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Lonzo and Ingram shine in LA. Kyrie takes over in London. And the Raps decapitate a reeling Cavs team in Toronto. It’s the Hoops Roundup for Friday, January 12th. Let’s get it…
Scores from Thursday, Jan 11th
Boston 114 – Philadelphia 103
Cleveland 99 – Toronto 133
LA Clippers 121 – Sacramento 115
San Antonio 81 – LA Lakers 93
Boston 114 – Philadelphia 103
Boston (34-10) 1st in East
Philadelphia (19-20) 9th in East
Hey London! This is basketball! Here is the team we named after the Irish people you oppressed for hundreds of years playing against the team we named after the year we ditched your commonwealth which started the downfall of the British empire! Enjoy!
I’m a huge fan of the weekday day game. Huge. It’s one of the leg up’s baseball has on every other sport. That Thursday 1pm Yankee game? The best. Toss it on the radio or a side monitor as background entertainment to get you through the afternoon. Skip out early if you can and get a tan in the bleachers. Maybe hit Stan’s or Billy’s before (and after) and get a buzz on. Ahhhhh goddammit when to pitchers and catchers report? Anyway…
As a huge day game fan… and an obvious basketball junkie… and as someone who just finished The Crown… this game was RIGHT in my wheelhouse. 2:58 my alarm started beeping and I almost knocked my whole desk over jumping to turn the game on.
Maybe basketball isn’t the most conducive to afternoon starts. I know players don’t want to throw off their routines and I’m sure it’s harder to fill an NBA arena at 1pm than it is a baseball stadium. Ticket prices, audience demographics, yada yada. And I know I’m in a unique position working a unique job. But goddammit do I want more afternoon basketball. The Hawaiians have it made, man.
As for the game itself, it was a weird one. Philly came out scorching hot and hung 49 points in the first quarter and a half for a 22 point lead… and then just fell apart.
Kyrie (21p/6r/7a) kicked the comeback off in the second quarter and drained back-to-back threes in the third to pull Boston within three. Jayson Tatum’s (16p/4) 11 points in the first five minutes of the third quarter helped eliminate the lead. And Jaylen Brown (21p/4r/3s), Al Horford (13p/8r/7a), and both Marcus’s helped pull ahead and shut the door on a cold second half Philly team.
Cleveland 99 – Toronto 133
Cleveland (26-15) 3rd in East
Toronto (29-11) 2nd in East
Shoutout to FreeDawkins for all of these videos. But a special shoutout today for encapsulating this absolute massacre last night. It wasn’t any one or two players – though Fred VanVleet (22p/4r/4a on 6 threes) did have himself a night. It was just an all around beatdown. They beat them with ball movement. They beat them iso off the bounce. They beat them on the break. They beat them inside and outside and they locked down the Cavs from the second quarter on for an absolute decapitation at the top of the East.
Outside of LeBron’s 26 points on 9-16 shooting, the rest of the Cavs shot 34% from the field and 24% from three. It’s the second straight blowout loss for Cleveland after their 28 point L in Minnesota on Monday, the first back-to-back 25 losses in LeBron’s career. And LeBron was… well he wasn’t thrilled.
The Cavs are gonna be fine. It’s gonna take more time for Isaiah–who followed a 3-11 night in Minnesota Monday by goin 2-15 for 4 points last night–to get going than I originally thought. But the Cavs are gonna be fine. They always are.
LA Clippers 121 – Sacramento 115
LA Clippers (20-21) 9th in West
Sacramento (13-28) 15th in West
I gave Lou Will his due yesterday, so I won’t repeat it all here. But god damn is he balling right now. Another 30 points. 6 assists. 2 steals. 5 threes. 10-24 shooting. Dude has taken a remarkable leap in his 13th season – and it feels like it ain’t stopping.
San Antonio 81 – LA Lakers 93
San Antonio (28-15) 3rd in West
LA Lakers (14-27) 13th in West
GET. UP. LARRY. NANCE.
Get this man in the Dunk Contest right this minute.
Lonzo (18p/10r/6a/4s) and Ingram (26p/3r/3a) are going to be stars. That’s not reactionary off last night – I’ve believed in both of them from the jump. But watching them do it on the national stage against a real ass defense like they did last night is just more encouraging than it is with others because of all the drama surrounding LA. Not just the Lavar part. It’s the LeBron rumors and the pressure of the franchise and the shadow of Magic and the visibility of being on national TV seemingly twice a goddamn week. They’re in a really, really difficult situation. Maybe as difficult as any young players in the league. It’s a lot to handle at 20. But they were awesome last night and they’re both going to be awesome for a long, long time.
Schedule for Friday, January 12th
7:00 Utah – Charlotte
7:00 Cleveland – Indiana
7:00 Orlando – Washington
7:30 Brooklyn – Atlanta
8:00 Golden State – Milwaukee ESPN
8:00 New York – Minnesota
8:00 Portland – New Orleans
9:00 Memphis – Denver
10:30 Houston – Phoenix ESPN
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