Trae Young (31 points) and John Collins (92.3 percent shooting) lead the Hawks to an exciting home win, the Bucks threw the bench at the Nuggets, and Serge Ibaka and Pascal Siakam are hungry to be the beast in the East.
Just three games last night as The Rundown returns.
Atlanta pulls one out of the back pocket against the Hornets, Milwaukee continues to have issues, while Toronto is showing us all how hungry and talented they truly are as NBA Champions.
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Charlotte Hornets 138 Atlanta Hawks 143 (2OT)
Their leading scorer got outscored by nine points. Their second and third leading scorers played to a virtual, statistical tie. And their bench was outscored, 55-47, by a shorter bench rotation. So how did the Atlanta Hawks pull out their 20th win of the season? By shooting 55 percent on their home floor, including 48 percent from downtown last night. John Collins was an astounding 12 of 13 for 92.3 percent shooting to lead the Hawks in accuracy. Jeff Teague, Treveon Graham, De’Andre Hunter, Vince Carter, and Dewayne Dedmon all shot better than 50 percent from the arc, while Trae Young hit for 46.2 from downtown and 44 percent overall to lead the Hawks in scoring with 31. Terry Rozier led all scorers with 40 points in 26 shots.
HORNETS (22-42) 10th in the East
HAWKS (20-46) 14th in the East
Terry Rozier 40 points – four rebounds – three assists – one steal
Trae Young 31 points – four rebounds – 16 assists
Devonte’ Graham27 points – four rebounds – 10 assists – four steals
John Collins 28 points – 11 rebounds – two blocks
Caleb Martin 23 points – four assists – three steals – two blocks (fouled out)
Cam Reddish 22 points – seven rebounds – two assists – one steal
NEXT GAMES Charlotte at Miami – Wednesday New York at Atlanta – Wednesday
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Milwaukee Bucks 95 Denver Nuggets 109
If you’ve ever driven through the Rocky Mountains, you may have seen a deer or two get stuck in your headlights. Usually, most sprint across the road and go on their way. Others get inadvertently slaughtered because they’re not quick enough. If you’ve ever wondered in this recent debate about who’s Most Valuable, consider Giannis Antetokuonmpo again, since the definition of ‘Most Valuable’ is predicated on how your team performs without you in the lineup. The Bucks are on a three game slide, counting the loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, without their MVP and inspirational leader. Last night, the Denver Nuggets made the Bucks look like roadkill with a 15 point win. The Nuggets raced out to a 15 point lead after one, then capped the game with a nine point advantage for good measure.Milwaukee played with an upside down lineup, in which head coach Mike Budenholzer started Thanasis Antetokuonmpo, Pat Connaughton, Robin ‘The Other’ Lopez, Sterling Brown, and Wesley Matthews. That result backfired with a total of 53 points, as Kyle Korver led the Bucks off the bench with 23 points, the high mark of the game for either team. Budenholzer rested his normal starting lineup, all but forfeiting the game. Jamal Murray led six Nuggets in double figures with 21 points. It was Milwaukee’s fourth loss in five games.
BUCKS (53-12) 1st in the East, NBA
NUGGETS (43-21) 3rd in the West
Kyle Korver 23 points – four rebounds – four assists – one steal – one block
Jamal Murray 21 points – five rebounds – six assists – one steal – one block
Sterling Brown 16 points – six rebounds – three assists – one block
Paul Millsap 20 points – 10 rebounds – one assist – one steal
Robin Lopez 11 points – five rebounds – three assists – one steal – one block
Jerami Grant 19 points – six rebounds – three assists – one steal – one block
NEXT GAMES Denver at Dallas – Wednesday Milwaukee at Boston – Thursday
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Toronto Raptors 101 Utah Jazz 92
If you want to beat the Utah Jazz, make it a big man’s game like the Toronto Raptors did last night in their nine point win in Salt Lake City. Serge Ibaka and Pascal Siakam took the Utah Jazz’s bigs to the woodshed outrebounding the Jazz, 54-33, and outscoring them 54-24 … and that’s counting Utah’s two bigs off the bench. Starters Rudy Gobert and Bojan Bogdanovic actually only posted an embarrassing 11 combined points versus Ibaka and Siakam’s 54. The defending champion Raptors are playing like they want the Eastern Conference title and an opportunity to prove their NBA championship was no fluke. Unlike the Milwaukee Bucks, who are a .200 team in their last five games, Toronto is .800 over their last five with four consecutive wins. The Raptors are still 6.5 games out, but with the way both teams are playing, that gap could narrow. The Jazz are playing like, well, the Utah Jazz. They are the Indiana Pacers of the Western Conference and need to improve their consistency if they ever want to move the needle.
RAPTORS (46-18) 2nd in the East
JAZZ (41-23) 4th in the West
Serge Ibaka 27 points – 13 rebounds – three assists
Joe Ingles 20 points – five rebounds – six assists – two steals
8 p.m. Orlando Magic Memphis Grizzlies Fox Sports Southeast
10 p.m. Phoenix Suns Portland Trailblazers Fox Sports Arizona
10:30 p.m. Los Angeles Clippers Golden State Warriors TNT
10:30 p.m. Brooklyn Nets Los Angeles Lakers YES
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Tracy Graven is a Senior NBA Analyst for BackSportsPage.com. He has written the NBA, and done NBA radio, for the last two decades for HoopsWorld, Swish Magazine, and HoopsHype, the Coach Scott Fields Show and NBARadioShow.com, and is also tackling the NFL, NCAA, and will be pinch-hitting on some Major League Baseball coverage for BackSportsPage. He’s spent 20 years in locker rooms in
Orlando
Boise (G League)
San Antonio
Phoenix
Denver
Oklahoma City
Atlanta
A corporate trainer by day, he currently resides in SEC Country near Knoxville, Tennessee. Reach him on Twitter at @RealTMoneyMedia
