We know you were busy Sunday night trying out the new Cinnabon vodka (why does that exist?) so we kept our eye on the NBA for you and are bringing you some grades.
Brooklyn Nets in the third quarter. Brooklyn was up 7 over Detroit… then the third quarter happened. Again. Sunday the Nets shot 26.3 percent in the third on their way to 15 points, the Pistons shot 66.7, and by the end of the quarter the game felt over. Problem is, this is a Brooklyn trend. On the season, in the first half the Nets shoot 44.8 percent and play their opponents basically to a standstill (-0.4 points in the half). Then in the third they shoot 40.7 percent, their defense gets worse and they normally get outscored by an average of 5.2 in the quarter. In the second half they shoot 41.7 percent on the season and get outscored by 7.1 on average. Nets players say all the right things about fixing this, but their actions are nowhere near the rhetoric.
Goran Dragic, Phoenix Suns. The 23 points on 10-of-17 shooting is good. The 13 assists were nice (Gerald Green certainly appreciated them). There were the late buckets when the Magic made a run — a driving lay-up on possession, then recognizing Nikola Vucevic had switched on to him he hit a step back three putting the Suns up three, that was the dagger. But the real key? No turnovers. If your point guard takes care of the rock took things happen.
Rodney Stuckey, Detroit Pistons. They are still trying to figure out the offense in Detroit, but Stuckey has thrived of late in his sixth man role — 27 points on 10-of-16 shooting on Sunday, he gets to the line and he dished out six assists as well. He had 17 of those points in the fourth quarter, after the Pistons built up a lead and he made sure there was no Brooklyn comeback.
Tobias Harris, Orlando Magic. He’s not getting this grade for this performance (6 points on 3-of-8 shooting in 16 minutes), he was rusty. Which is to be expected with a guy getting his first game action this season due to an ankle issue. It was just good to see him back on the court — we could use some good young players coming back off injuries, not going down with more.