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Sunday night didn't produce many surprises. Golden State and San Antonio won, Russell Westbrook had another monster line, Andre Drummond rebounded a lot, Gregg Popovich rested another of his players, James Harden was fouled at the buzzer. There were, however, some surprisingly low point games, some exciting late game action, and some nice lines from the bench.
Let's take a look at what NBA's Sunday night looked like.
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Game Notes for October 30th, 2016
Utah Jazz 75, Los Angeles Clippers 88
- Good defenses and poor shooting resulted in these two teams combining for 163 points which left little room for offensive stat production. Blake Griffin double doubled with 18 points, 10 rebounds a steal and an assist going 50% from the field and Austin Rivers had a surprising game-high 19 points in 29 minutes from the bench. The only one worth mentioning in Utah was George Hill with 18 points on 8-13 shooting (including 2 three pointers), three assists, two boards and two steals.
- DeAndre Jordan hurt his thumb in the 3rd quarter and left the game. He did return in the 4th and the X-rays were negative so he should be fine, but his thumb was swollen so it's something to keep an eye on. The FG% king had just 7 points on 30% shooting with 1 BLK, but racked up 16 rebounds.
Milwaukee Bucks 83, Detroit Pistons 98
- Another low-scoring affair that saw some nice lines from Detroit's starters and a vicious battle for minutes at the Center position in Milwaukee. Drummond was terrific with 20 points on 50% shooting, 23 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 steals, and he even added an assist. He did go 4-8 from the line though. Boy if only that guy could shoot... All Detroit's starters scored in double digits with Kendavious Caldwell-Pope racking up an efficient line of 21 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals and no turnovers on 5-5 from the line and 7-13 from the field.
- For Milwaukee, Giannis Antetokounmpo was close to a triple double with 17 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and three blocks and even hit all six FT attempts. He didn't have much help from his teammates. Jason Kidd is still testing his lineups and is currently deploying a three Center rotation including John Henson, Greg Monroe, and "starter" Miles Plumlee, with none of them playing more than 18 minutes on Sunday.
Golden State Warriors 106, Phoenix Suns 100
- The Suns gave Golden State a run for their money, but the "Super team" came out on top. They were fueled by Stephen Curry hitting 5 treys for 28 points and Kevin Durant who had 37 points with 15-16 from the FT line, along with 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals and 1 block. Durant even hit a jumper with one shoe on, after the other one was kicked off during that play.
- TJ Warren had 26 points and 6 rebounds for the Suns. Only him and Eric Bledsoe (21 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists) contributed anything worth mentioning. There was a freakish accident though. Bledsoe's jersey had his name spelled wrong so he had to change it midway through the 1st quarter. Gotta love the NBA!
San Antonio Spurs 106, Miami Heat 99
- Hassan Whiteside is showing that the Heat were right to trust him to anchor this team scoring 27 points with 15 boards and four blocks against the Spurs. Goran Dragic helped out with 25 and Justice Winslow with 18 but it still wasn't enough to take down San Antonio, even with Gregg Popovich resting LaMarcus Aldridge.
- It was a close game, but Kawhi Leonard scored 12 of his 27 points in the last 4 minutes to give his team the edge. Pau Gasol finally found his rhythm with the Spurs going for 20 points and 11 rebounds (no coincidence that it came with Aldridge out) and Patrick Mills was a breath of fresh air from the bench racking up 18 points in 25 minutes.
Los Angeles Lakers 96, Oklahoma City Thunder 113
- It's all about Russell Westbrook in OKC! His second triple-double in three games. He is the league's leading scorer and passer with 38.7 points and 11.7 assists. He is even in the top 10 in rebounds with 12.3 per game. The only player to ever average a triple-double over the course of an entire season was Oscar Robertson (30.8/12.5/11.4). Will Westbrook join him? It will be really fun watching everything Westbrook does this season.
- Lakers might have lost, but they have plenty of reasons to be hopeful for the future. Both their up-and-comers, D'Angelo Russell and Julius Randle scored 20 points apiece and rookie Brandon Ingram showed he has potential scoring 9 points and 5 rebounds with a couple of assists in 20 minutes. Luke Walton has a young team which is worth developing, and hopefully one of the most successful franchises will be back to winning ways before too long.
Dallas Mavericks 92, Houston Rockets 93
- Even though we expected more baskets considering it's the Mike D'Antoni's Rockets, this was a fun game! First Wesley Matthews hits a deep, deep three pointer to tie up the game with just 4.1 seconds to go. Then the Rockets make a great play for Harden who drives to the basket and draws a foul from Matthews. And then The Bearded One makes it even more nerve wracking by missing his first free throw. But he is still The Beard so he put away the second one and Rockets beat the Mavericks for the second time in just three days.
- Wesley Matthews had 25 points for the Mavs, and J.J. Barea was very helpful from the bench racking up 18 points with five assists and hitting all seven of his FT. But it wasn't enough with Dirk Nowitzki sitting out a second straight game with an illness. Harden had 28 points with seven rebounds, seven assists and a steady hand when it mattered. The game on the line, he was at the line, and the line reads: "Harden does it again."
Washington Wizards 103, Memphis Grizzlies 112 (OT)
- Talk about another thriller! Marc Gasol has apparently added a three point shot to his arsenal hitting a three to send the game into overtime, and then hitting another two in the extra five minutes to help his Grizzlies beat the Wizards. Wizards failed to score in OT until 18 seconds left on the clock and Memphis took full advantage.
- The game was a statistical (fantasy) heaven as four players had double doubles. Gasol (20 points, 10 rebounds) and Mike Conley (24 points, 11 assists) for the Grizzlies, Marcin Gortat (14 points, 12 rebounds) and John Wall (22 points, 13 assists) for the Wizards. But the bench contribution for Memphis was key to this game as Zack Randolph and Vince Carter combined for 40 points to keep the Grizzlies in the game before Gasol took over to finish the Wizards off.
