Or at least the front offices of the Association are. I just want the regular Winter Wonderland. You know, the one that comes with snow? Now, I know the weather, I see the report, and a large swath of the country is due to be beat down by climate change at the end of the week, but not I. Nope, just rain. And more rain. I lived in Seattle folks, why am I here with the rain? But who cares, because we have the Raptors (Rapture? harhar) to talk about and it’s not looking good. Toronto has now lost six in a row and nine of their last 11. Of course, the reactionaries are ready to tear this team down and reset, especially since one of those losses was against the Magic (Apologies Orlando). There are theories out there that the Raptors should go the opposite direction and shed assets for a star to line up with Pascal Siakam and Scottie Barnes, but I’m not sure what assets they have. While I personally think its too early to have such thoughts, even after coming off a loss where aforementioned Siakam went HAM against the Sixers with 38 points, 15 rebounds, 5 assists in 47 minutes. Then again, can you imagine the Mavericks with Siakam? Scary. Almost as scary as Siakam and Fred VanVleet having a good game together! Here’s what else I saw during last night’s slate of games:
Donovan Mitchell – 23 MIN, 8-12 FG, 4-5 3PT, 3-3 FT, 2 REB, 1 AST, 1 TO, +8, 23 PTS. 23 minutes and still scores the most. Damn.
Isaac Okoro – 30 MIN, 4-8 FG, 1-4 3PT, 3-4 FT, 2 REB, 4 AST, 1 STL, 1 TO, +10, 12 PTS. Okoro deserves a chance to see what he can do as a starter at some point. I like his aggressiveness; he’s shown a knack for finding the open guy and has done well on defense.
Fred VanVleet – 41 MIN, 3-15 FG, 2-11 3PT, 1-1 FT, 6 REB, 3 AST, 1 BLK, 2 TO, +6, 9 PTS. Raptors are probably one of the top teams in the league in getting the least from their PG. VanVleet has not had a shot for much of this year and looks lost.
Trae Young – 36 MIN, 11-22 FG, 3-7 3PT, 12-12 FT, 3 REB, 13 AST, 4 TO, +4, 37 PTS. I want to apologize to the Raptors. I thought their offense was bad, but the Hawks took it to a new level at the end of this game. Trae didn’t even score in the last four minutes… but despite their best efforts, the Hawks still won.
Alperen Sengun – 24 MIN, 8-10 FG, 6-8 FT, 4 REB, 3 AST, 1 STL, 1 BLK, -16, 22 PTS. I’m sure the dozen or so viewers really enjoyed this game!
Luka Doncic – 28 MIN, 5-17 FG, 3-8 3PT, 6-7 FT, 6 REB, 7 AST, 1 STL, 4 TO, -14, 19 PTS. I know I mentioned the crazy dream of Siakam being paired up with Luca, but honestly, if people are talking about the Raptors blowing up, shouldn’t the Mavs be in that conversation too? They literally have nothing to improve the team, and their cap space doesn’t open up until 2024. The Kristaps Porzingis trade was understandable at the time, health was a huge factor. But the Brunson loss I think is being felt big-time now and was pretty dumb when you look at the timeline, easily could be the straw that breaks this camel’s back.
Giannis Antetokounmpo – 34 MIN, 12-17 FG, 1-3 3PT, 17-22 FT, 10 REB, 1 AST, 1 BLK, 2 TO, +1, 42 PTS. Pelicans are a great team going through a mini skid and it took the Bucks best effort to beat them tonight. Would be a great Finals match-up in my humble opinion…
Brook Lopez – 35 MIN, 12-17 FG, 4-9 3PT, 2-2 FT, 7 REB, 3 AST, 1 BLK, 2 TO, +8, 30 PTS. Better than Gobert and we got him for free.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – 36 MIN, 10-24 FG, 1-1 3PT, 14-14 FT, 2 REB, 6 AST, 1 STL, 2 BLK, 2 TO, -1, 35 PTS. Vote SGA to the ASG!
Patrick Beverley – 23 MIN, 4-8 FG, 0-2 3PT, 1-1 FT, 1 REB, 3 AST, 3 TO, -17, 9 PTS. PatBev, down 21 points, hits the Suns with the “too small”…
Lonnie Walker IV – 30 MIN, 5-13 FG, 3-6 3PT, 3-3 FT, 4 REB, 2 AST, 1 STL, 1 BLK, -12, 16 PTS. This retirement home Lakers roster is NOT built for back-to-back games.
Kelly Oubre Jr. – 38 MIN, 12-25 FG, 3-8 3PT, 4-6 FT, 9 REB, 1 AST, 1 STL, 1 BLK, 4 TO, +1, 31 PTS. DIM THE BEAM!
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.
