GOOD MORNING PEOPLE!!
Portland 122, New Orleans 110
If you are here to figure out why Julius Randle scored 45 against Portland, understand that the Trail Blazers can’t guard your screen and roll and that PDX has a little trouble meeting bodies coming through the rye (at the front of the rim). This was in place well before Randle started tapping his way past 30.
The Blazers weren’t alone in the giveback.
At one stretch in the contest Portland fielded Enes Kanter and Zach Collins up front against the pairing of Randle and New Orleans center Jahlil Okafor. Had I been cleared for action, Kelly Dwyer would have finished the second quarter with eight points on 4-6 shooting (four boards).
Portland’s defense improved considerably as the night rang along, but Randle refused to let up:
(Anthony Davis sat out the entire contest, and it was good to see New Orleans play with purpose as a result. There are good dudes on this team that deserved much better than what 2018-19 gave back.)
Damian Lillard was nice (24 points) when he had to be in the second half and C.J. McCollum hit half of the 20 shots he took. New Orleans had no chance in the face of that backcourt, no help with PDX’s buttwork on the offensive glass.
Rodney Hood traveled and Jake Layman missed all six of his field goal attempts.
Trail Blazers: 42-26, No. 4 in the West.
New Orleans: 30-41, No. 12 in the West.
Milwaukee 113, Miami 98
This is a game that should get to us. The Bucks needed half a game to turn out twice as better as the Miami Heat, another playoff team working at its home arena.
The Heat don’t play well at home, news to those of us that got to watch the Bucks drag through the first quarter and a half of this Florida Turn.
Miami led by as many as 23 in the first half, the front of the rim was unapproachable to Milwaukee and Justise Winslow was acting like a real jerk at the front of the line.
Little bench spurts kept MKE in business, Pat Connaughton and Ersan Ilyasova each popped five field goals and three three-pointers and D.J. Wilson scored a bit of prime time. Khris Middleton earned 21 points, helpful when Miami began the game by hitting six of its first eight three-pointers.
And Giannis Antetokounmpo found his compass in the second half.
Six turnovers, two steals and three blocks.
Justise Winslow bruised a thigh partway through this contest, he’d return but his scope was never the same. Those things bleed nasty, keep a concerned eye on our guy as Miami looks to wrap up its playoff bonafides.
Bucks: 52-17, tops in the East.
Heat: 32-36, game up on Orlando for the last playoff spot, MIA vs. ORL on Sunday.
L.A. Clippers 128, Chicago 120
Teams have complained about Doc Rivers’ set of screens dating back to his years with the Celtics. Not from earliest days, Mark Blount would never be caught getting in another basketball player’s way, but the successful sorts of seasons.
Bulls coach Jim Boylen loves Ryan Arcidiacono because Ryan played for Villanova during the NCAA tournament, Ryan was on CBS and Villanova’s coach had good hair and an engaging backstory.
When Clippers big man Montrezl Harrell knocked the ex-NCAA point guard out of the NBA game in the first half with a rough screen, Jim Boylen became upset.
We’ll let Doc Rivers take over from here:
Reminder ahead.
Head coaches don’t talk to each other during games, unless a bad joke needs laughing at. Jim Boylen’s brand of iconoclasm has its set of detractors.
The Bulls were outclassed in other areas, too, the Clippers ran supreme when the club kept options open and Chicago had no answer for a production with so few transition opportunities for Lauri to lap up: L.A. made enough shots and only turned it over seven times.
Clippers: 40-30, No. 8 in the East, six games up.
Bulls: 19-51, several men down.
Detroit 111, Los Angeles Lakers 97
This was not a fun game to watch on TV, in lieu of highlights I instead think you should watch a hungover Bernard Black engage two visitors:
(English people hug weird.)
Blake Griffin played the Lakers for eight quarters this season and only pulled in two rebounds.
Blake was the one forced to jam a win down the throats of the visiting Lakers, hitting one of his three field goals in the final seconds to cinch it. Los Angeles stayed on the court credibly for far too long, JaVale McGee was quite the factor.
A win’s a win, Detroit, but, yikes.
Shout out to Piston scorer Langston Galloway, 23 points and four three-pointers on a night where everyone played like Thon Maker.
Pistons: 35-33, No. 6, tied with Brooklyn.
Lakers: 31-38, please don’t come back to Michigan for a while.
Charlotte 116, Washington 110
Kemba Walker had his fourth quarter silhouette standing in at the outset of this win, Charlotte needed his burst and Washington needed an early reminder.
The Wizards have worked hard all season, the team truly has, but Washington loses concentration in the time it takes for a Sununu to stiff a server.
Scott Brooks’ crew slipnutted 14 turnovers in the first half alone before registering as “hapless” defensively for strands of the second half.
Charlotte isn’t great, and Walker (10-28 shooting on the night) tired after a spell, Washington used offensive rebounds and a few gnatty deliveries from Jabari Parker (17 points) and Jeff Green (20 points!) to keep close and familiar.
Tony Parker was your Dagger Darling, answering runs for his beloved Hornets and pumping in 16 points.
Jeremy Lamb squeezed the Wizards out of contention with 18 bench points of his own plus eight rebounds, as (say it with me) Bradley Beal’s effort-fisted 40 couldn’t keep Washington above water.
Hornets: 31-37, No. 10 in the East, one game out of the bracket.
Wizards: 29-40, No. 11 in the East, out of the bracket.
Philadelphia 123, Sacramento 114
It was delightful to see the Kings give it a go, and not with some cynical exercise meant to take advantage of all the trap game trappings. This was the Kings’ last contest in a tough road trip and though PHILA was ready for its guests, Sacramento put dat collective butt on the line.
The Kings stuck with the offense, pretty or otherwise. SACTO wanted to create readers out of its writers and the bigs were still allowed to make significant decisions from whatever post looked best. A whole lot of sideline trust in a contest that could have gone uneasy.
Harry Giles dished four assists and contributed a dozen points. Marvin Bagley has only been 20 for a coupla days, he recently returned from an imposing knee strain and you can hardly tell, 15 points and a steal.
Philadelphia’s instruction was just as sublime, the team built buckets and stops off the back of its movement and trust. The Sixers finished the night a better basketball team than they started the evening as.
Jimmy Butler developed more great looks than great looks made and he made quite a few, 22 points on 8-14 shooting.
Beautiful action cleared spaces for our man to do Jimmy Butler Things, even with Ben Simmons and/or Joel Embiid bashing around within the same lineups. There’s room ‘ere.
Embiid directed some killer defense down the stretch and Simmons hit both his free throws again (along with 18 points).
Bobi played nice early on and T.J. McConnell thinks he looks cool with his mouthguard hanging out like that.
76ers: 44-25, No. 3 in the East.
Kings: 33-35, No. 9 in the West.
Houston 106, Phoenix 102
Chris Paul’s absence was badly felt for the hosts. Houston exhibited little cohesion on Friday, it looked like the Suns dragged the Rockets away from the TV.
Phoenix runs good action, you might not like the shots or the players folding over the tortilla on these wraps, but the Suns remain fun to participate within and Friday’s heaves were falling.
DeAndre Ayton turned the ball over seven times but he hit just as many field goals and pulled in twice as many rebounds. If you experienced adolescent troubles with the ‘7’ possibilities on the Multiplication Table, I apologize.
Houston was really shitty defensively with Kenneth Faried roaming.
Richaun Holmes capped a double-double off the pine and Devin Booker got his 29. The Suns weren’t right there, but they were close to kinda being “right there.”
I guessed Kelly Oubre would shoot an attempt on the wrong end of the court on Friday’s podcast, I had to be sated with him missing a wide open dunk:
I hate it when I miss dunks.
James Harden won the evening for Houston, he directed teammates in and out of sight lines and finished with 41 points and 11 assists. Harden turned the ball over six times and talked when it was appropriate to talk. The dude hit 14 rebounds and pulled in nine necessary defensive rebounds. It was Jordanesque.
In the last minute of the game, Harden was beat off the dribble by Devin Booker and stripped by Oubre. It was Austin Dayesque.
Rockets: 43-26, No. 3 in the West.
Phoenix: 16-54, last in the West.
San Antonio 109, New York 83
I stayed in on a Friday night* and watched this.
Spurs: 40-29, No. 6 in the West, half-game up on Utah.
Knicks: 13-56, Kadeem Allen wasn’t bad.
*a Friday night in Indiana.
THE BLUES WALK
If you want to introduce a friend to jazz, this tune is a good track to start nodding to.
Thank you for reading, maybe listening.
(More to come.)
Behind the Boxscore, N2M podcast: I'm also Damian