Another great week of NBA action, some games we’ve picked out this week were definitely must-watch games if you have league pass available. Game of the week would have to be the Suns vs. Blazers, but honestly its hard to pick just one so enjoy our little breakdown of each of the weeks best games!
November 7th
Warriors 116 – Pelicans 106
The winless Pelicans came into Oracle and shocked everyone to start Week 3 and did so on a night that saw the Warriors, specifically Steph Curry, etch their name in the history books.
On the back of another superstar performance from Anthony Davis, the Pels actually had their other starters give AD the support he needed. The Pelicans did quite well to stick with the Warriors for the better of 2 quarters and after dropping down 16 points at one point managed to cut that lead right down as the 3rd quarter concluded.
However, The Warriors had Steph Curry coming of an 0-10 night of 3pt shooting in LA and bounced back to go 13 from 17 and secure the best single game 3pt performance in NBA history. It was a show within itself as Curry was firing from deep even if the ball bounced off of Draymond’s leg, Curry dribbled through 2 defenders to get tot he 3pt line – you name it he did it.
Unfortunately for the Pelicans it was this night that Curry decided to be lights out from deep, otherwise its possible that New Orleans could have stolen this one.
November 8th
Trailblazers 124 – Suns 121
The first time these 2 teams met, with the Suns win over the Blazers I awarded Bledsoe with the best performance for that game. With this game being the exact opposite and the Blazers pulling out the win in another close game, the Blazers CJ McCollum showed up and showed out with a huge 33 points as well as his partner in crime Lillard finishing with 38 points for another massive game for Dame.
Even with the Blazers win, I have seen 2 instances now that have shown me that Eric Bledsoe is one of the best 4th quarter players in the league as of this moment. Both times these teams have now met it has been Bledsoe who has brought the Suns either close to victory or sealed it for them. With the Suns down 8 with 4 minutes remaining, Bledsoe took it upon himself to score 15 points in the last 4 minutes of the 4th. That is the type of performance that shouldn’t be swept under the rug, but with so little coverage of all the NBA teams, these are the things that get lost in the NBA media cycle.
November 9th
Clippers 111 – Trailblazers 80
Clippers, Clippers and more Clippers.
This year the LA shadow team for many years to the Lakers has taken command of the ship and look to be in better shape than ever to contend for a title this year. With this win over the Blazers improving the Clips to 7-1, it seems like things are nothing but up from here.
This game was dominated by the Clippers from start to finish taking an early 20+ lead and never letting go. It seems a little bizarre that we would discredit the Clippers for dropping that series to the Blazers last year, however now we know why. One major part of this was injuries and as we saw in this game, the Clippers were simply too much for a Blazers team that had an awful night scoring from their starters.
Now this could have a lot to do with the fact that the Blazers had just played in a slug fest with the Suns the night before, certainly it had to have played a factor. It seems highly unusual that you’ll see the Trailblazers starters each individually score under double figures.
Warriors 116 – Mavericks 106
Injuries aren’t wished upon anybody in the NBA (unless you’re an opposing fan in an NBA Finals game perhaps) but in some cases injuries allow bench players to get some shine and prove their worth and sometimes surprise teams and coaches alike.
Dallas may have lost this game, but by no means were they playing with a whole roster especially while Dirk rehabs his Achilles injury. The Mavs were also without Wesley Mathews, Deron Williams and JJ Barea which for a more veteran type of team is something that is more likely to happen as the season goes on.
However, as stated before, this spawned an opportunity for Seth Curry who so far has bounced around from a few teams as of late. Seth had 10 points on the night but was also undertaking the assignment of guarding his brother Steph and by no means is that easy in itself and even harder when the other brother is trying to school you at any chance he gets.
On a night that celebrated the return of Barnes and Bogut its unfortunate that the Mavericks couldn’t have enough of the roster to compete, however if these 2 teams are to meet in the future with full rosters then perhaps the story might be different.
November 10th
Bulls 98 – Heat 95
It’s kind of funny looking back at everything that went down with the Heat and Wade this past summer and thins game was a bit more added proof that perhaps the move to Chicago was both good for Dwyane and the Heat. On the very surface of it all the Heat were clearly in a position where they wanted to begin a rebuild with the big 3 era evidently over and Wade didn’t feel like doing anymore favours for the Heat.
For Dwayne this move couldn’t have placed him in a better situation, this game specifically showed that even with Wade having an emotional game where stars usually make it a point to play very well. It was the Bulls who carried Wade to the victory on his return to Miami, and of course Wade had his moments but ultimately this game wasn’t really what most expected it to be. At this point I don’t think that it was Wade’s mission to return and drop a 30+ game to remind the fans what their missing as that damage was done as soon as he left.
courtsideconversations.com 