Daily Dose of NBA with BN - Jan 11th
The Bucks blew out the Celtics, Bradley Beal had his best game for the Suns, Donovan Mitchell shined in Paris, and Kyrie Irving put 44 on the Knicks in a night of surprising blowouts in the NBA.
Beal and Suns embarrass Lakers
The Phoenix Suns strolled into Crypto.com Arena and dismantled the Los Angeles Lakers 127-109.
The Lakers led briefly 7-6 in the first period, but it was all downhill from there as they could not stop the Suns' star trio of Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, and Bradley Beal, with all of them taking turns exploiting Darvin Ham’s defense.
LeBron James registered just 10 points on the evening, while Anthony Davis had 13 and both players sat the entire fourth quarter in the blowout loss.
Beal had his best game in a Suns uniform with 37 points on 14-for-21 from the field and 8-of-10 from downtown, while Booker added 31 points and KD chipped in with 18.
It would be Durant’s first win against LeBron since Game 4 of the 2018 NBA Finals, as the Suns bounce back from their disappointing defeat to the Clippers earlier this week.
The loss sees the Lakers fall below .500 once again at 19-20 as the trade rumors continue to swirl around the organization.
Mitchell shines in Paris as Cavs down Nets
The Cleveland Cavaliers and Brooklyn Nets were on display in Paris, France as a headline matchup outside of the United States, and the Cavs walked away with a 111-102 victory.
The Wine and Gold led from start to finish against the Nets and leaned on the scoring excellence of Donovan Mitchell to lift them to victory. To their credit, the Nets did cut a 26-point deficit to single digits late in the matchup but didn’t have enough to get over the hump.
Mitchell finished the contest with a season-high 45 points, including 21 in the fourth quarter alone. Caris LeVert posted 21 points off the bench, and Jarrett Allen pulled down a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds.
Cam Thomas rediscovered some form for the Nets with 26 points in the loss, while Lonnie Walker IV added 20, and Mikal Bridges also finished with 26 in the starting lineup.
The Cavs improved to 22-15 on the campaign.
Bucks destroy Celtics on National TV
The Milwaukee Bucks put the Boston Celtics to the sword in front of the whole country with a 135-102 win in Wisconsin.
In Jrue Holiday’s return to Milwaukee, it would be a nightmare evening for their former championship point guard, as the Bucks led by as many as 43 points and put together a 25-0 run midway through the first half to all but seal the game.
The contest was over almost immediately after halftime as both coaches emptied their bench.
Giannis Antetokounmpo poured in 24 points and 12 rebounds, Damian Lillard had 21 points, and Bobby Portis notched 28 points and 12 boards off the bench.
In what turned into an inexplicable performance, Jayson Tatum scored just seven points, and Jaylen Brown scored 10 in the loss.
The win sees the Bucks well and truly emerge from their new year slump in their most dominant performance of the season thus far.
Thunder absolutely thrash Blazers
In what developed into arguably the worst night in Portland Trail Blazers history, the Oklahoma City Thunder crushed them 139-77.
In doing so, the Blazers found themselves on the wrong side of NBA records, becoming the first and only team to have multiple 60-point losses ever.
The thrashing was orchestrated by Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who poured in 31 points. Josh Giddey posted a triple-double of 13 points, 10 rebounds, and 12 assists, with OKC boasting six players in double-figures in the contest.
As for Chauncey Billups' men, no one scored more than Scoot Henderson's 14 points on an abysmal 4-for-13 from the field.
The Thunder moved to 26-11 on the year.
Kyrie puts on a show as Mavs defeat Knicks
The most competitive matchup of the night went to the Dallas Mavericks and New York Knicks, with the Mavs prevailing 128-124.
Dallas was without MVP candidate Luka Doncic, Dante Exum, and Derrick Lively in the clash, but still managed to pull out a win courtesy of sensational individual performances from Kyrie Irving and Tim Hardaway Jr.
Irving put up his Mavericks-high in scoring as he sizzled for 44 points and 10 dimes, while Hardaway Jr. stepped into the starting lineup and picked up the scoring slack with 32 points of his own.
The Knicks were down big in the first half but fought back to make it a one-possession game in the final minute. Tom Thibodeau's team couldn’t secure an important defensive rebound that would have given them a chance to tie or take the lead in the dying seconds, which eventually resulted in a Mavs three-pointer to end their hopes.
Julius Randle had 32 points, and Jalen Brunson posted 30 points and eight assists in the defeat. The Mavs improved to 23-16 on the season.
Tomorrow sees a mouth-watering 10-game slate in the association headlined by the Pelicans clashing with the Nuggets, the Magic facing off against the Heat, the Warriors meeting the Bulls, and the Kings locking horns with the Sixers.
