The Chicago Bulls Are The Most Exciting Team In The NBA
From the high-flying antics of the Chicago Bulls to the Lakers’ blowout loss to the Celtics, I broke down everything notable from last night around the NBA.
Y’all Really Paying Russ $44 Million Lol
With Lebron James back in the lineup, the Lakers were back at full strength last night in the Garden. After playing inconsistently without Lebron, this was the Lakers’ time to turn things around. Things went well in the first quarter, where the Lakers scored 38 points. And after that, you could say things went south.
The Lakers didn’t even play poorly, they just couldn’t stop the Celtics. Things got ugly in the 4th quarter, where it seemed like the Lakers had had enough with playing this thing called defense.
It certainly wasn’t the prettiest way to welcome back Lebron James.
Rebounding Problems
The Lakers are one of the worst rebounding teams in the NBA. They don’t have enough big bodies down low to collect rebounds. While AD is capable of doing it, teams can just use multiple bodies to box him out. Once that happens, the Lakers struggle to collect rebounds.
The Lakers only played Dwight Howard for 9 minutes in this game, so they didn’t give themselves a chance on the glass. All of that culminated with the Lakers getting outrebounded 51-33. The Celtics had 13 more defensive rebounds than the Lakers, which doesn’t happen too often in the NBA.
This season, the Lakers are one of the worst rebounding teams in the NBA. Their DREB% is 71.3%, which is 27th in the NBA. Their overall rebounding percentage is 48.9%, which is 20th in the NBA. The Lakers just aren’t as physically dominant as they were when they won the title.
Whether it’s by using Dwight Howard more off the bench or just going all out for rebounds, something needs to change. You can’t win NBA games by losing the rebounding battle by 18. It’s incredibly hard to overcome that, as we saw last night.
If the Lakers can’t rebound, their inconsistent offense gets relied upon even more. This is a problem LA has to fix, otherwise, I can’t see them succeeding in the playoffs.
The Bench Needs To Score, Or Else
The Lakers’ bench is pretty talented. They have some weapons to come off the bench, but there is one problem. When they aren’t scoring, they aren’t valuable. If Carmelo Anthony isn’t scoring, what’s the point of him being on the court? The same thing applies to Malik Monk.
Both can score, but when they can’t, they are defensive liabilities. Those two guys, Monk and Melo, played a combined 50 minutes last night. They combined for 22 points, but in the process, they were a -36 plus/minus combined. Their lack of offensive output did not warrant them being on the court.
It’s a trend that the Lakers have already experienced this season. It’s also a trend of the role players struggling to score on the road compared to when the Lakers are home.
Carmelo Anthony @ Home: 17.0 points – 67% TS
Carmelo Anthony On The Road: 10.4 points – 46% TS
Wayne Ellington @ Home: 7.8 points – 62% TS
Wayne Ellington On The Road: 3.7 points – 31% TS
The only Lakers role player who gets better on the road is Malik Monk. Kent Bazemore sucks wherever he’s playing, so he doesn’t fit into this new phenomenon. Role players indeed play better at home, but great role players play well wherever it is their playing.
The Lakers need that to be true because at one point this season, whenever that is, they’re going to have to win an important game on the road.
$44 million for Russell Westbrook to get pulled in the 4th quarter for Rajon Rondo?
$44 million for Russell Westbrook to shoot 39% from the field?
$44 million for Russell Westbrook to be a -12 on the floor in 31 minutes?
Yikes.
Rookie Watch
It’s been a while since I’ve whipped out this segment. But since there were a lot of rookies in action last night, let’s see how they fared.
Cade Cunningham
While the Pistons’ loss last night was disappointing, Cade Cunningham was not. The #1 overall pick has picked things up after a slow start and delivered another masterful game.
19 points – 6 rebounds – 6 assists – 5 stocks (stl+blk) – 50% FG
Scoring-wise, Cade has been pretty simple as a rookie. It’s either a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer or bullying a defender inside. He did a little bit of both in this game and it’s working for him.
Cade’s playmaking continues to be superb. He had a few nice passes in traffic and a cross-court dime while moving to the corner. He makes the simple passes but he also makes the hard passes that very few in the NBA can make.
And hey! There’s some defense. Cade had 5 combined steals and blocks in this game. He made a few nice recoveries to the perimeter for steals and he had a chase-down block.
Too bad Cade plays for Detroit and they suck.
Jalen Suggs
Jalen Suggs has struggled to score in the NBA. While draft heads universally concluded he was a safe player, Suggs has struggled in the NBA. His outside shot is a work in progress and he hasn’t translated well to the NBA. Last night against Brooklyn was perhaps his best game in the NBA.
21 points – 2 steals – 44% FG
Suggs did most of his damage in the first quarter, where he had 17 points. He looked confident shooting the ball, both off the catch and off of a screen. He had a nice cut for an easy layup and took a steal the other way for a dunk.
This is the Jalen Suggs we’ve all been waiting to see. That hyper-smart, athletic freak who knows where to be on the floor. You’re still wishing for a more consistent game, but that first-quarter displayed how good Suggs can be down the line.
Josh Giddey
Josh Giddey has been doing the little things well as a rookie. While his scoring is his biggest weakness, he does everything else perfectly fine. His combination of size, herky-jerky movements, and great playmaking make him one of my favorite players to watch.
Giddey’s rookie season rolled on against the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks last night.
14 points – 12 rebounds (6 off) – 4 assists – 50% FG
Giddey is similar to Scottie Barnes in a lot of ways. You know they can’t shoot, so they have to be creative in how they score. Giddey did that in this game. One time it was a putback layup. Another, it was a nice cut to the basket. He drove downhill a few times in this game, stopped on a dime, and then spun in a shot in the paint for the score. It might not be pretty, but it works.
Giddey was a monster on the offensive boards, collecting 6 of them on the game. Giddey knows where the ball will go and hustles for it every time. My favorite plays are when guys like Jrue Holiday make half-assed a boxout and then looked surprised when Giddey got the ball. He knew he had to box out, but he wasn’t used to Giddey’s determination for the rebound.
Giddey’s best assist of the night was great and it was in a pivotal moment of the game, no less. He drove down the lane and got stuck. With the shot clock winding down, he did the opposite of what most players would do in this situation. Giddey fired a left-handed bullet pass cross-court to the corner, where a fellow rookie, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl drained a 3-pointer.
You’ve got to love Josh Giddey.
Watching The Phoenix Suns’ Electric 4th Quarter vs Dallas
Let’s ignore the fact that the Suns were somewhat struggling to beat Dallas without Luka Doncic for the first 3 quarters of this game. Let’s just ignore that fact.
Instead, let’s watch them pick apart Dallas in the 4th en route for their 11th straight win.
It wouldn’t be a Suns segment without some Chris Paul mid-range jump shots. He hit a few others in this quarter, but this one was the best one of them all.
After a great defensive play from Booker, the Suns are off and running. As Paul is running down the court, Mikal Bridges cuts across the front of the rim. Deandre Ayton comes to set a screen for Paul at the top of the key.
The defense’s attention is not on Booker, who has sneakily run to the corner. Paul finds him and that’s the dagger.
But you can’t have a great 4th quarter without some great defense. The Suns had that in this 4th quarter, holding Dallas to just 29% shooting. There’s one play I want to talk about in particular.
Jalen Brunson tries to drive on Jae Crowder, which isn’t the best idea in the world. He gets stuck and the Suns do a great job not letting a pass get through. Tim Hardaway Jr. is forced to chuck up a bad shot as the shot clock is expiring.
Great denial on all 4 other guys by the Suns. Cam Johnson is perfectly fine with THJ catching the ball 35 feet away from the rim.
The Suns are playing some of the best basketball in the NBA. This game marked their 11th straight win, the Suns’ longest winning streak since the days of Steve Nash back in 2007.
As of right now, they’re the 2nd best team in the Western Conference and they would give anybody they see a great battle. While they aren’t as talked about as some other teams in the NBA, they’re still contenders.
Suns in 4 baby.
The Chicago Bulls Are The Most Fun Team In Basketball
From explosive dunks from Zach Lavine to the excellent defensive play of Alex Caruso, this team is fun. Having Stacey King help commentate this all makes it that much better.
Jayson Tatum Is Good At Basketball
While we can talk about the Lakers’ shortcomings all night long, Jayson Tatum played his best game of the season last night. Tatum hadn’t been playing at the level we knew he could be playing at and it had been frustrating to watch him play.
However, against the Lakers, the disciple of Kobe decided that he would attack the basket. The results followed as such.
37 points – 11 rebounds – 3 steals – 50% FG
Tatum was incredibly aggressive and helped the Celtics blow out the Lakers in the 2nd half. This performance is proof that Tatum knows he can attack the basket. I’m just hoping he does it more often because both the Celtics and he are better off without him chucking up 10+ 3-pointers a night.
What Are Your Thoughts From Last Night’s Games? Leave A Comment Down Below!
Follow My Instagram & Facebook To Never Miss A Post: @hoopnotions
