Our nightly recap of every game around the NBA. We catch you up on what you missed while thinking that a 14-year-old is a whole lot better at golf than you….
Lakers 108, Pistons 79: The Lakers had a 23-5 run in the second half of the first quarter, and that was pretty much it for this game. This looked like the Lakers we all expected this season.
What happened? Well, a lot of things, all interconnected. The Lakers really simplified what they did on offense. They pushed the ball at nearly every opportunity and tried to get easy baskets in transition. And while they only scored 11 fast break points, the speed at which they got up court allowed them to get into their offense faster and take advantage of a porous Piston defense.
Once in the half court, the Lakers really did a good job at focusing on getting their big men involved, as evidenced by their 56 points in the paint. Pau Gasol started the game as the offensive focal point scoring 8 first quarter points. Dwight Howard was a presence all game long carving out space on the block and finished with 28 points on only 14 shots. The work they did down low also created tons of room on the perimeter for the Lakers’ wings to take advantage. It’s no coincidence that Kobe Bryant, Metta World Peace, and Steve Blake were all able to shoot so well from distance (combined 8-14 from three) as they got countless spot up chances simply due to ball movement and the play of the big men drawing defensive attention.
Defensively the Lakers were also much improved. They moved on a string more than in another game this season, helping each other when the ball penetrated and then recovering back to shooters when the ball got kicked out. Howard was also tracking the ball from the back line better than he has, allowing him to block 3 shots and contest several others.
For Pistons fans… um… there was a Jonas Jerebko sighting, he led the team with 18. Aside that, burn the tape.
Before Lakers fans start to go “The Lakers have arrived, count the ringzzzzz,” remember this was one game and it was against the Pistons (who stink). But for a team that looked to be losing some confidence this is a positive step. They looked together, for longer stretches, on both sides of the ball and that is what they need to do to win games.
—Darius Soriano
Knicks 100, 76ers 84: Two impressive games in a row for the Knicks, and coincidentally Carmelo Anthony is plying the four. Or, not so coincidentally. Our own Brett Pollakoff broke this game down for PBT.
Hawks 105, Thunder 95: The good news for the Thunder is Kevin Martin showed up gunning — 29 points including 6-of-8 from three. The bad news was he hit the last of those three pointers with 4 minutes to go in the game (a shot that got the Thunder within two) and the Thunder didn’t get him a shot the rest of the way. The Thunder went away from the hottest hand in the building. The Thunder shot 35.3 percent in the fourth
The ugly news for the Thunder was their defense, which gave up 57 points in the second half. The Hawks, without Josh Smith, completely out worked the Thunder inside all night. Al Horford had 23 points and 12 boards, Lou Williams added 19 for the Hawks off the bench. The Hawks have guys who can shoot and they found space to do it Sunday.
Durant has the ball in his hands a lot more this season, playing more point forward, and he is trying to set guys up more. He’s getting assists but has not scored more than 25 in a game this season. He’s the best scorer on the planet, he needs to shoot the rock.
Raptors 105, Timberwolves 96: Some teams just have another teams number — this is 9 straight Raptors wins at home over Minnesota, 15 of the last 16 meetings total. This time it might have been the 24 Timberwolves turnovers, but this was close until the start of the fourth quarter when a 13-6 Raptors run and they never looked back. Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan had 22 for the Raptors (Lowry has been impressive so far this season). Andrei Kirilenko’s 17 points led the Timberwolves.
Magic 115, Suns 94: Dwight who? The Magic are 2-0.
Phoenix led most of the first half and was up by 11 midway through the third quarter, then Orlando went 37-9 run over and that was it. The Suns lived (and built their lead) by the jumper and died by it when it stopped falling. Nice win for a Magic team without Jameer Nelson and Hedo Turkoglu — J.J. Redick had 24 (non in the third quarter during the run, however), Glen Davis and Arron Afflalo each had 22.
