12-31-19 NBA Blog Train Tuesday - New Year's Eve
It’s New Year’s Eve! And we are still out here Blog Train Rollin!
But first, we would be remiss if we did not tell you that we hit Bucks -8.5 at Bulls and Suns-Blazers Over 233 last night while out at the bar. Whoop whoop!!
We also have to include a slew of power dunks from last night, because we are obviously very obsessed with power dunks.
Bembry poster on Vooch!
It’s soo great to have Collins back.
Love it when the reactions are just as good as the dunk.
Don Mitch pulling it back. Drummond made a wise business decision.
Now back to your regularly scheduled programming:
76ers at Pacers -3.5 Under 212.5
Embiid did not play.
Embiid looked sad.
Sabonis poster! In a recent exercise, we controversially had Sabonis on our current All-NBA Third Team.
Pacers 115, 76ers 97.
Under 212.5 would have been the squeakiest of Locks. The total was 212! Two three-pointers were attempted in the last 40 seconds — would have been on the edge of our seats.
Brogdon played just 8 minutes, injuring his lower back and leaving the game to not return.
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Celtics -7.5 at Hornets Under 210.5
Jaylen Brown did not play. Jayson Tatum picked up the slack. JT is starting to have The Look. He consistently looks smooth as hell and has no problem making increasingly difficult shots.
Nifty and shifty.
Celtics 109, Hornets 92.
Rebounds were the biggest discrepancy: Celtics 54, Hornets 41.
Boston has won 6 of the last 7 and finished December 10-3. Does Ainge still need to trade for a big man or should he ride out this roster which seems to really click? A question we ask ourselves entering the new year.
Kemba’s Revenge is complete as the Celtics have swept the season series 3-0 vs. the Hornets.
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Clippers -6.5 at Kings UNDER 220
No Sweet Lou. No Pat Bev. No problem for the Clips.
Clippers -6.5 and UNDER 220 would have been the ole double Pure Lock.
Fox’s purple Nikes were fire again.
We could not help but notice that Doc shook Bogey’s hand when he checked in… You do not see that every day, so we had to do a little research.
We checked the box score from Clippers-Kings on January 11th, 2018. Bogey scored 22 points on 7 of 11 shooting, 4 of 6 from three. Doc was impressed. Doc has not forgotten.
Clippers 105, Kings 87.
PG struggled shooting, 6 of 25 from the field and 3 of 14 from three, but he still almost pulled off a triple-double: 21 points, 11 rebounds and 9 assists. Kawhi had 24 points but shot just 1 of 7 from three.
The Kings are free falling, having now lost 8 games in a row. #KANGZ
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Cavaliers at Raptors -8 Under 218.5
Raptors -8 would have been a Pure Lock after Toronto broke the game open in the second quarter, outscoring the Cavs 32-18.
Raptors 117, Cavaliers 97.
Terrance Davis in 25 minutes off the bench for the Raps: 19 points on 7 of 12 shooting, 4 of 7 from three.
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Nuggets at Rockets -6 Over 225
We thought Nuggets +6 was a lot of points for the Nuggs, but we thankfully stayed away. Something seemed afoot.
This Harden assist out of the double team across the court to House just before halftime was absurd.
Rockets 130, Nuggets 104.
After missing his first game of the season, Harden was back on it: 35 points on 10 of 17 shooting from the field and 9 of 13 from three. The Beard always plays well on New Year’s Eve!
Westbrook also had a solid game with 28 points on 11 of 22 shooting. Brodie and The Beard combined for 63 points.
This seems important. (Graphic thanks to the always wonderful NBATV!)
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Warriors +11 at Spurs OVER 217
The “Warriors” were shorthanded tonight, which is something we could always say, but tonight especially so with no D-Lo, WCS or Looney.
A clutch Glenn Robinson III pull-up jumper!? GRIII finished with 25 points on 10 of 17 shooting and 3 of 5 from three.
At the end of regulation, Aldridge missed a fadeaway jumper. And then Pop and Mike Brown were hugging at mid-court, apparently thinking that the game was over, but the game was actually going to Overtime.
Classic!
Spurs 117, Warriors 113. OT
Dejounte Murray hit some clutch three-pointers in OT. Not bad for a guy shooting 27 percent from three this season.
Second chance points were the difference: Spurs 24, Warriors 8.
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Mavericks at Thunder +2.5 Under 217.5
No THJ in this one and Porzingis was the latest of scratches due to right knee soreness. The announcers said they found out as soon as they went live on the air. Some daily fantasy players were not happy.
Sorry, Ramon.
Luka scored 23 points in the 1st half, including a slick lay up at the 1st quarter buzzer.
Luka smiled and winked.
#LukaMagic
Alas, the magic ran out.
Thunder 106, Mavericks 101.
OKC closed the game on a 14-2 run. CP3 came through in the clutch with 13 points down the stretch.
CP3 in the immediate on-court post-game interview:
“It’s fun, man. Ain’t nothing like the 4th quarter. Winning time.”
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Happy New Year!
2019 was a glow up. 2020 is here.
We love this game!