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Not much Basketball on Super Bowl Sunday, but we get 10 games today

Not much Basketball on Super Bowl Sunday, but we get 10 games today

February 12th

Games of the day

Last Night’s Top Games!

The Heat were without Jimmy Butler due to a death in the family, but still hung tough with the league-leading Celtics all the way down the stretch. The major storyline from this game is surrounding an altercation between Jaylen Brown and Duncan Robinson, in which it looked like Brown intentionally tried to injure Robinson’s arm. You be the judge on whether it was intentional or not, but there’s definitely no place in the game for that. Terry Rozier also went down with a rough knee injury, so hopefully he’ll be fine.

Domantas Sabonis continues to show he was an All Star snub, dropping his 3rd Triple Double in the last 5 games, but it wasn’t enough to get Sacramento the win against the 2 seeded Thunder. De’Aaron has been in a funk lately, so the offense has been struggling, and the Kings have been a bottom 5 defense in the West all season. OKC continues to have a balanced team attack, but they were led by Jaylen WIlliams, who had a super efficient 32/8/9.

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League News

Leonard’s 9th career POTW (via NBA)

Young’s 7th career POTW (via NBA)

Around the League

Kawhi Leonard and Trae Young have been named Players of The Week for Week 14.
Not much news yesterday, as the league knew better than to schedule a bunch of games on Super Bowl Sunday. Today, we have a full 10 game slate, headlined by the Top 2 teams in the west going head to head, in the LA Clippers and Minnesota Timberwolves. The winner of this game will take sole possession of the #1 seed in the West for now. The Nuggets and Bucks also face off, and we’ll see MVP candidates Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic go head to head.
Injury Updates: OG Anunoby (elbow) will miss 3+ weeks. Jarred Vanderbilt (foot) will miss “several weeks”. Joel Embiid (torn meniscus) will be out for 1-2 months. Julius Randle (shoulder) will be out 2-3 weeks. Desmond Bane (ankle) will miss 4 weeks. Marcus Smart (finger) will be out 3 weeks. Chris Paul underwent surgery on his left hand and will miss 1-3 weeks. Gabe Vincent (knee) will be out at least 3 weeks. Mitchell Robinson (ankle) underwent surgery and will be out 4-6 weeks. Zach LaVine (foot) underwent surgery and will be out for the season. Robert Williams underwent knee surgery and will be out for the season. Ja Morant had surgery on a torn labrum and will miss the rest of the season. We wish all these guys speedy and successful recoveries.

Front Office Moves

Brooklyn traded Spencer Dinwiddie for Dennis Schroder and Thaddeus Young. The Bucks traded Cam Payne for Patrick Beverley. Philly traded Marcus Morris and Furkan Korkmaz for Indiana’s Buddy Hield. Minnesota traded Troy Brown Jr and Shake Milton and a 2nd round pick to Detroit for Monte Morris. Utah traded Simone Fontecchio to Detroit for Kevin Knox and a 2nd round pick. Memphis traded Xavier Tillman to Boston for Lamar Stevens and two 2nd round picks.
The Lakers signed Spencer Dinwiddie. The Sixers signed Kyle Lowry. The Free Agent market is still deep with vets like DeMarcus Cousins, Isaiah Thomas, Dwight Howard, Rudy Gay, Blake Griffin, Tyreke Evans, Austin Rivers, Montrezl Harrell (he’ll be out for a few months), and John Wall ready to contribute to winning or to mentor young guys. Joe Harris, Spencer Dinwiddie, Danilo Gallinari, Victor Oladipo, and Killian Hayes were all cut or waived by their teams and are available to be signed. There are a few younger names on the market, like Kai Jones (yikes), Kevin Porter Jr (yikes again), Sharife Cooper, and Darius Bazley.

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NBA MVP Race

1. Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets

Last week’s ranking: No. 1

Season stats: 26.3 ppg, 12.2 rpg, 9 apg

His case: Jokic helped the Nuggets to their eighth win in 10 outings Thursday with 24 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists against the Lakers on the road. Despite squandering a 15-point lead in the second half, Denver closed on a 10-2 run in the final 2:18 for the win.

This season, Jokic has 32 games with 25 points or more, five-plus rebounds and five-plus assists. He had 32 such games in total last season.

2. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder

Last week’s ranking: No. 2

Season stats: 31.1 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 6.6 apg

His case: Scored 28 points in combining with Jalen Williams (26 points) and Chet Holmgren (22 points) for 76 of his team’s 117 points in a loss to Utah that snapped a three-game winning streak.

Gilgeous-Alexander is the eighth player in NBA history to produce 30 games with 30-plus points in the first 41 games of the season. He’ll lead OKC on Saturday into what should be a fun road game in Dallas against Doncic (3 p.m ET, NBA TV).

3. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks

Last week’s ranking: No. 4

Season stats: 31.1 ppg, 11.2 rpg, 6.4 apg

His case: Antetokounmpo was limited to fewer than 20 points for just the fifth time this season Thursday as the shorthanded Bucks suffered their worst home loss of the season to Minnesota.

Milwaukee rested Antetokounmpo for the final 16 minutes with the game out of hand, which means he’ll be refreshed for Friday’s home matchup against Charlotte. Before the loss to Minnesota, the two-time MVP had scored 33-plus points in his three previous outings.

4. Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavericks

Last week’s ranking: No. 6

Season stats: 34.6 ppg, 8.8 rpg, 9.5 apg

His case: Lit up the ailing New York Knicks for 39 points on Thursday to lead Dallas to its first three-game winning streak since early January. The performance marked Doncic’s 34th 30-point game of the season, which ranks No. 2 behind Gilgeous-Alexander, not to mention his 29th double-double.

The Mavs tip off a four-game homestand on Saturday against Oklahoma City and sit just a game behind Sacramento for the No. 7 seed in the West.

5. Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics

Last week’s ranking: No. 5

Season stats: 26.9 ppg, 8.4 rpg, 4.5 apg

His case: Led by Tatum, the Celtics continue to take care of business at home, going 4-2 on this seven-game run that ended Friday against Washington. The 25-year-old has flirted in triple-double territory in each of his last two games.

Tatum has put together 33 games with six-plus made 3-pointers, which ranks No. 2 in NBA history for a forward or center behind Paul George (52 games).

THE NEXT FIVE

6. Kawhi Leonard, LA Clippers (Last week’s ranking: No. 8)
7. Domantas Sabonis, Sacramento Kings (Last week’s ranking: No. 7)
8. Kevin Durant, Phoenix Suns (Last week’s ranking: No. 9)
9. Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland Cavaliers (Last week’s ranking: Not ranked)
10. Anthony Davis, Los Angeles Lakers (Last week’s ranking: Not ranked)

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Fantasy Leaders

Our first pair of teammates in the Top 3 in awhile (although there were only 2 games yesterday)

Overtime Thoughts

Am I crazy for saying 2000’s team wins easily?

Hoopgrids

Hoopgrids is a daily basketball trivia game. You cross match each category to find a player that fits both. The rarer the player, the lower the score. The goal is to get the lowest rarity score possible.