Well look, I don’t come here with a set agenda in mind for titles, if anything, I blame the redundant title pun on Damian Lillard‘s roller coaster opening two games thus far, going for 39 points in his debut (with the aforementioned title post) and then just scoring 6 points (on 2-12 FG, 2-8 3pT), which was spoiled with today’s post title. While I ponder the ethics of not using a spoiler alert tag, last night’s game against the Hawks (the most mid team ever?) was truly a question mark. While I’d probably not blow things up if I were the Bucks (if only to stave off more “here’s how the Heat can still trade for Dame!” articles), clearly it was only a matter of time before Wisconsin discovered “Lame time”. But don’t fret, we’re literally in the first week of the season still, so weird sh*t gonna happen folks. I mean, SGA scored seven last night, Steph struggled a lot until the end and Nikola Jokic called Chet fat. The last one doesn’t really matter, but everyone should enjoy Jokic thin-shaming someone…
Here’s what else I saw this weekend…
So yeah, not to add to the “Shame time” last night (the gift that just keeps giving), but he also had 6 turnovers along with a team-and-game worst -29. Pretty impressive since I think I could probably put up a -29 as well. Sure, one’s in an NBA arena and other’s in the local Rec, but still…
Despite an ankle injury, De’Aaron Fox was still able to put up 37 points, 4 rebounds, 8 assists along with a steal and block, good for a +15 in an OT win against the Lakers on Sunday. Nothing against Fox, but I think the Lakers guard situation is looking a little shakey. Let’s check it out next week, but so far, Gabe Vincent (2 points and 2 assists in 32 minutes) and Dlo have been underwhelming along with Austin Reaves going 1-12 last night.
Interesting fact: LeBron James has played 29, 35 and 39 minutes in his first three games… (2022-23 PTSD INTENSIFIES.)
Joel Embiid with the MVP credential check a little early this season, generally it takes a bit to get started but he scored 35 points with great efficiency and added 7 assists with 2 steals and an incredible 6 blocks. Someone should probably think up a new nickname for Dominayton… like maybe three years ago. Just for expositions sake, we’re talking about a dude in his first three games is average 8.3 points and a -4.7. Yikes.
As alluded to earlier to make Dame feel a bit better emotionally, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander did finish the game with just 7 points. Sure, there were 7 assists and 4 rebounds, but overall the game was pretty ugly. I’ll give credit to the Nuggets as well, their perimeter usually moves together and handled the entire team as a group on both ends of the court.
Nikola Jokic did that while ending the half with a 22/9/4. Just Jokic type things, nothing to see here.
The Russell Westbrook project (great band name) continues to vibe well with the Clippers. Against the Spurs in a blowout, he had 19 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists with a game high +30.
And since I mentioned the Spurs, here’s your Wembypocolypse 2023-24 check-in! He’s now averaging through 3 games: 15.7 PPG, 7.3 RPG, 1.7 APG, 2.0 BPG, 1.7 SPG on 52.7% TS. On a scale of 1-10, I give that a quarter boner.
James Harden is expected to attend tonight’s 76ers games, but on the bench. I say keep your popcorn on standby just in case. And despite my discouragement, Tyrese Maxey had a great game against the Blazers with 26 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists in 35 minutes.
Jay is a longtime Razzball everything who consumes an egregious amount of Makers Mark as a vehicle to gain wisdom and augment his natural glow. Living in the D.C. area, he also likes spending time visiting the local parks and feeding lettuce to any turtles he encounters, including Mitch McConnell.
