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.
********************
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
********************
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
********************
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 |
| Pascal Siakam 27 points – 11 rebounds – eight assists | Royce O’Neale 15 points – seven rebounds – two assists – one steal – one block |
| Kyle Lowry 21 points – five rebounds – seven assists – three steals | Mike Conley 13 points – six rebounds – seven assists – one steal |
NEXT GAMES
Utah at Oklahoma City – Wednesday
Detroit at Toronto – Saturday
********************
TUESDAY’S LINEUP
(All Times Eastern)
| 7 p.m. Boston Celtics Indiana Pacers NBC Sports Boston | 7 p.m. New York Knicks Washington Wizards NBC Sports Washington | 8 p.m. Cleveland Cavaliers Chicago Bulls NBC Sports Chicago |
| 8 p.m. Minnesota Timberwolves Houston Rockets AT&T SportsNet Southwest | 8 p.m. Dallas Mavericks San Antonio Spurs TNT | 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 |
********************
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
Featured Articles
Featured Writers
