GOOD MORNING PEOPLE!!
Orlando 103, Golden State 96
Basketball has a clock and the game still demands that you work up intelligent output within the clock’s terms. Time’s flat circle even exists within Orlando, a place we’ve all spent a month in (one weekend).
Your hometown Magic did not play exceedingly well in this win, but the club’s shots went in and the defense was pointed and accurate enough to reel in the victory. Terrence Ross was around for a lot of it.
Golden State wasted its fourth quarter, wasted it, it was a Wednesday night in Orlando and the champs managed 15 damn points. Frittered away the period with turnovers and a weird insistence on getting DeMarcus Cousins the ball in the spots of the court he likes least. These places are tough to find.
Boogie likes to pass as much as he likes to shoot but he doesn’t love anything as much as having the ball, DMC could not connect for his sloppy new team (ohfer four in the fourth) down the stretch of a contest he got to finish. Boogie wasn’t prepared to admit frailty in the face of OK Orlando footwork.
Facing a fourth quarter deficit, the Magic dug in to take the sorta stupid threes they usually love to lose games with. Aaron Gordon nailed a triple late and cinched the game on a tip-in after Warrior forward Jonas Jerebko found himself lost in the movement.
Klay Thompson was fearless in Kevin Durant’s absence (rest) but his touch faded as the night drew Orlando-y. Stephen Curry needed 33 shots to score 33 points, the Warriors plugged in 96 points per 100 possessions and the team just lost to Florida.
Nobody on the Magic was especially astounding, the home team just had the sensibility to steer right once the Warriors decided to use the cigarette lighter to set the passenger seat on fire.
Magic: 29-34, No. 8 in the East.
Warriors: 43-19, just lost to Orlando, tops in the West.
Houston 121, Miami 118
The Heat played well enough to win this performance, Miami’s Texas effort was supreme and its execution mostly on point. The Heat worked on the second night of a back-to-back, flying in from Florida same as these here Rockets, but it wasn’t legs that felled Miami.
Nah, James Harden is just nutty. You don’t even have to relent and yet he’ll still park four home runs in a game.
Harden collected bucket after bucket in the second half, scheming to add to his total (fifty-eight, FIFTYEIGHT, 58!!) while the Heat slowly lost its nerve.
Miami started on a string, doubling Harden yards from the rim on the second night of a back to back, flying righteously in Hassan Whiteside’s continued absence (hip pointer), establishing a 21-point lead at one point without looking like a racer that skipped its last pit.
Goran Dragic’s hair has grown back at an astonishing rate after a disastrous recent cut. In back-to-back nights against Golden State and Houston the reserve point guard administered a 24-points per game average alongside eight total assists and only two turnovers in 45 minutes. And, again, the hair looks great now — he really grew into it.
Dion Waiters splashed threes late, Miami made 15-28 (53.6 percent) overall, your whole Heat appeared to have the arc.
Houston’s defense turned up as your evening dragged along, mainly because Miami had to take the ball out of the damn net so much because James Harden was with basketball.
Sometimes, in this super-speedy culture, James gets five at-bats per game.
Rockets: 37-25, fifth in the West.
Heat: 27-34, tenth in the East.
Utah 111, Denver 104
Not an illustrious game, but a rather impressive one. Utah just had itself a midweek.
The Jazz put the screws on Nikola Jokic, got the driver right and turned the knob the good direction, Nikola finished with 13 boards and seven assists but also with as many made baskets (five) as turnovers and fouls. Rudy Gobert is long, Utah had a way of making Jokic feel like a squished-in power forward.
The visitors did well in mapping without Ricky Rubio (hamstring), Utah held up to some Denver defensive scrutiny even with backup point man Raul Neto sidelined with the same setback. Joe Ingles (10 assists) provided a dish, but his setup is wholly different from that of Neto and Rubio’s — the Jazz won this while circling wagons.
Your show-stopping regulars (Will Barton, Jamal Murray, the forever young Paul Millsap) helped Denver pull a game out of this.
The Nuggets entered halftime down 17 and nearly yanked a one-possession plot out of the final minute, yet a goaltend call went silly and Donovan Mitchell’s nine ultraclutch points in the second-half of the fourth quarter tucked the squealer in Utah’s pocket.
Utah came back to top the Clippers and held on to frustrate the Nuggets in 48 hours, Mountain Time-hours. Get real.
Jazz: 35-26, No. 6 in the West.
Nuggets: 42-19, No. 2 in the West.
Indiana 122, Minnesota 115
Karl Anthony-Towns sprinted magnificently in the first quarter, running up 23 of his 42 points, but the Pacers do well with a stated goal hanging over them.
Thaddeus Young led a righteous second quarter charge, 11 points and two steals, while Bojan Bogdanovic (14 points in the game’s final 7:22) spun expertly down the stretch of the contest.
Bojan wore a beautiful red blazer to the game because he “thought we were on TNT.”
KAT needs help.
Andrew Wiggins is severely deficient as a competitive basketball cog at this level and Minnesota felt the sting when it replaced Luol Deng’s fourth quarter minutes with that of the (game, but also missing dunks) Anthony Tolliver. Deng’s aching left Achilles is killing Minnesota’s playoff hopes.
Also Andrew Wiggins. Destroying those hopes.
Tripping those hopes on the way out of the elevator and into the lobby, walking away and pretending not to hear anything with the earbuds in but, guess what, someone left their earbuds back up in the hotel room.
Pacers: 41-22, third in the East.
Timberwolves: 29-33, No. 11 in the West.
Cleveland 125, New York 118
The whole game happened: Larry Nance Jr. fouled out, Marquese Chriss missed all five of his shots and Mitchell “Yoke” Robinson made each of his five field goals. Even better was New York forward Noah Vonleh, 7-7 from the floor, Mr. November now back to make March all his.
At one point in the broadcast, Clyde Frazier lamented the loss of available Raisin Bran on the Knick postgame flights.
New York got its buckets throughout, Cleveland can’t guard anyone and wouldn’t know where to stand if you asked a Cavalier nicely.
Then Damyean Dotson had to leave — he’s a Knick and was playing well on both sides, DDOT took a hard hit in the fourth and would not return. His teammates showed their respects by quietly packing their respective Wednesdays away in response, suddenly the bloom was off the Mudiay and the hops on Dennis Smith Jr. flattened.
Cedi Osman picked at openings and hit three three-pointers. Kevin Love (26 points on only a dozen shots) reminded us that greater things do exist and Ante Zizic (needed comeback buckets) enforced the idea that this was still a Cavalier versus Knicks contest.
And Collin just rolled ‘em in.
New York pushed until its end, there was a note in his pocket and the handwriting read “Henry Ellenson (sp?),” but this was Cleveland’s turn to arouse.
Cavaliers: 15-47, No. 14 in the East.
Knicks: 13-49, No. 15 in the East.
Philadelphia 108, Oklahoma City 104
With Paul George resting his sore shoulder, the Thunder decided to start Markieff Morris in the MVP’s absence. In rejoinder, Philly ran up double-figures before Markieff could race off the floor in favor of Dennis Schröder, who still plays a lot like Dennis Schröder.
Joel Embiid also sat for the Sixers and the clubs did well to compare drawn straws. Dennis and Russell Westbrook had their woes finding the right shots, Philly rarely had as much trouble — where once stood Wilson Chandler, now stomps Tobias Harris.
Or Mike Scott, OKC. Cover Mike Scott. All he does is Mike Scott, people.
FEELS LIKE SUMMER
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(More to come.)
Behind the Boxscore: Warriors can't handle Florida