Four games were on the NBA schedule on Thursday, with two rather convincing wins taking place and two tight contests.
Around the League
Victor Wembanyama (25 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists, 5 blocks and 5 steals) joined Hakeem Olajuwon and Andrei Kirilenko as the only players in NBA history to record at least five in the five stat categories in multiple games. Wembanyama (9-for-20) was the top performer in the San Antonio Spurs’ 106-88 road win over the winless (0-5) Utah Jazz. The win gave the Spurs their second victory of the season. Chris Paul (8-for-13) played a solid game with 19 points, 10 assists, and 7 rebounds. Keyonte George (5-for-14) led the Jazz in scoring with 15 points.
The thing about Wembanyama is that there remain many things that he needs to improve. Often times, he’ll shoot threes on the break which bails out the defense. He spends too much time distanced and away from the play, standing on the wing when he would always have a definitive advantage on the interior. He could also rebound better and get in better rebounding position. Still though, the kid is 20 years old. There is so much that he has yet to learn and so much that he will improve on. Putting up such numbers at such a young age without a complete skill set yet is a scary situation for the rest of the NBA.
The Memphis Grizzlies comfortably defeated the Milwaukee Bucks 122-99 as Ja Morant enjoyed his best game of the season. Morant, completely outplaying Damian Lillard (4 points, 1-for-12, 0-for-6 from distance) put up 26 points, 14 assists, and 10 rebounds on 9-for-16 shooting in just 29 minutes. Santi Aldama added 19 points and 9 rebounds, while all other Memphis starters finished in double figures.
Giannis Antetokounmpo (37 points, 11 rebounds) led a Bucks team that is 1-4 through its first five games.
With a 108-102 road win, the Houston Rockets were able to hold off the Dallas Mavericks, who trailed 88-72 going into the final frame but scored 30 in the fourth quarter.
Jalen Green (23 points, 12 rebounds, 9-for-21) and Alperen Sengun (17 points, 12 rebounds) led the way for the Rockets despite neither shooting the ball particularly well (Shengun was 5-for-16). Tari Eason added 15 points off the bench.
Luka Doncic (29 points, 5 rebounds, 12-for-25) and Kyrie Irving (28 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, 10-for-20) combined for over half of the Mavericks’ points. Klay Thompson struggled, going just 5-for-13 for 12 points (2-for-9 from distance), but he did however become just the sixth player in league history to reach 2,500 three-pointers. In that exclusive group, he joins Reggie Miller, James Harden, Lillard, Ray Allen, and former teammate Stephen Curry.
The Phoenix Suns overcame an 18-point halftime deficit and outscored the Los Angeles Clippers 73-49 in the second half to take a 125-119 road win, improving to 4-1 as the Clippers dropped to 2-3.
Devin Booker (11-for-18, 5-9 from distance) led the Sun effort with 40 points, and Royce O’Neale was great off the bench with 21 points and 7 rebounds in 29 minutes, making five of his six attempts from downtown. Kevin Durant was 7-for-13 with 18 points and rookie Ryan Dunn was 6-for-12 for 16 points, his second double-digit scoring effort of the season.
Harden (25 points, 13 assists, 10 rebounds) led the Clippers once again but was just 8-for-19 from the field and 3-for-10 from distance. Norman Powell (9-for-21, 4-for-11 from distance) finished with 23 points. Despite a 48-39 rebounding advantage, the Clippers shot 34 percent from downtown (12-for-35) while the Suns shot 46 percent (18-for-39).
Comments