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.
James Harden didn’t miss a beat in Houston’s win over the Mavs.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images.)
It’s easy to hate on James Harden. His game isn’t the most aesthetically-pleasing. He goes to the line a lot. He doesn’t dunk on people often but he does. He can cross people up but it doesn’t seem to draw the most oohs and aahs. He scores in bunches but they don’t seem like explosions like a Kobe Bryant or a Stephen Curry.
But he’s incredibly efficient. He gets the job done. And he’s an all-time offensive player. Harden knows how to manipulate referees into calling a foul. He uses angles to get to the rim. He even does the little moves like jerking his head a little just so he can elicit a reaction.
Those are the tricks. But when it comes to pure basketball skill, he’s elite. He can make those three-point bombs. He can snake to the hoop for a lay-up. Again, he doesn’t dunk on people a lot but he can do that. He doesn’t look like the most athletic player but he’s got a good height and very strong for a lead guard. Harden is one of the best passers in the league (he led the league in assists once). While his two-time teammate Russell Westbrook was breaking records in the triple-double category, he amassed 22 of those himself.
So it’s no surprise that James Harden went for 49-9-8 in his first game of the restart. He got to the line a whopping 21 times because he was so relentless on the offensive end. He scored 49 points on 20 shots. He was perfect inside the arc, making all 11 of his shots. And we’re not even talking about the rest of his line when he grabbed 9 boards, dished out 8 dimes, blocked 3 shots, and stole the ball thrice. It’s the most impressive stat line thus far on the restart. Plus he only turned the ball over once in this overtime tour de force.
Harden is obviously not going to win Most Valuable Player this season but you’d have to be a fool not to consider him a Top 5 current NBA player.
Bullet Passes
So that Rockets/Mavericks game had a halftime score of 85-75 in favor of the Mavs. I saw a lot of people complain about how the NBA doesn’t play defense anymore and that the scores are too high.
Those are the same nimrods that complained 20-30 years ago that the NBA’s scores were too low and that the NBA became too much of a grinding game. Yeah. Shut up.
Well, Giannis Antetokounmpo is back and he had a hell of a game (36-15-7). But he was caught up on two plays.
Play #1 should’ve been a sixth foul for Giannis. But plays like that happen all the time honestly when you fight through screens. A lot of them don’t get called and it’s not really a hostile act if you’re just trying to defend.
Now Play #2…
Marcus Smart tries to draw the charge on Giannis. Was he still in the restricted area, though? (via @ESPN) pic.twitter.com/fzalEI0OyW
— Brady Gardner (@BradyDGardner) August 1, 2020
I highlight this because this, to me, is kind of a travesty. The initial call was a charge which is a load of bull. It was correctly overturned into a block.
This happens TOO much in NBA games now. The defensive player tries to beat the offensive player to a spot and, too often, the offensive player has NO WAY to change direction or avoid it (just like the video above). It’s a dangerous move trying to slide in under the offensive player. Now if the dude had been there for two seconds and the offensive player runs over him, yes, that’s a charge.
Please call it a block every single time this happens. The officials are trying to give too much power to the defensive player here.
Before the pandemic, Jusuf Nurkic had a target date for his comeback: the Ides of March (that’s March 15 for the not-so-booksmart). But the pandemic happened and the league shut down on March 11th.
Zach Collins had been out with a shoulder injury since October. But the time off gave him time to recover.
Both players were back for their game on Friday. That makes the Blazers look tougher. And now they also have Carmelo Anthony, who had settled in nicely on his #3 role. Anthony made two clutch threes in their win against Memphis.
Maybe Portland is a team we should watch out for.
In WNBA stuff, Sabrina Ionescu injured her ankle. The New York Liberty seem to have problems with ankles this season; Kia Nurse sat out on Friday for the same issues. Hope Kia and Sabrina recover quickly.
Meanwhile, Ionescu’s Oregon teammate, Satou Sabally, went off for the Dallas Wings. 23 points and 17 boards. That’s why she was picked right after Ionescu (who went #1) in last spring’s WNBA Draft.
It’s about dang time the Phoenix Mercury won. Diana Taurasi had 22 points and a buck’s worth of dimes (if you don’t get that, that’s 10 assists).
Finally, Luka Doncic did get his 15th triple-double of the season. But I mean, this is just going to be a weird season overall. Not every NBA team is going to play the same amount of games for the 2019-20 campaign.
NBA Scoreboard
ORL 128 (31-35) v BRK 118 (30-35)
MEM 135 (32-34) v POR 140 (30-37) (OT)
PHX 125 (27-39) v WAS 112 (24-41)
BOS 112 (43-22) v MIL 119 (54-12)
SAC 120 (28-37) v SA 129 (28-36)
HOU 153 (41-24) v DAL 149 (40-28) (OT)
Double U Scoreboard
NY 78 (0-3) v ATL 84 (2-1)
IND 73 (1-2) v DAL 76 (2-1)
LV 95 (1-2) v PHX 102 (1-2)
Watch This Play
At the start of this video, Ja Morant takes off for the stuff.
Ja is electric in the open floor ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/8ntoP8Pb0X
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) July 31, 2020
Rookie of the year right there.
Rey-Rey is on Twitter at @TheNoLookPass.
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