Welcome to the NBA Hangover. We jot down NBA stuff mostly from last night that we want to talk about. Check it out.
Malik Beasley is all smiles as he gets a fresh start with a new team.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Stacy Bengs/AP.)
The Minnesota Timberwolves are going to start anew once again. The Wolves fans hope that they get more of Saturday’s team than the previous season or that 14-year gap where they didn’t make the postseason.
Something was different in their game against the Clippers. It could be an anomaly the way the Wolves have played all season. Or it could be the new normal, which is what the ferocious puppies have been looking for.
The Wolves nearly tied the record for most three-pointers by a team in a single game, making 26 of 44 from behind the arc (the record is 27 by the Houston Rockets last April). Now it would be insane to expect this kind of blistering shooting from afar every game but as long as they’re a threat from the perimeter, the Wolves would be a completely different offensive team.
In about the last decade, the Wolves are either in the bottom of three-point percentage or three-point makes and attempts. Basically, teams didn’t have to worry much about their outside bombing. One dude they DID have to worry about was Karl-Anthony Towns but he basically does everything for them offensively.
Their trades in the last few days seemed to aim for behind-the-arc weapons. They knew they had to trade Robert Covington (who is the prototypical 3-and-D guy himself) but they wanted to get back some outside shooting. The maneuvering got them guys like Malik Beasley (who wanted a bigger role), Juancho Hernangomez (who could be an effective stretch big), and D’Angelo Russell (an all-around offensive threat in general).
The Wolves were also done with the Andrew Wiggins project, who was a very good scorer but most of his points felt empty because it never felt like he improved the team.
But Beasley seemed to relish his new big task with the Wolves. He scored 20 of his 23 points in the first half. Hernangomez is shooting .286 from three this season but his debut with Minnie came away with a perfect 3-for-3 performance behind the line. KAT went 3 for 5. Two-way player Jordan McLaughlin was a pest on the court, making two threes and electrifying slams. James Johnson, who people thought wasn’t going to suit up for the Wolves, came in and scored 15 points. Even Naz Reid got in on the action and made 4 from deep. As mentioned, they sunk 26 threes in the game as they upset the Clippers and stopped their 13-game losing streak. (Russell didn’t play due to a quad ailment.)
We have seen so much potential from the Wolves and for most of the fans, it’s another “here we go again” start. This season is pretty much lost for the most part but if they can put out consistently good performances for the rest of the season then maybe there’s hope for the next campaign.
Hey, stop us if you’ve heard that before, too.
Bullet Passes
A couple of Charlotte Hornets have been bought out. Marvin Williams is seemingly going to go to the Milwaukee Bucks, which adds to their wing depth.
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is surprisingly going to go as well. The rumor right now is for him to go to Dallas. The Mavericks can certainly use some defensive help.
So Damian Lillard supposedly will not be fined after he ranted against the officials about a missed goaltending call on both real life AND social media. They honestly did the right thing because Lillard was correct.
It doesn’t look like a protest will happen. What the NBA can do further? Fix the replay system. Teams should get two challenges per game (as long as they have timeouts) and they should get to challenge ANYTHING QUESTIONABLE. It doesn’t matter if it was called or not. We just want to get things right, man.
The Raptors can’t lose. I’ve talked about them plenty on this site. But let me talk about them for a bit more. They survived a Nets fourth quarter rush and won their 14th straight game. Again, they probably won’t catch the Bucks but they can secure the #2 seed the way they’ve been playing.
I told a good friend (whaddup, John Canton!) that the Raptors keep finding gems (Terence Davis, Chris Boucher, Matt Thomas). It doesn’t matter whether Marc Gasol, Kyle Lowry, Pascal Siakam, Norman Powell, Serge Ibaka, and Fred VanVleet are out a game or another (thank goodness, not ALL at the same time although they didn’t have three of those players for an extended time); they just keep plugging in players as if nothing is wrong. They’ve pretty much become what the San Antonio Spurs were in the last 20 years.
The Warriors showed off their shiny new toy, Andrew Wiggins, in this game. He went for 24 points and 5 steals (hey, defense!). Too bad, LeBron James spoiled the party.
The Knicks have won four straight games. Hooray and stuff.
Meanwhile, the Pacers have lost 5 in a row. They probably won’t have to worry about the Nets catching them (they’re 7 games behind) but they have to find a rhythm at some point if they want to make noise in the playoffs.
Victor Oladipo didn’t play in Saturday’s loss against the Pelicans. He has notably struggled in the 5 games he has played thus far (.281 shooting while averaging under 11 points per game) but let’s not forget that he hadn’t played a full year before coming back. Hopefully, both Oladipo and the team get going soon.
Back to the Warriors, the team paid a nice tribute to the late Kobe Bryant (still a strange thing to write). It’s gotta be tough for the Laker franchise (and Laker fans) to see these tributes almost every day. I know it’s real tough for me, too.
The Scoreboard
MIL 112 (45-7) @ ORL 95 (22-31)
DAL 116 (32-21) @ CHA 100 (16-36)
NY 95 (17-36) @ DET 92 (19-36)
NO 124 (22-31) @ IND 117 (31-22)
BRK 118 (23-28) @ TOR 119 (39-14)
LAC 115 (36-16) @ MIN 142 (16-35)
LAL 125 (39-12) @ GS 120 (12-41)
DEN 117 (37-16) @ PHX 108 (21-32)
SA 102 (22-30) @ SAC 122 (21-31)
Watch This Play
The Hornets may have been getting blown out in this basketball game but Malik Monk blew away everyone with this defiant jam.
(VIDEO CREDIT: Sideline.)
Let’s add this Monk alley-oop for a bonus round. Woof.
GG.
Rey-Rey is on Twitter at @TheNoLookPass.
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For the rest of the season, I will sign off with GG, which usually means “Good Game.” But we also know “Gigi” is Gianna Bryant’s nickname. This will be my tribute to her.