Hello and welcome to the November 10, 2015 edition of the NBA Roundup? How’d you sleep? Good? Good. Now, let’s get caught up on your NBA action so you can get ready for the day.
Oklahoma City Thunder- 125 Washington Wizards- 101
Ohhhhh, intrigue! Kevin Durant playing his home team that he may or may not be considering signing with this summer! Ohhh!
I’ve actually gone through this before first hand. It’s not fun. For some reason, us Knicks fans got the idea that LeBron James may consider signing in New York in 2011 free agency. That was a mistake and the Knicks never got particularly close to signing The King. But hey, we were just so jazzed up for LeBron’s only trip to the Garden that year, it didn’t matter! We were convinced we could convince Lebron to come to New York because of, of all New York things, our overwhelming kindness. Yes, New York kindness was our only weapon in signing LeBron James. Spoiler Alert: It didn’t work.
Anyway, Washington failed in this game much like how they’ll probably fail in their pursuit of Kevin Durant because home is overrated and so is John Wall. Speaking of Wall, he shot 4-13 for 9 points. With Bradley Beal sitting out due to a shoulder injury, Gary Neal got the start and struggled, going just 6-for-15 from the field. The Wizards fell to 3-4 on the season.
For Durant, the DC native hopped out to a hot start despite the storylines coming into the game, shooting 4-for-8 while notching a double-double with 14 points and 10 boards in just the first half! Sadly, KD left the game at halftime after straining his left hamstring late in the 2nd quarter. Luckily, this angry little fella by the name of Russel Westbrook exists, logging triple double with 22 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists. Perhaps most impressive about that stat-line is that Russ managed to play relatively clean by his standards, turning it over 5 times.
But sure, KD will want to leave that.
Miami Heat- 101 Los Angeles Lakers- 88
Fun fact: The line to his game actually dropped from the Heat giving -12.5 to the heat giving only -11.5 when Byron Scott announced he would not be playing Kobe. 2015 Kobe Bryant is getting really sad.
With no Kobe, the Lakers actually hung in with the Heat for the first half, with LA entering the 3rd quarter down by just a point. It was there that the Heat turned it up though, led by Chris Bosh who finished with 30 points and 11 boards. Hassan Whiteside, aka Basketball Gronk, added in 19 points, 15 rebounds, and 3 blocks for the Heat, who moved to 5-3 on the year.
The Lakers minus Kobe were interesting.The offense looked like it was downright humming at points, shooting 44% on FGA and 50% on 3PA. It was the 17 turnovers the young team committed that eventually buried them, as they only managed to force 10 out of the Heat. Nick Young led the Lakers in scoring with 17, while rookie D’Angelo Russel struggled, scoring just 4 points on 2-6 shooting. LA is now 1-6 on the year.
Boston Celtics-99 Milwuakee Bucks- 83
Isaiah Thomas gets confused what sport he’s playing, tackles a teammate. (h/t @ESPNForsberg) https://t.co/CZUcDVZ44B https://t.co/HXFftww36B
— SB Nation NBA (@SBNationNBA) November 11, 2015
There should be some type of punishment if you finish a game with 99 points. Maybe a fine? You have to bench your best player for the next game? Automatic forfeit? Just put it in triple digits, c’mon.
Boston moved to 3-3 after the win, led by Jared Sullinger’s 11 points and 10 rebounds on 5-10 shooting. Isaiah Thomas dropped 20 points to continue his solid start to the season, as well as just kinda casually running into his own teammate on a pick and roll (see above, it’s well done). This game was actually close at the half, with the Celtics up by just 4. But a 17 point deficit in the 3rd quarter helped Boston scoop up the victory.
Greg Monroe pieced together his second consectuve big game for the Bucks, this time dropping 17 points and 14 boards on a white hot 7-11 shooting. The Greak Freak (I’m lazy and don’t feel like writing his name, sue me) nearly matched Monroe, pouring in 16 points to continue his hot start to the season. The Bucks continue their relatively disappointing start to their season, dropping to 4-4 thus far.
Cleveland Cavaliers- 118 Utah Jazz- 114
A team with the likes of Lebron James, Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson, JR Smith, and Iman Shumpert just had it’s best performance from 32 years old Mo Williams.
Mo dropped 29 points on 8-9 shooting with a perfect 4-4 mark from behind the arc. Of course, putting up that stat line is a lot easier when you have Lebron dropping 31-7-8, including a beautiful running hook that helped to seal the game late. But still, well done Mo. Hey, remember when he was the second best player on a Lebron-led Cavaliers team? Good times.
Despite the loss, this was a nice performance from the Jazz. While their league leading defense failed to stop the high-powered Cavs, the Utah offense looked to show some signs of life. They shot 49% overall, while hitting 10-22 on 3’s. Alec Burkes is beginning to shape up as a potential 6th man of the year, leading the Jazz scoring effort with 24 points on 7-13 shooting off the bench. The Jazz are a young team with a great defense that just proved to themselves they can hang with the big dogs. This won’t be the last time they’re playing in a tight game with one of the NBA’s best this season.
Which is impressive because they’re from Utah, and Utah is the dirt worst.
Charlotte Hornets- 104 Minnesota Timberwolves- 95
The Hornets continue to come down from their early season 3-point shooting bender. They’re still shooting the 7th most in the league, but they shot just 26 tonight, which is down from their season average of 27! Change! Star Kemba Walker struggled, scoring only 10 points, but was picked up by his bench, particularly in the forms of Jeremy Lin and Jeremy Lamb. Lin dropped 19 points, while burying 6 of 11 shots. The emerging Lamb went for 18, hitting 2 of his 3 shots from deep in the process. The guy Michael Jordan chose not to trade for 4 future draft picks, Frank Kaminsky, did not put up a shot in 3 grand minutes of play. Nice.
Minnesota may have fallen, but they were also without three of their starters, with Kevin Garnett, Ricky Rubio, and Andrew Wiggins all sitting out. Still though, Karl-Anthony Towns fired out a 19-13 night, while Zack Lavine looked very comfortable as a starter, leading Minnesota in scoring with 20 points. The T Wolves remained above .500, but fell to 4-3 this year.
New Orleans Pelicans- 120 Dallas Mavericks- 105
The Pelicans have won a basketball game! Rejoice, New Orleans!
Even in victory though, the Pelicans suffered a loss. Despite a scalding hot start to the game (17 points and 7 rebounds in the first half), Anthony Davis would go down with a right hip contusion late in the second quarter and not play for the second half of action. Luckily, Ryan Anderson took over for 25 points on 10-16 shooting for New Orleans, which finally moves to 1-6.
The Mavs were led by the ageless German wonder Dirk Nowitzki, who posted his second consecutive 18 point game. An 0-5 evening from Wes Mathews and a poor shooting performance from behind the arc (just 5-20) would sink the Mavericks though, who fell to just 3-4. And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for… IT’SSSSSSSS KRISTAPS TIME!!!!!!
New York Knicks-111 Toranto Raptors-109
Kristaps Porzingis, the legend. https://t.co/eas01LfaQD
— Basketball Society (@BBallSociety_) November 11, 2015
On tonight’s Kristaps Porzingis report, Kristaps actually struggled, going just 3-11 from the field for 8 points and 6 boards! Oh no! Luckily, he is still a legend and threw down yet another put back dunk. Long live Kristaps Porzingis.
The Knicks in general played well despite Kristaps’ off night, with Carmelo Anthony seeming to find his shooting stroke, pouring in 25 points, 17 of which came in the second quarter. The life-sucking duo of Jose Calderon and Shasha Vujecic continue their shooting woes, combined for just 12 points on 5-14 shooting, as well as 4 assists. Jerian Grant and Langston Galloway, meanwhile, would pair up for 19 points, making 7-13 field goal attempts and dishing out 8 assists. But I’m sure Derich Fisher will take another few weeks to think over what his starting backcourt should be…
The Raptors tough valiantly in their effort to stop Kristaps and the Knicks, despite not having Demarre Carrol or Terrence Ross. The duo of Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan combined for 52 points, but a DeRozan lay up attempt just rimmed-out with a second to go, dropping the Raptors to 5-3 while pushing the Knicks back to .500 at 4-4.
Didn’t get enough Kristaps for your Tuesday night? Have no fear, he’ll take on the Hornets tonight!
And with that thought in mind, have a good day.
Kristaps plays tonight https://t.co/S5dCichROz
— Sean Linhares (@LINhares_Sanity) November 10, 2015
