(PHILADELPHIA, PA) With multiple historical performances occurring in one night of regular season basketball, it was hard to choose who had the best night. Although MVP names like Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid filled up the stat sheet, many players had sneaky great performances that weren’t presented to the media.
Beginning with the boring game, the Atlanta Hawks defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves, overcoming a 16 point first-quarter deficit. Trae Young continues to prove himself as an All-Star starter, finishing with a casual 37 points and 14 assists.
As for Minnesota, they sit at the seven seed out West with a 22-23 record. D’Angelo Russell overcame Trae Young’s defensive struggles, leading the Wolves with 31 points on 10-18 from the field. Hopefully, this jumpstarts a run for Atlanta, as they have severely struggled with chemistry and shot-making to start the season.
In a possible future play-in tournament match, the Charlotte Hornets out-dueled the Boston Celtics 111-102. The Hornets had five double-digit scorers, led by Scary Terry Rozier with 28 points.
Dennis Shroeder had a 24 point outing in what could be one of his last performances in a Celtic jersey, with his name being mentioned in recent trade rumors.
Bouncing back from a four-game losing streak, Demar DeRozan led the Chicago Bulls to a win over the red-hot Cleveland Cavaliers. Although having a down season, Nikola Vucevic put up an awe-inspiring 24 and 12 game against All-Star center Jarrett Allen.
This loss doesn’t take any momentum out of this young Cleveland core, as they still sit with the 6th seed in the East. Darius Garland continues his All-Star campaign, finishing with 20 points and 12 assists in the loss.
Even with a game consisting of two non-playoff teams, there couldn’t have been a better ending to the Kings vs. Pistons game. With Sacramento leading 131-122 with 2:34 left, the Pistons locked up on defense and didn’t allow the Kings to score another point. After back-to-back threes from Saddiq Bey and Kelly Olynyk, Richaun Holmes turned the ball over and gave the ball back to Detroit.
Saddiq Bey came down the court and converted a layup, although getting fouled by Harrison Barnes. After making the free throw, the game was tied at 131-131 with one minute remaining. De’Aaron Fox missed a mid-range jumper being guarded by Hamidou Diallo, which led to a 14-foot jumper by Cory Joseph with 26 seconds left.
De’Aaron Fox showed his offensive struggles down the stretch, as he shot 0-3 in the last 1:20 of the game.
The NBA champions halted the red-hot Memphis Grizzlies with a 33 point outing from the Greek Freak. Khris Middleton added 27 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists in the 126-112 victory over Memphis.
Ja Morant had another fantastic game, putting up 33 points, 14 assists, eight rebounds with only one turnover. With the Grizzlies in contention for the three-seed against the Utah Jazz, every win counts during the second half of the season.
Jaren Jackson Jr. is also showing his improvement from last season, as he had 29 points, nine rebounds, and four blocks while primarily defending Giannis. Jaren is developing into one of the best two-way power forwards in the league.
Luka Magic showed just how dominant he could be with 41 points, 14 rebounds, and seven assists in the win against Toronto. Nick Nurse had to run a seven-man rotation with three players playing more than 40 minutes in a low-scoring game.
The most impressive aspect from this game was Dallas’s defense against the all-around Raptors, holding them to 98 points on 91 field goal attempts.
With Frank Vogel’s seat being in the hot seat this season, allowing the Pacers to go on a 26-17 run in the last nine minutes doesn’t help him keep his job. The struggling Indiana Pacers came out of LA with a 111- 104 win behind Domontas Sabonis’s triple-double. Although not mentioned as an all-star, Sabonis had another dominant stat line with 20 points (75% from the field), 12 rebounds, and ten assists.
Although losing, LeBron talked highly of the coaching staff after the game stating, “The coaching staff has been great. They put us in a position to succeed, and it’s up to us to go out and handle the business. So, there’s always things we all can do better.”
If you would’ve told any NBA fan that Mo Bamba would have 28 points along with the lead going into the half, no one would have believed you. Yet the former sixth overall pick showed off his shooting potential, hitting seven threes before heading into the locker room. Even with Bamba’s career performance, Doc Rivers led the Sixers to destroy the Magic in the 3rd quarter 47-23, eventually leading them to their third win in four games. Joel Embiid continued to prove why he should be in the MVP race, scoring 50 points in just 27 minutes of play.
That is the 8th most points per minute played scored in an NBA game. Historical stat line from the 7’2 Michael Jordan (according to himself).
It seems like every time Embiid has a fantastic game, Jokic finds a way to one-up him. The reigning MVP finished with a 49-14-10 game, along with making an incredible cross-court pass to Aaron Gordon, who nailed the game-winning three versus the Clippers in overtime.
Jokic’s teammates continuously talk about how great of a player he is, especially after a massive win like them.
Monte Morris started by saying, “When he gets in the mode, nobody in the world can stop him.”
Aaron Gordon followed that up by stating, “I knew the ball was going to come to me because Jok makes the right play, the right pass, even in pressure situations.”
Although looking to get his second straight MVP, NBA fans tend to underestimate just how great Jokic is in the clutch. The Nuggets currently sit at the sixth seed, although missing Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr., showing just how incredible a season Jokic is having.
OTHER GAMES
The San Antonio Spurs defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder 118-96.
Dejounte Murray led the Spurs to the win with a 23 point, 14 assists, and ten rebound triple-double.
The Houston Rockets beat the Utah Jazz 116-111.
Garrison “Larry Bird” Matthews led the Rockets in scoring with 23 points on 5-9 from three off the bench.
The Kyle-Lowry-less Miami Heat defeated the Portland Trail Blazers 104-92. Even with Jimmy Butler getting ejected after 15 minutes of play, Bam Adebayo led the team with 20 points, 11 rebounds, five steals, and three blocks.
For the first time this season, Anfernee Simons and CJ McCollum had good games playing next to each other, with Simons having 27 points and McCollum having 24. The Blazers showed just how top-heavy they are, as the bench combined for a +/- rating of -65.
The Brooklyn Nets beat the Washington Wizards in a nail-biting 119-118 finish. Kyrie Irving had his first 30 pieces of the season, helped with James Harden’s 18 points, nine assists, and eight rebounds. Lamarcus Aldridge turned back the clock, adding 27 points on 73.3% from the field.
Washington had a great all-around game with lots of help from the bench, but Bradley Beal’s 23 points on 39% from the field wasn’t enough. Kyle Kuzma and Spencer Dinwiddie missed game-winning threes with less than ten seconds on the clock.
Coming up on the all-star break, great players are proving themselves to the world night in and night out. The talent levels in the NBA right now are the greatest we have ever seen, shown as a player like Domantas Sabonis recorded a triple-double, and there was no media buzz about it. Appreciate basketball when you can because it’s not every night players like Jokic and Embiid play as great as they do.
