ONE) “Coby mf White !!” - Zach LaVine
I’m just gonna have to accept it, aren’t I? The Bulls are making the play-in, and there’s nothing I can do about it. They now have a 3.5-game lead on the Nets for the 10th seed in the East. You’d think I’d be used to it since they’ve been the 10th seed forever, but I stupidly held out hope that they'd figure out a way to start losing. This was the Coby White game. He completely took over this game, scoring 17 of his 44 in the 4th quarter. First 40-ball of his career. He’s had so many memorable moments this season that would usually make me go crazy, but here I am, sulking instead. Trust me, I don’t wanna be like this, but it is what it is.
Bulls were without Lonzo (wrist), Vuc (calf), and PWill (quad) again. Thought they might get Pat back here, but he’s still not ready. Tre Jones (20 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists) started for Zo and played 30 minutes. Josh Giddey (19 points, 13 rebounds) keeps helping the Best Ball bags, falling one assist shy of a triple-double.
“I mean, just contain him. He's a great player. He was getting to the basket when he was getting these layups where we missed low man help and his pull-up threes. Most of 'em was wide open, but he's a great shooter. He just put the ball in the basket tonight.” - KCP on Coby White
TWO) 40 Free Throws and Still…
It’s pretty wild that the Magic scored 123 points, attempted 40 free throws, AND STILL LOST. This just isn't the same defense without Jalen Suggs and without Goga Bitadze starting. We’re used to them being top two or three in defensive rating. They’re eighth since January 1. They fell into the trap of playing Chicago’s game, and it burned them. You don’t wanna partake in a track meet with them cause that’s all they’ve been doing since the season began. It doesn’t matter how many guys are out, they’ll still run.
They had a chance to win at the end, with Paolo taking an open three with three seconds left, but missed. Wendell Carter Jr. grabbed the board and had the chance for a game-winner but brought the ball down instead of trying to tip it in. Dunked the ball after the buzzer sounded. Cole Anthony (toe) returned from a one-game absence. Started and scored 20 points in 24 minutes. Thought Franz was gonna have a huge game after seeing the Bulls start Jones, but the size advantage didn’t benefit him at all. He finished with 18 points on 44/8% TS. Jonathan Issac missed this one with an illness.
"I thought P [Paolo] was going to knock that down. When that came off, I thought I had enough time to come down with it and go back up. Probably should've just did a putback." - WCJ on the final possession
The Bulls beat the Magic 125-123. Orlando goes 1-6 on their homestand and fall to ninth in the East.
THREE) No Hali
The Pacers were without Tyrese Haliburton (hip flexor strain) for just the second time this season, and Bennedict Mathurin (wrist) missed his fourth straight. They still almost won. Jarace Walker received his second start of the season, which was a bit odd since he hasn’t really been a part of the rotation. Rick Carlisle said that they wanted to keep Ben Sheppard off the bench for his “familiar role” and that Walker has a great week of practice. Jarace (8 points, 7 rebounds) played 25 minutes, which is what he played in his other start earlier in the season against Toronto.
What have we known about Indy in the last couple of years? They’re a massive rim funnel. They sure lived up to the label here. They gave up 74 points in the paint! Pascal Siakam did as much as he could, scoring 35 points on 79.7% TS. They didn’t bring him back in the 4th until the five-minute mark, which was way too late. They were -14 in the non-Pascal minutes.
“That point in the season.” - Rick Carlisle on Haliburton’s hip flexor
He’s day-to-day moving forward.
FOUR) Niang in the 4th
Already talked about what this Hawks team did to the Pacers in the paint, so let’s talk about Georges Niang. He scored 12 of his 24 points (80.0% TS) in the 4th quarter, 10 of them being with Pascal on the bench. He’s scored 20+ points in three of his 10 games with the Hawks. Three of his top eight scoring games of his career, and this dude’s been around for a bit (526 games). I owe Gallagher an apology cause I wasted no time time shitting on his take that Niang should start on this Hawks team. Mo Gueye is who started tonight and played 23 minutes. Onyeka Okongwu (20 points, 13 rebounds) was just as important to the win as Niang, putting up a 20-point dub-dub.
And then there’s Trae (22 points, 16 assists). He ties Steve Nash for the 10th most games in NBA history with 20+ points and 15+ assists. His 14th game this season with 15+ assists. Only one turnover, too.
“I like us attacking the rim. I like the three, I like the rim more. We have a saying: the rim will reveal itself.” - Quin Snyder on the 74 points in the paint.
The Hawks beat the Pacers 124-118.
FIVE) No Plans of Shutting Down
We all believe that the Sixers should be shutting guys down, but not Nick Nurse. Mentioned the other day that he has nothing to gain from a tank since his job’s on the rocks. He was asked about the possibility of the team shutting down Paul George as he deals with the pinky and groin injury. His response:
"I haven't discussed that with anybody. Yeah, so, no."
Sounds like we’re stuck having to watch this nightmare season for a bit longer. They were without PG and Maxey against the Celtics, and it went as you’d expect. They went with the big starting lineup of Grimes, Oubre Jr., Edwards, Yabusele, and Drummond. That lineup had a -14.2 net rating in 11 minutes. For the first time since the roll change, Grimes looked a little overwhelmed as the primary ball handler. Only good thing to say about Philly is that Lonnie Walker IV was awesome in his revenge game. Walker scored 17 points on 65.4% TS in 28 minutes. He was so good that he didn’t even get garbage time. Dude just signed with the team a couple of weeks ago!
SIX) White’s Teeth
Derrick White’s the absolute best. Do you remember when he chipped one of his front teeth in Game 5 of the NBA Finals? Well, he just lost another tooth, and how funny is this? The tooth he lost was the temporary one that he had put in after the Finals! Swear to god. He procrastinated, but now he has no choice. It didn’t even force him to leave the game. Oubre elbowed him, the tooth went flying, White picked it up and went to the locker room, then started the second half. Celtics staffers glued the teeth back together, popped them back in, and gave him a mouthguard. How can you not love this man?
“I’m going to go tomorrow” - Derrick White on when he’s going back to the dentist after procrastinating
Boston was without Jaylen Brown, Al Horford, Sam Houser, Kristaps Porzingis, and Jrue Holiday. Thin as hell, but didn’t matter. Drew Peterson received his first career start and played 16 minutes. Mazzulla was asked why he doesn’t start Pritchard in these spots:
“Just flexibility in general is important…Maintaining flexibility to be able to go with whatever makes the most sense is at the forefront.”
A day after scoring a career-high 43 points, Pritch scores 19 points on 66.3% TS. Makes 4-of-8 from three after making 10-of-16 against Portland. He’s 11 threes shy of breaking the record for most threes made off the bench. Wayne Ellington had 218. Boston’s bench scored 59 points, their second most of the season, despite five of their top eight players being sidelined. Insanity. Jayson Tatum scored 35 points in 31 minutes after getting to rest on Wednesday. Baylor Scheierman scored a career-high 15 points in 30 minutes.
"I told him after the game, ‘You did your job. Your job was to score 35 and sit the fourth quarter in a game like this,’ and he did that… To sit here and have him do that and be the last question of the night kind of shows how good he is.” - Joe Mazzulla on Jayson Tatum
The Celtics beat the Sixers 123-105
SEVEN) Dray, WTF?
Not sure if you saw the video going around, but Draymond Green was on his pod with Baron Davis and was talking about their recent matchup with the Knicks. He was going on and on about how he heard that KAT skipped that game because of his history with Jimmy Butler. Like he repeated the story a couple of times in the clip. It doesn’t take long to research such a thing before dragging someone’s name in the mud. If you don’t know, the personal reason KAT missed was because a close friend of his died. Pretty fucked up, right? To make matters worse, he was asked about the clip in the postgame presser, and this is what he said:
“Oh man. That’s unfortunate. I’m sorry to hear that. That sucks. But my comments that I made was that ‘people I heard was this. And that’s what I heard.’ So I do send my well wishes to him and his family. You know, none of us. It’s inevitable. We all experience death in one way or another, and we’ll all experience it in the same way one day. So it’s unfortunate. You never wish that on anybody, but the Draymond Green Show with Baron Davis must go on.”
I’m sorry, that’s just some clown-type behavior. Kinda overshadowed the game against the Nets, but whatever. At least we have Steph to help us wash away that kind of negativity. Steph was making circus shots all night, leading to 40 points on 83.5% TS (7-13 3PT). Jimmy (+17) was also great, scoring 25 on 71.8% TS and making 10-of-10 from the free-throw line. Still, such a welcomed sight to see someone wearing that jersey getting to the line. Brandin Podziemski checked out of the game 44 seconds in after hurting his back. He did not return. Kerr said that it doesn’t appear to be serious.
“That’s why he’s the best shooter ever and one of the best players in the world... That’s how it looks when you play against a player like this.” - Jordi Fernandez on Steph Curry's 40-point performance tonight
The Warriors beat the Nets 121-119. GS improves to 10-1 with Jimmy Butler.
EIGHT) A Road Win… Finally
The Rockets had lost 11 straight road games coming into this game at New Orleans. Looked like they were well on their way to another loss early after being down 12 in the first quarter and trailing the entire half. Then, the defense turned up in the third quarter, and the Rockets went double-big. Something they’ve only done for 17 minutes this season. It was their best lineup on the night, with a 150 net rating in three and a half minutes. New Orleans couldn’t score on them. Tari Eason started this one over Jabari Smith Jr. He scored 20 points in 31 minutes. Houston has won four straight games when he starts. Alperen Sengun scored 22 on 71.8% TS. They were a +15 in his 36 minutes. Amen Thompson (21 points, 11 rebounds, 10-13 FG) had a 20-point dub-dub in his 39 minutes. Reed Sheppard (2 points, 3 rebounds, 12 minutes) is still in the rotation for now.
On the flip side, Zion Williamson (20 points, 10 rebounds) also had a 20-point dub-dub, but they were a -18 in his 32 minutes. The 32 minutes is the most he’s played since November 1.
“A little bit of everything. But we do want to get back to it with what we did well to start the season and play physical, playing fast and hit the boards against a team that struggles in those areas.” - Ime Udoka on Houston’s propensity to start some games poorly and finish others poorly
The Rockets beat the Pelicans 109-97.
NINE) Brunson’s Ankle
The game of the night had the heartache of the night. Jalen Brunson was doing everything for New York, scoring 23 of his 39 points in the second half and overtime. He had a 62.5% usage rate in OT. They just gave him the ball and moved out of the way until the injury. He now has 141 clutch points this season, the most by a Knick in a season in the play-by-play era.
With a minute and a half left in OT, he landed on Austin Reaves’ foot after getting fouled on a drive and the ankle severely twisted. He’d stay down for a while before getting up to take the free throws. They intentionally fouled after he made both, and he went straight to the locker room. I’m not gonna sit here and pretend to be one of those Twitter docs, but all I can say is that it looked horrible. Chris Haynes reported afterward that there’s optimism that he only sustained a sprained ankle. That's definitely good news, but we’ve seen how long severely sprained ankles can heal this season.
Josh Hart (18 points, 10 assists) turned 30 on Thursday night and recorded a double-double on his birthday. Karl-Anthony (12 points, 14 rebounds) Towns barely touched the ball down the stretch. We got our first glimpse of the MitchRob/KAT lineup. They were a +5 in a little over two minutes.
All we can do now is wait for more news on Brunson’s ankle
"He's being examined…I haven't spoken with him, he was back with the medical people. I'll get updated later when I get back.” - Thibs on Jalen Brunson
TEN) Eight Straight
It’s the same story every night with the Lakers. Luka does some crazy shit, we all make fun of Nico Harrison and then they win the game. He started the game by scoring 13 of his 32 points in the first quarter (40.9% USG), which is getting familiar. He’s played three games so far in March, and this is what he’s scored in the 1st quarter of each:
17 PTS (41.7% USG)
12 PTS (50.0% USG)
13 PTS (40.9% USG)
Maybe the plan is to get him going early to feel more comfortable. I don’t know, but it’s working. His biggest points came in OT, where he scored the first five points. Both over KAT and both ridiculous. Auston Reaves (calf) returned from a two-game absence and did not look like himself at all. Trust me, I was paying close attention because of the Best Ball bags that you care nothing of. Scored eight points on 27.1% TS (1-7 3PT). He was off and hesitant, which is strange cause he wasn’t out long. Would understand the rust if he was out for a couple of weeks. Gabe Vincent was huge in the 4th, where he scored 9 of his 12 points. Made all three of his threes.
“Gabe [Vincent] won us the game.” - Luka Doncic on the win
"Everybody gets along, that's really important, we're well-connected. I'm excited to be a part of this team." - Luka on what he's learned in his time as a Laker
The Lakers beat the Knicks 113-109. They’ve now won 11 consecutive games against teams that are .500 or better. They’re really freaking good.
That’s all I got, my friends. Talk to y’all later, and don’t be like Draymond.
