part to Jordan Clarkson’s season-high 33 points. Clarkson’s locker now resides in Utah. Cavs still covered though!

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Heat -1 at Thunder Over 217

The Heat dropped 40 in the 1st quarter. Then the Heat’s scoring came to a screeching halt, only 5 points over the first 6.5 minutes of the second quarter. But the Heat held on and so did the Over.

Lost his tooth, put it in his sock — Schroder is a real one.

That’s seven double-digit scorers.

Heat 115, Thunder 108.

The Heat are 16-1 in games when Bam scores 18+ points.

In our Heat Season Preview, we discussed Pat Riley and the Heat going after CP3. But the Heat do not need Chris Paul. They have Kendrick Nunn!

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Hawks +8.5 at Spurs Over 230.5

D-Murray got revenge on Trae for what he did to Aldridge last time these two met back in November.

That’s a Red Velvet game-winner.

Hawks 121, Spurs 120.

The Hawks won in San Antonio for the first time since 1997, breaking a 21-game losing streak.

Cam Reddish had a big game! 22 points on 8 of 13 shooting, 5 of 7 from three (!!), 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals.

The Hawks won, so you know Ice Trae was ballin’ as well: 31 points on 10 of 16 shooting, 6 of 9 from three, 9 assists and 5 boards.

Don’t look now, but the Hawks do not currently have the worst record in the NBA. (That would be the Warriors.)

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Blazers +9 at Mavericks Over 227

The Blazers opened the game up 14-3, but then Luka drilled three 3’s in a row and had six made 3’s by halftime.

Luka step-back dagger!!! Oh, how sweet it is. The legend continues. The magic is real.

Mavs 120, Blazers 112.

Luka’s final stat line: 35 points on 11 of 23 shooting, 8 of 12 from three (career high), 8 rebounds and 7 assists.

All smiles to end the night! :-)

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A whopping 11 games on Saturday! Only two on Sunday in preparation for the 14-game mega slate on MLK Day Monday.

We are most excited for Lakers at Rockets on Saturday night on ABC and the Pesky Pacers at Nuggets on Sunday evening.

MLK Day Monday is always our favorite work day of the year, so we’ll catch you then.

We love this game!