• Sunday brought us basketball action throughout the day with games spread out between noon (EST) and 9:30 pm (EST). Maybe Bruski is onto something here with his prediction of the NBA overtaking the NFL as the most popular sport in the U.S.A. by 2020. We shall see. With a recap of Sunday’s action, here’s Monday’s Daily Dish.

    KNICKS 104, HAWKS 94

    The game was close throughout, but there was one key difference…Carmelo Anthony. Luckily for the Knicks, he was on their team.

    The Good

    Carmelo Anthony played 38 minutes and scored a game-high 31 points on 12-of-22 shooting. Melo added seven rebounds, three assists, two steals and four 3-pointers to help the Knicks pull away in this one.

    Helping Melo was none other than Kristaps Porzingis. KP chipped in 19 points and added 11 rebounds in 31 minutes of action. There were definitely some empty stats in his line, but the double-double was enough to help the Knicks get the win.

    Courtney Lee played a team-high 38 minutes and scored 14 points on 6-of-13 shooting. Lee added five rebounds, five assists and two steals in one of his most well-rounded lines this season.

    For the Hawks, Paul Millsap led the attack with 19 points on 8-of-17 shooting. He added seven rebounds, five assists, two steals, two blocks and two 3-pointers in 38 minutes of action. This is the type of line that Millsap owners have been waiting for.

    Dwight Howard also played well securing his 10th double-double of the season. D12 scored 18 points and added 18 rebounds with two blocks and a respectable 6-of-12 from the line (for D12 standards at least).

    The Bad

    After a breakthrough performance in his last game, Brandon Jennings followed it up with a big stinker. Jennings scored five points with four rebounds, three assists and three steals in 28 minutes of action. For now fantasy GM’s can view him from the wire.

    Dennis Schroder played his worst game of the season shooting 0-of-8 from the field and finished the game with one point with two rebounds and three assists. Schroder has not played well over the last two weeks basically returning top 180 value. Let’s hope he can turn it around sooner rather than later.

    The Takeaway

    This was a huge win for the Knicks, despite them missing Joakim Noah due to an illness in this one. The Knicks move to 6-7 on the season and have a four game week up ahead including a back-to-back with the Hornets on Friday and Saturday. The Hawks meanwhile dropped to 9-4 after this disappointing loss. The Hawks also have an upcoming four game week, with three of the games on the road.

    BLAZERS 129, NETS 109

    This was a game that pegged two teams in the midst of losing streaks against one another, so something had to give. The first half was pretty closely contested, but in the second half C.J. McCollum took over and propelled the Blazers to victory to snap their three-game losing streak.

    The Good

    If it’s not Damian Lillard, it’s C.J. McCollum and in this one it was McCollum’s turn to shine. C.J. paced the Blazers with 33 points on 12-of-19 shooting. He added six treys, four rebounds and five assists to pad his line.

    Not to be outdone, Damian Lillard scored 18 points of his own on 8-of-14 shooting. He added four rebounds, five assists, one steal and one block. He was however, 0-of-5 from downtown.

    Off the bench, Evan Turner scored 19 points on an efficient 8-of-12 from the field. Turner added four rebounds, four assists and one block and seems to finally be acclimatizing to his sixth man role with the Blazers.

    Myers Leonard also surprised with his first double-double of the season. He scored 14 points and added 11 rebounds with not much else. We’ve seen Leonard play well in spurts this year, so we’d wait for some consistency before we recommend picking him up.

    The Nets attack was led by big man Brook Lopez who scored 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting. He added six rebounds, four assists, two 3-pointers, one steal and one block in 29 minutes of action. Overall, a very well rounded line for Lopez brother number one.

    Trevor Booker continued his strong season as well chipping in with 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting. He added four rebounds, two 3-pointers, one assist and two steals.

    The Bad

    Moe Harkless got the start for the Blazers but was pretty quiet with 10 points and four rebounds. Considering that Myles Leonard double-doubled in 27 minutes tonight, Harkless could be moving back to bench for the next one.

    Rondae Hollis-Jefferson was the only Nets starter who did not score in double figures. RHJ scored eight points on 4-of-11 shooting. He did add three rebounds, four assists, one steal and one block, but will need to be better for the Nets to succeed.

    The Takeaway

    The Blazers stopped a three-game losing streak and moved to 8-7 on the season. The Blazers have four games upcoming this week including a tough road back-to-back vs. the Knicks and Cavs. The Nets on the other hand dropped their fourth consecutive game and fell to 4-9 on the season. The Nets have three games upcoming this week and hopefully get the services of Jeremy Lin back. We’ll update his status as we hear more.

    PACERS 115, THUNDER 111 (OT)

    The game of the night took place in Oklahoma City where it was supposed to be the Russell Westbrook vs. Paul George show. Unfortunately, PG13 was out due to a sore left ankle and so it was only the Westbrook show once again, only this time it wasn’t enough.

    The Good

    Jeff Teague led the Pacers in this one scoring 30 points (eight of them in the overtime session) on 9-of-16 shooting. Teague added five rebounds, nine assists, six steals, three treys and was a perfect 9-of-9 from the line. This was easily his best game of the season.

    Thaddeus Young double-doubled scoring 20 points and adding 11 rebounds. Young shot 9-of-18 from the field and added one assist and two steals to round out his line.

    Glen Robinson III started for the injured Paul George and played a game-high 45 minutes in this one. Perhaps coach McMillan felt he had the freshest legs on the team and decided to ride him. Robinson III scored 16 points and added 11 rebounds for his first double-double of the season. If PG13 is forced to miss extended time Robinson III could make for a sneaky pick up. For now, we suggest you hold until we hear more about George’s injury.

    Russell Westbrook got his league leading fifth triple-double of the season by scoring 31 points with 11 rebounds and 15 dimes. The shooting wasn’t all that great as he only hit 13-of-34 from the field, and he did have seven turnovers, but the overall numbers were still fantastic.

    Enes Kanter chipped in 16 points off the bench with four rebounds, three assists, three blocks and one steal.

    The Bad

    The bench for the Pacers did not offer much support in this one as all the starters played at least 38 minutes. Rodney Stuckey and Aaron Brooks led the bench with eight and 10 points respectively.

    The supporting cast for Russell Westbrook was pretty quiet in this game. Andre Roberson, Domantas Sabonis and Steven Adams combined for 21 points on 8-of-22 shooting. If the Thunder have any chance of competing in the ultra competitive Western Conference Russell Westbrook will need his supporting crew to step up and help out.

    The Takeaway

    The win brought the Pacers back to .500 at 7-7 on the season. The Pacers have four games this week (all at home) beginning with a showdown with the Warriors on Monday. This will be a tough game with no Paul George in the lineup. The Thunder meanwhile drop to 8-6 on the season and will look to bounce back on Tuesday as they head out on a mini road trip to face the Lakers. That one should be exciting to watch.

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x