Heliocentric
The NBA just may revolve around the Suns.
Good morning. Let’s basketball.
Galileo Facing the Roman Inquisition, Cristiano Banti, 1857
Suns vs. Warriors lived up to its hype and then some. It was a close affair until the closing seconds when Landry Shamet buried a dagger deep in Golden State’s first-place ranking in the standings. Devin Booker left in the second quarter with a hamstring injury but Chris Paul kept control of the game.
Correction: Chris Paul, Mikal Bridges and Deandre Ayton kept control of the game. CP3 used his usual sorcery on offense, torturing bigs on switches (15 points on 7/13 shooting) and finding open shooter after open shooter (11 assists). He also had five steals. Bridges put together a 41-minute Defensive Player of the Year mixtape, holding Stephen Curry to 4/21 shooting while nabbing four steals and a block. It was like an ace pitcher throwing a no-hitter — you didn’t want to acknowledge it for fear of jinxing it. Ayton dominated inside early and late on offense, with six total offensive rebounds and by shooting 11/19 from the floor with 16 of those FGAs coming in the paint.
Jordan Poole had a smoking first quarter and great offensive game and Draymond Green’s passing was on point, but without Curry making an impact the Warriors just couldn’t get the advantage late, even with Booker out.
The Warriors did some things that are good and repeatable against Phoenix: they had success of their own on the offensive glass, they were able to break through some of the Suns’ quirky defenses with Green’s passing and Poole’s shooting, they forced turnovers, they slowed down Phoenix’s offense with gimmick defenses of their own. The recipe to victory is visible, and there’s another chance at home on Friday.
That said, Phoenix has to feel really, really good about the performance to get this win and a share of first place in the West. The Suns knocked out the Lakers, Nuggets and Clippers last season en route to the Finals. They didn’t get a shot at the Warriors, and the Warriors weren’t nearly this good anyway. This represents some level of validation that the resurgence of Golden State doesn’t really knock Phoenix down a peg. It’s simply a new, different challenge to overcome.
If nothing else, validation that Bridges is ready for the challenge Curry presents and Ayton can be a major force against the smaller Warriors — that’s great to have early in this season. And you can tell that the Suns, despite what they say in front of cameras, really do care about this now 17-game winning streak and a perfect November record.
All that said, you know Steph wants to drop a record scratch on all of this reaction the NBA media complex is going to be doing today. And he gets his chance on Friday, then again on Christmas Day under what should be extremely bright lights. I think I’m more excited for Round 2 this week than I was for this first game, and that’s saying something.
Scores
Knicks 110, Nets 112 — I don’t think I can say the end of this game was “good” per se. But it was … tense? To be honest, I’m just glad it didn’t go into overtime and make us miss the first 10 minutes of Warriors-Suns.
Grizzlies 98, Raptors 91 — Memphis is plucky. Jaren Jackson Jr. is putting it together.
Pistons 92, Blazers 110 — Just throwing it out there: is C.J. McCollum an All-Star this season?
Lakers 117, Kings 92 — LeBron James is in the health and safety protocols and out at least 10 days. (He’s asymptomatic, according to A.D.) Some Lakers fans panicked about what this meant for the team’s chances on Tuesday night. Friends, there is no better way to get the Kings to crumble than to lose your best player before the game. Basically a guaranteed victory at that point. This game involved a 40-8 run that spanned 11 game minutes. Three different Lakers outscored the Kings during that span. The combo of Carmelo Anthony and Rajon Rondo outscored the Kings during that span.
Schedule
All times Eastern. No ESPN Wednesday games this week. Not sure why Disney won’t flex Wolves-Wizards to ABC??
Hawks at Pacers, 7
Nuggets at Magic, 7
Wolves at Wizards, 7
Sixers at Celtics, 7:30, NBA TV
Cavaliers at Heat, 7:30
Hornets at Bucks, 8
Mavericks at Pelicans, 8
Rockets at Thunder, 8
Kings at Clippers, 10:30, NBA TV
Links
Chris Herring breaks down the Suns’ win streak.
Interesting report from Woj on a study the NBA did with some infectious disease experts on antibody levels in vaccinated NBA players, leading to recommendations that players and staff get boosters.
The Knicks are mad at the officiating in Tuesday’s game in Madison Square Garden East, I mean Barclays. If the ref actually said what Julius Randle says he said, that’s a problem.
Paige Bueckers signs an NIL deal with Gatorade, beating all male NCAA athletes to the punch.
Just an incredible quote from Steve Nash:
Baxter Holmes reports that some Suns employees subject to non-disclosure agreements are unclear if they will be able to full participate in the independent investigation into Robert Sarver’s leadership. Seems like something the NBA could clear up quickly if they wanted to! I’m not a lawyer but outside of lawyer-client privilege shouldn’t NDAs be unenforceable when regarding illegal behavior at minimum?
Marc Stein’s NBA power rankings. John Schuhmann’s NBA power rankings.
Andrew Lopez on the Pelicans preparing for Zion Williamson’s season debut.
Mike Sykes remembers Virgil Abloh.
Be excellent to each other.