We live in a football-crazed society. Some high school stadiums are multi-million dollar colosseums while the Super Bowl is the most watched program on television. How can a sport that has a chain gang determine first downs and differentiates whether the clock stops or not when a player is out of bounds be that popular? I kid. I get it. The barbarism and feats of athleticism are unrivaled. The NBA is no dumb organization. They are probably the best at marketing and incorporating technology into it’s ecosystem. As a result, they scheduled only two games on Sunday, and those games ended well before the start of the Super Bowl. Here’s a quickie that hopefully satisfies:
The Celtics defeated the Grizzlies, 119-109. There were no significant fantasy performances for Memphis. The Celtics had eight of nine players score in double figures. Luke Kornet, what is you doing out there?
Right.
Derrick White
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 23 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4/9 | 8/20 | 3/4 |
Over the last four games, White has been an absolute beast, posting top 10 numbers on a per-game basis. He’s averaged 38 minutes, 24.5 points, 4.3 treys, 4.8 boards, 7.5 dimes and 1.3 blocks while shooting 52% from the field and 90% from the line. Now, before we go crowing him, Marcus Smart has been out along with Jaylen Brown. When Boston is healthy, he will likely return to fewer than 30 minutes a game, so enjoy this run while it lasts.
Sam Hauser
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 20 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6/11 | 7/12 | 0 |
Got the start and played 31 minutes.
The Raptors squeaked out a 119-118 victory over the Pistons. Toronto should be ashamed of themselves.
Bojan Bogdanovic
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 33 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3/8 | 10/18 | 10/11 |
The seventh time Boj Bog has scored at least 30 points this season. Why Detroit didn’t trade him is mind boggling. Well, this is the franchise that traded for James Wiseman, which isn’t bad in of itself, but then announced that he will be the starter, presumably regulating Jalen Duren to the bench.
Killian Hayes
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 2 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0/5 | 1/10 | 0 |
Hayes be Killian your percentages. Over the last seven games, he’s converted 25% of this field goal attempts.
With Gary Trent Jr. out, the Raptors went big and started both Jakob Poeltl and Precious Achiuwa. My Precious still lives! Poeltl played 25 minutes while Precious got 33 minutes. Poeltl had 2 steals and 3 blocks while Precious went for 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Fred VanVleet
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 35 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6/13 | 12/26 | 5/7 |
VanVleet was struggling with his shot earlier in the season but he’s heated up recently, going from 39% on the season to 43%. Hey, for VanVleet, that’s huge! While the efficiency is an issue for FVV, the rest of the package is chef’s kiss. He scores, provides plenty of treys, rebounds well for a guard, dishes those delectable dimes, gets his 211 on and he blocks his fair share of shots. He’s 6-foot-1! In addition, the turnover rate is at only 1.8 per game.
