2024-02-22 - NBA Recap \ stacker news ~Stacker

The NBA is back in full force after the all star break. With 12 games, today was quite a busy day in the NBA world and took me quite some time to go through the highlights and game stats.

I only got to watch the Lakers vs Warriors game, as I went ice skating with my kids right after work and didn't get home until around 7pm PST. LeBron didn't play, AD was carrying the Lakers, although Reaves and Russell both played quite well in this game. On the Warriors side, Curry continues to dominate with 32pts and 8 assists, while off-the-bench Klay continues to suck after that one game with 35. Good thing Wiggins finally woke up since the past few games and a few others also chipped in to helped push the Warriors to a win.

First thing that caught my eyes when looking at the game summaries/highlights, the Raptors beat the Nets, kicked their ass in commanding fashion actually. Barnes had a double double, IQ and Trent Jr. both had over 20. The Raps are actually pretty good when their 3s are falling, or when their opponent's 3s are bricking. Nets going for 11/37 in 3s is probably one of the major reason for their loss, on top of getting out rebounded and having almost twice as many TO as the Raps.

Kyle Lowry played his first game as a 76er for his home town Philly, but got his face cut by an elbow (I think it was from Jericho Sims) and had to leave the game with a bleeding face. The Knicks beat the 76ers on this one. The 76ers are really missing Embiid right now.

Jokic continues to play out of this world, this time, owning the lowly Wizards. Another triple double in the books, 21 points, 19 rebounds, 15 assists, but in a spectacular fashion shooting 10/10 for a 100% field goal percentage! This guy is just too good. And of course, the Nuggets beat the Wizards.

Speaking of too good, SGA is also too good, scoring 31 point and 8 assists, leading the Thunder on a win over the Clippers in convincing manner.

The Suns vs Mavs matchup is always fun to follow, as this rivalry is getting more heated each time they play. This time, the Mavs got the upper hand, with Luka going for 41-11 and Kyrie going for 29.

The Spurs vs Kings game had a close ending, where at one point, the Spurs got the lead with less than 4 minutes to play. But the young Spurs were unable to close out the game, while the Kings defense suffocated their opponents to force 2 stops late in the game. In the end, the Kings came out victorious. Oh yea, and Wemby had a casual 5 blocks again.

In other news, Magic beat the Cavs with Mitchell out due to illness, Pacers beat the Pistons, Pelicans beat the Rockets, Celtics beat the Bulls, and Hornets beat the Jazz.

There was a new Shaqtin' A Fool, this time the all star edition. Quite funny. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bzz_hzRye6w

And finally, my subjective play of the day, Kyrie being a magician again. His handles and his finishes are just amazing to watch! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwHlmc21afI

Feel free to comment below sharing anything you found interesting in today's games or anything you would like to share regarding the NBA in general. Cheers and have a good night!

51 sats \ 2 replies \ @grayruby 23 Feb

Who needs to watch sports central? You just recapped the entire night of ball.

I didn't catch much of the game as my little one has me pretty busy while my wife is in Texas, but the Raps looked really good for the bit that I saw. Trent has been playing better since being elevated to the starting rotation but he can be very hot and cold with his shot so it remains to be seen if he can keep it up.

When is Embiid coming back? Philly might play themselves into the play-in if he doesn't return soon.

Thanks for doing these posts.

50 sats \ 1 reply \ @gnilma OP 23 Feb

Thanks for noticing these posts. It's just a quick brief recap with some subjective personal takes. Not good enough to compete with sports central. But I go through the NBA recap on my own every night anyways. With these posts, I just type them out instead of going through it on my own. Makes the process less lonely and more fun.

The Philadelphia 76ers are increasingly hopeful that Joel Embiid, who had knee surgery on February 6, will make a comeback before the regular season concludes.

Sauce

As long as they can remain within the play-in, Embiid should be able to keep then alive once he comes back. But if their seeding drops too low, it might mean facing the Celtics or the Bucks in early rounds, which is something they might not want, especially with Embiid just fresh back from such an injury.

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @grayruby 24 Feb

One would have to imagine that Embiid will take a few games to get back into form so I am sure they are hoping he will be back before the end of the regular season.