Welcome to PBT’s roundup of the games yesterday in NBA action. Or, what you missed while in a massive food fight including flour and eggs….
Clippers 107, Jazz 96: The Clippers win streak is at 17 and if you are having an early season MVP discussion and not including Chris Paul in the mix, you are doing it wrong (he likely doesn’t win because his numbers are not gaudy enough for some voters, but he should be in the mix). Our man D.J. Foster broke the game down.
Kings 118, Celtics 96: You can come up with some excuses for the Celtics — second night of a back-to-back, last game of a four-game West Coast road swing, it was past their bedtime — but none of it really holds up because that was not the problem in this ugly loss.
The problem is Boston’s defense isn’t that great. Particularly their ability to keep penetrating guards out of the paint — 19 of the Kings 22 first half Kings field goals came in the paint. They were breaking down the Celtics off the dribble and off the pass, meanwhile the Celtics bigs were a step slow with the rotation — and if the help does get there nobody helps the helper. The result was Isaiah Thomas with 27 points and DeMarcus Cousins putting up a triple double (12 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists).
Avery Bradley’s return soon helps the Boston defense in a number of ways, but he alone is not going to solve the focus and rotations issues. It’s bigger than that now.
Boston made some fourth quarter pushes behind Paul Pierce (20 points), but Sacramento had answers, going 9-of-14 from three in the second half. John Salmons helped that cause with an efficient 23 points on 12 shoots.
Pistons 96, Bucks 94: Detroit jumped out to a 13-0 lead and it looked like it would never surrender that lead. The Pistons were in control. Detroit was aggressive, going right at a pretty good Bucks defense and getting into the paint to get their shots.
But the Bucks had a 13-0 run of their own in the fourth quarter, led by Monta Ellis who had 30 points and 9 assists on the night. It was Ellis that hit a jumper with 1:06 left to give Milwaukee a 94-92 lead. But Tayshaun Prince scored the Pistons’ final four points — two on a hook shot, two from the free throw line — to secure the win. Prince finished with 20 points.
Spurs 111, Mavericks 86: After the game Manu Ginobili said that the Mavericks did not look “very inspired.” Which frankly is pretty kind. And if you combine a lethargic Mavericks team with the quintessential efficiency of the Spurs you get a game that wasn’t in doubt from early on. It was the usual suspects doing the damage for San Antonio: Tony Parker had 21 points, Manu Ginobili added 20, and Tim Duncan had a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds
Dirk Nowitzki had eight points in limited minutes. That is six straight losses for the Mavs.