Oh my Josh
Good morning. The Bulls and Lakers present us with perhaps the most unglued 12.6 seconds to end an NBA game in memory. Oh, and the Pacers scored 162 in regulation. Let's basketball.
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Whoops! I forgot to turn comments on before Thursday's newsletter. This is a learning process for your boy. They are now here and open only to paid subscribers. That's one of the benefits of paid subscription. The other benefit (besides access to every issue of the newsletter itself) is access to the GMIB Discord server. Here's the link to that.
Scores
Pacers 162, Wizards 109 | Box Score | Look, the Wizards are not exactly the 2004 Pistons out here. But dropping 162 points on anyone, especially on the road on the second night of a back-to-back: that's impressive.
Rick Carlisle is a gentleman, too: the Pacers hit 162 with 2:03 remaining and took three straight 24-second violations to close the game. They had a chance at 170.
Mavericks 101, Magic 92 | Box Score | Anthony Davis had a bad offensive night, but Orlando's offense was worse. The Mavericks move ahead of Phoenix for No. 10. You do not have to hand it to Nico Harrison, but the team overall deserves a lot of respect for gunning for the play-in despite ... everything.
Spurs 116, Cavaliers 124 | Box Score | Gods bless Bismack Biyombo, one of just 13 first-round picks in the 2011 NBA Draft still in the league. But uh, Jarrett Allen thrashed him and Donovan Mitchell had his best performance in weeks.
Hawks 112, Heat 122 | Box Score | I think Caris LeVert, Terance Mann and Georges Niang are solid rotation players, but did trading De'Andre Hunter and Bogdan Bogdanovic and not getting a single draft pick back serve the current or future Hawks, really? Worth chewing on.
Grizzlies 104, Thunder 125 | Box Score | Memphis sticks with the best team in the NBA for 41 minutes despite missing their best creator (Ja Morant) and getting an ice-cold performance from their other key guard (Desmond Bane, 1/12 from the floor). And then said best team goes on a 15-0 run over two game minutes. How do you even attempt to deal with a team like this?
A tie game to a blowout in the blink of an eye. And Shai Gilgeous-Alexander only got a transition lay-up during it, and Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams were both on the bench. This was almost all defense and The Other Guys, who might be The Guys on some other teams.
The Durant-Westbrook Thunder never won more than 60 games in a season. This was Win No. 61 for Oklahoma City. They have nine games remaining.
Lakers 117, Bulls 119 | Box Score | Simply the most unglued finish to a game I've seen in years. Chicago is down five with 12.6 seconds to go, out of timeouts, ball at the free throw extended. And in that 12.6 seconds, the Bulls get the lead, lose the lead and get the lead as the buzzer sounds. Three lead changes in 12.6 seconds, capped with an all-time buzzer beater from halfcourt from Josh Giddey.
The Lakers win on a buzzer beater on Wednesday, lose on a buzzer beater on Thursday. Way to pressure test those fans' hearts, guys. LeBron loses Patrick Williams on first shot, turns it over to Giddey on the second.
Word to what looked like an incredible crowd at United Center, and Stacey King for losing his damn mind in the sales pitch to fans to come watch the Bulls play. The Bulls are making a helluva sales pitch, too, and this is the other side of the coin from all the complaints about Chicago sitting in the muddy middle of the league, unable to ascend and unwilling to tank. Sometimes it's a hopeless drag. Sometimes the team becomes the most entertaining show in the world, win or lose.
Rockets 121, Jazz 110 | Box Score | Houston is quietly on track to claim a top-3 seed. Incredible achievement for Rafael Stone and Ime Udoka. And, uh, the players.
Blazers 107, Kings 128 | Box Score | A game in which you're reminded that despite their foibles, Sacramento does indeed have a pretty solid talent base and Portland is a little behind there, especially with Donovan Clingan trying to handle Domantas Sabonis.
With a 3-game losing streak, the Blazers are now almost assuredly out of the postseason picture. It was a good run. We learned a little about Deni Avdija, Toumani Camara and Scoot Henderson and a lot about love.
Schedule
The NBA has 22 games this weekend, none on national TV (other than NBA TV, which only halfway counts). All times Eastern. Important games get asterisks, assigned arbitrarily and more generously than usual since we're sliding toward the last two weeks of the season.
FRIDAY
Cavaliers at Pistons, 7*
Clippers at Nets, 7:30*
Hornets at Raptors, 7:30
Knicks at Bucks, 8**
Suns at Timberwolves, 8, NBA TV***
Warriors at Pelicans, 8*
Jazz at Nuggets, 9*
SATURDAY
Kings at Magic, 5*
Nets at Wizards, 7 (this gets a * but just for Sixers fans)
Heat at Sixers, 7:30
Mavericks at Bulls, 8*
Lakers at Grizzlies, 8*** – tiebreaker on the line
Pacers at Thunder, 8*
Celtics at Spurs, 8, NBA TV
SUNDAY
Clippers at Cavaliers, 3:30*
Blazers at Knicks, 6, NBA TV* – Pacers have a shot at catching NYK for #3
Hawks at Bucks, 7*
Pistons at Timberwolves, 7**
Hornets at Pelicans, 7 (this gets a * but just for Sixers fans)
Warriors at Spurs, 7*
Raptors at Sixers, 7:30 and a sad little *
Rockets at Suns, 9, NBA TV**
Alright, that's the week. Thanks for the patience in my transition to a new platform. Thanks for joining me in this distraction from a harrowing world.
