11-05-21 NBA Blog Train Friday
The Blog Train is back!
Nine games on the Friday night menu means nine game capsules.
All aboard!
Nets at Pistons +10 UNDER 210.5
Just like last night, our evening began in the 313 at Little Caesars Arena.
While we still prefer the court from last night with 313 in the center, we do enjoy the teal lightning bolt here. (Under Detroit at center court in case you weren’t sure where to look.)
We rolled with the Nets -10 tonight — as highlighted in our Chasing Pure Locks segment — on the basis that the Nets offense has finally shown signs of life, and because the Pistons would be on the second night of a back-to-back along with their historically bad shooting.
The Nets scored 7 points before the Pistons were able to get on the board, and we thought we might just have a Pure Lock on our hands. But then Detroit scored 7 of their own to tie it up early.
Cade Cunningham had a very solid first quarter, scoring 9 points in 10 minutes. He even drove down the lane and scored on KD. George and Special K remarked that you can see his confidence growing right before our eyes.
Cade was the only highlight of the first half which saw a halftime score of 39-39. We were debating for most of the day on whether or not to take the Nets -10 or just take Under 210.5 here. We stayed away from the Under since the Nets offense has been better, but we were sure kicking ourselves at halftime. This Under 210.5 was a Pure Lock.
Steve Nash’s speech at halftime apparently motivated the troops, because the Nets came out hot in the 3rd quarter, an 8-0 run to start and by the end of the 3rd, Brooklyn was up by 16. We were feeling pretty good!
But we did NOT feel good about watching this:
What. The. Fuck. Disgusting and unacceptable.
Just like seeing the Nets lead slip away in the 4th quarter.
Hats off to the Pistons who fought all the way back. The spark was Cory Joseph? Yup. But Cade hit some big shots as well, including two 3s. It was nice to actually hear a legit roar from Little Caesars Arena even if it meant our Nets -10 ship was sinking and sinking fast.
The Pistons got it down to within one point after Cade’s second 4th quarter 3 with two minutes left, but the Nets held on to win.
They did not cover.
It was a Rollercoaster Slippery Lock that slipped away.
Nets 96, Pistons 90.
The Pistons outscored the Nets by 10 in the fourth quarter.
The Nets starters all had positive net ratings in double-digits while the Nets bench players all had negative net ratings in double-digits.
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Spurs -4 at Magic UNDER 213.5
The Spurs -4 and this Under 213.5 would have been a Double Pure Lock.
After scoring just 79 points total against the Celtics on Wednesday night, the Magic only had 36 at halftime tonight.
Keldon Johnson and Cole Anthony with the rare back-to-back power dunks on consecutive plays:
Cole got UP.
Spurs 102, Magic 89.
It is becoming increasingly clear that Dejounte Murray is the most underrated player in the NBA. Murray dropped 20pts/11rebs/7asts/3stls/1blk.
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Grizzlies at Wizards -2.5 UNDER 220.5
Coming into tonight, the Wizards had a two-game losing streak (Hawks and Raptors) and they had lost four games in a row to the Grizz.
That all ended tonight.
Have you ever seen a box score where every single player on one team was positive and every single player on the other team was negative?
Now you have.
Wiz 115, Grizz 87.
Next up for the Wiz is the Bucks on Sunday evening.
Next up for the Grizz is the T-Wolves on Monday night.
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Cavaliers +6 at Raptors Under 204.5
This game had a wild ending.
Garland knocked down two HUGE free throws with the game on the line to give Cleveland a one-point lead with 4.8 seconds left.
Anunoby then drove left and shot a short fadeaway (heavily contested by The Fro) that did not fall, but Scottie Barnes was right there to tip it in!
Alas, the tip-in did not fall, either.
Justtttt short.
Cavaliers 102, Raptors 101.
As we remarked in our Eastern Conference Power Rankings that dropped earlier this week (and would no doubt look a lot different if we put them together today), the Cavs have gotten off to this nice start despite Sexton shooting quite poorly. He was 4-for-17 tonight.
Since joining Toronto’s system, Gary Trent Jr.’s defense has improved drasatically. The Blazers might have fucked that one up.
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Knicks +3.5 at Bucks Under 217
This was our second pick from tonight’s Chasing Pure Locks. The Knicks owed us one from both Monday night and Wednesday night when they didn’t pull through against the Raptors and Pacers.
But just like Wednesday night in Indiana, things got off to another ominous Knicksy start.
Before we knew it, the Bucks were up 24-9. Milwaukee’s lead would grow to 21. The Knicks needed a spark/boost/jolt — take your pick.
And as he often has been since rejoining the Knicks, Derrick Rose was the catalyst they needed tonight so baldy. This game turned ALL the way around when D-Rose attacked the paint in the 2nd quarter.
The Knicks didn’t stop there, continuing to hum in harmonious fashion.
Randle had his best game in a while with 32 points and 12 rebounds.
R.J. Barrett scored 20 points again.
Even Immanuel Quickley played really well off the bench.
It was the Knicks who flipped the script and were winning by more than 20!
What once looked like an Anti-Lock, turned into a huge Comeback Lock.
BING BONG!!! The Knicks are baaaaaaaack!
Knicks 113, Bucks 98.
Points in the paint: Knicks 54, Bucks 28.
D-Rose finished with a net rating of +31.
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Clippers -2.5 at Timberwolves Under 216
This was another game with a crazy turnaround.
The Clippers trailed 49-29 halfway through the 2nd quarter.
But then they outscored the T-Wolves in the 2nd half by 30: 57-27.
Clippers 104, T-Wolves 84.
On Wednesday night, the Clippers and T-Wolves went Over by 25 points.
Tonight, they went Under by 28.
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Pelicans at Warriors -9.5 Under 213.5
We only include three picks in our new nightly Chasing Pure Locks segment, but sometimes we are still in on more action than just those three games. (And it’s a good thing, too, because our record once we started publishing official picks has been no bueno.
When the notifications came in that Brandon Ingram and Herb Jones were both ruled out, and we saw that we could still get in on the Warriors -9, we jumped on in.
The Warriors were up by as many as 15 in the first half, but the Pellies closed the 2nd quarter on a 15-4 run to pull within 4 points at the break.
Golden State then annihilated the second half, destroying the Pelicans 72-35.
Garry Payton II’s second power dunk of the week!
Garbage time power dunks are some of the very best power dunks.
Warriors 126, Pelicans 85.
There was another Poole Party at the Chase Center tonight: 26 points and 6-for-9 from 3 for our boy. Starting to feel better about our pick for Most Improved Player, but he’s got a long way to go to catch up to friend of the blog Miles Bridges.
The tank might as well be fully on for the Pelicans at this point.
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Pacers +6 at Blazers Under 222.5
Blazers -5 was our last pick from Chasing Pure Locks.
We stated: “Sure, the Pesky Pacers always seem to find a way to bone us and bone us hard, but we ain’t scared!”
(We have a LONG running history of never being able to bet a Pacers game correctly.)
It looked like maybe tonight was the night that we would be able to break that streak/curse as Portland opened on a 6-0 run on the way to securing an early 16-point lead.
But here came the Pesky Pacers, cutting the lead to 6 by halftime and taking a 1-point lead of their own going into the 4th.
Even worse, the Pacers got up by 9 in the 4th quarter with 5 minutes left. It looked like we were toast.
It also continued to look like Dame is toast. He couldn’t hit a 3, missed layups and even missed an open dunk! It was appalling. (He finished with four points in the entire game.)
But Robert Covington had our back tonight! (As did Simons who it looks like Dame gave his powers to.)
RoCo hit not one, not two, but three 3s in the final 4 minutes, the last one giving the Blazers a 4-point lead with 14 seconds left. All we needed was a stop and some free throws for the Blazers to cover -5!
The Blazers got the stop! LeVert missed a 3 and Dame eventually corralled the miss and was fouled!!!
Problem: The Blazers were not yet in the Bonus. No free throws yet.
The ball was inbounded with 2 seconds left and the Pacers did not foul.
No free throws.
No Blazers cover.
Blazers 110, Pacers 106.
It was a Roller Coaster Slippery Lock that slipped away.
But either way, RoCo hitting those 3s and doing a little skip after the last one as Moda ignited was pure bliss.
Also: THE PACERS ARE STILL PESKY!!!!!!!
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Hornets at Kings -2 OVER 231.5
It was evident what kinda night this was going to be at Golden 1 Center when the Kings started 10-for-16 from 3.
The Kings’ offense was deliberate and precise and consistently carved up the Hornets, bombs away all game.
Sacramento ended up sniping 22-of-44 on 3s. There was no Miracle After Midnight III tonight.
Kings 140, Hornets 110.
On a night where 8 out of 9 games went Under, the one that had the highest Total by far went Over by 18 points. Not gonna lie, it was a bummer to miss out on a Hornets-Kings Over, but we stayed away from all Totals tonight cause this Under business is CRAZY.
But hey, friend of the blog Richaun Holmes was a BEAST, rockin’ a 20-20 game with 23 points and 20 rebounds!
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Six games ahead on the lite Saturday night slate. We might have to just bet all Unders. (That’ll be the night when the Overs kick back in.)
Either way, we are just glad to be here.
We love this game!
