Nothing of huge note happened tonight, so I figured the return of Shelvin Mack to relevance would make a decent headline. Surprisingly, the Jazz made it a game against the Warriors with Gordon Hayward, George Hill, Rodney Hood, and Derrick Favors all out of the lineup. Mack definitely did his part, and put up a solid 19 points in 36 minutes. If he would lay off some of the treys (1-8 from deep), he could even be an efficient scorer.
At any rate, let’s see what happened last night! Oh, the TNT double header was moved to 7 and 9:30 pm EST, so I’m thrilled about that. No idea why that happened – maybe someone in the comments can enlighten me on that one…
Minnesota at Toronto (7:00 pm EST on TNT) – Final Score: 110 – 124 Toronto Wins
Once again, the T-Wolves looked young and undisciplined. The talent is certainly there, but experience is obviously lacking. Toronto continues to look like the perennial contender they have come to be. Minnesota jumped out quickly, but Toronto steadily improved throughout the game, before blowing them out by 15 in the fourth quarter. The Wolves shot over 50% from the field, but the Raptors killed them at the free throw line. 15 attempts vs 33 attempts.
- Zach Lavine – 29 points, 6 assists, and 2 boards. He also added 3 treys, while shooting 60% from the field. He led Minnesota in scoring, and continues his breakout season.
- Karl-Anthony Towns – 17/11/1/0/1 A blah line with 3 TOs and a monster dunk. Not a great looking game for KAT, and he never really got a rhythm going.
- Andrew Wiggins – 25/6/1/0/0 Another empty day at the office. The scoring is nice, but the rest of the stats didn’t cut it.
- Kyle Lowry – Put up a 25 point, 11 assist double double. He only took 14 shots, and made 5 from deep. Keep rolling him out, he looks fantastic.
- DeMar DeRozan – 27/8/5/0/0 The assists have been a big improvement for DeMar this season, and it shows that he’s definitely maturing. It was a bad shooting night (7-20), but he redeemed himself with 12-13 at the line.
- Jonas Valanciunas – Finally had a great game – 20/10/1/0/1 Empty source of boards and points, but he looked decent tonight.
- Lucas Nogueira – Frankly, he looks way better than Jonas, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he takes over the job next season. 8 points, 9 boards, and 3 blocks tonight in just 19 minutes of play. He’s a great streamer when he’s in the 20 minute range.
Denver at Washington (7:00 pm EST) – Final Score: 85 – 92 Washington Wins
Denver just didn’t look very good this game. Gary Harris is definitely missed. That is all.
- Will Barton – 11/2/3/3/0 The three steals are nice, but this was all he could do in nearly 43 minutes of play. As our, highly esteemed, future leader so eloquently put it, “Sad”.
- Wilson Chandler – 2-16 shooting. Sadder.
- Jusuf Nurkic – 13 points, 7 boards, and 4 TOs. Not quite as sad, but still slightly depressing.
- Nikola Jokic – 17/11/1/0/1 Much better, but still 4 TOs. He was definitely their best player tonight, but a player that wants to be benched, just pains me.
- Bradley Beal – 26/3/5/0/0 Put up 4 treys. Ho hum.
- John Wall – An off game tonight, but still managed 14 points, 7 boards, and 5 assists. He also managed 3 steals and 5 TOs. He’ll be sharper next time out.
Portland at Memphis (8:00 pm EST) – Final Score: 88- 86 Memphis Wins
Another ugly game that Memphis managed to squeak out. Damian Lillard fouled Toney Douglas with .5 left on the clock, and Douglas hit the go ahead free throws.
- Damian Lillard – Scored 15 in the first half, but cooled down significantly to put up 19/3/2/1/0. 33% from the field isn’t pretty. On to the next one!
- C.J. McCollum – Also scored 15 in the first half, but he managed an empty 24 points on 7-13 shooting, with 4 – 4 from deep. The other categories were quite vacant, with only 1 steal and an assist.
- Evan Turner – 15/10/2/0/0 A solid low end line, and he got 30 minutes with Maurice Harkless out. Moe shouldn’t be out much longer, so no reason to bump Turner up any.
- Marc Gasol – A massive 36/9/2/0/0 with 4 – 6 from downtown. He was on tonight, and he carried his team to the win.
- JaMychal Green – 6 points, 18 boards, 2 assists and a steal. So basically, he was Tristan Thompson for the night.
- Tony Allen – 15 points, 10 boards, and 2 steals. I like him a lot while he’s healthy.
- Troy Daniels – The wunderkind came back to earth with a 5/2/0/1/0 line. 2-12 from the field. He’s too good of a shooter not to bounce back, but it won’t be to the 30 points that he was hitting. I’d say mid teens scoring with a couple treys would be fair, give his minutes.
Philadelphia at New Orleans (8:00 pm EST ) – Final Score: 99 – 88 Philadelphia Wins
The Pelicans struggled in this game, and Philly managed to capitalize. Jrue Holiday was sorely missed.
- Sergio Rodriguez – 16/2/8/1/0 A solid line for anyone who needs assists off the wire. He also threw in 4 from deep.
- Joel Embiid – EMBIIIIID put up 14/7/2/3/4 and this was a bad game… Damn. 5 – 15 shooting, but I think the defensive stats made up for it.
- Ersan Ilyasova – 23/8/4/1/0 He mad 9-16 from the field and led the Sixers to victory.
- Buddy Hield – Continues to struggle. 2-12 from the field. Bleh… I’ll admit he was a terrible call. I do think there is hope for the future though. It sometimes takes a while for rookies to adapt to the speed of the game. We’ve just been spoiled with a lot of insane talent lately.
- Anthony Davis – Had an off night (8-21), but still managed 26/11/2/0/2. No complaints.
- Langston Galloway – Provided some punch off the bench with 19 points and 3 treys. Don’t count on him when Jrue comes back.
Golden State at Utah (9:00 pm EST) – Final Score: 106 – 99 Warriors Win
*See Intro – tl;dr – The Jazz hung in while missing a lot of players.
- Stephen Curry – Kevin Durant – Draymond Green – They all did what they normally do. None of em had a fabulous night, but they were all solid.
- Klay Thompson – 10 points, no threes, 5-13 shooting, 3 TOs, meh. It’s going to be a roller coaster year for the third splash bro.
- Patrick McCaw – Scored as much as Klay! McCawwwwwww
- Shelvin Mack – 19/2/5/2/0 Only 1 TO, so it was a very solid game for Mack – stepping into the much bigger role
- Rudy Gobert – Came up huge this game with a massive 20/17/1/0/1 line. The lack of blocks isn’t surprising, given how much the Warriors love their jumpers.
- Joe Ingles – 35 minutes! He surprisingly capitalized as well. 21/5/3/4/1 I don’t think anyone was expecting the rainbow line, with 5 threes, but hey, shit happens.
San Antonio at Chicago (9:30 pm EST on TNT) – Final Score: 91 – 95 Chicago Wins
The Spurs simply shot badly this game. It’s an off night and nothing should be read into it. I’m honestly surprised Pop didn’t bench everyone, since it’s a TNT game, but he’s always full of surprises.
- Kawhi Leonard – Did Kawhi things. 24/8/5/1/0 He also hit a 3 to make it a pretty average night.
- LaMarcus Aldridge – Yikes. 10 points on 5-15 shooting. He did throw in 6 boards and 4 blocks, so his line wasn’t a complete waste.
- Patty Mills – The hero of the spurs lately. 6-12 shooting. 4 treys. 16 points and a couple steals for Mills.
- Rajon Rondo – 12/10/9/2/0 That’s the rainbow line goodness we know and love. 0-0 from the line, so there’s nothing to complain about, outside of the 4 TOs.
- Dwayne Wade – 20/5/5/1/1 Another solid line for the aging vet. The move to Chicago seems to suit him.
- Jimmy Butler – The Butler didn’t do it this game. 13/9/4/2/1 A decent line, but he only shot 4-14 from the field. Nothing to see here.
That wraps it up for me folks! See ya next Wednesday on the WaiverWired Column!
