The Hangover: Avery Bradley’s Three Beats Cavs; Spurs Destroy Mavericks

This is the Hangover. We get basketball-wasted all the time. Yes, we recap the NBA every night in our own way.

(PHOTO CREDIT: Tony Dejak/AP.)

Busy Friday night! 10 games happened in the association.

02/05/2016

THE GAMES

INDIANA PACERS 96 (26-24) @ ATLANTA HAWKS 102 (30-22)

Al Horford made five straight points to give the lead to the Hawks with four minutes left in the game. The Pacers tried to battle back; a wacky three-pointer by Paul George cut the deficit to two. But Jeff Teague made a perimeter jumper with 42 seconds left to counter. PG-13 tried another three but missed it. And that was all for Indy.

BEHIND THE LINES
Al Horford (ATL): 21 pts, 7 rebs, 6 assts.
Paul Millsap (ATL): 24 pts, 4 blks.
Paul George (IND): 31 pts, 9 rebs, 6 assts.
Lavoy Allen (IND): 13 pts, 14 rebs.

MIAMI HEAT 98 (29-22) @ CHARLOTTE HORNETS 95 (24-26)

(PHOTO CREDIT: Nell Redmond/AP.)

The Hornets had a three-point lead but then they folded in the last minute. Dwyane Wade‘s lay-up cut it to one. Then after a Kemba Walker miss, Chris Bosh made a three-point play to give the Heat the lead. Charlotte threw a couple more bad passes and Miami capitalized on both for some more points. Jeremy Lin got fouled on a three late but asking him to do some sort of five-point play in a second was like asking *NSYNC to reunite.

I miss *NSYNC.

Also, the Heat didn’t make a single three-pointer and won the game.

BEHIND THE LINES
Hassan Whiteside (MIA): 10 pts, 10 rebs, 10 blks.
Chris Bosh (MIA): 20 pts, 6 rebs.
Dwyane Wade (MIA): 22 pts, 5 assts.
Kemba Walker (CHA): 20 pts, 5 rebs, 6 assts.
Marvin Williams (CHA): 27 pts.
Nicolas Batum (CHA): 21 pts, 6 rebs, 7 assts.

LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS 107 (33-17) @ ORLANDO MAGIC 93 (21-28)

The Magic kept it interesting for a while before the Clippers turned it into a one-sided affair. Clips were leading by 7 before they made four straight field goals in two minutes time. As close as it was for a lot of the time, Orlando never led in the game and I continue to be sad for this team.

BEHIND THE LINES
Jamal Crawford (LAC): 20 pts.
Chris Paul (LAC): 21 pts, 6 rebs, 4 stls.
DeAndre Jordan (LAC): 12 pts, 18 rebs, 3 blks.
J.J. Redick (LAC): 20 pts.
Victor Oladipo (ORL): 18 pts.

PHILADELPHIA 76ERS 94 (7-43) @ WASHINGTON WIZARDS 106 (22-26)

The Wizards led by 20 after the first. And I can’t joke about the Sixers not coming back ever from a huge lead because they nearly beat the Warriors after being down by a huge margin. But Philly never got closer than nine points after that. John Wall had a triple-double in the win. Washington continues to baffle me.

BEHIND THE LINES
Marcin Gortat (WAS): 21 pts, 13 rebs.
John Wall (WAS): 18 pts, 13 rebs, 10 assts.
Bradley Beal (WAS): 22 pts.
Ish Smith (PHI): 22 pts, 5 rebs, 5 assts, 3 stls.

SACRAMENTO KINGS 119 (21-29) @ BROOKLYN NETS 128 (13-38)

(PHOTO CREDIT: Kathy Kmonicek/AP.)

This is weird because the Nets aren’t exactly known to be a big scoring team. But they plastered the Kings in the third quarter and led by 22. The margin of victory does not indicate how much the Nets controlled this contest.

Oh, yeah. DeMarcus Cousins got a triple-double. How nice.

BEHIND THE LINES
Bojan Bogdanovic (BRK): 23 pts.
Brook Lopez (BRK): 26 pts, 12 rebs.
Joe Johnson (BRK): 27 pts, 11 assts.
Thaddeus Young (BRK): 14 pts, 14 rebs, 7 assts.
Rajon Rondo (SAC): 15 pts, 15 assts.
Darren Collison (SAC): 25 pts.
DeMarcus Cousins (SAC): 24 pts, 10 rebs, 10 assts.

BOSTON CELTICS 104 (30-22) @ CLEVELAND CAVALIERS 103 (35-14)

What is up with them Celtics, eh? The Cavs led by 10 at the start of the fourth quarter but these Boston bulldogs came back with an immediate 11-point run to take the lead within three minutes. It became a fight and the Celtics refused to let it go even when they had to play the foul game.

Kyrie Irving made two foul shots to give Cleveland a five-point lead with 18 seconds left. Boston was able to cut it to two with a Jae Crowder three ten seconds later. Irving did his job again at the free throw line after before Evan Turner made a lay-up as he got fouled by J.R. Smith with four seconds to go. Turner missed the free throw but the ball went off LeBron James during the rebound. It gave the Celtics a chance for the tie or the win and Avery Bradley rolled the dice and made the three. Thrilling win for Boston while the Cavs lost their second straight game.

BEHIND THE LINES
Isaiah Thomas (BOS): 22 pts.
Evan Turner (BOS): 19 pts, 12 rebs, 6 assts.
LeBron James (CLE): 30 pts, 7 rebs.
J.R. Smith (CLE): 20 pts.

MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES 91 (30-20) @ NEW YORK KNICKS 85 (23-30)

Quick back-to-back buckets by Jeff Green boosted the Grizz lead to 10 points. Kristaps Porzingis and Arron Afflalo led a rally that cut the deficit to two points. Marc Gasol missed a lay-up with 16 seconds left and the Knicks had a chance to tie or take the lead. But Afflalo missed a short jumper and Memphis survived.

BEHIND THE LINES
Jeff Green (MEM): 16 pts, 5 rebs.
Kristaps Porzingis (NY): 17 pts, 10 rebs, 6 blks.
Jose Calderon (NY): 18 pts, 8 rebs, 5 assts.

CHICAGO BULLS 110 (27-22) @ DENVER NUGGETS 115 (20-31)

(PHOTO CREDIT: David Zalubowski/AP.)

Jimmy Butler left with a knee injury but before he was taken to the locker room, he got off the wheelchair and shot the free throws. This guy is tough.

But the Nuggets were tough in their own right. Down 16 going into the fourth, Denver went on an unbelievable rally. They caught the Bulls with four minutes to go. The Bulls still led by three with 1:40 to go but the Nuggets reeled off 10 straight points to complete the comeback.

Denver scored 42 points in the fourth quarter to beat the Bulls. And as we know, 42 is the answer to everything.

BEHIND THE LINES
Danilo Gallinari (DEN): 33 pts (18/18 FT).
Emmanuel Mudiay (DEN): 22 pts, 5 assts.
Kenneth Faried (DEN): 11 pts, 11 rebs.
Nikola Jokic (DEN): 14 pts, 12 rebs.
Derrick Rose (CHI): 30 pts, 9 rebs, 8 assts.
Taj Gibson (CHI): 18 pts, 7 rebs, 3 blks.

MILWAUKEE BUCKS 81 (20-32) @ UTAH JAZZ 84 (24-25)

And then we had one hell of an offensive shootout over here in Utah.

No, not really. But, anyway, the Jazz took a five-point lead after back-to-back threes from Raul Neto and Gordon Hayward. With 24 seconds left, Khris Middleton made a three to cut the lead to three. Derrick Favors threw the ball away and the deer had a chance to tie but Middleton missed the three that would’ve given the contest an extra five minutes. For some fans watching, that was probably a good thing.

Sadly, though, the Bucks have lost five straight.

BEHIND THE LINES
Derrick Favors (UTA): 11 pts, 15 rebs, 5 blks.
Rudy Gobert (UTA): 15 pts, 8 rebs, 3 blks, 5 stls.
Rodney Hood (UTA): 23 pts.
Khris Middleton (MIL): 18 pts, 6 rebs, 3 stls, 9 TOs.

SAN ANTONIO SPURS 116 (42-8) @ DALLAS MAVERICKS 90 (28-25)

Usually, the Spurs/Mavs games end up being classics. Well, this ended up being a classic blowout. The halftime score was 62-26.

I believe in going home early from work once your job is done for the night. And so do the Spurs. Tim Duncan agrees!

(PHOTO CREDIT: Jim Cowsert2/AP.)

BEHIND THE LINES
LaMarcus Aldridge (SA): 14 pts, 10 rebs.
Kawhi Leonard (SA): 23 pts.
Justin Anderson (DAL): 13 pts.
Charlie Villanueva (DAL): 13 pts, 6 rebs.

GETTING SOCIAL

WATCH THIS PLAY

Avery Bradley, of course, gets this section as he sticks it to the Cavs.

(VIDEO CREDIT: NBA.)

THE TAKEAWAY

Cavs are 4-3 since Tyronn Lue took over. I still think it’s a huge upset (barring injury) if they don’t make it to the NBA Finals but this is something to watch out for. People are going to wonder about how they’re going to keep it together.

It’s kind of the worst kept secret in the NBA that George Karl is walking on eggshells in Sacramento. And we may be closer to a firing here, according to the Vertical. But so much for stability, right, which is I’m sure some people hoped with Karl. Karl is the fourth coach in four years for Sactown. They’re going to be wasting Boogie’s prime years if they keep swapping coaches like this. Can’t keep changing your mind on things like this, Vivek.

So apparently, Salah Mejri did this to the Spurs and Coach Pop:

Of course, this is hilarious because Salah is a rookie. Also, the Spurs were up by 20 in the first half. I LOVE Pop and Tim Duncan’s reaction to all of this.

Mejri tried to set the record straight:

Okay. Whatever. But it was still funny.

Lastly, Hassan Whiteside has three triple-doubles this season of the points/rebounds/blocks variety. The record for most in a season since 1983?

Mark Eaton: 4 (1984-85)
Hakeem Olajuwon: 4 (1989-90)

As far as career triple-doubles of that same variety since 1983? Dikembe Mutombo and Olajuwon each have 10. Whiteside is at four right now.


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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