Welcome to the Basketball Hangover. I write about what’s happening in the NBA daily, even when COVID has ravaged the league.
Luka Doncic and Stephen Curry both had offensive explosions.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Jerome Miron/USA Today.)
We saw Luka Doncic and the Mavericks get revenge on Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors on Saturday night. And, man, that was an important win for the Mavs. Yeah, the defense wasn’t there but Dallas will take an encouraging offensive boom.
The Mavs couldn’t stop Curry, who went for an eye-popping 57 points. Curry made 11 threes and he nearly singlehandedly brought the Dubs the win. But the Warriors couldn’t contain Luka themselves, who had 42-7-11. The 42 points by Doncic tied a career-best in regular season play (he scored 43 in a playoff game last summer).
Doncic found an open Maxi Kleber for a clutch three with 6 seconds left to put the Mavs up four when the Warriors decided not to foul down one. Kleber has been their best three-point shooter on the team; he is up to .458 for the season.
And that seems to be part of the huge dropoff for the Mavs on offense. They went from the best offense in history last season to 16th in offensive rating this season (points per 100 possessions). It’s obviously tough to keep up with the BEST OFFENSE IN HISTORY but their three-pointers are down this season. They are actually last in three-point percentage compared to Top 10 last season. It’s also notable that they don’t have Seth Curry this season, who was their deadeye shooter at .452 in 2019-20. But most of their players are just down from last season. Josh Richardson, the player they traded Curry for, is shooting .301. Kristaps Porzingis (yeah, I know) went from .352 last season to .313 this season. Dorian Finney-Smith was at .376 last year and now at .338.
Yes, it didn’t help that COVID has really affected them. It’s tough to get a good flow when players are coming in and out. Doncic has only missed one game, though. However, they don’t really have another playmaker on offense and you wonder that while he’s incredible, he might be doing too much.
Plus with the offense not humming as much, their defense has been porous. They’re bottom five on defensive rating.
For now, they’re 10-14, which is second-to-last in the West. However, they are healthy now and they have a bunch of games at home (which still affects them as being on the road seems harder in this pandemic) coming up. That 6-game skid certainly didn’t help matters but they can be right back in it with a few wins here and there.
Bullet Passes
The Lakers went double overtime against the Pistons. However, LeBron James deciding to become a fantastic three-point shooter is just remarkable in his 18th campaign. He made two of those threes to help the Lakers put it away in that second extra period.
LeBron is shooting the most threes in his career (6.7 attempts per game) and somehow has a career-best in percentage (.410).
The New York Knicks are nearing a deal to get Derrick Rose (yeah, I know) back on there. We know Tom Thibodeau would love to get his former player back. Dennis Smith, Jr. is rumored to be going to Detroit.
Curry wasn’t the only one that had a big scoring game. Nikola Jokic, who recently scored 47, topped that with a 50-point game against Sacramento. Denver lost the game, though.
So somehow, the confusion about Kevin Durant continued into the weekend. He was somehow questionable to play on Saturday before the decision was made that he can’t play until Friday. I don’t even know these protocols anymore, man.
You look at the standings on both conferences and it just feels close all-around. While I said that COVID could compromise competition, it has hit nearly every team. Miami is 13th in the East but they’re not too bad at 8-14. I mentioned that Dallas is second-to-last and they’re 10-14. The only teams that really seem to be out of it at this point are Washington (5-14), Detroit (5-18), and Minnesota (6-17).
NBA Scoreboard
Feb. 6, 2021
Watch This Play
Look at Hassan Whiteside smack JaMychal Green‘s dunk out of there.
BLOCK of the Night: February 6th
👉 Hassan Whiteside of the @SacramentoKings pic.twitter.com/YO8RBRhqFq
— NBA Canada (@NBACanada) February 7, 2021
Whiteside has been a pleasant surprise for the Kings.
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.