Welcome to the NBA Hangover. We jot down NBA stuff mostly from last night that we want to talk about. Check it out.
The defending champions still won after being down 30 points in the third quarter.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Ron Turenne/Getty Images.)
The Dallas Mavericks had the Toronto Raptors on the ropes. Well, if anything, a nice little jab would give the Mavericks a TKO. The Mavericks built that 7-point halftime lead into a 30-point brick wall. They were up, 85-55, with 14 minutes and change left in the GAME. Normally, that’s when you tell your troops to fight another day as there is another game on Monday.
I mean, a Kyle Lowry three was the only bucket as the time elapsed to one minute left in the third. Free throws cut it down to 23 but it was academic at this point. Right?
It was still an 18-point lead with 9 minutes left. And then it just started happening for Toronto. Three after three after three. In less than two minutes of game time, the Raptors put up 13 straight points. Suddenly, that deficit was just down to 5 points. It was suddenly a game and the momentum was clearly in Canada’s side.
The Mavs went cold while the opposite happened for the Raps. They were on the attack and kept getting those buckets. Free throws by Rondae Hollis-Jefferson gave them the lead with 4:31 left. They erased that 30-point lead and it didn’t even take them 10 minutes of game time.
Finally, the Mavs were able to fight. They were able to withstand Kyle Lowry’s fury of buckets to take a one-point lead back with 32 seconds left.
And then…
Watch This Play
Chris Boucher gave the lead back with this powerful winding dunk after getting the feed from Lowry.
(VIDEO CREDIT: Toronto Raptors.)
Have you heard of Chris Boucher? Not many casual people have. You’re likely to know if you watch the NBA hardcore like I do.
Anyway. Jalen Brunson missed the potential game-winner with 1.6 seconds left. Boucher made the free throws to give the Raptors the 110-107 win in an incredible comeback.
The Raptors did it without Pascal Siakam, Norman Powell, and Marc Gasol. They did it by doing a full court press (which I hadn’t seen done regularly since the Bulls of the early 90s were all over the place with that) with the line-up of Lowry, Boucher, Hollis-Jefferson, Terence Davis, and Malcolm Miller. Remember that for years, the Raptors touted how Lowry was so great with their bench units. And he did it again on Sunday.
Lowry scored 20 of his 32 points in that blustering fourth quarter. Kyle Lowry only adds to his legend as the greatest Raptor in history.
There should be a 30 for 30 about this 30-point comeback.
And once again, the NBA shows that the game is not over until the final buzzer sounds. I mean, come on. We saw a 31-point lead lost by the then-defending champion Warriors to the Clippers in the playoffs last spring!
Bullet Passes
So the Nuggets blew out the Lakers (no LeBron James due to a thoracic muscle strain AKA strained back) in spectacular fashion. It was a little interesting for me to see a few Laker writers get heated when Frank Vogel left Anthony Davis in the fourth quarter as the Nuggets ran away with the game.
I thought that maybe a run could happen and I didn’t mind that Davis was in until the game was completely out of reach (people were rightly afraid of an injury but I mean, an injury can, unfortunately, happen anywhere). MAYBE around the six-minute mark is when I would tuck in and call it a night. The Nuggets led by 23 with seven minutes left.
The Lakers made back-to-back threes before the Nuggets smartly called a timeout. Alex Caruso would make free throws to cut the deficit down to 15 but a Nikola Jokic three-point play snuffed the run. They never got closer than that. Vogel finally subbed Davis out with 4:31 left. Admittedly a bit later than I wanted but I was fine with it. And I’m sure a lot of people will remember that moment and call it a coaching flaw for Vogel.
I don’t think so. You’re always trying to win the game. That’s how I see it.
And again, interesting that they would react like this after seeing what the Raptors accomplished.
Anyway, combined with that home stand sweep, the Nuggets have rattled off 6 straight wins.
Jayson Tatum went for 39 points in their blowout win against Charlotte, in case you’re wondering how he’s doing. It’s a little quiet about how he’s performing, considering he’s averaging a career-best 21.6 points and 7.1 rebounds.
The Thunder are doing quite well. They held off their former player, Paul George, and his new team, the Clippers. OKC seems to have found a rhythm as they’ve won four straight. They are holding firm in the #7 seed.
Interesting that PG-13 got a standing ovation in OKC, considering his trade was without warning and it was mostly known that he was the one that wanted to go. But hey, it’s not like he stayed there long. And the Thunder got back a TON of assets.
One of the assets included Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored his career-high 32 points for the second straight game. That dude is good.
The Scoreboard
DAL 107 (19-10) @ TOR 110 (21-8)
CHA 89 (13-20) @ BOS 119 (20-7)
IND 89 (20-10) @ MIL 117 (27-4)
LAC 112 (22-10) @ OKC 118 (15-14)
DEN 128 (20-8) @ LAL 104 (24-6)
We got a ton of games for Monday then the league takes the day off on Christmas Eve. And of course, we have the Christmas takeover from the NBA.
Rey-Rey is on Twitter at @TheNoLookPass.
TNLP on FaceBook.