Welcome to the NBA Hangover. We jot down NBA stuff mostly from last night that we want to talk about. Check it out.
Duncan Robinson torched the Cavaliers on Wednesday night.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Lynne Sladky/AP.)
The Miami Heat have been a pleasant surprise this season. They are 10-3 a month into the season and I feel only the super die-hard Heat fans thought they were going to be this good.
We kinda overlooked somebody on the Heat roster because we were focused on Kendrick Nunn‘s (yeah, yeah, I know) surprise rookie campaign, Jimmy Butler acclimating himself into the team, how Bam Adebayo is going to greatly impact the Heat with Hassan Whiteside gone, and the possible unlocking of Justise Winslow.
Against the Cavs on Wednesday night, small forward Duncan Robinson WENT OFF. He scored 29 points (24 in the first half) and sank 9 three-pointers.
He’s started for the Heat ever since Winslow went out with a concussion two weeks ago. The thing is last night wasn’t the first time this season Duncan Robinson got a lot of buckets. He scored 21 points in a loss against Minnesota and then went for 23 points in a blowout win against Houston. So he’s been doing it a few times this season.
Duncan Robinson went undrafted after playing college ball in Michigan. Then after doing well in Summer League, he got a two-way contract (where he would play for the Heat and the G-League affiliate, Sioux Falls Skyforce). He played his way to a standard NBA deal by the end of last season. Robinson then earned his way to the Heat rotation and with injuries piling up, he got a chance. And he’s showing it. He’s playing over 24 minutes, shooting 44 percent from three, and averaging 11.2 points per game this season.
And this is how it is in NBA (and in life in general, really). All of these NBA players can play. Or at the very least, they know what got them to the dance whether it’s knowing how to use your height, being an amazing shooter, being a gritty defender, or knowing the basketball fundamentals (or, really, all of them).
This was an EXTREME case but Eric Paschall is showing the world he can play. Hey, you take opportunity when you can get it.
There was a player named Flip Murray. He was a Division II player that was drafted in the second round in 2002 but barely played for the Bucks. He got traded to Seattle (miss you, Supersonics) in his rookie season but he didn’t get much of a chance then, either.
Then in his second season, he started because Ray Allen was hurt. He went off by scoring 20 points or more in 10 of the first 11 games of the season (which included a 31-point performance against Miami). That made him a rotation player for the majority of his 8 years in the league.
Obviously, the most well-known case in the last decade was Jeremy Lin. We all know the Linsanity story. He was on the verge of being cut by the Knicks but then he got a chance to play. He then played like he was the best player in the league for two weeks. It’s all about getting a chance. Lin would also become a rotation player for the next seven seasons, which culminated in a championship ring for the Toronto Raptors (he played very little in the playoffs but did get some good games in for Toronto).
It’s all about getting a chance. Flip Murray took it. Jeremy Lin grabbed it. And now Duncan Robinson is showing the basketball world that he is worthy of an NBA rotation spot.
I mean, he’s gone under the radar so much that, apparently, there was some scouting going on DURING THE GAME:
.@WorldWideWob Cavs coaches doing some midgame Duncan Robinson scouting pic.twitter.com/AlKfrsZ2wX
— Donte Robinson fan club (@sportsyid) November 21, 2019
It helps to know the name of who you’re scouting.
But we remember. His name is Duncan Robinson.
Bullet Passes
This excellent article about Andrew Wiggins by Tom Haberstroh shows how Wiggins is suddenly NOT “so bad” anymore. I really do find the whole corner three miss experiment very interesting. I know we’re not much for physics and geometry but it definitely helped here for the T-Wolves.
We can’t get enough of Luka Doncic. I’m trying to avoid OVERtalking about him but when he’s doing amazing things, it’s kind of hard not to gush about him. He went 22-5-5… in the FIRST QUARTER against the poor Warriors. He would end up having 35-10-11 in 26 minutes of play as the Mavericks walloped the Warriors by 48 points. It doesn’t get easier for the Dubs, man.
Anyway, Luka got his seventh triple-double of the season. He just finished Game 14. By comparison’s sake (because we’re jerks), Oscar Robertson had 11 in his first 14 games (when he got 41 in his triple-double season) and Russell Westbrook had 8 in his FIRST triple-double season (he got 42 of those that year). Greatness.
(IF YOU’RE SAYING HE’S STAT-PADDING, SHUT UP. WHICH PLAYER DOESN’T WANT TO STAT-PAD?)
Pau Gasol announced that he was released by the Portland TrailBlazers as his injury recovery has been slower than expected. He might go into a coaching role later on with the team. I’ll have more about Pau later this week but I also just want to say that Pau Gasol is the best and is just too pure for this world.
Ben Simmons made a three-pointer. Seriously.
That makes him 100 percent for the season. So leave Ben Simmons alone! He deserves a statue!
(PHOTO CREDIT: NBA on TNT.)
So Joel Embiid was in ANOTHER scuffle on Wednesday night.
(VIDEO CREDIT: Bleacher Report.)
It turned out to be mostly nothing but man, I don’t want to mess with EITHER Morris twin.
So there’s this ESPN article where it was mentioned that Paul George wanted to get dealt to San Antonio in 2017. Obviously, he ended up in Oklahoma City.
I don’t think he’s lying when he’s saying that. PG-13 has also said a lot of things just to please a certain audience. He wanted to play for both the Lakers and the Clippers. All of these things could be true. But it certainly frustrates a lot of people when he’s saying stuff like that.
I had this conversation with a Michael Sykes from USA Today on Twitter. We talked about what I had written about, which was how people seem to be SELECTIVELY amazed by incredible individual statistics (well, also team stats).
We talked about how people just seem to hate on great accomplishments instead of enjoying them. Like I said, it’s either we take them for granted, the rise of analytics, or people are more about the drama than the game itself. Michael said it really poisons the discussion on Twitter.
Still, I’d rather have sports discussions on Twitter (mostly because the professionals are on there) than having it on the street, per se. At the very least, we know the people on social media truly watch (well, mostly watch) the games while the people on the street mostly go by hearsay from uninformed sports personalities and their biases towards certain athletes. People on the street would probably tell me that “Luka Doncic is putting up empty stats on a bad team” yet that person would fail to say that the Mavs are ACTUALLY 9-5.
So what y’all need to take away from this are two things:
1) Enjoy greatness.
2) Be more informed. Seriously. BE MORE INFORMED.
Watch This Play
In this Celtics/Clippers game that had a playoff atmosphere, Kawhi Leonard puts this one right on Daniel Theis‘s mug.
(VIDEO CREDIT: House of Highlights.)
Good grief. That was fun, guy.
Rey-Rey is on Twitter at @TheNoLookPass.
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