This is the Hangover. This is where I get drunk on the NBA as I recap last night’s action as well as a few things going on around the league. Here’s your word vomit.
12/07/2016
THE GAMES
DET 77 (12-12) @ CHA 87 (13-9)
BOS 117 (13-9) @ ORL 87 (10-13)
DEN 111 (8-14) @ BRK 116 (6-15)
MIA 95 (7-15) @ ATL 103 (11-12)
POR 107 (12-11) @ MIL 115 (11-9)
LAL 95 (10-14) @ HOU 134 (15-7)
CLE 126 (15-5) @ NY 94 (12-10)
SAC 120 (8-13) @ DAL 89 (4-17)
IND 109 (11-11) @ PHX 94 (6-16)
GS 115 (19-3) @ LAC 98 (16-7)
(PHOTO CREDIT: Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times.)
BLOWOUT CITY
As you can see on the scoreboard, it wasn’t quite a night of close games. Four games had margins of 30 or more points. Yikes.
Let’s also add two more games with margins of 15 or more points. So that’s 6 out of 10 games that were laughers.
I heard that a few people from a certain sports network say that the Warriors and Cavs are ruining the NBA regular season. That sounds so ridiculous. We have quite a lot of storylines going on in the league. Did you guys forget that the Knicks and the Lakers (despite their recent swoon) are better this year? Did you guys forget about the surge of triple-doubles from Russell Westbrook and James Harden? Did you guys see the Rockets play? Did you guys see the big men like DeMarcus Cousins, Anthony Davis, and Karl-Anthony Towns take their place in the league?
I’m probably biased since I cover the league but the NBA is pretty fun. People just have to learn how to dig more. And if they’re seriously interested in the NBA, they will find out how fun the league really is.
But I’ve gotten off topic. I guess the six blowouts helped the complainers’ cause. But wasn’t the 73-win Warriors fun last season?! Weren’t the 90s Bulls fun and they dominated the league? Stop it, guys.
THE REST OF THE LEAGUE
So there’s not much to talk about because of blowouts but the Cavs decided they would have more fun flipping bottles in the fourth quarter of their game against the Knicks.
Cavs up 30 in New York. The disrespect level at an all time high. https://t.co/jEk5nFOGnu
— Zach Bye (@byesline) December 8, 2016
By the way, Kyrie Irving managed to stick the bottle’s landing.
Perfect form, @KyrieIrving. https://t.co/baJ363CJRf
— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) December 8, 2016
People will probably complain about them being super disrespectful towards the Knicks. I’m surprised Joakim Noah didn’t do anything about this. Remember when Noah took exception to James dancing during a game in 2009 (although I’ll say that’s a bit more disrespectful because it seemed like he wanted everyone to watch him dance)? But to me, they seemed to be keeping this more to themselves. Also, didn’t LeBron mention how they weren’t so focused a few days ago? Just saying, man.
Oh, yeah. I love scoreboard mistakes. We had no idea that the Kings were winning by a ton against the Mavericks.
geez, I didn't think the Mavs were THAT bad pic.twitter.com/zrvFwHrJCG
— Hector Diaz (@iamHectorDiaz) December 8, 2016
So Giannis Antetokounmpo got called for a 10-second violation on the free throw stripe. That never happens. Even Karl Malone and Charles Oakley, who were notorious for taking long on the line, never really got called for that. Fans were counting Oak’s dribbles during his routine and they usually reached double digits.
LINE CROSSER
(PHOTO CREDIT: AP.)
Giannis Antetokounmpo went for a cool…
15 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists, 4 blocks.
He probably won’t catch Russell Westbrook in terms of triple-doubles but I’m sure a 5×5 is in his future.
WATCH THIS PLAY
(VIDEO CREDIT: SB Nation.)
Just watch the Warriors school the Clippers in this beautiful play that involved some surgical passing. So awesome.
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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