The standout individual performance of the night came from Brandon Knight, whose first-ever triple-double helped the Phoenix Suns cruise past the Los Angeles Lakers 120-101. While the Grizzlies deserve lots of credit for Monday’s fine showing, they’re not a team that can expect to score 122 points – 43 in the fourth quarter! – with any kind of regularity. From the outside, the Celtics seem to be headed in a similar direction as last season’s 40-42 record that led to a first-round exit at the hands of the Cavaliers.
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“They’re playing on a go-hard basis”, he said.
Thomas (no relation to the Hall of Fame guard Isaiah Thomas) played his college ball with the Washington Huskies.
Memphis made 21 of its 34 three-point shots (.618) in sweeping its back-to-back set against the Timberwolves and Thunder. “It was a team effort”.
Jordan Clarkson scored 20 points to lead the tired Lakers, who were playing on consecutive days for the second time in a week.
Westbrook took charge, with the Thunder missing former Most Valuable Player (MVP) forward Kevin Durant due to a hamstring injury suffered in a win over the Washington Wizards. As Chalmers got going in the final quarter, Memphis fans were on their feet cheering the guard acquired last week in a trade with the Miami Heat. Mario Chalmers’ performance Monday night was emphatic.
“It actually gave me more motivation”.
“I think it’s a couple of things”. And I say what I gotta say and do what I gotta do.
“And hopefully they’ll forget about 2008”, he said with a laugh.
Mike Conley netted 22 points and made four of this five three-point attempts…
Forward Anthony Davis showed no ill effects from a hip contusion that kept him out for two games as he scored 36 points, pulled in 11 rebounds and blocked four shots.
“He had a good game”, Westbrook said of Smart. The Celtics have won their last two games in incredible fashion, and are certainly on the rise with expectations from those on the outside. The only other player in double-figures for the Thunder was Serge Ibaka with 16 points to go along with a team high 10 rebounds. Steven Adams and Dion Waiters finished with 14 apiece. The Thunder convert their three-pointers at a high percentage, ranking fourth in the league at.377.
Coach Erik Spoelstra said he watched highlights of the game and was happy for Chalmers. “I started making shots so I kept it”. I just try to bring what I can bring to the team.
Kawhi Leonard added 19 points and nine rebounds for San Antonio Spurs. The Grizzlies have gone 5-6 Straight Up (SU) and 4-7 Against The Spread (ATS). Al-Farouq Aminu had 17 points for Portland and McCollum added 15.
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“We’ve just got to learn how to win”, Blazer point guard Damian Lillard said. The Memphis grit-and-grind approach and OKC high-scoring attack are easily cast as opposites, and the team able to enforce its style on the game usually has a great chance of winning. I know it sounds weird to talk about defense and confidence defensively, but that’s what we did. We need to get a few good workouts in.
