Friday NBA Takeaways: Thunder (Way) Up
Plus, return of the TBP MVP!
Sometimes January NBA basketball feels like a slog — sometimes it rules. Last night, it ruled pretty hard.
Friday’s TBP MVP: DeMar DeRozan
Most of you don’t know this, but The Broken Press started on Twitter (how far we’ve come or something) and I gave out a daily award called BTP MVP (it was called Break the Press at that point) which I awarded to a player who did something enjoyable the night before. That wasn’t always the leading scorer or a star player (but sometimes it was) and the spirit of this award is simply someone who I liked watching the night before.
I’m bringing it back!
Friday’s TBP MVP is DeMar DeRozan in part because he scored 29 points, but mostly because he ripped out a dunk which I didn’t know he was still capable of. DeMar has always been a joy because so much of his game occurs below the rim, which makes you kind of forget how bouncy he is — until he breaks off a poster like this.
Crowd and bench reaction are obviously huge parts of a dunk, and both get a 10/10 here. Kings have won three straight — they haven’t been impressive, but the Kings deserve some ugly wins right now. Beam Team… back? No… welllll… nah… Unless….
Thunder 117, Knicks 107
This was good hoops. Realllllly good hoops. Close from the start and engaging for 48 minutes. Yet another “marquee” NBA game delivered on the hype; OKC came into this game winners of 13 straight. Knicks, winners of 9 straight. Something had to give.
What gave?
For the Thunder…
Isaiah Hartenstein gave 14 rebounds, 7 assists, and 2 stocks in his “revenge” game (all his former teammates clearly love him).
He rarely does things to hurt his team, and even when he does make a mistake, he makes up for it tenfold on the next few possessions. OKC is 18-1 with him in the lineup. He’s one of the 20 most important players in the NBA this season.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams gave an efficient enough 53 points, topped off by an SGA finger-roll that returned to Earth with stardust on it. J-Dub also gave legitimate effort against KAT in the post. Sometimes KAT just tossed it over Dub’s head into the hoop, but he only finished with 17 points. What a luxury to put your second-best scorer in the paint to guard centers.
And, of course, Aaron Wiggins gave a hell of a fourth quarter. 15 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block in the final frame. He invented basketball, then saved it.
The difference between OKC and New York isn’t Aaron Wiggins individually; it’s the idea of Aaron Wiggins — and how many Thunder can embody the role he played tonight. Some nights, it’ll be Isaiah Joe doing what Wiggins did tonight. Every once in a while, Kenrich Williams can do it. Shit, maybe even Ajay Mitchell can be Aaron Wiggins on occasion. We are all Aaron Wiggins, and Aaron Wiggins is us all.
Basically, OKC has real threats to change a game on its bench — the Knicks don’t. Cam Payne is fun when he’s hitting threes and almost unplayable when he’s not. Tonight, he was not. A -7 in just eight minutes.
New York got five points from its bench tonight in thirty combined minutes from Payne, Landry Shamet and Precious Achiuwa.
Miles McBride basically has to be 6MOY for this bench to be consistently competitive.
I know I just talked an awful lot about the Thunder, but this isn’t a panic-worthy loss for New York. The Knicks looked pretty damn good until Aaron Wiggins became God in the fourth, then things came undone a bit. But losing close to OKC is probably a win against about 27 other teams.
Unrelated: who the hell made OKC’s schedule? New York, Boston, Cleveland, New York four-game stretch is some sick shit. But I’m gonna eat it up.
Spurs 113, Nuggets 110
I can’t believe how wrong I was about the San Antonio Spurs, who are now 18-16 after beating Denver in an odd, fun game on Friday.
Of course, I knew how good Wemby is; I didn’t think this roster at large had a chance. But maybe that’s an admission I didn’t know quite how good Wemby is. He’s go blow for blow with Nikola Jokic good, and lock Jokic up on the game-deciding play good. That’s goooood. He turns 21 years old today.
To no one’s surprise, Wemby (35 & 18) vs. Jokic (41 & 18) delivered. This matchup is like the recent Panchiko and billy woods collaboration. Completely different vibes, but still great when they get together. That reference was for two people, max.
Also, Julian Champagnie is the definition of a game I was not familiar with. San Antonio has gotten considerably more from all of its random role guys than I expected. Chapagnie (12.1 PTS, 37% 3PT), Devin Vassell (15.3 PPG), HARRISON BARNES (41.3% 3PT!) Stephon Castle, Jeremy Sochan, all pitch in just enough. That production, plus Wemby… apparently adds up to a competitive team.
Cavs 134, Mavs 122
It should not be taken for granted that Cleveland has reached assume a win level of dominance. I do assume they will win every night… and they kind of do win every night. Comfortably. Now 30-4 (WHAT THE HELL) here’s their margin of victory for each game on this nine-game win streak: 10, 29, 21, 27, 11, 14, 18, 12, 12. They’re stomping out the entire NBA.
Evan Mobley is somehow, improbably, living up to the unfair pre-draft expectations that folks placed on his shoulders. It just took a few years. DUH.
He’s the third-leading scorer on one of the best teams we’ve ever watched while also anchoring its defense. All-Star. Or, “ALL MF STAR” as his teammate Donovan Mitchell puts it.
Cleveland vs. OKC on Wednesday will heal our nation.
Lakers 119, Hawks 102
JJ Redick is overwhelmed, LeBron James is washed, Anthony Davis fooled us again… if you didn’t watch the Lakers and just listened to how the public talks about them, you’d think it was a disaster over there but uh, this team is 20-14, has won 7 of 9 and LeBron has five 30-plus games in the past month. How has the most popular team in the NBA become so weirdly underrated? There have been some rough patches but pretty much every non-Thunder team in the West has experienced rough patches. This is a good team.
Three More Things I Liked on Friday
CJ McCollum scoring 50 points. That was cool. It happened against the Wizards which makes it less impressive, but CJ plays for the Pelicans, so… that makes it more impressive again. Pels win!
Tristan da Silva. Career-high 25 points for the rookie! Orlando picked him to contribute immediately, and everyone on that damn team keeps getting hurt so he’ll need to keep contributing for the Magic, who apparently win no matter which important player gets hurt on a nightly basis.
Pistons keep winning! Now 16-18 on the season, this might end up being the most fun almost-.500 season in NBA history. Good for those guys, good for JB Bickerstaff.
What I’m Listening to: Panchiko ft. billy woods
Just because I mentioned it earlier!