Every night the NBA can be a cold hard reality — there are winners, there are losers. It’s the nature of the game. We know you are busy and can’t keep up with every game, so we’re here to bring you the best and worst of the NBA each week night. Here’s what you missed while you watched the Entourage movie trailer again (I can’t wait for this one)....
Washington Wizards. Are you mentioning this team as one of the best in the East? You should be. While the rest of the East struggles, the Wizards are now 7-2 against the powerful West. Those same Wizards have the best defense in the East so far — better than the Bulls — and that plus a variety of guys who can score the ball make them a threat out East. The Wizards showed a lot of what makes them dangerous in beating the Rockets in the game of the night on Monday, 104-103. The Wizards led by 23 at one point but the Rockets made a late charge behind James Harden (9 points in the final :19 seconds, he finished with 33) but the Wizards just had answers. They had their own 33 point man in Bradley Beal, who did it on 9-of-17 shooting. The Wizards went 8-of-8 from the free throw line down the stretch. And they have Paul Pierce, the veteran who had 21 points on 9 shots on the night, and he had the biggest shot of the game.
Rim at the Toyota Center in Houston. Just :48 seconds into the game, the rim at the Toyota Center was bent and the game had to stop for nearly 30 minutes while the arena crew put in a new basket. That’s always entertaining. The damage apparently happened on a Dwight Howard dunk and not, as rumored, because of Josh Smith’s jump shots.
Danny Granger.The man has apparently been taking is post-game soaks in the hot tub time machine, because he looks more like the 2010 version of himself than the guy we have seen in recent years. Granger hit six three pointers on his way to 21 points in Miami’s loss to Orlando. Granger had 18 in the Heat’s previous game against Memphis. Consider me cynical that he can sustain this, but right now Granger is in throwback mode and making the Heat look, well, if not good then better.
Jimmy Butler. The man is earning himself a big payday — the Bulls couldn’t reach a deal with him on a contract extension before the season and while Butler says he does not want to leave Chicago next summer the cost of keeping him is going up by the game. He scored seven of his 27 points in the fourth quarter and was a guy the Bulls leaned on to get buckets in a close win over Indiana. Butler is scoring 22 points a game averaging 40 minutes a night and has become a key cog in the Bulls. When the coaches get around to voting for the All-Star Game reserves it’s going to be tough to leave him off the list.
Kings 4-on-5 strategy. Okay, this was not how the Kings’ owner drew it up... okay, he was never going to “draw it up” it was just an idea he had to have one player cherry-pick on offense and have the defenders go 4-on-5 with the other team. This only happened because Reggie Evans went to the bench thinking DeMarcus Cousins was checking in only to realize Cousins wasn’t waived in, so Evans sprinted back onto the court in cherry picking position. It still is the same principle. Then Evans caps it off the only way that would be truly funny.