It was not an extremely eventful night in the NBA, though plenty of happened. No game-winners, no wild stat lines, but still, a lot did go on. Just not too many things of note. We’ll start in Phoenix, where the Cavs experimented with something interesting.
Cavs Set the NBA Back 10 Years
In the modern game, you generally see teams with as many floor-spacers on the floor as possible. You want to fire up as many threes as is needed to win and make sure the defense is always running out to contest them. What is generally not seen is a team starting two centers that both stand taller than 7’0, and playing them for much of the game, alongside one another.
When Larry Nance Jr. was ruled out not only for this game but for all of their contests through the second half of the year, a decision had to be made. The Cavs could go small with Taurean Prince or Dylan Windler at the four spot, or just slot Jarrett Allen in. They chose to do the latter for some reason. While he and Andre Drummond made some good plays, this made spacing very difficult.
The team lost to the Suns 119-113, and the fact that it was so close is very interesting. The Cavs did not have a ton of choice but likely would have been better off playing another shooter rather than Allen. Kevin Love’s return seems imminent, but for now, will they roll with this? Denver would eat the Cavs alive if they chose to have two centers in together.
SGA Comes up Clutch, But OKC Loses in OT
There would have been headlines out of LA if the game had ended a bit differently. The Thunder trailed the Lakers by three with just a few seconds left, and then Shai-Gilgeous Alexander was able to get a foul on KCP as he hoisted a triple. He knocked all of them in to send the game to OT. Unfortunately, the Lakers won the overtime 9-2, even with Anthony Davis not there.
LeBron recorded a triple-double with 28-14-12, while Montrezl Harrell poured in 21 points off the bench. OKC, on the other side, used just eight players, as health and safety protocol and injuries have taken their toll on the roster. Hamidou Diallo has continued to prove, though, that he belongs and was worth the wait. He put up another double-double, this time with rebounds. Diallo had 20 points and 11 rebounds for the game.
SGA ended up with 29-7-10 for the game, another impressive line for the young man. While it was great to see him deliver the clutch, game-tying free throws, watching a win would have been just as validating. The Thunder does continue to show the rest of the league that they stink at tanking. And that is a very good thing.
With all of the picks OKC has in the next several drafts, they can potentially parlay all of them into another star, or just draft extremely bell and do what you did from 2007-2010 all over again.
