Comeback Of The Year In Boston?; Kings Spoil Lebron’s Return! 4.30.21
It’s another day of NBA basketball and we have 8 games on the schedule tonight.
Atlanta Hawks vs Philadelphia 76ers
Still Injured
They got Young and Capela back, but still no Reddish, Hunter, or Bogdanovic. The reason this team will likely be remembered is by injuries, which is very unfortunate because they are very fun.
Taking Care Of Business
Another beat down of the short-handed Hawks? Check. 7 guys in double-figures, balanced scoring night. I definitely think it’s good for Philly to limit minutes on their big 3. Certainly Harris isn’t that injury prone but if you can avoid the risk of getting injury prone guys like Embiid and Simmons out of harms way, even better.
San Antonio Spurs vs Boston Celtics
Collapse
How did this happen? The Spurs led by 32 and they still lost. The Spurs led 39-16 after the first quarter, with Jayson Tatum having 14 (88%) of Boston’s first quarter points. They led 77-48 at halftime (29 point lead). They got outscored 42-26 in the 3rd but still the lead was 13. A 21-7 run in the 3rd tied the game with 5:36 left. In those final 5:36, the Spurs could really only score at the free throw line. DeMar DeRozan tied the game at the line and we headed to OT, which shouldn’t have happen. Tristan Thompson missed a pair of free throws and Aaron Nesmith missed a layup. Even with all that, the Spurs headed to OT and they lost. Great job.
Also a 32 point lead blown is the 3rd largest lead blown in the last 25 years.
WOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWO
Yeah, that was kind of cool. The Celtics had a magical comeback, thanks to one man. Jayson Tatum. This guy single handily kept the game close and he finished things off, having another career night. The Celtics trailed by 23 after the first quarter, another sluggish start. Tatum had 88% of his team’s points in the first quarter. The Celtics trailed by 29 at halftime, with half of their 48 points coming from Tatum. Finally the Celtics gained some momentum in the 2nd half and a 21-7 run tied things. But the Celtics could never pull away and a Tatum miss at the buzzer sent us to OT.
Although Boston was happy with that, obviously. They should have won, but missed opportunities like missed free throws from Thompson and a missed layup from Nesmith held them back. But an extra 5 minutes couldn’t hurt. The Celtics pulled away for good, giving them the comeback of the year.
Jayson Tatum, what more can you say? Tied the Celtic record for points in a game held by Larry Bird with 60, getting his own career high. He’s the 2nd youngest player ever with 60 points, behind Devin Booker who got his against the Celtics.
20/37 shooting, 5/7 from 3, 13/15 from the line, 60 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists. But my favorite stat? 45 minutes, 0 turnovers. Special.
Brown was 5/24 from the field, Aaron Nesmith was their most reliable scorer with 16 off the bench. Smart had 12 assists and Boston shot 47% from 3 with 18 makes, but make no mistake. This was all Jayson Tatum.
Washington Wizards vs Cleveland Cavaliers
It’s The Cavs
6 guys in double figures, another win, 10-1 in their last 11 games, rolling.
You’re The Cavs
I think that sums it up well.
Portland Trail Blazers vs Brooklyn Nets
Yay
3 in a row. I’m not going to get ahead of myself and say that everything is fine, because this team is still flawed. However it’s good to see them winning again after that ugly stretch. 6 guys in double figures, love the balance lately. It makes us harder to guard when it’s not just Dame and CJ.
32-7-9 for Dame who seems to be healthy again, I guess that hamstring was bothering him more than I thought, but these lase few games he’s been great. 23 and 11 for Nurkic who has been looking healthy and a solid overall performance defensively. Good win.
Portland Last 3 Games: 126.5 OFFRTG (2nd) 106.1 DEFRTG (8th) 20.4 NETRTG (2nd) 3-0 Record.
If we play defense, we can be decent at best.
Brooklyn Nets
I know the Nets didn’t have KD and Harden, but getting shut down offensively by the Blazers is a little bit depressing, saying just how bad their defense is.
Orlando Magic vs Memphis Grizzlies
You’re The Magic
Simple
It’s The Magic
Also simple.
Milwaukee Bucks vs Chicago Bulls
It’s The Bulls
This was ugly, but a win is a win. 44 combined for Middleton and Lopez, as this wasn’t exactly offense at it’s finest. But the Bucks shut down Vucevic, who went 7/27 from the field, 1/9 from 3. Now the Bucks might let their opponent’s shoot 3’s, but their interior defense is great.
Disaster
The Bulls swung big at the deadline and currently it’s been a disaster. Sure Lavine has dealt with Covid and the roster is flawed, but the Bulls had better chances of making the playoffs without Vucevic than with him. He was awful today and the Bulls gave away some key pieces. Daniel Gafford is helping turn the Wizards around as it seems like he was just misused in Chicago, like Wendell Carter, Coby White, and Lauri Markkanen. There’s going to have be a lot more retooling in Chicago to make things work.
Utah Jazz vs Phoenix Suns
Get Healthy Mitchell
Without Conley and Mitchell, the Jazz beat the Kings by 49 points. Without Mitchell and Conley, the Jazz lost by 21 to the Suns. But here’s the big thing. The Suns and Jazz are now tied in the standings, both 45-18 on the year. The Suns have beaten the Jazz all 3 times this season, meaning they have the tiebreaker. The Suns are now the Kings in the West.
#1 Seed
The Suns are rolling. Just got their first playoff birth in a decade and now they have the #1 seed with limited games left. They have the season series against Utah, they just have to win. Simple as that. The Suns had a brutal end to April, where they faced teams like the Nets, Knicks, Clippers, Jazz, Celtics, Sixers, Bucks. They went 5-2 in those 7 games and they are 23-9 against teams over 0.500, the best overall record in the league. Look out for Phoenix.
Sacramento Kings vs LA Lakers
Resilience
The Kings recently lost by 50. Today they came back from down 10 in the 4th to beat a fully healthy Lakers team. Impressive. The offense was pretty solid throughout. Marvin Bagley returned from his hand injury and the Haliburton – Holmes Pick and Rolls were executed to perfection. It seemed that LA had pulled away with a big 3rd quarter, but the Kings held LA to just 18 points in the 4th, shutting them down. The Kings were able to get the win after James missed the potential game-winning 3.
23 points and 10 assists for Tyrese Haliburton on 57% shooting. The perfect compliment to De’Aaron Fox. 22 points and 9 rebounds for Richuan Holmes, who is going to make a lot of money this offseason. 4 guys off the bench in double-figures, solid outing all-around.
Excused
Lebron came back after missing 20 games and AD isn’t the same. It had been 75 games since AD and Lebron last played, back on February 14th in Denver. This is excused. There were times of them looking dominant and rust. The 4th quarter was ugly. LA’s spacing issue was a problem as they seem to slow down. In the first half, Tyrese Haliburton made as many 3’s as the whole Lakers team did. Overall LA shot 7/28 from 3, just 25%. This is why I would favor the Nets, the Lakers don’t have shooting.
Lebron was ok, 16-8-7, but he’ll get back into things. 22 and 11 for AD who seems to be getting things back. 17 for Drummond but then that was it. I think that guys like KCP, Schroder, Kuzma, and Harrell will have to adjust their roles. They’ll have to go back to being secondary players. I think LA will struggle to end the year but right now it’s hoping everybody stays healthy and Lebron and AD getting back into things. The Lakers are currently the 5th seed, but Dallas is just 0.5 games behind them and Portland is 1 game behind the Lakers. Just because Lebron and AD are back, doesn’t mean things are over.
What Are Your Thoughts From The 8 Games Today? Leave A Comment Down Below!
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