Maybe you don't need stars to beat good teams

Tom Ziller

18 Mar 2025 — 3 min read

Good morning. Let’s basketball.

Final Moments of the Liberator; Antonio Herrera Toro; 1883

Scores

Heat 95, Knicks 116 — New York had an absolutely dreadful first quarter on offense — “they really miss Jalen Brunson,” he screams from the rooftops — so Karl-Anthony Towns went on an individual 15-0 run over three game minutes in the second.

Sheesh. Eight straight losses for Miami. Bam Adebayo has been available for all of them, and Tyler Herro for the past seven.

Pistons 127, Pelicans 81 — Just a little 46-point beatdown between friends. New Orleans cut it to below 20 for a single possession in the second half.

Pacers 132, Timberwolves 130 — Indiana sat four starters: Tyrese Haliburton, Pascal Siakam, Myles Turners and Aaron Nesmith. I hate it. Perhaps these are not classic road draws, but the Pacers have a relatively easy week ahead (moribund Mavs and a pair against the Nets). In any case, Obi Toppin decided that he was a big enough star to carry Indiana. Look at this game-winning shot.

Unreal. Part of Indiana’s power is its depth, and part of Indiana’s depth is Obi Toppin.

Pretty standard resolution in this flagrant and retaliation situation from Rudy Gobert and Andrew Nembhard. Most intriguing is Anthony Edwards unwisely talking to James Johnson in the aftermath. I know you always want it, Ant, but I don’t think you want it here!

Anyways, crazy game.

Sixers 137, Rockets 144 — Are we talking about crazy games? This was a crazy game. Fred VanVleet got kicked out for a Flagrant 2 with 75 seconds left in a close game and it was the like the fifth craziest thing about this game.

“That’s a play-on.” Ha ha ha OK bud.

Anyways, the Rockets trailed by 25 in the third, made it all up in that quarter, fell back down double-digits, trailed by eight with a minute left, got to overtime on an Alperen Sengun tip-in off a beautiful Jabari Smith Jr. intentional free throw miss and won the game without every having a lead in regulation. Houston never led in regulation; Philadelphia never led in OT. Just ridiculous.

All that and Quentin Grimes had 46. Unbelievable. Look at this screencap on the official NBA YouTube account with a pissed off Ime Udoka looming behind Grimes.

This is the best result of the year for the Sixers, right? A thrilling game, a heroic performance, a clutch loss?

Bulls 111, Jazz 97 — We have news: Chicago is no longer No. 10 in the East! By vritue of Miami’s losing streak, Chicago’s tiebreaker advantage and this win over the horrifying Utah Jazz, the Bulls are now technically No. 9 in the East! It’s been about a month and a half since they were last outside the No. 10 spot. Still locked into that 9-10 play-in game, though.

Wizards 97, Blazers 112

Grizzlies 122, Kings 132 — Sacramento’s offense came uncorked despite Domantas Sabonis going down with a hideous ankle turn in the third. Pretty rough loss for Memphis, even without Ja Morant.

Malik Monk is a phenomenal in-game dunker.

Raptors 89, Suns 129 — See Raptors, this is how you bench your stars in the fourth quarter without raising eyebrows and hackles.

Nuggets 114, Warriors 105 — The Nuggets sat Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray for a national TV game against the big draw Warriors. Denver doesn’t do this often, and I tend to think of the league’s involvement in regulating rest to be a bit strident and untenable. But still: this is a huge bummer for fans in the building and at home. Jokic is a draw.

Nonetheless, the other Nuggets play on. And play on they did. Aaron Gordon torched Draymond Green and anyone else the Warriors switched onto him.

The Warriors were ice cold from the line (15/27) and Steph Curry was ice cold from deep (4/14, he looks completely exhausted right now), and they probably would have won the game if they could have just kept Gordon and Russell Westbrook off of the offensive glass late (five o-boards combined in the fourth alone, nine for the game) and controlled their turnovers. Golden State had some hideous giveaways late with the game in reach. To be fair, Denver also had some hideous turnovers late. There were a lot of turnovers.

Huge win for Denver.

Spurs 109, Lakers 125 — I trust that as an opposing player Jeremy Sochan can be quite annoying to face, but Jarred Vanderbilt just kind of loses it here.