Day 10: The Hawks and the Suns have arrived!
ATL 114 v. 96 BKN
If you haven’t heard, the Hawks are legit. They can compete with any team in the league. 6 players on the Hawks scored in double figures with Hunter scoring 23 PTS shooting 9–10 from the field. Hunter also guarded Kyrie and kept him at 6–21 for 18 PTS in the game. Capela killed the Nets in the paint as he hustled and grabbed boards giving the Hawks plenty of second chance opportunities and keeping the Nets from coming back. Rondo and Gallinari didn’t even play yesterday.
The Nets offensive power can match any team in the league but their defense and rebounding cannot. Even if they got a bucket to cut the lead the Hawks immediately scored and never allowed the Nets to mount a run to comeback into the game. The Nets only made 7 threes which did not help their case.
PHX 106 v. 103 DEN
The Suns had a comfortable until the end where they almost choked it. But that’s what they got Chris Paul for to close the game and he sure did last night. 4 of the Suns starters scored in double figures and 3 of them scored 20+ in this impressive win for the Suns as they now sit on top of the West.
Jamal Murray found his stroke as he scored 33 PTS and almost lead the Nuggets to a comeback win. Jokic was in foul trouble for most of the game and still ended up with 17 PTS 11 AST and 9 REB in this loss.
DET 96 v. 93 BOS
The Pistons managed their first win of the season behind Grant scoring 24 PTS and Siddique Bey their first round draft pick who also looked promising scoring 17 PTS shooting 5–11 from the field with 7 REB.
The Celtics clearly took this game lightly. They had 19 TO and still almost managed to scrape out a win if Tatum or Brown had hit the shot at the end. The duo combined for 53 PTS in this tough loss.
LAL 109 v. 103 SAS
Bron and AD combined for 60 PTS and came up clutch buckets in this closely contested game. Bron managed to get a triple double and hit the shot to seal the game. Schroder also provided solid minutes as he scored 15 PTS with 4 REB and 3 AST. Keldon Johnson on the Spurs was a walking flamethrower as he scored 26 PTS on 7–11 shooting from the field.
UTA 106 v. 100 LAC
When the Jazz know that they are playing a formidable team they come out with a whole different level on energy and hustle. That’s what they did last night as they built up a 21 PT lead until the Clippers mounted a comeback and almost stole the game. Conley looks like his old self as he hit the game sealing shots and scored 33 PTS with 7 AST.
Kawhi, PG, and the Clippers had a terrible shooting night as they shot only 38% from the field. Even though they shot terrible is they hadn’t dug themselves into such a huge hole they could have stolen the game at the end.
DAL 93 v. 83 MIA
When Luka has his offensive rhythm the Mavs look like a playoff team but it’s a completely different story when he doesn’t. Yesterday Luka scored 27 PTS with 15 REB and 7 AST to beat the Heat. The only concern for Luka is his three point shooting. He is shooting 16% from three this year and needs to fix this if he wants to make a run for MVP and go deep into the playoffs.
Jimmy Butler had a terrible game he went 0–6 from the field and scored a measley 2 PTS. Terrible shooting was the main reason for this Heat loss.
POR 123 v. 98 GSW
Lillard, McCollum, and Carmelo combined for 80 PTS as the Trailblazers blew out the warriors shooting 44% from the floor and 47% from three. even though Draymond Green made his season debut Offense was a struggle for the Warriors as they made only 7 threes the whole game of which Curry made 4. The Warriors are surely heading towards the lottery in the heavily contested West unless they manage to pull off some kind of a trade.
WSH 130 v. 109 MIN
The Wizards finally got their first win of the season behind Beals’ 31 PTS on 12–20 shooting and Bryants’ 18 PTS on 7–7 shooting. Westbrook was out for rest. The Timberwolves are horrible on defense and they can’t do much on offense either with KAT out. D’Anelgo Russell was a -32 on the floor and the Timberwolves are looking back at the lottery at this rate.
MIL 126 v. 96 CHI
There’s nothing to say here the Bulls are just bad they don’t match up with the Bucks offensively and much less defensively. The Bucks held the Bulls to 6 three pointers and 23 % from the three point line as they easily won the game behind Giannis’ 29 PTS 12 REB and 8 AST.
MEM 108 v. 93 CHA
The Grizzlies got their first win without JA as 4 of their starters scored in double figures lead by Kyle Anderson with 18 PTS and they held the Hornets 29% from the three. Rozier and Graham only made 1 shot each and played a combined 53 mins in this game.
