02-17-21 NBA Blog Train Wednesday
Some people watch one or maybe two games per night. We are not those people.
We try to watch every game that we possibly can. Just about every single night.
Then after a full night of watching hoops, we compile our notes for each game, investigate the box scores, peruse #NBATwitter and try to include all of the Pure Locks and power dunks that we can.
That’s the NBA Blog Train.
Welcome aboard!!!
Knicks at Magic +3.5 Under 209.5
MLK Day is always the best Monday of the year, getting to watch the NBA all day while “working,” so we vividly remember the Knicks and Magic playing last month in the MLK Day matinee Noon tipoff. We especially remember it so clearly because we had Under 205.5 and the final score was Knicks 91, Magic 84. One of the most Pure Locks.
Tonight, we were back for more, taking this Under 209.5 without hesitation.
The game tipped and the Knicks, very much like they did on Monday night against the Hawks, came out like gangbusters. Most notably, again, it was Julius Randle doing the majority of the work, making 3-of-4 three-pointers in the freakin’ first quarter! This dude really wants to be an All-Star.
The Knicks led 32-23 after the first, on pace for 220, but it actually felt like it could be much, much worse considering the tantalizing and mesmerizing offense on display. (Yes, we love Clyde.)
The second quarter was more of the same, and the Knicks took a 56-53 lead into halftime, now on pace for 218. Ever so slightly better. Truthfully, we weren’t worried about this one at all.
Right on cue, it was a third quarter of doom for the Knicks who were outscored by the Magic 30 to 14. The Knicks shooting woes continued into the 4th which is exactly what you want to hear when you have the Under.
4th quarter: Magic 24, Knicks 19.
First half combined points: 109.
Second half combined points: 87.
After being on pace to go Over by 8.5 points at halftime, they went Under by 13.5.
We can’t quite call it a Pure Lock, but we might as well! At the very least, it was Solid as hell.
Magic 107, Knicks 89.
Quickley had the worst game of his career: 1-for-12 shooting. D-Rose wasn’t much better, 1-for-10.
T-Ross brought his flamethrower, lighting up the Knicks for 30 points off the bench, 5-of-6 from 3.
Yoo MCW is out here again throwing down some power. More of a poster, but he sure caught the rim!
A previous WHO HE!? was back tonight! Chasson Randle, #25 for the Magic, played his first game of the season, signed to a two-way contract on Monday. What team did Chasson play for last year when he was featured in our WHO HE!? segment on March 10th? The Warriors! That was our last Blog Train post before Coronavirus derailment.
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Hawks +2 at Celtics Over 222.5
Last night was a much needed and huge win for the Celticss and tonight it was the Hawks turn, although at the Celtics expense.
This Over would have been a Pure Lock — never in doubt.
John Collins was flexin’ on ‘em. JC scored 20 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field and was perfect from the line, 8-of-8.
Ice Trae, bombs away! Tonight was Trae Young’s third 40-point game of the season and the 15th 40-point game of his career.
Hawks 122, Celtics 114.
The C’s we were without Kemba and Daniel Theis again. The J-Team combined for 57 in the loss. They didn’t have the same kind of help that they had last night.
The rematch between these two is Friday night.
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Rockets +8 at 76ers Over 227
This one was shaping up to be the snoozer of the night.
The Sixers led by as much as 29 points, but then John Wall erupted for 26 points in the second half after scoring only two points in the first half. All of a sudden, it was a two possession game with less than three minutes left.
Yet the big damage was already done, and Embiid put them away late.
The Over was on pace pretty much the entire way but late in the game it got pretty hairy. It would have been a Squeaky Lock.
The Rockets, on the other hand, pulled off the nice backdoor cover.
Sixers 118, Rockets 113.
No Simmons tonight meant a Philly Big 3 of Embiid (31 points), Seth Curry (25) and Tobias (24).
The reeling Rockets have lost 7 in a row.
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Nuggets at Wizards +4.5 OVER 234.5
Ya know, with the Nuggets on the second night of a back-to-back, we gave some serious thought to taking the Wizards MoneyLine in the first half. The fact that the Nuggets are usually golden on the second night of a back-to-back caused us to stay away, but still, we had a funny feeling about the Wiz here with some momentum.
We were sure glad we stayed away when the Nuggs jumped out to a 20-point lead in the first quarter. Whew, we dodged a bullet.
BUT WAIT.
The Wizards woke ALL the way up in the second quarter, led by Davis Bertans who was SNIPING off the bench. The Wiz outscored the Nuggets by 23 in the second quarter, 46 to 23, to take a 6-point lead of 70-64 into halftime. The Wizards 1st half MoneyLine hit after all!
And the Wizards MoneyLine for the game pulled through, too, as the Wiz were able to hold off Jamal Murray’s late flurry of 3’s thanks to Blue Panda free throws with 0.1 left on the clock.
Oh, and this Over would have been one of the most Pure Locks.
Wizards 130, Nuggets 128.
Remember when we said that Bertans was SNIPING? Well, the Latvian Laser made 9-of-11 three-pointers on the night (!!!) and he made all eight of his free throws to finish with a game-high 35 points.
Jamal Murray actually tied Bertan’s for the game-high, matching his 35 points. If only Murray had not waited so long to catch fire.
Or maybe if only he hadn’t left time for Beal to get fouled and make the game-winning free throws…
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Pacers -5.5 at Timberwolves OVER 234.5
With a halftime score of T-Wolves 73, Pacers 69 — they were on pace for 284 points.
Then the third quarter happened: T-Wolves 19, Pacers 17. Yeah, the scoring came to a screeching halt, but they were still on pace to go Over.
The scoring picked back up in the 4th quarter, so it would have been a Pure Lock.
Ant-Man is already one of the most consistent power dunkers in the league!
Edwards did not have a great night shooting, 3-of-15 and 0-of-4 from 3, but his four assists are encouraging. Also encouraging was the fact that he took the potential game-winning buzzer beater 3 at the end of regulation that was as halfway down and out as it gets.
The Pacers led by three points with 15 seconds left in OT, Brogdon dribbling slowly at the top of the key. Sabonis set the pick and Brogdon hesitated, getting a great look at an above the break 3 dagger that he swished home to put the T-Wolves to sleep. Brogdon hit 6-of-7 three-pointers on the night.
Pacers 134, T-Wolves 128. OT
Sabonis triple-double: 36 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists, plus three steals and a block.
Naz Reid had a helluva first half with 14 points. Didn’t hear from him much in the second half, though.
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Pistons at Bulls -3 Push Under 220
The Pistons were originally supposed to play in Dallas tonight, but the game was postponed due to inclement winter weather. The Bulls were available to play due to contact tracing for the Hornets, so that’s how the Pistons and Bulls found themselves squaring off on Wednesday night. And oh the irony of a game getting canceled for winter weather in Dallas and rescheduled to be played in Chicago.
The Pistons were firing on all cylinders, up by as much as a whopping 25 points. There was even a Dennis Smith Jr. sighting.
We also got a LaVine power dunk:
LaVine got it going, scoring 37 points on the night on a wildly efficient 14-of-22 shooting, but it was the youngin’s who hit the big 3’s late: Pat Williams dished it to Coby who hit a corner 3 and then on the Bulls next possession, Coby dished it to Pat Williams in the corner who drained the dagger 3 with 39 seconds left, giving the Bulls a 103-98 lead, tied for their largest lead of the game.
This Under 220 would have been one of the most Pure Locks, although the possibility of Overtime would have been a little concerning.
Delon Wright had a good look at a potential game-tying 3 at the buzzer. Alas, she did not fall.
Bulls 105, Pistons 102.
Jerami Grant popped off for a career-high 43 points on 15-of-25 shooting, 4-of-9 from 3. Grant did not have any assists.
Three-pointers: Bulls 8-of-28 for 28.6 percent. Pistons 8-of-28 for 28.6 percent. (Not a typo, they shot the EXACT same!)
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Blazers +4 at Pelicans Over 237
After hitting on Zion’s Player Prop bet last night of Over 25 points, we came back for more, taking Over 36 on combined points+rebounds+assists. Zion dominated yet again, on the second night of a back-to-back. He had 14/4/4 at the half, well on pace and it was never in doubt, a Pure Lock! Zion tied his career-high of 36 points, he tied our prop bet on points alone!
How did he do it? Per usual, Zion OWNED the paint, easy bucket after easy bucket, nifty, shifty moves with an excellent touch around the rim. He also made another 3!
Zion’s fantastic game was upended by Dame D.O.L.L.A.
Dame scored 43 points with seven 3’s (he was 4-of-5 in the first quarter!) and Gary Trent drilled five 3’s as well.
The Pelicans had a chance at the end, but they did NOT have a good possession that led to a good look. Lonzo sent up a wild shot and Ingram took a long, errant jumper that did not fall.
This Over would have been one of the most Pure Locks.
Blazers 126, Pelicans 124.
The Pelicans close game struggles continue. We suggest getting the damn ball to fucking Zanos.
The Blazers have won 6 in a row, 8 of their last 10, and currently sit at 4th in the West standing, passing on by the Suns.
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Thunder at Grizzlies -7 Over 227.5
The Thunder fought all night in a solid team effort with six double-digit scorers, but the Grizz had six in double digits as well.
Up by eight points with 25 seconds left, Taylor Jenkins was ejected.
Grizzlies 122, Thunder 113.
Ja had a “Westbrook triple-double” of 15 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds on 4-of-14 shooting, but he didn’t take bad shots and he set up his teammates with winning plays. Shout out Verno!
Points in the paint: Grizz 52, Thunder 24.
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Jazz -7 at Clippers UNDER 229
No Kawhi or PG or Kennard or Batum (lol).
The Jazz rolled on.
This Under would have been a Pure Lock. The return of the JUNDER!!!
Jazz 114, Clippers 96.
Not only have the Jazz won 20 of their last 21 games, but the Jazz have COVERED in each of those 20 wins. Guess who has not been betting on the Jazz but had them against the Knicks on January 6th in an embarrassing loss that ignited this historic run? Couldn’t be us…
We have a Jazz garbage time edition of WHO HE!? #3 Trent Forrest, a 6-4 rookie on a two-way contract. Forrest was a 4-year college guy at Florida State. Man’s has his own website! LOVE THAT. Tonight was just his fourth game of action.
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Heat at Warriors -1.5 Over 222.5
The Heat led throughout, but the Warriors hung around.
The Warriors trailed by 13 points with a little over six minutes left in the game.
Per Mark Jones, the Warriors bench was huge tonight, in particular Kent Bazemore who was priceless with 26 points in 38 minutes.
Steph had an off shooting night from 3, just 5-of-20, but he made them when it mattered most:
Warriors 120, Heat 112. OT
No Draymond, no Wiseman, no Looney… no problem for the Dubs!
The Heat have lost 3 in a row amidst their west coast roadie. They can bounce back tomorrow night at Sacramento.
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That’s the ole back-to-back-to-back NBA Blog Train for us, so we are taking tomorrow night off.
But you already know that we’ll be watching Nets-Lakers. No KD, tho :/
We love this game!
