12-20-21 NBA Blog Train Monday
Happy Holidays from all of us here at basketballin dot net!
Six games on the Monday night menu means six game capsules await.
All aboard!
76ers +3.5 at Celtics Under 214.5
Our Monday night began in Boston with a delay. Apparently some sprinklers went off which set off the fire alarm.
The fire alarm could have stayed on because Joel Embiid was EN FUEGO all night, torching the C’s for 41 points in all, including some crunch-time mid-range daggers. Yes, plural.
But earlier in the game there was an…
Aaron Nesmith power dunk! More than just a shooter apparently.
Danny Green was having a rough night shooting, just 1-for-7, but that of course did not stop him from taking and making a clutch 3 anyway in the final two minutes.
Despite Embiid’s multiple crunch-time mid-range daggers — which, by the way, included an absolutely gorgeous deep fall away J from the corner in both Smart and Kanter’s grills — the Celtics had a chance at the end, down by 3 with 3.9 left but no timeouts.
Marcus Smart tried a full-court baseball pass that was intercepted by Embiid. Ball game.
You know what, we can’t not include it:
76ers 108, Celtics 103.
We have harped on Philly’s 3-point discrepancies lately, so we have to report that they won the battle from distance tonight. Three-pointers: 76ers 10-of-25. Celtics 7-of-27.
The Sixers also won this game despite having only one single bench point. The bench was another full episode of WHO HE!? characters:
#50 Aaron Henry, a rookie from Michigan State. Henry actually played two minutes in the first game of the season against the Pelicans. Tonight was his second ever NBA game.
#13 Myles Powell, a rookie from Seton Hall. Powell was a 4-year college guy and signed a two-way contract with the Sixers yesterday.
#23 Charles Bassey, a rookie from Western Kentucky. Bassey we are familiar with from the NBATwitter jokes about his name being so close to Charles Barkley. He’s also played in quite a few games, tonight was his 13th of the season.
The Celtics did not have any WHO HE!? guys going tonight, but they did recently sign both Justin Jackson and C.J. Miles.
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Rockets at Bulls -7.5 OVER 223
In his own previous words, DeRozan continued to play free as a bird.
The Bulls were up 20 halfway through the 2nd quarter and rung up a season-high 71 points in the first half, never looking back in a wire-to-wire victory over the Rockets who actually beat the Bulls in their first meeting down in H-Town.
We did have a WHO HE!? appearance at the end!
That’s Marko Simonovic, a 6-11 second-round rookie from Montenegro. That’s where Nikola Mirotic and Sasha Pavlovic are from. Tonight was Simonovic’s fourth NBA game and he scored his first ever NBA points at the free throw line.
Bulls 133, Rockets 118.
DeRozan finished with 26 points on 11-of-18 shooting. The Bulls had two snipers off the bench: Coby White hit five 3s and… Alfonzo McKinnie hit four!
As just about every team has these days, the Rockets had a WHO HE!? character as well: #21 Trevelin Queen, an undrafted rookie from New Mexico State who made his NBA debut on Saturday at Detroit. Welcome aboard, y’all!
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Thunder +9 at Grizzlies UNDER 216
Ja Morant returned to the Grizzlies lineup tonight, his first game since November 26th when he sprained his knee vs. Atlanta.
But the best player on the floor tonight? That would be SGA, no question.
In a Revenge Game from the worst loss in NBA history, the Thunder were the more physical team tonight, playing an overall more team-oriented game than the Grizz who had both defensive meltdowns and offensive blunders late.
Thunder 102, Grizzlies 99.
SGA carved the Grizz up for 23 points and Josh Giddey put in 19, including three 3s, not usually a part of his game. SGA and Giddey set each other up late to seal the game. Those two have a great rapport.
The Grizz missed Tyus Jones tonight a lot more than you would think. Jones was out with a finger sprain. He averaged 6.6 assists per game in the 11 games that Ja missed.
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Hornets +12.5 at Jazz UNDER 237.5
When we saw this high HIGH total land at 237.5, we honestly still thought about taking this Hornets-Jazz Over. But in the end, we had to stay away. Sure glad that we did, avoiding a no doubt Anti-Lock.
The Hornets got cooked in the 1st quarter once again, 35-16. But they won both the 2nd and 3rd quarters and went on a silly 20-2 run in the 4th to make it a game for a minute.
The Jazz hunkered down and pulled away late, but the Hornets covered the spread and were at least involved in a competitive 4th quarter for the first time in forever.
Jazz 112, Hornets 102.
Gobert had a 20-20 game, 23 points and 21 boards. His size vs. the undersized Hornets front court was a Problem with a capital P. Gobert, Bogey (23) and Don Mitch (21) combined for 65 points.
Jalen McDaniels had a superb game off the Hornets bench, scoring 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting in 26 minutes of work. LaMelo and Rozier both had flurries of buckets when the Hornets made a run. They could have used one more shot-maker — Gordon Hayward was out tonight with lower back soreness.
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Kings at Warriors -13.5 Under 222
No Jordan Poole again and no Wiggins tonight either, joining Poole in the protocols.
No problem for the Dubs. Draymond had a triple-double through 3 quarters, and Damion Lee showed up to play, getting the start and scoring 18 points (4-of-4 from 3) in 30 minutes, his best real game in a long while. Steph unsurprisingly led the way with 30 points (15 in the 4th), and the Warriors are now 5-0 after losses this season.
Warriors 113, Kings 98.
The final score isn’t a true indicator of how close this game was for a decent stretch in the 2nd half when the Kings fought back, mostly thanks to Buddy Hield’s four 3s in the 3rd quarter and Tyrese Haliburton’s 24 points, 11 assists and 3 steals as the Kings floor general with Fox in the protocols.
#88 for the Kings, Neemias Queta… WHO HE!? Queta is a second-round rookie from Utah State, originally from Portugal. Tonight was his second ever NBA game with his debut coming last Friday night vs. the Grizz. The Blog Train was actually running that night, so we have to apologize for missing that one. But welcome aboard!
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Spurs +6 at Clippers Under 220
Paul George was back in the Clippers lineup tonight, his first game in two weeks. But like Ja, he was greeted back with a loss at home.
The Clippers trailed by as many as 30. The Spurs did their thang: six double-digit scorers, Dejounte Murray the high-man with a 24-13-12 triple-double, his sixth triple-double of the season, tied with Jokic for most in the NBA.
Spurs 116, Clippers 92.
After a 4-13 start, the Spurs are now 8-5 over their last 13 games, turning the ship around. San Antonio is tied with Sacramento in the standings, just a half-game back of Portland and the 10 seed.
Meanwhile the Clippers have lost 3 in row, dropping to just a game above .500 at 16-15, tied even-Steven with… the Lakers.
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Five games ahead on the Tuesday night schedule, including Suns-Lakers at 10:00pm EST on TNT. There is an outside chance that we fire up the Blog Train for the rare Tuesday night edition. But either way…
We love this game!
