This is the Hangover. We get basketball-wasted all the time. Yes, we recap the NBA every night in our own way.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Kelley L. Cox/USA Today.)
What did you do for Friday? If you stayed home and watched ball, then I don’t blame you. The league had nine games ready for ya.
01/15/2016
THE GAMES
WASHINGTON WIZARDS 118 (18-19) @ INDIANA PACERS 104 (22-18)
The Wizards separated themselves from the Pacers in the second quarter. John Wall probably had the best game of the season and Bradley Beal came off the bench to score a bunch of points even with the limited playing time. Suddenly, the Wizards have won four straight.
BEHIND THE LINES
John Wall (WAS): 28 pts, 7 rebs, 8 assts.
Bradley Beal (WAS): 22 pts, 5 rebs.
Paul George (IND): 21 pts, 5 rebs, 7 assts, 3 stls.
MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES 93 (12-29) @ OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER 113 (29-12)
It was like the Thunder and the Wolves were in a race… and the Thunder was an Acura Integra and the Wolves were snails.
BEHIND THE LINES
Dion Waiters (OKC): 20 pts.
Russell Westbrook (OKC): 12 pts, 11 rebs, 10 assts.
Kevin Durant (OKC): 21 pts, 6 rebs, 7 assts.
Cameron Payne (OKC): 14 pts, 5 rebs, 4 stls.
Andrew Wiggins (MIN): 25 pts.
PHOENIX SUNS 103 (13-28) @ BOSTON CELTICS 117 (21-19)
(PHOTO CREDIT: David Butler II/USA Today.)
At this point, the Suns are like zombies just trying to make it through the season. On the opposite side, the Celtics are alive and well. Marcus Smart had his first career triple-double as he helped Boston get back into the 8th seed.
BEHIND THE LINES
Marcus Smart (BOS): 10 pts, 11 rebs, 11 assts.
Kelly Olynyk (BOS): 21 pts, 9 rebs, 3 stls.
Jared Sullinger (BOS): 11 pts, 10 rebs.
Mirza Teletovic (PHX): 22 pts.
PORTLAND TRAILBLAZERS 116 (18-24) @ BROOKLYN NETS 104 (11-29)
The Blazers went on a 19-2 run in the middle of the fourth quarter. Then Allen Crabbe and Damian Lillard made some big shots at the end to seal the deal in Brooklyn. Lillard’s been kind of scorching as of late.
BEHIND THE LINES
Damian Lillard (POR): 33 pts, 10 assts.
Ed Davis (POR): 14 pts, 10 rebs.
Thomas Robinson (BRK): 11 pts, 10 rebs.
Brook Lopez (BRK): 25 pts, 7 rebs.
DALLAS MAVERICKS 83 (23-18) @ CHICAGO BULLS 77 (23-16)
Scoring was so much more of a premium in this game. A one-point lead got larger for Dallas as Deron Williams and Dirk Nowitzki made jumpers. And for some bad news, Jimmy Butler followed up his 53-point perfomance with just… four points. Like I said, they needed points, and Butler had an awful night.
For some worse news, Joakim Noah dislocated his shoulder in this game. Hoping for the best, Joakim.
BEHIND THE LINES
Dirk Nowitzki (DAL): 21 pts, 7 rebs.
Derrick Rose (CHI): 18 pts.
CHARLOTTE HORNETS 107 (18-21) @ NEW ORLEANS PELICANS 109 (13-26)
Ryan Anderson was on fire for the Pelicans and helped build a double-digit lead before the bees came back with a 10-0 run in the fourth quarter. It became a back-and-forth affair at the end as Kemba Walker made a three to tie the game with 19.2 seconds left. But Jrue Holiday lobbed it up to the Brow, Anthony Davis, for an oop that went upside the Hornets’ heads with two seconds left. Nicolas Batum‘s three was off and the Pels get one up on the Hornets.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Michael DeMocker/The Times-Picayune.)
BEHIND THE LINES
Anthony Davis (NO): 22 pts, 5 rebs.
Ryan Anderson (NO): 32 pts, 8 rebs.
Jrue Holiday (NO): 13 pts, 6 rebs, 10 assts.
Nicolas Batum (CHA): 25 pts, 8 assts.
Kemba Walker (CHA): 25 pts.
ATLANTA HAWKS 101 (23-17) @ MILWAUKEE BUCKS 108 (17-25) (OT)
The deer and Hotlanta (I feel so cool saying that) were tied but went scoreless in the last minute of regulation so it was an extra period for these two teams. In that OT, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Michael Carter-Williams scored nine straight points for the Bucks. Milwaukee hands Atlanta their second straight loss.
BEHIND THE LINES
Greg Monroe (MIL): 15 pts, 12 rebs.
Giannis Antetokounmpo (MIL): 28 pts, 16 rebs.
Jabari Parker (MIL): 10 pts, 10 rebs.
Khris Middleton (MIL): 26 pts, 3 stls.
Paul Millsap (ATL): 23 pts, 10 rebs, 6 assts, 4 blks.
MIAMI HEAT 98 (23-17) @ DENVER NUGGETS 95 (15-25)
Dwyane Wade didn’t play but Hassan Whiteside REJECTED the notion that they were a lesser team because of that. In fact, he rejected that notion 11 times on the way to an impressive triple-double. And he needed every one of those rejections to help the Heat come back from an 18-point deficit.
Miami took the lead after a Justise Winslow three. They could’ve put it away with Chris Bosh free throws with six seconds left but he split them, which left the lead at three. Denver hurried up for a last shot but Jameer Nelson missed a three that could’ve tied it. Heat win after an impressive comeback.
BEHIND THE LINES
Chris Bosh (MIA): 24 pts.
Hassan Whiteside (MIA): 19 pts, 17 rebs, 11 blks.
Beno Udrih (MIA): 11 pts, 11 assts.
Darrell Arthur (DEN): 18 pts, 8 rebs.
CLEVELAND CAVALIERS 91 (28-10) @ HOUSTON ROCKETS 77 (21-20)
The Cavs were angry after a loss to the Spurs the night before. In the meantime, the Rockets’ effort seemed like it was the same as me boiling an egg. Cavs surprisingly came away with an easy one considering the Rockets had a five-game win streak going into this game.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Scott Halleran/Getty Images.)
BEHIND THE LINES
Kyrie Irving (CLE): 23 pts.
Kevin Love (CLE): 11 pts, 13 rebs, 3 stls.
Dwight Howard (HOU): 14 pts, 11 rebs.
GETTING SOCIAL
Ramon is hands down the best back up PG in the NBA !!! He is about to get big 💸💰 this summer! #session #washington
— Marcin Gortat (@MGortat) January 16, 2016
Damian lillard closes 4th quarters so well… He's cold!
— John Po (@Davinci_beau) January 16, 2016
Damian Lillard #NBAVote
— Meyers Leonard (@MeyersLeonard11) January 16, 2016
Hassan Whiteside just had more blocks in a single game than 270 players have this entire season.
— Couper Moorhead (@CoupNBA) January 16, 2016
He only scored 12pts. Russell Westbrook only had 12pts tonight and he still had a triple double, Show you how dangerous Westbrook is 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
— DJRandyGDatFiya (@DJRandyStayHot) January 16, 2016
Jrue Holiday to Anthony Davis on the crunch time alley-oop that will hopefully continue to happen in NOLA for the next 5-10 years
— Mason Ginsberg (@MasonGinsberg) January 16, 2016
WATCH THIS PLAY
The Brow finishes the bees.
(VIDEO CREDIT: NBA.)
THE TAKEAWAY
Kevin Durant was asked about how “the media” perceives the Thunder. Basically, most people have said that (including Michael Wilbon, where the basis of the question came from the great Royce Young) it’s the Warriors, the Spurs, the Cavs, then everyone else.
“Man, the [media and experts are] always trying to nitpick us,” Kevin Durant told ESPN.com. “I mean, they don’t like us. They don’t like how Russell [Westbrook] talks to the media, they don’t like how I talk to the media. So obviously, yeah, they’re not going to give us the benefit of the doubt.
“Especially since we’ve been together so long. Some of these teams are new, except for the Spurs, who have won. But we haven’t won and we’ve still got the same core, so they don’t expect us to win. It is what it is, who cares about them. They don’t mean nothing, the critics. Their opinions, everybody has one, but we don’t really care about them. Every day we’re just going to keep grinding this thing out. We feel like we can compete with anybody.”
Everyone likes Kevin Durant. He’s the one that’s causing the media not to like him, though. Russell Westbrook has every right to dislike the media because he’s gotten so much unfair criticism over the years about being “selfish” and his “trying to one-up Durant.” In reality, those guys are best friends and most of the media found out that the team is much better together than separated.
Durant is creating some make-believe feud with the media. But whatever gets him through the day. Maybe that’s more motivation to him. But if he is really this THIN-skinned (I’m not saying he isn’t), maybe it’s better off that the Thunder are UNDER THE RADAR instead of facing all the pressure and talk the Warriors and the Spurs are getting. I think what’s really bad about this is that this is JUST NOT HIM. It doesn’t come across as the real him and it seems really contrived. Because from what we’ve all heard over the years, he’s a super nice guy.
Plus a lot of the criticism is really towards general manager Sam Presti. He signed Enes Kanter to a MAX deal. He really went out of his way to get Dion Waiters, who’s replaced JaVale McGee on the lowlight reel.
And lastly, how can we NOT talk about the Warriors and the Spurs? The Warriors are on a historic pace at the moment; they are 37-3, for crying out loud. And the Spurs are on a 70-win pace. You mean to tell us we’re supposed to put the Thunder over two teams that are on pace for something that’s only been done ONCE in league history?
Durant, you know what to do. Westbrook, you know what to do. Beat those two teams in the playoffs. And then win the championship. Then we’ll talk about how the Thunder took down two titans in the West and got their revenge against LeBron James.
Oh, and Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook? We like you guys. We really, really like you. We promise.
Follow Rey-Rey on Twitter at @TheNoLookPass for all tweets about the NBA and terrible pop music. Also, check out his podcast, Rey-Rey Is Fundamental.
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