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March 5th,
We’re starting with the final game of the night, as it was the most thrilling and compelling game out of the bunch. If Knick fans hearts' weren’t completely shattered by this point by the complete utter disappointment of this season, then Cam Johnson made sure of it, sinking a game winning buzzer beating three to beat the New York Knicks 115-114. Not only did Cam Johnson win it for the Suns, he tallied a career night scoring 38 points and hitting 9 threes on the game. Another Cam for the Suns also had a career night in Cam Payne dishing out 16 assists in just his 2nd game back from injury and having full guard duties with Chris Paul and Devin Booker out. The Knicks once again found a way to lose, being up by 12 going into the 4th quarter. It didn’t help much at all with Julius Randle getting into a scuffle with Cam Johnson late in the 3rd quarter leading to his ejection. Before the ejection, Randle was having one of his better games this season with 25 points on 50% shooting from the field, and obviously would have been a huge help for the Knicks down the stretch in that game. Overall, if you wanted a game to define the Knicks season this year, I’d go with this one, heartbreaking and disappointing end, and the Knicks just being the Knicks.
In another game where a team was up double digits at one point, the Cavs were looking to get back on track and not continue to fall in the East standings. The 76ers looked to continue their win streak going and stay undefeated in the post-Harden trade era. The Cavs came out the gates firing putting up 43 points in just the first quarter alone. They also prioritized getting the ball out of Harden and Embiid’s hands and making the guys around them beat them. It worked for about a half, but that was it. The 76ers needed a 3rd guy to step up, and so far since the Harden trade, it’s been Tyrese Maxey, and tonight he proved that he just might be that piece along with Harden and Embiid for them to go far in the playoffs, putting up 33 points and basically taking this game over in the 4th quarter hitting trey’s from deep and attacking the basket. Maxey, Embiid, and Harden combined for 80 points in a narrow 125-119 win over the falling Cavs. Cleveland got good production from a few guys, with Garland, Allen, Okoro, and Osman all scoring over 20 points, but it just wasn’t enough for the new, improved 76ers. It seems like just yesterday that the Cavs were one of the top 4 seeds in the Eastern Conference, but now having dropped 3 in a row and 6 of their last 7, they have now dropped to the 6th seed, and the Raptors, who are in the play-in spot currently, are only 2 games behind them.
The NBA world started to notice one thing lately about the Chicago Bulls, and that was that the Bulls struggled against winning teams, specifically high quality playoff teams. Coming into the game against the Bucks, the Bulls were 2-12 against teams with an above .600 record. Meaning they couldn’t win games against the top 7 seeds in each conference. Both the Bucks and Bulls were short-handed going into this game, but with the likes of Giannis Antetokounmp, Demar Derozan, Zach Lavine, Khris Middleton, and Jrue Holiday playing, it was sure to still be an immensely competitive game, and it was. Both teams went back in fourth going on runs, but in the 4th quarter the big 3 of the Bucks stepped up and secured the victory for Milwakuee 118-112, winning their 3rd game in a row. The Bulls have now dropped their 4th game in a row and continue to struggle against the best teams in the NBA. It’s tough to put this on the Bulls because they’re missing the likes of Patrick Williams, Lonzo Ball, and Alex Caruso, but it’s also difficult to use that as an excuse when every team is going through injuries in this part of the season.
Trae Young finally got some help with De’Andre Hunter putting up 26 points in a close win against the Wizards 117-114, and are now are just a half game back from the Nets for the 8th seed. The Pistons win again 111-106, this time against the Indiana Pacers, now winning 5 of their last 7 games behind the young guys of Cade Cunningham (20 points, 9 rebounds), Saddiq Bey (25 points) and Marvin Bagley (18 points). Magic shock the Raptors at home with a 103-97 win in a well-rounded team performance from Orlando. The Raptors have dropped their last 4 of 6 and are desperately still fighting to get out of a play-in spot. The Pelicans absolutely destroy the Jazz with a 34 point win, and have now won their last 4, now just a half game back from the Lakers in the West standings. Also, we need to talk about how good this Pelicans team could be once Zion gets healthy, that could be tremendously scary going into the playoffs. The Minnesota Timberwolves route the Thunder in 138-101 win behind a 20 ball from Naz Reid off the bench with perfect shooting from the field (8/8). Boogie back!?, getting the opportunity to start with the illness of Jokic, Demarcus Cousins took full advantage of it dropping 31-9-4 against the horrid Rockets. Don’t ask me what the Rockets are doing at this point of the season, I couldn’t give you an answer, the Rockets themselves probably couldn’t give you an answer, it’s a complete mess.
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