12-13-21 NBA Blog Train Monday
Well, well, well! If it isn’t the Monday night Blog Train following up the Friday night Blog Train!
We told you it would be a lot sooner than another month before the next Blog Train was up and running. And to be clear, we did still have two sets of both Power Rankings and Power Dunk City published during that time. So it’s not like we’ve just been lazy, sitting around doing nothing. That’s not in our DNA. (We were also completely off the grid for a little while and have finally caught up on everything. We are BACK.)
Nine games on Monday night means nine game capsules.
All aboard!
Warriors at Pacers +4 Under 213.5
Tonight was not the night.
Not for Steph breaking the all-time 3-point record OR for the Warriors -4 which we locked in, remembering that Draymond said that it had been a couple of years since a loss bothered him as much as Saturday night’s loss to the Sixers.
But it was Draymond himself who turned the ball over in the final seconds with the Warriors up by 2. The Pacers would have fouled, giving us a come-from-behind Push if both free throws were made.
Alas, there were no free throws and Warriors -4 fell short by 2, just the same as Steph who made five 3s (5-of-15) and needs 2 more three-pointers now to break Ray Allen’s all-time record.
Warriors 102, Pacers 100.
And so, it shall happen tomorrow night at MSG, 7:30 on TNT. At the Garden, it just feels meant to be.
Also, gotta give some props to the Pacers who actually held the lead for the majority of this game. Golden State’s defense had to put the clamps down in the fourth quarter, holding the Pacers to just 16 points in the final frame.
Last shoutout goes to the newest Eastern Conference Player of the Week, Domantas Sabonis. Not bad for a guy on a team with so much recent turmoil. Sabonis scored a game-high 30 points tonight, tougher than a brand-new rope.
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Heat at Cavaliers -5.5 Under 208
Rookie sensation Evan Mobley, fro power dunker and fro power blocker Jarrett Allen, and the electric Darius Garland have generated most of the buzz for the Cavs (and rightfully so), but we would like to take the time to let you know that Isaac Okoro is the latest Cav playing some stellar ball.
Okoro has not only been excelling by attacking off the dribble, but he’s hitting some 3s now, too, tying his career-high with four 3s tonight. That’s a big step in the right direction for a guy who is shooting 27 percent from 3 and is guarded like he’s Tony Allen.
Cavs 105, Heat 94.
Okoro was one-upped by Kevin Love who hit five 3s tonight, scoring a game-high 23 points. K-Love has sure turned things around and come a long way from Pouty Kevin Love.
No Jimmy Butler again tonight for the Heat. He’s missed 6 out of the last 7 games still dealing with that tailbone injury. And Markieff Morris? He’s missed 18 straight games now since the Jokic incident.
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Kings at Raptors -4.5 Over 222
The Raptors blew the roof off the Kings doors, leading 70 to 45 at halftime and by as many as 31 in this wire-to-wire victory.
Raptors 124, Kings 101.
This Over was actually sitting at a low 26% chance to hit with about 8 minutes left in the 4th when the floodgates opened up.
The Raptors had NINE players score double-digit points, and totaled a season-high 68 points in the paint.
The forever streaky Kings have followed up a 3-game winning streak with a now 3-game losing streak. #Kangz
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Rockets +10.5 at Hawks OVER 227
If you follow us on Twitter, you’ll know that we have been riding with the Rockets lately. Coming into this game, the Rockets had covered in 9 straight. And yet, tonight they were getting 10.5 points!
We HAD to lock it in, but it was looking rather dreary for a while. The Rockets got down early, but something we have come to learn about these rolling Rockets: they don’t give up.
Even so, down by 19 in the third seemed like a tall task. But here came the Rockets!
It was Eric Gordon and D.J. Augustin canning 3s left and right. David Nwaba — the Demolition Man! — was everywhere. Sengun even got minutes down the stretch in the clutch.
Most importantly: Houston’s defense got stops.
Not only did they cover, the Rockets came all the way back and won the game!
Rockets 132, Hawks 126.
Ice Trae still did his thang with 41 and 9, but:
Twitter saw it first.
The highlight of the night goes to…
Al P!
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Bucks at Celtics -1.5 Under 223
When we saw this spread, we couldn’t figure out why the Celtics were favored. Thinking it was a trap, we stayed it away. But then the Bucks were up by 12 and we were kicking ourselves, knowing that taking the Bucks was the move all along.
Then the scrip completely flipped thanks to one Jayson Tatum.
Tatum popped off for a season-high 42 points, including 7-of-13 from 3. He wasn’t the only Celtic making them, either: Three-pointers: Celtics 20-of-47. Bucks 11-of-36. Al Horford had two and Grant Williams made five.
Celtics 117, Bucks 103.
It should be noted that Jaylen Brown did play for the first time in 5 games (he scored 19), and Khris Middleton had to leave the game and did not return with a hyperextended left knee. The initial report from Mr. Tim Bontemps is that it shouldn’t be too serious.
This one threw us for a loop for a second because… WHO HE!? That’s Javonte Smart, we’ve actually seen him around a little bit, but this is definitely his first Blog Train appearance. Welcome aboard! Smart is an undrafted rookie currently on a two-way contract. What a legendary jersey swap.
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76ers at Grizzlies -1 OVER 209
No Embiid or Seth Curry for Philly, and this was another roof blown off the doors game with the Grizz up by as many as 36 points.
Some two-handed thunder from JJJ.
Grizz 126, Sixers 91.
Three-pointers: Grizz 14-of-34. Sixers: 4-of-22.
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Hornets at Mavericks -2.5 Under 216.5
No Luka or LaMelo, and this was yet another blowout — a wire-to-wire win for the Mavs, leading by 30 in the 1st half and never looking back.
Mavs 120, Hornets 96.
Porzingis had a night: 24 and 13 with 5 blocks. Bubble Trey Burke made an appearance! 22 points in 23 minutes off the bench with four 3s.
The one good takeaway for the Hornets was that it was good to see Terry Rozier back in the lineup, finally returning from the protocols.
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Wizards at Nuggets -3.5 Over 215.5
It looked like this was going to be yet another Monday night obliteration, the Nuggets were up by 33, but the Wiz made a run at it in the 4th, and Jokic was ejected with 6 minutes left.
The Wizards made it somewhat interesting, outscoring the Nuggets 37-22 in the final frame, but they ultimately fell short due to the enormous early hole they dug themselves.
Air Gordon fro windmill! (Quick aside: always a bummer when these videos don’t have the replays :/
Nuggets 113, Wizards 107.
Since their 10-3 start, the Washington Wizards are 5-10.
The Nuggets move to 8-4 at home vs. 6-9 on the road.
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Suns at Clippers +3.5 Under 212
No Book and no Ayton for Phoenix, but no PG or Kawhi (or Nic Batum) for the Clippers.
Shoutout to Isaiah Thomas (the OG IT that is) who had it perfect on GameTime tonight: the Suns were smoking out the window.
Marcus Morris was the high-man with 24 points on 10-of-16 shooting.
We might or might not have have jumped on a Suns Live MoneyLine, thinking that CP would bring them back for sure. Didn’t happen. Not tonight.
The Suns were smoking out the window.
Clippers 111, Suns 95.
Per the Clippers play-by-play man Brian Sieman, the Clippers have not lost at home to the Suns in the regular season since Eric Bledsoe was in a Suns uniform, all the way back in 2013, almost 8 years to the day.
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Only three games ahead on Tuesday night now that the Bulls game vs. the Pistons has been postponed with too many Bulls in the protocols.
We’ll see you at 7:30 on TNT for some
H i s t o r y.
We love this game!
