INSANE Clutch Finishes On NBA Saturday
In what looked to be a relatively uneventful day of NBA Basketball, the players had other ideas. Besides a blowout win for the Mavericks in Dallas, every game came down to the wire. It produced a Jayson Tatum buzzer-beater, clutch LeBron James three-pointers, and more magic around the association.
Hornets Outlast The Bucks In Charlotte
A Giannis Antetokounmpo triple-double effort was not enough for Milwaukee, as they fell 116-115 in Charlotte. LaMelo Ball was the difference in the fourth quarter, scoring 15 of his 26 points.
Antetokounmpo had a chance to win it with seconds left but missed the mid-range jumper. With Damian Lillard out, the Bucks' role players finally stepped up, with 6 players finishing in double digits. Taurean Prince led the team with 23, while Bobby Portis finished with 21 off the bench. Giannis ended with 22 points, 15 rebounds, and 12 assists, his first triple-double of the season.
For Charlotte, LaMelo Ball got most of his help from Miles Bridges and Josh Green, who scored 19 and 15 points, respectively. Brandon Miller had 13 points on the night but on just 5/17 shooting.
Jayson Tatum Hits The BOMB For The Win
Jayson Tatum wasn't spectacular by his standards for most of this game. He finished with 24 points, on 7-19 shooting, below his averages on the season. But he saved his best for last, hitting an absolute bomb from way beyond the three-point line at the buzzer.
Tatum had a much easier game-winning opportunity at the end of regulation, but badly missed the wide-open mid-range, just to hit a contested 30-footer in OT.
Jaylen Brown scored 27 for Boston, leading the way in a relatively ugly offensive performance from the reigning champions. They shot just 34.4% from three but still hit 12 more than the Raptors, with Tatum and Al Horford combining for 10 of the Celtics' 21 triples.
RJ Barrett continued his fine early-season form, notching another triple-double, with 25 points, 15 assists, and 10 rebounds. Jakob Poeltl was also fantastic for Toronto, a mercenary of Barrett's playmaking, finishing with a career-high 35 points on 16-19 from the field. He added 12 rebounds in the performance, but Toronto couldn't get the win, despite an excellent statistical performance from the team.
LeBron James Does It Again
In season 22, LeBron James is still that guy in the clutch. Much like Tatum, he didn't have a sensational offensive performance, but in the final minute, hit two huge three-pointers to seal the win for the Lakers.
James finished with 21 points, but it was the duo of Anthony Davis and Dalton Knecht who showed out for L.A. tonight. Davis continued his incredible form this season, with 31 points and 14 rebounds, shooting 60% from the field.
Knecht started his third game of the season and had the best performance of his young career. The 17th overall pick finished with 27 points, including 5/10 from downtown. The Lakers needed his output tonight, with Austin Reaves shooting just 3-15 from the field in his 41 minutes.
The Pelicans were extremely short-handed tonight, so they did well to be this close to the win. Brandon Ingram led all scorers with 32 points but had 7 turnovers with it, as the Pelicans finished with 17 as a team. Outside of Ingram, New Orleans' next highest scorer was Jaylen Nowell, who had 16 points on 6-18 shooting.
De'Aaron Fox
That's the title. De'Aaron Martez Fox is on absolute fire right now.
The King's guard is unstoppable right now. Last night against Minnesota, he dropped a career-high 60 points. He walks back into Golden One Center and drops another 49 points in the win over Utah. He has scored 109 points in his last two games, the most since the great Kobe Bryant scored 110 in 2007.
The Kings were without Domantas Sabonis and DeMar DeRozan for the first time this season, and they still managed to sneak away with a four-point win at home.
Fox got some assistance from Trey Lyles and Kevin Huerter tonight, scoring 17 and 18 points, respectively. The two combined for 10 three-pointers, as the Kings hit 19 of 41 (46.3%) from downtown as a team.
Utah led by as many as 13 in the third quarter, but couldn't string stops together when it mattered most. Lauri Markkanen finished with 25 points, after a slow start to the season. The Jazz shot the ball well, and only had 13 turnovers, but just weren't able to hang with De'Aaron Fox tonight.