Welcome to the Basketball Hangover. Also, welcome to 2021. We’re here to talk about the daily happenings in the NBA!
Yet we had another huge margin at the half when the Sixers kicked the Magic while they were down.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Phelan M. Ebenhack/AP.)
It was brought to my attention about the ridiculous leads teams had this week. We remember the Clippers being down 50 against the Mavs (eventually losing by 51). The Bucks obliterated the Heat by 47 points after filling their rim as big as the ocean with 29 three-pointers. And in Christmas, that same Milwaukee team slapped around the Golden State Warriors and won by 39.
While the Sixers won by 24 against the Orlando Magic (which left the team with no more undefeated teams after Day 10 of the season), Philly led by a commanding 35 points by halftime.
So what is it about these huge leads? Honestly, I couldn’t tell you. I mean, we know how it is: 2020 has been really really strange and depressing.
We’re going to have two consecutive NBA seasons where the campaigns will be cut short by roughly 10 games for each team. The world changed in the second week of March when the Coronavirus went rampant. The NBA was no exception; the season was halted in March 11th after Rudy Gobert caught the virus (and we know about him touching the mics and everything). And then the league took a break, which eventually turned out to be four months before resuming. We did have a bit of a break because of social issues (which we still have a long way to go). The league did crown the Lakers as champions on October 11th, exactly 7 months after the league suspended operations.
And then of course, we have this quick turnaround to the next season two months later.
Back to the Sixers beating down the Magic, along with the many games that have these huge blowouts whether by the half or at the end (by the way, the Pelicans smacked the Thunder by 33). I’d like to think it’s another outlier of some sort; I remember this happening on a recent season. But there are also a few factors here (which may or may not apply to some teams).
It’s strange because Orlando had been undefeated before losing big to Philly. But I mean, I want to say that the long layoff for the ones that didn’t go to the bubble would affect them. And on the other side of the coin, there are teams who didn’t have as much rest as they would like. Of course, the entire league had four months off.
But there were also unusual circumstances as the pandemic continues to rage in America. There was no summer league. Training camps were shorter and on-court sessions were limited to individuals.
I’ll just write it up as an oddity. The NBA will continue to operate under this weird situation until the country is… normal again. I’ll start to worry if teams start to lose by 70 on a regular occurence.
(That’s never happened. The biggest margin of victory is 68 points. The Cavs dumped on the Heat, 148-80, on December 17, 1991.)
Bullet Passes
Russell Westbrook has four triple-doubles in four games (going for 22-10-11 against Chicago). What’s more glaring, however, is that the Wizards are 0-5 after taking the L against Chi-town.
Maybe the league should worry more about the son of Arvydas, Domantas Sabonis. He’s now averaging 22.4 points, 11.0 boards, and 7.2 dimes in 5 games. And to think that’s he was traded twice as a sweetener along with Victor Oladipo for Serge Ibaka and, a year later, Paul George.
Welcome back to the NBA, John Wall. After two years and five days. Wall went for a tidy 22-6-9 in his first game as a Houston Rocket. The Rockets dodged a couple of wrenches as the Kings missed a couple of potential game-tying threes.
DeMarcus Cousins also played his first game since Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals. He finished with 8 points in nearly 14 minutes.
The Raptors left the land of the winless (leaving the Wizards and the Pistons as the only teams that haven’t won ish this season) as they did a number on the Knicks.
Phoenix Suns are now 4-1. It’s their first 4-1 start since the 2009-10 season. That was also the last season they made the playoffs.
Is their game MVP like Steve Nash?
NBA Scoreboard
Dec. 31, 2020
Watch This Play
Look at Joel Embiid make the Magic go through the process of their first loss.
This is absolutely gorgeous from Joel Embiid. The floor-spacing is tremendous, too. Tough to double. pic.twitter.com/cjpu34WegA
— Jackson Frank (@jackfrank_jjf) December 31, 2020
So many moves. Gotta look up GameFAQs for all of them.
Happy New Year, guys.
Everyone, please take care of yourselves during this pandemic. And that goes for everyone involved with the NBA as well.
You can find Rey-Rey on Twitter at @TheNoLookPass.
You can also check out Rey-Rey’s podcast, Rey-Rey Is Fundamental, for more basketball content and, really, whatever else.