12-29-21 NBA Blog Train Wednesday
The Blog Train returns after a little Christmas break!
This will likely be the last Blog Train of the year as our early-January fresh set of power rankings will be dropping just around the corner.
In case you are new: the Blog Train is where we keep track of the Vegas lines, the power dunks, the best of #NBATwitter, WHO HE!? and whatever other game observations and box score musings might tickle our fancy.
Eight games on the last Wednesday of 2021 means eight game capsules below.
All aboard!
Hornets +4 at Pacers Under 225.5
The Hornets took control early. LaMelo was everywhere. Rozier was drilling 3s.
Charlotte built up an 18-point lead, but Indiana made a run in the 3rd quarter to get back in it behind a cascade of 3s.
In the 4th quarter, there were serious Austin Powers “Why won’t you die!” vibes going with the Pesky Pacers hanging around on our beloved Hornets until the very end. They eventually, finally, withered out.
In the immediate on-court post-game interview, the always lovely Ashley ShahAhmadi let LaMelo know this was the last Hornets game of the year, and offered him up a chance to shout out Miles Bridges and P.J. Washington, both out in the protocols.
“Happy New Year!”
Hornets 116, Pacers 108.
LaMelo was one assist shy of a triple-dub: 21-12-9. Rozier was the high-man with 35 points and five 3s.
The Hornets are 3-0 vs. the Pacers this season.
In the latest episode of WHO HE!?, we have #28 for the Indiana Pacers, Keifer Sykes. Per the always fabulous Eric Collins, Sykes parents loved the movie A Few Good Men so much that they named their son after Kiefer Sutherland. (Although they slightly switched up the spelling.)
Tonight was Sykes NBA debut and if it was his goal to make it to the NBA before turning 28, he made it… but just barely! Sykes is 27 years and 364 days old, sharing a birthday with LeBron and turning 28 tomorrow. Happy Birthday and welcome aboard, rook! (Said it before and we’ll say it again: Eric Collins remains undefeated!!)
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Knicks -9Push at Pistons UNDER 214
As if the Pistons need any additional disadvantages, a plethora of players were out tonight in the protocols.
We’ve been mostly staying away from the action lately because of exactly that, but this Under 214 would have been the Pure Lock of the night.
Our second WHO HE!? of the night: #31 for the Detroit Pistons, Trayvon Palmer.
Knicks 94, Pistons 85.
If you follow Wob — which you obviously should — you’ve seen how outrageous this box score was.
The ENTIRE Knicks starting lineup had a huge negative plus-minus while the ENTIRE bench unit was a huge positive. Deuce McBride scored zero points and was a plus-39!
For Detroit, Saddiq Bey is averaging 24 points over the last 7 games. However, the Pistons have won only once in the last 19 games.
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Clippers +6 at Celtics UNDER 209.5
Per our guy Brian Sieman, Marcus Morris continues to smolder!
Morris Sr. scored 23 points tonight, making that 20+ points in 7 out of the last 9 games, stepping up as the Clippers main guy with Kawhi, PG and Reggie Jackson all out.
Jaylen Brown scored 30 points which sounds nice until you hear that he took 36 shots, was 1-of-13 from 3 and did not record an assist. Shoutout Antoine Walker!
Clippers 91, Celtics 82.
The Celtics are in a funky funk, losers of 3 straight and 7 out of the last 10 games. Missing Jayson Tatum.
A couple of times now, we have seen #97 for the Celtics out of the corner of our eye, and we think we have a WHO HE!? on our hands, but then we realize: “Oh yeah, that’s Brodric Thomas!” Brodric Thomas was featured on WHO HE!? back on Friday, March 12th, 2021. Yeah, we been out here, bruh.
Also, Brodric Thomas was a +16 tonight in 14 minutes.
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Hawks at Bulls -8 OVER 227.5
The Bulls charged out to a big lead in the 2nd quarter, outscoring the Hawks 36-17 and they never looked back.
LaVine was ridiculously efficient in this one: 25 points on 13 shots without any free throws (5-of-7 from 3).
Bulls 131, Hawks 117.
This was the only game of the night to hit the Over, and they went Over by 20 points.
In case you are not up to snuff on your Hawks WHO HE!? characters, we got you covered:
#5 Cat Barber, a 6-2 27-year-old rookie from NC State.
#21 Malcolm Hill, a 6-6 26-year-old rookie from Illinois.
#49 Cameron Oliver, a 6-8 25-year-old 2nd year guy from Nevada. Oliver played in 4 games last year with the Rockets.
Just so everyone is clear: WHO HE!? is not a slight on these unknown players. Rather, it is celebration of them making it to the league and getting the opportunity of a lifetime, a lone bright spot in these trying times.
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Lakers +6 at Grizzlies UNDER 224.5
The Lakers did that thing they love to do where they get a nice big lead early on and then it all falls a part.
LeBron, on the eve of his 37th birthday, tied his career-high with eight made 3s, scoring 37 points, his sixth game in a row with 30, and notching
But the Grizzlies outscored the Lakers 26-16 in the 4th quarter, led by the fearless Ja Morant, who tallied 41 points and 10 rebounds, including a pristine career-high 6-of-7 from 3.
After the game was over, Ja hugged LeBron, turned around and said to nobody/everybody:
“This is my city.”
Grizzlies 104, Lakers 99.
It’s no surprise that the Lakers lead the league in blown double-digit leads. It doesn’t feel particularly close. (Can you imagine if they had lost to the Rockets last night?)
A Grizz edition of WHO HE!?: #6 Shaq Buchanan, a 6-3 24-year-old rookie from… Murray State!
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Thunder at Suns -16 Under 218.5
If you had the Thunder +16 (which admittedly sure seemed like a lot of points) you were feeling pretty good for the first 75 percent of this game. OKC was up by 3 with four minutes left in the 3rd quarter!
But no, you shouldn’t have felt pretty good, because: Devin Booker.
38-7-5 for Book tonight, 6-of-12 from 3. The Suns outscored the Thunder by 14 in the 4th.
Suns 115, Thunder 97.
In case you are not up to date on your Thunder WHO HE!? characters, we once again have you covered:
#25 Rob Edwards, a 6-5 24-year-old rookie from Arizona State. Tonight was his NBA debut.
#30 Olivier Sarr, a 7-foot 22-year-old rookie from Kentucky and Wake Forest, originally from France. Tonight was his second ever NBA game, debuting last night against the Kings.
#55 Scotty Hopson, a 6-7 32-year-old from Tennessee who hadn’t played in the NBA since the 2017-18 season when he played one game for the Dallas Mavericks. And in the 2013-14 season, Hopson played two games with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Mavs and the Cavs!
We have a WHO HE!? for the Suns as well: #26 Emanuel Terry, a 6-9 26-year-old from Lincoln Memorial, who played two games for the Suns back in 2018-19, and also one game for the Heat that season.
And if you didn’t recognize #35 for the Suns in garbage time, we sure did. That would be Chandler Hutchison, he who infamously was the reason for a terrible Bad Beat of ours two years ago on November 5th, 2019 when he played for the Bulls and squandered a massive and euphoric Lakers comeback after being down 18 in the 3rd, taking and making a garbage time 3 for no reason.
Yeah dawg, we been out here!!!
(Also, we did misspell his last name in that tweet to SVP, but we will NOT apologize.)
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Jazz -8 at Blazers Under 228.5
Dame and Norm Powell both scored 32 points for the Blazers, but the Jazz led wire-to-wire anyway, thanks to an absolute obliteration of the Blazers down low.
Points in the paint: Jazz 74, Blazers 30.
Yeah, absolute obliteration.
The Jazz also had six players score 15+ points: Gobert, Gay, Clarkson, Bogey, Conley and Whiteside.
Jazz 120, Blazers 105.
But it was nice to see our old friend Reggie Perry suited up and even flashing some nifty moves for Portland. We see you, Fridge!
The Blazers also had some WHO HE?! characters tonight, yes they did.
#5 Brandon Williams, a 6-2 22-year-old rookie from Arizona.
#8 Cameron McGriff, a 6-7 24-year-old rookie from Oklahoma State.
#34 Jarron Cumberland, a 6-5 24-year-old rookie from Cincinnati.
We have a WHO HE!? for the Jazz as well: #24 Malik Fitts, a 6-5 24-year-old second-year guy from Saint Mary’s. Fitts played three games for the tanking-trying-to-avoid-the-Lakers-side-of-the-bracket Clippers last April! Welcome aboard, y’all!!
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Mavericks at Kings +1 UNDER 221
The Kings were down 10 in the first quarter but found themselves with a 12-point lead at halftime, thanks mostly to Davion Mitchell. Fresh out of the protocols, Off Night was having an On Night, making his first five shots, including a 3 just before the half.
Jalen Brunson was cooking in the second half. An 11-0 Mavs run in the 3rd made it a game.
A DFS power dunk! Not many power dunks tonight, not many power dunks at all.
It was tied and back and forth late, primarily Brunson vs. Fox.
The Kings were down by 2 with 3.8 seconds left… we were literally thinking, “Is this going to be another Kings buzzer-beater for the win?” And right on cue:
That’s Metu’s music!!!
Kings 95, Mavs 94.
Surprisingly enough, there were no WHO HE!? characters in this one, but there was a familiar face on a new team playing against his original team in the city where it all started.
Gotta love a good full-circle moment.
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Only four games on the Thursday night menu tomorrow, followed by 10 games on New Year’s Eve on Friday with a couple of matinees.
We’ll see you soon with some power rankings, and the Blog Train will catch ya next year.
We love this game!
