12-30-20 New Year's Eve's Eve NBA Blog Train Wednesday
Happy New Year’s Eve’s Eve!
A lite 6 games on the Wednesday night slate.
All aboard!
Grizzlies at Celtics -7 Over 218
We have a nice little streak going of flubbing the first Lock of the night. Tonight was unfortunately no different. Under 218 sounded like the right move: Celtics on the second night of a back-to-back and no Ja Morant for the Grizz. We were looking great at halftime! (You might have heard that one before.)
Through the first quarter: On pace for 200 points. At halftime: On pace for 212 points.
1st half combined points: 106. 2nd half combined points: 127 points. (On pace for 254!)
They brought in the backups who lit the TD Garden ablaze. We have long clamored for Brad Stevens to play Carsen Edwards more minutes. And there he was, draining three-pointers and setting our own money on fire. When Payton Pritchard hit a sick step-back 3 — and we are talking SICK — that’s when we knew we were really doomed.
It was a Slippery Lock that slipped away.
Celtics 126, Grizzlies 107.
Probably the saddest part of no fans at arenas so far was nobody going crazy when Tacko checked into the game.
It must be noted that Jaylen Brown was dialed all the way in tonight. JB started the game by making 6 out of 6 threes, more on fire than fire itself. He finished with 42 points.
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Hawks +5.5 at Nets OVER 240
A laughable Over/Under at 240 points and… they went OVER by 46 points!
Kyrie turned into Uncle Drew and took this game over, 17 points in the 4th quarter.
KD also had some Slim Reaper moments of his own. It’s really nice having his unguardable 3’s back in the game. Also nice to see KD setting up his teammates, smiling and just have good ole fashion fun playing ball.
Happy KD is the best KD.
Nets 145, Hawks 141.
These two teams play the second game of their baseball series on Friday night. How high is Vegas willing to go on the Over/Under? Surely it can’t get to 250… surely. Will the Hawks be able to revenge their first loss of the season?
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Bucks at Heat +6.5 Under 228.5
We wrote last night that we thought the Heat would be pissed after last night’s beatdown by the Bucks on their home court. Turns out that we were right. The Heat were pissed, and they took it out on the Bucks who melted away. We should have taken the Heat. But without Jimmy Butler, it was hard to pull that trigger. Oh yeah, the Heat did this without Jimmy Butler!
Also just last night, we wrote that we were really worried that one of our favorite segments, Coaches in Despair, was going to be completely negated by masks this season. Nick Nurse had something to say about it last night, and tonight it was Coach Bud. Perfectly fitting because those are the two coaches that find themselves in that segment the most.
Coach Bud looks like he just looked into the future and saw the final score.
Heat 119, Bucks 108.
The Bucks led by 14 points with 8 minutes left in the 3rd quarter. That’s a 25-point turnaround and a 58-point turnaround from last night’s result. The Heat got their revenge. (Would it be too much trouble to keep track of every baseball series to see who gets revenge and who gets swept?)
The difference was free throws: Bucks 12 of 13. Heat 24 of 29.
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Hornets +6.5 at Mavericks Under 225
Oh yes, our beloved Hornets in Dallas to play The Don. The Wonderboy himself. If you know us at all, you know that we took this Hornets Over without hesitation. And oh baby did it get off to a glorious start.
The Hornets punched the damn Mavs in the mouth! That’s right, after the Hornets beat the Nets on Sunday, they turned around and stomped the Mavs, leading by as much as 31. The Hornets were scoring in droves: 36, 32 and 30 point quarters. We were looking great through 3 quarters! (You can probably guess where this is going.)
In the 4th quarter, the scoring STOPPED altogether. And the Mavs scoring just 12 points in the third quarter sure didn’t help. This was the complete opposite of the Grizz-C’s botched Under earlier tonight, but it was another Slippery Lock that slipped away.
At least we got a big Hornets W and a…
Biz left-handed power dunk! He had one on the Mavs last year! (Power Dunk #140 from Round 14 of Power Dunk City)
Hornets 118, Mavs 99.
LaMelo Ball was ballin’ and looking straight savvy as hell. He was drilling 3’s to boot! 4 of 5 from downtown. Miles Bridges was also sinking 3’s all night, 4 of 6, with 20 points and 16 boards.
If you did not tune into this one, or even stick it out until the end to see if your Hornets Over hit, then you missed out on James Johnson trying to fight both Cody and Caleb Martin. You really missed out!
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Lakers -7.5 at Spurs Under 231
The Lakers owed us one from Monday night when the Blazers had their number. Lakers -7.5 was the Solid Lock that we could count on. The Spurs actually pulled within 9 points with under 4 minutes to go, so we don’t quite count it as a Pure Lock.
DeRozan power dunk on top of Trez! But it’s awesome that Trez helped up DeRozan.
Pop was stewing. He was later ejected after two technicals and Becky Hammon took over!
Birthday flexin’. Today is LeBron’s 36th birthday. LeBron started the game rocking some pink shoes and at halftime, he switched to his purples.
Lakers 121, Spurs 107.
LeBron has now scored 10 or more points for 1,000 straight games.
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Blazers at Clippers -5.5 Over 225.5
We pondered who would get their revenge tonight. Who would be the last one laughing? A spread of 6 was ultimately too enticing. We rolled with Dame, and it didn’t work out.
Clippers 128, Blazers 105.
Masked Kawhi showed up and the Clippers led the entire way. But it’s not the last laugh — these two will meet again. (Although another meeting is not scheduled for the first half of the season.)
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Seven games tomorrow night on the New Year’s Eve schedule, but it does not appear that the Blog Train will be leaving the station.
Happy New Year, y’all! Be safe and see you next year.
We love this game!
