Hello and welcome to the Basketball Society NBA Roundup, where we get you caught up on any hoops action you may have missed the night before andante you set for a what I’m sure will be a wonderful day! I’m sure your busy getting the kids to school and sipping on your morning coffee while playing Soduku, so I won’t waste your time anymore. Let’s go!
New York Knicks-99 Los Angelas Lakers-95
.@kporzee with his 3rd double-double of the season (12/10)! ? pic.twitter.com/VAk3QvcFkX
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) November 8, 2015
Woah! Who expected this to be a good game? If you say you did, you’re lying!
The old, decrepit Kobe Bryant marched into Madison Square Garden for one final time and had his best performance of the season, shooting a blazing hot 6-19 for a statline of 18-2-3. Welcome to 2015 Kobe. But hey, that Center that really doesn’t do anything in particular, Roy Hibbert, had his best performance of the season, adding in 18 points and 10 boards as the Lakers fell to 1-5 on the year.
But let’s talk about what really matters, Kristaps Porzingis. Am I biased? Hell yes. Do I care? No, because the higher ups on this website probably don’t read this anyway so I’m going to talk about the Zinger the way he should be talked about- As a legend. KP had his third Double-Double of the season, going 12 and 10. He also led the team in +/- with +18. Future Hall of Famer, no doubt. KP=New KB. The win was the Knicks first of the year at MSG and moved them to 3-4 overall.
Cleveland Cavaliers-101 Indiana Pacers-97
I’m sorry, what??? RT @TheCauldron: A look at LeBrons left handed touch pass across court to Richard Jefferson for 3 https://t.co/DrBuXmkKCY
— Chris Herring (@HerringWSJ) November 9, 2015
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Remember when the Pacers were Lebron’s greatest foe in the Eastern Conference? And then Roy Hibbert got exposed as being decidedly average, Paul George had one of the most gruesome injuries of all time, and Lance Stephenson turned out to be a minor sociopath. But Indiana is beginning to look like they might be back a little bit! Woohoo! George continues his climb back into the elite-tier of NBA players, dropping a 32-11-6 night just days after his 36-12 performance against the Heat. The Pacers moved to just 3-4 on the year, but have strung together a few nice performances against Lebron’s Cavs, the Heat, and the Celtics.
Yup, Lebron is still good. He went 29-6-4 on the night, helping to close the game out late with free throws. Meanwhile, Kevin Love continues to look like he’s finding a place in the Cavs offense, dropping 22 points on 9-18 shooting, including 19 boards and a pair of 3 balls. Cleveland has won 6 consecutive since dropping their opening night game, moving to 6-1.
Miami Heat- 96 Toronto Raptors-76
The Heat continue to be amongst the NBA’s most interesting teams. Since losing Lebron just one year ago, the franchise has swiftly replaced The King and seem to be back on a path to the top of the East, moving to 4-3 after the win. It helps to have basketball’s version of Gronk in Hassan Whiteside, who added in 20 and 11. Justise Winslow, who has been amongst the leagues best rookies early on, added in 9 points off the bench with 3-8 shooting.
The Raptors had just their second loss of the season and had their worst shooting performance thus far, going just 3-19 from behind the arc. DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry, who have been one of the best young backcourts this season, struggled mightily, going a combined 9-30 shooting with just 31 points between them.
Oklahoma City Thunder- 124 Phoenix Suns- 103
Russell Westbrook tried to break the universe again. https://t.co/yT6eRmOWZD — RUSS BENGT$ON (@russbengtson) November 9, 2015
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The Thunder seem to be slowly but surely getting their footing. While Serge Ibaka continues to struggle playing alongside Enes Kanter on the defensive side, the two both put up solid numbers last night, with Ibaka having a 10 and 9 night while Kanter went 9-10 shooting off the bench. Russel Westbrook and Kevin Durant, of course, each had solid nights, with KD leading the way with 32 points on 12-19 shooting.
For the Suns, Eric Bledsoe led the way scoring 28 points and dishing out 11 assists. The problem for Phoenix continues to be their defense, as they allowed OKC to shoot over 50% from the field. At least the Suns have Alex Len, who looks like he could eventually evolve into a very legitimate starter. Len mad 2 of his 3 shots, scoring 8 points and adding 5 boards in just 20 minutes of work.
Detroit Pistons-120 Portland Trail Blazers- 103
W-W-What? The Pistons may be good again? Blasphemy. Detroit rallied from down 10 at the half and by as much as 18 to win by 17, outscoring the Trail Blazers 40-11 in the fourth. Andre Drummond continues to be amongst the most surprising players of the early season, going for 29 points and 27 rebounds. Oh, and he also appears to have found a shocking amount of chemistry with Reggie Jackson, who 40 points. Oh and of those 40 points for Jackson, 26 were in the fourth quarter. Detroit isn’t going to be good, they already are good after this early statement win that pushed them to 5-1.
One of the few positives for Portland, is that the backcourt of Damien Lillard and CJ McCollum continues to impress. Dame had a 26 point, 11 assist night to go alongside McCollum’s 18 point outing. Choking away such a huge lead to end up being savagely beaten down the stretch won’t feel good for the now 4-3 Portland, but it’s important to remember this was a team with literally no expectations coming into this year and still appear to be capable of winning some games with this backcourt. This was ugly, but anything is good after the offseason they had.
Oh and also, shout out to the guy who dug up a tweet from two months ago in regards to that Reggie Jackson contract being the worst ever. Ugh.
Have a good day!
— Billy Keenly (@billykeenly) November 8, 2015
