Other than occasional flairs of brilliance, Minnesota continues to be unimpressive. I think they are likely already regretting what they had to do to get Gobert on the roster.
Raptors played a great third quarter, holding the Heat scoreless for seven minutes. They played amazingly well without Siakam, though Miami lacked Bam. Eat it, Lowry! W00t w00t!
Well, OG Anunoby had the best game of his career, which sure helps.
When he first started playing, he was a capable defender but not big on the boards. Nurse was right to see his potential. Without Siakam, he has been stalwart. It was a pleasure to watch him score again and again. Other benchers were impressive or showed potential, at least for that game.
My Pacers spotted the Rockets a 20-point lead in Houston and came back to win, 99-91. We’re 8-6 now, have won seven of our last ten games, and are #5 in the East.
Some injury reports.
Grizzlies guard Ja Morant is week-to-week with a Grade 1 left ankle sprain he sustained in Friday’s win over the Thunder. Memphis is already down Desmond Bane, who has a Grade 2 sprain of his right big toe and will be reevaluated in 2 to 3 weeks.
76ers guard Tyrese Maxey will be out 3-4 weeks with a small fracture in his left foot.
Raptors lose in overtime despite a lot of injured players. At least they only have three games in the next nine days. They need the break.
Over their last ten games, the Indiana Pacers are:
- 6th in offensive rating (114.8)
- 7th in defensive rating (109.5)
- 3rd in Net Rating (+5.2)
- 5th in Pace (101.6)
- 5th in TS% (60.2%)
- 3rd in 3PM (15.7)
- 2nd in ASTS (28.5)
- 4th in BLKS (6.2)
They’ve gone 8-2 during this stretch.
(Citation: @AlexGoldenNBA on Twitter)
After the Pacers’ Aaron Nesmith scored the game-winning free throws last night, a couple of his teammates celebrated by pouring water on him.
And then THIS happened.
Hehe! Thankfully, he’s okay.
Nets guard Kyrie Irving returned tonight from his 8-game suspension for being an asshole and tweeting a tacit endorsement of an antisemitic movie. The hate group Israel United in Christ handed out fliers in front of the Barclays Center prior to tonight’s game, and the Celtics’ Jaylen Brown (who has been supporting Irving this whole time) retweeted a video of them with the caption, “Energy.” So he’s a fucking idiot, too, but we already knew that.
Pacers decisively beat Orlando tonight to sweep the two-game set against them, and win our fifth game in a row; we’re 9-2 in our last 11 games, and only 1 1/2 games out of first place in the Central. I can dig it.
Toronto won a tough one against Dallas a few hours ago.
Toronto is 5-5 since losing Pascal Siakam and having a roster depleted in other ways. That’s honestly way, way better than it could have been.
Not just Siakam but by times a very depleted roster. Hernangomez and the bench haven’t been perfect, but they’ve been better than many expected. And 50-50 ain’t bad, as you say, much of their recent schedule was brutal.
Ever hear of Ivica Zubac before?
Me neither!
But he got 31 points and a career-high 29 rebounds to lead his Clippers to a 114-100 win over my Pacers last night in Los Angeles.
Just to give you an idea of how impressive 29 rebounds is: Shaquille O’Neal’s career-high in that category was 28. Tim Duncan’s was 27. Hakeem Olajuwon’s was 25. David Robinson’s was 24. (And Wilt Chamberlain’s record towers above all of them with an insane 55).
You just made that name up.
We’ve been watching the T-wolves, mainly because we live here now, but I’m not a fan. Their play is poor on both ends of the court, and there seems to be a lack of team spirit. KAT gets into foul trouble in most games, and Gobert, while effective under the basket, is a terrible shooter. While POR had their issues, the team was always demonstratively supportive of each other. The Wolves got their asses handed to them in the last two games with GS and the Wizards, largely because they have no defense to speak of.
The Pacers were down 17 in the fourth quarter and came back to beat the Lakers on a buzzer-beating three-pointer by rookie Andrew Nembhard over LeBron James. BOOM, BABY!
Timberwolves’ Karl-Anthony Towns expected to miss the next 4-6 weeks with a right calf strain.
Orlando is getting back Cole Anthony and Markelle Fultz for next game, I really missed having actual point guards in the roster. Fultz/Bol is going to be a dream.
Thing of beauty. NOT TODAY, LEBRON!
