02-03-21 NBA Blog Train Wednesday
Oh, hello!
The Blog Train is back after a week off, we were out cookin’ up some power dunks and power rankings.
Ten games on the Wednesday night menu means ten game capsules below.
Tonight’s theme?
Revenge.
Sixers -7Push at Hornets Over 225.5
Without two starters (Rozier and P.J. Washington), it was the slowest of starts for the Hornets who trailed 30-13 after the first quarter, 13 being the fewest points scored by Charlotte in any quarter this season.
The Hornets made a little bit of a run in the second quarter, pulling to within 11 points, and that’s when we jumped on the Hornets live line at +11.5. As soon as we locked in that bet, the Sixers proceeded to go on a 17-4 run, capped by a couple of Danny Green corner 3’s to balloon Philly’s lead to 24 points. It wasn’t looking so good, but we were delighted by a sick behind-the-back pass from LaMelo in transition to Sky Miles Bridges who delivered the monster windmill jam.
POWER. (You’ll have to check back in on Sunday night / Monday morning for our new weekly segment of Power Dunk City top power dunks for the week — that’s where you will find our official ratings.)
We didn’t even mind that our beloved Hornets were down 22 at the half. (Well, we didn’t mind as much anyway.)
The Hornets actually had good looks in the first half, but the shots just weren’t falling. The third quarter, dear friends, was a different story — the Hornets came ALIVE, buzzin’ back with a 10-0 run that turned into a 17-4 run of their own. They were drilling 3’s left and right. We were right back in it!
A big problem, however, was that Joel Embiid was his usual bull dozing wrecking ball self, causing destruction from everywhere. His jumper was particular soft tonight. Eric Collins even went as far to describe it as “velvet.”
Our Hornets +11.5 live line teetered back and forth in the 4th quarter. With 1 minute left, the Sixers led by 11 points. Back to the electric chair we went!
A Danny Green turnover out of bounds was followed by Danny Green blocking Hayward at the basket, but Hayward recovered, got the ball and dished it to Monk who drained the 3! Hornets down 8 with 18.2 seconds left and we were in the clear! That’s what Joel Embiid thought, too, already thinking about grabbing a tamale in the locker room when LaMelo snuck up behind him to pick his pocket and then drain a deep 3 to make it a 5-point game with 7 seconds left.
Philly ended up making their free throws to get it back to 7 for a Push on the regular spread, but LaMelo’s sneakiness and wherewithal also caused this one to go Over!
We didn’t take this Hornets Over tonight, but we totally hit the Hornets +11.5 live line.
Sixers 118, Hornets 111.
Embiid’s final tally: 34 points and 11 rebounds, 9-of-10 from the free throw line which is fewer attempts than his season average of 11.3 per game!
Rozier and P.J. Washington are both considered day-to-day. The Hornets could sure use them Friday night against the Jazz.
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Pacers at Bucks -9 Over 232
Giannis did not play at all in the 4th quarter, still copped a triple-double: 21 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists.
The Bucks -9 would have been one of the most Pure Locks.
Bucks 130, Pacers 110.
Three-pointers: Bucks 21-of-48 for 43.8 percent. Pacers 11-of-34 for 32.4 percent.
Tonight was the Bucks fifth game this season with 20+ three-pointers. Prior to this season, Milwaukee had four such games in franchise history.
Sabonis did score a career-high 33 points. You can always count on Domas to at least go down swinging.
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Mavericks -2 at Hawks Over 223.5
We rolled with the Mavs -2, because not only would the Mavs be out for blood after losing a close game to the Suns on Monday night, and not only do they finally have all of their main guys back in the lineup trying to snap a 6-game losing streak, but this was also going to be a Revenge Game for Luka, selected by the Hawks on draft night and traded to the Mavs for Trae Young and a first round draft pick that ultimately became Cam Reddish.
The Mavs grabbed and early lead, but the Hawks kept it pretty tight. John Collins always plays well against the Mavs, and tonight was no different.
It was the Hawks who actually took a 3-point lead into halftime, but Tim Hardaway Jr. and Jalen Brunson combined to score the final 15 points of the 3rd quarter for the Mavs who were now up by 5 points going into the final frame.
The beginning of the 4th quarter was ALL about Dallas.
KP power dunk on top of Capela! We always love Dominique’s “OH!”
The Mavs led by 14 with 5 minutes left. It sure felt like this one was going to be in the bag, but the Hawks did NOT roll over, no sir — they clawed their way back in.
An Ice Trae, Bombs Away deep 3 from the logo pulled the Hawks to within 3 with 42 seconds left… All of a sudden, we were right back in the electric chair!
THJ went to the line and missed the first free throw much to our dismay. He made the second, 4-point game, and here came the Hawks and Trae Young with one last chance to squander us. Ice Trae got a pretty good look at a 3…
Alas (whew), she did not fall.
Mavs -2 was probably more of a Squeaky Lock than a Solid Lock.
Mavs 122, Hawks 116.
Luka had 27 points, 14 assists and 8 rebounds. 10-of-10 from the free throw line, but 1-of-5 from 3. When THJ had an awful turnover in the final minute where he just dropped the ball, Luka looked like he was going to die.
John Collins finished with a career-high 35 points. We were’t kidding about Collins always roasting Dallas.
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Clippers -9 at Cavaliers Over 219.5
The Paul George Revenge Tour was in Cleveland on Wednesday night. PG shot 8-of-9 from 3 (!!) en route to 36 points and a game-high net rating of +29.
PG also had another power dunk, but you can’t get the full effect without the sound of the attack on the rim. (Note that some broadcasts had this issue prior to Corona.)
Clippers 121, Cavs 99.
A Luke Kennard 3 with 37 seconds left caused this Over to barelyyyy hit.
Drummond was off his game tonight and did not get his 15 boards or 15 boards, just 13 and 5 for Big Penguin.
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Wizards +9 at Heat Under 227.5
Look who didn’t play tonight and look who won the game.
Wizards 103, Heat 100.
The Wizards were actually down by 13 in the second half, but the Wiz dug deep on the second night of a back-to-back without Westbrook. Brad Beal, as you might have guessed, led the way for the ‘Zards with 32 points, his 11th game this season with 30+ points.
It’s been a humbling homestand for the Heat who have now lost 4 out of the last 5 games and 7 of their last 8. We don’t think it’s time to panic, but it’s time to start… winning. We are confident that Spo will get them to find a rhythm now that everyone is finally back from the protocols. We are also confident that Jimmy Butler is in the gym right now.
The Wizards and Heat play again on Friday night.
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Knicks +1.5 at Bulls Under 218
If there is one thing that the Knicks do well, it’s revenge games.
Knicks 107, Bulls 103.
They nearly let it slip away at the end, but the Knicks avenged their loss to the Bulls on Monday night behind a good game from Julius Randle, 27 points and 5-of-7 from 3.
After two games with 30 or more points, Markkanen was off the mark tonight, just 9 points and 0-of-4 from 3.
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Rockets at Thunder +6.5 Under 222
The Rockets were due for a dud, and OKC was out for revenge after being embarrassed by 30 points on Monday night.
Thunder 104, Rockets 87.
The Thunder did this without SGA! So who was the leading scorer for OKC? Kenrich Williams with 19 points, but of course!
P.J. Tucker did not score in 25 minutes. It was the fourth game this season that Tucker has not scored a single point. (He has three other games in which he’s only scored two!)
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Timberwolves +7.5 at Spurs Under 226
The T-Wolves led throughout this one, by as many as 16 points, but the Spurs blitzed them in the 4th quarter behind 30 points from DeRozan and a strong game by Jakob Poeltl.
DeRozan power dunk, but again, the lack of a reaction or sound here really diminishes the overall value.
Spurs 111, T-Wolves 108.
Three-pointers: Spurs 7-of-26 for 26.9 percent. T-Wolves 13-of-33 for 39.4 percent.
It’s mind boggling that the Spurs won despite the above three-point discrepancy.
KAT’s shirt was really cool.
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Suns at Pelicans +2.5 Over 223
We mentioned that the theme tonight was revenge, and you might recall that the Suns embarrassed the Pelicans on national TV at the beginning of the season in late December.
The Pellies did not forget.
Air Zion! Zion was unstoppable: 28 points on 12-of-14 shooting!
Pelicans 123, Suns 101.
Well, what do ya know? The Pelicans won a game in which Lonzo and Eric Bledsoe made their 3’s, combining for 7-of-13.
The Suns have some issues to work on. The offense is sluggish and between CP3 and Book, it’s too much of the your turn, my turn stuff. We were worried about that.
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Celtics at Kings -1 Over 224
The Celtics played without Kemba on the second night of a back-to-back, but they held an early 11-point lead that withered away.
This was a close game down the stretch, tied at 89 with 8 mins left, tied at 97 with 4:46 left, tied at 102 with 3 mins left and tied at 105 with 2:26 left.
But it was De’Aaron Fox who closed the sale.
After Grant Williams intentionally missed a free throw and got the rebound, Tatum had a great look at a potential game-tying 3. Alas, she did not fall.
Kings 116, Celtics 111.
The Kings had three players score 20+ in Fox, Barnes and Haliburton. It was the rookie who had a game-high +13 net rating. Sacramento has won 5 out of the last 6.
The Celtics bench has been looking pretty rough lately. Yet another DNP-CD for 14th overall draft pick Aaron Nesmith.
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Five games ahead on the Thursday night menu.
We hope to be back up and running on Friday night.
We love this game!
