Bubble T.J. Warren Continues Incredible Run

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Welcome to the Basketball Hangover. We jot down NBA and WNBA stuff mostly from last night that we want to talk about. Check it out.

T.J. Warren has scored 30 or more points in 4 of 5 bubble games.

(PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images.)

This has been one of the biggest (if not, the biggest) surprises in the NBA restart. T.J. Warren of the Indiana Pacers has been on fire. The dude is averaging 34.8 points in five bubble games. He shocked everyone with a 53-point performance in a win against the Sixers. While he came back to earth against his former team, the Suns (more on them later), the Pacers have won all four games when he scored 30 or more points. That included a big win against the Los Angeles Lakers when he put in 39 points, including a 7-0 personal run in the closing minutes.

What the hell, man?

Now it’s not like he was an unknown like a Flip Murray or a Jeremy Lin. We’ve always known Warren as a potent scorer. He was Phoenix’s #2 option behind Devin Booker in his last two seasons there. Warren was essentially dealt for cap relief, which continues to raise eyebrows now. But the Suns did get Ricky Rubio, Frank Kaminsky, and Kelly Oubre, Jr. off free agency that summer so it wasn’t a total loss for Phoenix.

Either way, Warren became a big part of the Pacers offense. He was actually the leading scorer for the Pacers entering the bubble. But he became more of a focal point when Domantas Sabonis injured his foot. Victor Oladipo is playing but he’s clearly not 100 percent. And here we are with T.J.

One clear difference between regular T.J. Warren and Bubble T.J. Warren is that he’s willing to shoot more three-pointers. Before the restart, Warren only attempted three from behind the arc per game. He was making them (.375) so that wasn’t a problem.

Bubble T.J., though? He is attempting 7.2 threes per game and is making them at a scorching .556 clip. Obviously, that’ll go down as the games go on but him shooting that three opens up his game more. Suddenly, T.J. seems unstoppable. You know how some players just go to the next level after an offseason? Maybe T.J. has gone to the next level. We’re not going to forget his much-improved defense, either. He has been a willing defender under Nate McMillan and he hasn’t done half-bad whether he’s guarding the opposing wings or big men (he did a great job against Anthony Davis on Saturday).

The funny thing is that two of the last three regular season games for the Pacers are against the Miami Heat. The usually-reserved Warren has a bit of beef with the Heat’s intense star, Jimmy Butler.

With T.J. becoming that guy in the bubble, this is going to be an even more anticipated match-up.

Bullet Passes

Speaking of beef, Damian Lillard and the Clippers had a little something going on. Lillard uncharacteristically missed foul shots in the closing moments of their game as the Blazers were down one with 18.6 ticks left. The misses helped the Clippers win. During those free throws, Patrick Beverley (who was actually not playing) said it was Dame Time during the misses.

Lillard was asked about it so he responded with this:

OBVIOUSLY, Paul George didn’t take too kindly to it. The quote was put on the Bleacher Report Instagram. And they got a little spicy.

(From the Bleacher Report Instagram.)

I read about the beef escalating to include family members but y’all can search that out yourselves. Anyway, it’s really too bad that this can’t go to the next level in this season. Unless Portland makes the playoffs, topples the Lakers, and makes a repeat conference finals run. And that would mean the Clippers would have to make it to the conference finals, too, which they’ve never done in team history. So I’ll settle for a bubble food fight.

That double OT game was really fun between the Nuggets and Jazz. It might be the best-played game of the 2019-20 season but then I forgot pretty much everything that happened in the NBA before this awful pandemic.

THE SUNS ARE 5-0 IN THE BUBBLE. I had already talked about them a couple of days ago but they just continue to make that magical run for a chance at a play-in series. Devin Booker was fantastic and finished with 35 points. Jevon Carter scored 20 off the bench. Yeah, the Heat are shorthanded with injuries but this was still a team good enough to beat the supposed-lowly Suns.

Dallas Mavericks also had a fun OT game against the Milwaukee Bucks. Luka Doncic was dominant, going for 36 points, 14 boards, and 19 assists (check out his last one at the end of this column). The Mavs swept the season series with the Bucks.

Arike Ogunbowale is second in WNBA scoring right now (20.1 points per). Check out the work she’s done since she got to the league, though.

Buckets.

Kahleah Copper continues her strong start for the season, scoring 20 points in a win against the Connecticut Sun, who fell to 1-6. What we should also watch out for is Courtney Vandersloot, possibly topping her assists record from last season. She finished with 9.1 dimes per game last year and she is currently at 8.9 this year after dropping 11 dishes against the Sun.

Diana Taurasi suffered a hip injury against the Storm. At least, it was unrelated to her back injury from last season. Still, the Mercury put up a fight until the end against Seattle, who are now 6-1.

NBA Scoreboard

LAC 122 (47-22) v POR 117 (32-39)
UTA 132 (43-27) v DEN 134 (46-24) (2OT)
LAL 111 (51-18) v IND 116 (43-27)
PHX 119 (31-39) v MIA 112 (43-27)
MIL 132 (55-15) v DAL 136 (42-30)

Double U Scoreboard

ATL 75 (2-5) v DAL 85 (3-4)
PHX 68 (4-3) v SEA 74 (6-1)
CHI 100 (5-2) v CON 93 (1-6)

Watch This Play

Good grief. This shiny between-the-legs pocket pass by Luka Doncic to Maxi Kleber.

The pass was ballsy because it was in the closing moments against the best team in the league. Luka is ridiculous.

Stay safe, everyone in the Bubble and Wubble!

Rey-Rey is on Twitter at @TheNoLookPass.

TNLP on FaceBook.


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