01-22-21 NBA Blog Train Friday
Eleven Friday night games means eleven game capsules.
All aboard!!
Bulls +3 at Hornets Over 228.5
The Bulls and Hornets have a recent history dating back to last season when Zach LaVine scored 49 points while making 13 threes en route to a remarkable comeback win for the Bulls in Charlotte. It was a Saturday night, so we were out at the bar and unfortunately missed an incredible game. There was also the first game of the season when we bet the Bulls -3.5 but fell in love with the Hornets who made a franchise record 23 threes and outlasted the Bulls 126-125. And then there was the third infamous Bulls-Hornets game when the final score was a misprint-looking 83-73. So yeah, it all totaled up to us staying away from this Hornets Over. They went Over, but at 228.5, we actually thought about taking the Under which felt soo wrong, so staying away was still a win.
We actually stayed away from the spread, too, thinking that Zach LaVine always roasts the Hornets and we did not feel like getting roasted by LaVine on this fine Friday night.
Sure enough, LaVine led the charge for the Bulls with a team-high 25 points on super efficient 8-of-12 shooting to go along with 9 assists. There were several plays where LaVine was calling his own shot, which is not out of the ordinary by any means, but he did look smooth AF.
We did get another Scary Terry in transition power dunk!
Bulls 123, Hornets 110.
Tonight was the Hornets first game since last Saturday. (Their Wednesday game against the Wizards was postponed as all Wizards games have been lately. The Wiz haven’t played since January 11th.)
We learned from the fabulous Eric Collins that Pat Williams, a Charlotte native who attended West Charlotte high, was very excited to be back home for the team’s post-game meal which he got to pick. Where did he pick? Bojangles, but of course!
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Rockets +3 at Pistons Under 215.5
Houston rocketed out to 20-point lead in the 1st half, but the Pistons had a hulluva third quarter that included a 20-7 run thanks to barrage of five 3’s from Wayne Ellington and Jerami Grant.
Fast forward to the end: Rockets up 1 with 3.4 seconds left, Pistons ball.
It appeared at first like Jerami Grant had the game-winner And-1. Alas, he did not get the shot off in time.
Rockets 103, Pistons 102.
Jerami Grant has scored over 20 points in 14 straight games — every game this season save for the first.
The Rockets had seven players score in double figures: Gordon, Tucker, Brown, Oladipo, Nwaba, Tate and McLemore.
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Magic +5 at Pacers Over 215.5
Not only did a Sabonis lay up off the glass tie the game at 108-108 to send it to Overtime, but it also caused this one to go Over.
Another game-winner added to Brogdon’s resume. He’s clutch in case you didn’t know.
Pacers 120, Magic 118. OT
Brogdon (23), Turner (22) and Jeremy Lamb (22) off the bench each scored 20+ points.
Having Fournier back in the lineup makes a world of a difference for the Magic’s offense. In his first two games back after missing 3 weeks, Fournier has scored 50 points: 24 against the T-Wolves on Wednesday and 26 tonight.
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Nets at Cavaliers +6.5 Over 224
When we got the news that KD was going to sit this game out (the first night of a back-to-back for Brooklyn), we were appalled when we saw that the Cavs were still getting +6.5 points. We locked it in right away, knowing that without KD the Nets defensive issues would be even more magnified having no way to stop the Cavs size.
That is precisely what unfolded in this no doubt Pure Lock.
Jarrett Allen fro down power dunk on top of former teammate Joe Harris! The Fro was dunking on the Nets all night.
Cavs 125, Nets 113.
Points in the paint: Cavs 70, Nets 46.
Rebounds: Cavs 62, Nets 32.
Woj has reported that the Nets are planning to sign Norvel Pelle once he clears health and safety protocols. Being familiar with Pelle’s game (he was featured in WHO HE!? last year for the Sixers), we can attest that he will help the Nets frontcourt. Just about anybody would help the Nets frontcourt, but Pelle is a solid rim protector known for his electric blocks. Just what the doctor ordered.
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Celtics at 76ers -4.5 Over 221
Not only did Tatum not make his return to the Celtics lineup tonight, but Payton Pritchard was helped to locker room and did not return after Jaylen Brown fell into his knee in the 1st quarter. :/
This was the icing on the cake for the Sixers and Embiid who was uber efficient yet again — 38 points on just 15 shots (!!) — he made 14-of-15 free throws tonight after 17-of-21 on Wednesday night.
Sixers 122, Celtics 110.
Jaylen Brown did what he could, scoring 42 points including 5-of-8 from 3, but JB needs the other half of the J-Team. Hopefully Tatum is available for Sunday when the C’s take on the red-hot Cavs.
Next up for the Sixers: two games in Detroit, tomorrow night and Monday night, before a showdown with the Lakers next Wednesday night on ESPN.
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Heat at Raptors -2 UNDER 220
The Raptors came out like gangbusters in this Revenge Game from Wednesday night, outscoring the Heat 37-20 in the 1st quarter. The Heat made a run at it, but then got smoked again in the 4th.
This Under would have been one of the most Pure Locks. They went Under by 38 points!
Raptors 101, Heat 81.
It’s time for another episode of WHO HE!? — Raptors edition:
#1 Paul Watson, a 6-7… what a second… this is the same Paul Watson who made a brief appearance on the Hawks last season, featured in WHO HE!? on 01/08/20! We have our first ever double occurrence on WHO HE?! Watson went to Fresno State and tonight was his fifth game of action for the Raps this season.
#2 Jalen Harris, a 6-5 rookie second round draft pick from Nevada. Tonight was his second ever game and he has still yet to score his first NBA points.
No Jimmy Butler or Tyler Herro or Meyers Leonard or Avery Bradley for the Heat who continue to play epically shorthanded.
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Hawks -6 at Timberwolves Under 227
On MLK Day, the Hawks and T-Wolves Over burned us. We gave some serious thought to rolling with this Over again, but we thankfully stayed away, realizing that Hawks Over/Unders have plagued us this season. (We had the Hawks Under on Wednesday night against the Pistons that went Over because of OT.)
Tonight was all about Ice Trae, bombs away! Trae scored 42 points with 8-of-12 3’s.
Hawks 116, T-Wolves 98.
T-Wolves Overs were supposed to be something we could count on this season. But without KAT, their offense is just as bad as their defense.
How was the Ant-Man tonight? Not good, again: 2-of-12 shooting in 24 minutes. Yikes.
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Mavericks -2 at Spurs Over 223
The Mavs still owed us from when we backed them and they lost to the Bulls and Raptors (and because we couldn’t take the Mavs on Wednesday night against the Pesky Pacers), so tonight was the night for our Mavs redemption.
Mavs -2 mostly looked like a Pure Lock here as the Mavs led throughout and by as many as 18 points. Yet in the 4th quarter, here came the Spurs.
All of a sudden, another DeMar DeRozan free throw (he was 13-of-16 from the line) made it 113-112 with a minute left. Not only was our sizable cushion popped, but we were no longer covering!
Another reason why we had to take the Mavs against the Spurs tonight in San Antonio was because last season on 11/18/19, we had the Spurs +4.5 when Luka drilled a magnificent step-back 3 dagger to cap off a 42-point triple-double when we had the freakin’ Spurs. Tonight was supposed to be double Mavs and Luka redemption for us! But now it was looking like a another Slippery Lock that slipped away…
NOPE. No way, we thought. No way in hell that Luka was going to let the Spurs pull off this comeback.
Right on cue:
Luka with the easy EASY bank in. Aldridge didn’t stand a chance.
Then DeRozan missed a pull-up jumper and the Mavs needed just one more to ice it. Babs said that it was going up, Luka was taking this shot.
“Luka will make the right play,” was our exact reply before this unfolded in front of us:
Double Mavs/Luka redemption: COMPLETE.
Mavs 122, Spurs 117.
Luka was one rebound shy of another 30-point triple-double with 36 points, 11 assists and 9 boards.
Dejounte Murray sprained his ankle one minute into the game and did not return. :/
Someone who we have mentioned on several occasions and we have to again: Keldon Johnson. We love the fight, energy and fire we’ve seen from this kid.
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Thunder at Clippers -13.5 Over 220
Babs said we should take the Clippers -13.5, but that just seemed like soo many points, so we stayed away.
The Clippers were covering the 13-point spread in no time, up by 27 points before you could say, “Paul George Revenge Tour.” We were kicking ourselves for not listening to Babs, but the Thunder never gave up, no sir.
With one minute left in the game, the Clippers were up by… 13 points! That’s when a Daniel Oturu (WHO HE!?) dunk put the Clippers in position to cover, up by 15 now.
But with 16 seconds left, Lou Dort was fouled in garbage time with a chance to pull off the backdoor cover for backers of OKC +13.5!
Alas, Dort missed the first free throw. He made the second, and then time ran out.
The Clippers won by 14.
OKC +13.5 would have been a baaaaad beat.
Clippers 120, Thunder 106.
Back to the WHO HE!? — #10 Daniel Oturu for the Clippers is a 6-8 2nd round draft pick rookie from Minnesota who the Clippers acquired in a post-draft trade with… Minnesota. So Oturu thought he was staying in Minny before getting shipped to La La land. He has got to be enjoying the weather, though.
The rematch is set for Sunday at 4pm EST.
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Knicks at Kings -3.5 UNDER 218.5
Having taken the Clippers-Kings Over on Wednesday night in what turned out to be an Anti Lock, the Kings owed us one. Seeing this Over/Under at 219… that just seemed soo low, knowing how bad the Kings dreadful defense is and that the Knicks were fresh off a 119-point outburst against the Warriors last night.
So we pulled the trigger on Over 219 and the fucking Knicks scored 40 points in the second half. FORTY points, total, in the second half against the Kings. It was another Kings Anti Lock.
Kings 103, Knicks 94.
We don’t foresee many other Knicks Overs in our future.
And now the Kings really owe us. Speaking of, the Kings dating back to last season have been another team like the Pesky Pacers that we really just can’t seem to hit for the most part. Unlike the Pacers, at least we have won a few Kings bets. We can’t rule them out, either, because they are always on in the late slate.
That just means there is more work to be done.
One last note here: We have said it before and we’ll say it again: Tyrese Haliburton is the best rookie we have watched play basketball so far this season!
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Nuggets +1 at Suns Over 219.5
Primarily watching the Knicks-Kings game during tonight’s late slate quickly became a rather depressing endeavor, so we needed more and better action.
We started keeping a closer eye on this one, and we started to like what we were seeing from the Nuggets, in particular Jamal Murray. In fact, we went as far to say that the guy out there didn’t look so much like Jamal Murray, but he looked more like Bubble Jamal Murray, with a pep in his step and a look in his eye that said, “We are not losing this fucking game.”
So even though they were down by nearly double-digits, we rolled with the Nuggets MoneyLine at favorable +180 odds.
The Nuggets fought back in the 4th and sent the game to OT. In the bonus frame, who sealed it for us?
Nuggs 130, Suns 126. OT
We knew Murray wouldn’t let them lose this one, but who is our early season frontrunner for MVP? Nikola Jokic! The Joker was doing it all yet again with some absolutely glorious touch passes.
Devin Booker got banged up in a scrum in OT and did not return. :/ Book still had 31 points.
The rematch will be here before we know: Tomorrow night!
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The Blog Train is taking the rest of the weekend off, but we’ll catch you on Monday night.
We love this game!
