New York Knicks at Oklahoma City Thunder 1119-97
The Knicks, after getting walloped by the Bucks, took care of business against a Thunder team without their star in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and one of their key young guys in Darius Bazley.
Julius Randle posted a triple-double after a lackluster return to action against Milwaukee the other night. He scored 26, assisted 12 times, and grabbed 12 boards on top of two steals. RJ Barrett also continued his excellent form with a nice 32 piece and stealing the ball three times. Immanuel Quickley also had an eye-catching game since he racked up 33 minutes of playing time with Derrick Rose and Elfrid Payton not being available for this game. IQ scored 21 points on the back of three triples.
The Thunder had a balanced scoring effort since they had eight players hit double digits in points. The young Frenchman Theo Maledon scored ten, had two triples, and dished out three assists. Fan-favorite, Lu Dort, scored 14 and grabbed six rebounds with five assists and Al Horford contributed with 16 points and five boards. A new hopeful in the world of fantasy who seems primed to come into a bigger role now in the second half of the season after the dust from the trade deadline settles is Aleksej Pokusevski who scored a measly four points but grabbed seven rebounds with two assists. I think we can expect much better from Poku moving forward.
The Knicks pick up a much-needed win here ahead of a brutal second half scheduling-wise while the Thunder continue their development in a season where they have exceeded all expectations.
Toronto Raptors at Charlotte Hornets 104-114
The Charlotte Hornets defended their homecourt tonight and picked up a necessary win against a depleted Raptors side to keep their name in the playoff hunt out East.
For the Raptors, Kyle Lowry had to step up once again and scored 19 points, grabbed six rebounds, and assisted on eight shots on solid efficiency. Chris Boucher had a solid night in which he scored 16 points with six rebounds, while Norman Powell hit three threes and three steals. Rough night for the Raptors, who are hoping to get Pascal Siakam back soon amongst other important pieces.
The rookie sensation LaMelo Ball had another impressive night. He scored 23 points, hauled in nine rebounds, dished out six assists, and stole the ball once. Their star signing Gordon Hayward didn’t score much as he only had nine points, but stuffed the stat sheet stealing the ball twice, having one block, and grabbing seven rebounds on top of five assists. Devonte’ Graham had a peculiar night sinking five triples and assisting his teammates four times while Malik Monk scored 16 and Scary Terry Rozier had another quality night with 17 points, a steal, and three assists.
The 4th and 11th seed only have around three games between them now out East, showing how important this win was for Charlotte.
Detroit Pistons at Brooklyn Nets 95-100
The Nets did what they had to here and continued their hot streak against the scrappy Pistons.
On Detroit’s end, Delon Wright continued to play himself into form after a groin injury. He scored 13 points and assisted five times while getting two steals. Jerami Grant had another solid night with 22 points and a block while Saddiq Bey hit two triples with five rebounds. Mason Plumlee also had a good outing with a near double. He had 11 points and nine rebounds with a nice six assists for the big man.
The big boys in Brooklyn did not hit their best gear and that was evident through Kyrie’s 18 points, five assists, three steals and James Harden’s triple double. Yes, his 24 point triple double. DeAndre Jordan also had another near double double with 14 points and nine assists. Joe Harris and Landry Shamet contributed from beyond the arc with two and three triples respectively.
Milwaukee Bucks at Washington Wizards 125-119
The Bucks defeated the Beal-less Wizards tonight and continue to apply the pressure on the top seeded 76ers out East.
Two time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 33 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and handed out 11 assists on his road to another triple double. His running mates Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday combined for 34 points, 16 and 18 from each respectively. Holiday also had two steals and a block while K-Midd assisted his teammates eight times. Donte DiVincenzo also had a surprising double-double on the back of 10 points and 13 rebounds.
For the Wizards, we saw shades of MVP Russ. Westbrook put up an efficient triple-double with 42 points, 10 rebounds, and 12 assists while Rui Hachimura scored 29 points and hauled in 11 rebounds on his way to a double-double. Despite these two valiant efforts, the Wiz fell.
Sacramento Kings at Atlanta Hawks 106-121
The Hawks are trying to turn their season around and maybe last night’s victory continues their winning streak as of late.
On the Kings’ side of things, De’Aaron Fox had another incredible game scoring 32 points, grabbing 7 rebounds, and assisting on six shots. Richaun Holmes also contributed with a 20/12 double-double, while Tyrese Haliburton stole the ball twice, had four assists, and scored eight points.
Clint Capela was back on his monster juice tonight and racked in 14 boards on top of 24 points and two blocks while Trae Young scored 28 points and had nine assists. The Hawks also got help from John Collins’s 16/5 and Danilo Gallinari’s 15 points.
Portland Trailblazers at Minnesota Timberwolves 125-121
The Blazers had a scare here as they went into the fourth quarter trailing the T-Wolves, but they ultimately closed out their 22nd win of the season.
We had three standout performances from the Blazers tonight. But first and foremost, congratulations to Carmelo Anthony on passing Hakeem Olajuwon on the all-time scoring list last night after scoring 26 points. He also had six assists with two steals and a block. The main man Dame Lillard had a double-double of 25 points and 10 assists while Enes Kanter also posted a double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds and also added two assists.
A good fight from the T-Wolves saw their superstar Karl-Anthony Towns put up a 34/10/4 game with a steal and two blocks while the number one overall pick Anthony Edwards, scored 21 points and hauled in eight rebounds. Ravishing Ricky Rubio also had a solid outing, posting 10 points with eight assists and two steals while Jaylen Nowell continued his excellent form as of late with 17 points and five rebounds on the back of three triples.
Indiana Pacers at Phoenix Suns 122-111
The Pacers picked up a massive win during their west coast trip against the high flying Suns on the second night of a back-to-back.
Domantas Sabonis is most certainly the headline of this game posting a triple-double with 22 points, 13 rebounds, and 10 assists along with an impressive four steals. (Taking lessons from TJ McConnell I see). Malcolm Brogdon contributed with 25 points, five rebounds, and a steal on the back of four triples. Myles Turner also had a solid outing scoring 16 points and hauling in eight rebounds and four blocks! And we cannot forget the return of Caris LeVert! It is great to see him back and healthy. On his return tonight he scored 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds.
For Phoenix, Chris Paul accrued 10 assists and four steals while Devin Booker poured in 20 points with seven assists. Their star big man DeAndre Ayton also contributed a 14/12 double-double and two blocks as well. Dario Saric also continued his good performances with 17 points on the back of three threes.
Dallas Mavericks at Denver Nuggets 116-103
An impressive win tonight by Luka and company against Jokic and the Nuggets in Denver.
Luka Doncic found himself tonight again sitting on a double-double of 21 points and 12 assists while Kristaps Porzingis scored 25 points and grabbed six boards and swatting three shots. Jason Richardson also picked up the scoring slack tonight with 20 points as well as four rebounds and two steals while Jalen Brunson had a pretty good game on the back of 12 points, four rebounds, and four assists.
For the Nuggets tonight, MVP candidate, Nikola Jokic, flirted with a triple-double, but ended with a 26/8/11 stat line while Jamal Murray had another underwhelming game only scoring 10 points on 30.8% shooting. Will Barton, on the other hand, has put together a good run of games, and tonight he scored 23 points and hauled in four rebounds, and stole the ball once. Michael Porter Jr. also had a solid 23 point outing while also adding eight rebounds.
