HELLO ONE AND ALL!!
Utah 118, Phoenix 97
Utah’s starting lineup (minus Ricky, still without Derrick Favors and his bum back) sparked a dud, Phoenix ran out to an early lead and even reigned by 13 at one point.
Devin Booker left the game with an ankle injury around the same time Donovan Mitchell (29 points) began to develop his wind. Around that same issue, Dragan Bender began to consider the math needed to line up four three-pointers in an NBA game.
He’d miss each, the Suns’ most reliable scorer was Richaun Holmes and Richaun Holmes usually scores best if there’s literally nothing between him and the rim (and sometimes the rim remains an obstacle).
Rudy Gobert dunked a bunch and Joe Ingles (with a bit of a contingent in Phoenix, I reckon) was demonstrative in his bid to put these pups away.
Grayson Allen also managed six field goals for Utah, two threes and a couple of squirts around the basket.
For some reason I feel like a big bowl of milk, right now.
Jimmer Fredette made 5-11 looks for Phoenix but missed all four of his three-pointers. He’s yet to hit an NBA three-pointer this season, despite taking some rather CBA-level attempts.
Jazz: 48-30, No. 5, prolly going to be your Number Five.
Suns: 18-61, could really struggle in this season’s final week.
Later in the evening, for their civic duty, these gentlemen were awarded two cases of Arizona’s state drink.
Portland 116, Memphis 89
Memphis earned its (ten-point!) third quarter lead: Delon Wright sprung wily and (starting center) Ivan Raab worked nicely (if not precisely) around the goal.
Chandler Parsons faced up and hit three threes on the night, that was kinda gross, 16 points in total. Memphis even tried to make a scorer out of Jevon Carter (2-6, five boards, six points, four assists), which left me delighted.
After the half-break the Trail Blazers began defending like a year-older team. PDX responded wonderfully to Memphis’ attempts at a zone — Zach Collins can’t rebound for shit but he can sure sneaks in for buckets, 18 points.
The Grizzlies made Mo Harkless beat them and he did, 5-7 shooting and four steals. Enes Kanter hit 10 field goals and Evan Turner whurped another triple-double.
And yet Damian Lillard (8-18 shooting, 20 points and 10 assists, nothing crazy) looked twice as good as anyone else on the court.
You can’t keep your eyes off him, and for the good reasons. It wasn’t the shoes.
Trail Blazers: 50-28, I had ‘em for 44 wins. Analysis you can count on.
Grizzlies: 31-47, Joakim Noah was unavailable.
Atlanta 130, Philadelphia 122
The Sixers ran without Joel Embiid again but Jimmy Butler was around for this stepback, this 76er snoozer outta ATL.
The Hawks were the better team, and by a lot, only free throw attempts kept Philly around (and the Sixers still biffed 16 freebies).
Atlanta bottled Ben Simmons under cap and wouldn’t let Butler ease into his heroics. J.J. Redick had to take 23 shots, and J.J. Redick had to lead the Sixers in scoring (30).
Atlanta made a finisher out of Simmons and he couldn’t relate. Ben boned short-shot after short-shot and looked nervous to head to the line — Simmons missed five of eight freebies, 6-17 from the field.
T.J. McConnell had to get the Sixers together, which is never fun. Tobias Harris leaked out for 21, but offense wasn’t truly the problem.
PHILA couldn’t find Trae Young in transition — I mean, he’s Trae Young — and the visitors had a miserable time trying to hang with the rookie in screen/roll situations. By the fourth quarter, the Sixers had to trap to get it out of his hands.
Who’s hands?
Young hands:
John Collins enjoyed 25 points, stepping up with Trae stuck at half-court, while Alex Len hit his season average with 11 points.
DeAndre’ Bembry hit for 17 points and six rebounds in Vince Carter’s absence, the Hawk swingman also dished four assists in 21 minutes. This could be something.
Kevin Huerter added 15 points on 6-12 from the floor, often altering his shot’s release point so that its light could not be veiled by the billowing shadow arisen from the nebula of Boban Marjanovic’s looming excellence.
Pivots Amir Johnson and Jonah Bolden did well to contribute on Philadelphia’s offensive glass, but otherwise they’re running laps.
Hawks: 29-50, No. 12 in the East.
76ers: 49-29, third in the East.
Orlando 114, New York 100
New York is horrible at defense and it showed, look at Orlando and all these points.
Nikola Vucevic worked his way toward 29 points with 13 rebounds, while Terrence Ross’ 23 points (on only 14 shots) made the difference in a runny, runny game.
This was Terrence’s first knockout performance in two weeks, he was able to step into looks during the third quarter and put New York away.
What New York and Orlando both learned, this year, is that nothing puts Mario Hezonja away.
Talkin’ mess to fans, playing with the mascot. Mario fouled out, too.
Someday we’ll all return to Orlando, just like this.
Magic: 39-40, living with the No. 8 seed in the East, half-game up on Miami.
Knicks: 15-63, Knick fans will vote Mitchell Robinson onto the 2020 All-Star team.
Indiana 108, Detroit 89
The Pacers and Pistons really should consider not scheduling each other for a few years.
This contest outlasted a miserable start because it had to, NBA rules enforced each of those 48 minutes and only the Pacers seemed to want to really do something with it.
Tyreke Evans started for Indiana and missed a dozen shots in 13 attempts, he dished one assist.
However, the addition of that Other Ballhandler was so badly what the Pacers needed on so, so many possessions. The team’s movement ensured, pushed-down scorers like Bojan Bogdanovic and Doug McDermott were able to feed off quick post-ups and related, forward-y moves.
The Pacers fielded a bench, people to make shots in places the Pistons didn’t have. T.J. Leaf worked again and splished both his buckets, Domantas Sabonis connected on seven field goals and pulled in 13 rebounds (because there were so many rebounds).
The remaining movement did the Pacers well in the third quarter, the team lived at the line even while missing damn near every field goal. DET’s Reggie Jackson (16 points) did his best to loft in Blake Griffin’s absence, and Wayne Ellington curled for 26, but the Pistons never had this.
Thom Maker started with Griffin resting that knee, and the Pistons were felled by his Makerisms — repeated issues of Thon’s offense, and defense.
Pacers: 47-32, No. 5 in the East.
Pistons: 39-39, No. 6 in the East and way the hell behind the Pacers.
Charlotte 115, New Orleans 109
This game was sloppy and its players were bored, only waiting out the seconds until the inevitable happened:
Stay in Charlotte. I already growled about this on Never Too Much.
Make as much money as you can, and figure out the Best Fit later.
Hornets: 36-42, No. 10, two and a half games out.
Pelicans: 32-47, Anthony Davis sat the contest after developing back stiffness.
Minnesota 110, Dallas 108
Luka Doncic was outstanding, but he also attempted a rather lame three-pointer late in this contest that managed to never have a chance while still somehow ruining all of Dallas’ chances at a win.
The Mavericks couldn’t hit a three but, hell, Minnesota can’t stop anything. Immovable doof versus wholly-resistible dud.
Jalen Brunson is like Rick Brunson, but good. On the other hand, Minnesota’s defense: Dallas enjoyed a season-high 64 points in the paint.
Minnesota basically took the victory due to Luka’s bad miss and because Karl-Anthony Towns was able to long-arm his way into score after score, 28 points on 12-15 shooting.
Between Mitchell Robinson’s Dawkins-y throwdowns, KAT’s stellar performance and Andre Drummond’s 28 points, the NBA enjoyed quite a bit of Connie Hawkins-styled reach on Wednesday.
Timberwolves: 35-43, I was for a play-in tournament until I watched this game.
Mavericks: 31-47, Anstey.
Chicago 115, Washington 114
Nothing I can relay about the 52 seconds of live action I witnessed from this performance will be nearly as entertaining as taking a bathroom break with this Michael Jordan (vs. KG) clip:
I mean, you get Kevin Harlan delivering some weird flowetry about Stanley Roberts, it’s a trip.
(Later during a free throw a Bulls fan yelled “hey! Burger King!” out at Stanley.)
(Then again this was 1998 and Burger King was actually good back then.)
Walt Lemon Jr. won the contest for Chicago with a pair of free throws.
Bulls: 22-57, apparently the execution down the stretch was flawless.
Wizards: 32-47, “hey! Burger King! But in 2019!”
Boston 112, Miami 102
On the surface it appears odd that Miami routinely returned to the same zone that Boston so wonderfully picked apart on Monday, but the Heat are going to need that sort of support system if the club is to make the playoffs.
The odds turn rather rough after Wednesday’s loss. Josh Richardson left the game with a creeping left leg injury during the third quarter and Boston hit 27 free throws to Miami’s 12. The Celtics were always in the middle of that zone.
This is how a series works, though, and sometimes the NBA sports you a two-game series during the worst of the regular season. Miami threw its best at Boston for a few days and the odds didn’t pan out, though the Heat had some chances.
Justise Winslow, that ain’t him out there. Just so you know.
We’ll visit with Boston on Friday and post a BtB overnight.
Celtics: 47-32, No. 4 in the East.
Heat: 38-40, half’a game behind Orlando, No. 9 in the East. No. 9.
No. 9.
Houston 135, L.A. Clippers 103
I don’t know what’s gotten into Houston’s defense but the club has it so the other side doesn’t want to finish plays, now. Like, the pick and roll just gives up. I’ve never seen it so tired.
This wasn’t ever much of a competition, and the Rockets just put together an outrageous pair of wins.
Rockets: 51-28, third in the West.
Clippers: 47-32, sixth in the West and I think we’ve developed tiers.
Toronto 115, Brooklyn 105
Your Nets suffered from repeated Trouble With Gasol, Marc pinned five assists in the first half and picked four steals to explain away that 3-10 shooting.
Toronto didn’t lack for buckets.
Kawhi Leonard was Cohen-level turgid on his way toward 26 points but Pascal Siakam slinked gorgeously toward his team-leading 28:
Five assists and 10 rebounds, one turnover.
Toronto turned it over seven times all day, one fewer than what Brooklyn coughed up in the first half. BKN cleaned up its act as the night moved along, but it couldn’t get a handle on Toronto’s offensive board’woork.
Caris LeVert (1-9 shooting) fell back a bit after a string of strong games and D’Angelo Russell (11-25 from the floor) still takes some nutrageous shots.
Raptors: 56-23, second in the East, 2.5 games behind Milwaukee.
Nets: 39-40, No. 7 in the East.
Denver 113, San Antonio 85
Nikola Jokic needed a help-me game, and the Nuggets did well to involve him early. To seek the pivot, to make sure the Old Man settled before anyone else got to grabbing from the table.
This is part of what pushed Coach Pop out of the game, escorted off for arguing butts and strikes: Gregg Popovich loudly articulated expectations for LaMarcus Aldridge to earn the same treatment from the referees that Jokic was set to embrace.
The game needn’t get down to that grimy a level, the Spurs were never truly in this. San Antonio never led and two of its double-figure scorers (Davis Bertrans, Lonnie White IV!) tacked their totals in garbage time.
Denver learned from Tuesday’s whupping. The home team went all out with jumpy defense and dangerous decisions on the other end — everything worked because the hustle was in regard.
San Antonio tried a zone and nothing helped, first day of the rest of Denver’s life.
Monte Morris and Malik Beasley got their brims back at home, 19 points for each off the pine. Mason Plumlee delivered exceptional defense and four field goals, Nikola nearly peeled off a triple-double and Torrey Craig picked up three fouls in 19 minutes. The Nuggets are back.
Show patience with Gary Harris (5-10 shooting, 11 points).
The Gary we see in May should act remarkably smoother than the fella we’ve practiced with in spring.
Nuggets: 52-26, No. 2 in the West, 1.5 games behind Golden State.
San Antonio: 45-34, No. 8 in the West, half’a game behind OKC.
PACK IT UP
My oh my, what a great drummer can do for a recording.
Thank you for reading!
I gotta do that button again:
(More to come.)
Behind the Boxscore: Only another week of Phoenix