Ten Takeaways From 3/12/25
ONE) Free Throw King
Trae Young missed a game because of a quad injury and returned to have one of the weirdest stat lines of his career. Just look at this thing:
35 points
12 assists
7 rebounds
7/20 FG
0/5 3P
21/21 FT
Zero 3-pointers and 21-of-21 at the line. Like, what?! It’s a new career-high for free throws made—sixth player in NBA history to go perfect from the line on 21-or-more attempts in a game. He’d be on a streak of 69 consecutive made free throws right now if he hadn’t intentionally missed that last one against the Pacers. Fourth-most 30 point, 10 assist games in NBA history (90).
Miles Bridges’s heater continues with 31 points and 11 boards. LaMelo keeps shooting like shit (25 points, 6-21 FG, 3-11 3PT).
"I know how he thinks. I know how he is. We're a lot alike ... We're definitely going to be competing on Friday." - Trae Young on facing Bogdan Bogdanovic on Friday
The Hawks beat the Hornets 123-110.
TWO) More Free Throws
In a very possible Finals preview, we just saw two drastically different styles of ball.
Free Throws:
OKC: 25-35
BOS: 10-12
3-Pointers:
OKC: 13-37
BOS: 20-63
The 35 free throw attempts ties a season-high for the Thunder and is the most allowed by the Celtics. The 63 three-pointers are the most attempted by the Celtics this season and the most allowed by the Thunder.
Woulda loved to have seen this matchup with both teams at full health, but we gotta wait. Kristaps Porzingis missed his 7th straight game with that “viral illness”. Jalen Williams didn’t make the trip because of the hip strain that he suffered against the Nuggets on Monday. OKC was also without Alex Caruso because of an illness. Shoutout to Chet Holmgren for picking up the slack with 23 points and 11 boards. OKC is undefeated (7-0) this season when he scores 20+. SGA (34 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists) has scored 20+ in 60 consecutive games.
"That boy good. I'm a big fan of his game ... definitely a guy that you watch and you study to get better ... if we end up playing them down the line." - Jaylen Brown on SGA
The Thunder beat the Celtics 118-112.
THREE) The Tank Bowl
There’s been a lot of tank-offs so far this season, but this one might have taken the cake. Toronto is doing everything it can to keep the 5th-best odds in the lotto. The Sixers are just doing more. This game had 17 players listed out, and that doesn’t even count the Boucher DNP-CD. Lonnie Walker also got a concussion after playing for just 20 seconds.
The Raps basically played rookies, two-ways, and 10-days next to Jakob Poeltl. Maybe the funniest development of the night was Jamal Shead needing to be removed from the game for playing too well. No, seriously. He was a team-best +17 in the first half. Next thing you know, we get the alert that AJ Lawson starts the second half ahead of him. One of the wildest things I’ve seen this year. Jared Rhoden set new career-highs of points (25), rebounds (12), assists (5), and steals (4).
I dunno. What can we really take away from this game? Maybe the most important thing is that Nick Nurse isn’t handling Quentin Grimes like the rest of the team. Grimes played nine fourth-quarter minutes and did what he came there to do: chuck. He scored 29 points on 56.6% TS. His usage rate was an insane 43.4%, by far the highest of the season. Hey, the Sixers are total ass but if they’re gonna play Grimes regular minutes and give him that kinda usage, I’m interested.
“Super special place for me. I'm a competitive guy... I'd like our team to play a little bit better… always want to get the people you know a little bit. I guess I’m getting used to it. We’ll see what happens next year.” - Nick Nurse on his return to Toronto
The Raptors beat the Sixers 118-105. Poor Toronto. They’re trying their best but have won five of six.
FOUR) NoWARE to Hide
Remember when we were prematurely crowing Kel’el Ware Rookie of the Year a couple of months ago? Feels like an eternity. It all started when he was started the second half against the Spurs on January 19. And it might have ended when he was benched to start the second half against the Clippers on March 12. Coach Spo is saying that it didn’t make sense to go double-big against this Clipeprs team, and he’s right, but I still think there’s a chance his benching could stick. They’ve lost five straight for the first time this season. In Ware’s last three games, he’s scored 4, 2, and 7 points.
The Clippers cruised in this one, even without Kawhi, Norm, and Ben. We’ll start with the one Clipper that I’m not rooting for in Best Ball, Bogdan Bogdanovic. Bogi scored 21 of his season-high 30 points in the second half on 84.5% TS (11-16 FG, 4-7 3PT) and grabbed 10 boards. Thought there was a decent chance he could regain his form playing alongside someone like Harden. Starting to look like it. But back to the guys we need… James Harden (24 points, 11 assists) was two rebounds shy of a triple-double. Ivica Subac had 26 and 14 in 38 minutes. Since the All-Star break, Zu has been averaging 20.3 PPG and 12.2 RPG.
“We needed it. I was on his ass. He needed to be aggressive. He’s so good, especially offensively, that if he’s reluctant or not shooting the basketball or not being aggressive, it hurts our team.” - James Harden on Bogdan Bogdanovic
The Clippers beat the Heat 119-104.
FIVE) Sun Setting
Feels like the Suns are the West’s Heat. Woah, look at that. No pun intended, but both teams had higher expectations of themselves and are now spiraling out of control. Phoenix was without Nick Richards and Grayson Allen. Then they lost Mason Plumlee after Steven Adams and him were both ejected for tackling each other to the ground. It wasn’t as exciting as it sounds, trust me. Oso Ighodaro (8 points, 6 rebounds) started the second half for Plumdog and played 28 minutes. Royce O’Neale started in place of Bol Bol and scored just two points (1-6, 0-5 3PT) in 28 minutes. Keven Durant (19 points, 7 rebounds) had a 73.8% TS but attempted just 12 shots. Their offense was stagnant, and nothing came easy. The Rockets out-muscled them, which was also one of the reasons Plumlee got fed up.
Fred VanVleet returned after missing 5 games with the ankle issue that’s lingering. He scored 10 points in 28 minutes. Tari Eason started ahead of Jabari Smith and recorded his fifth double-double of the season (15 points, 10 rebounds, 3 stocks). Jalen Green (29 points, 7 rebounds) must love this matchup cause he’s averaging 29.8 points in his last four games against them. Alperen Sengun scored 20 points on just seven shot attempts. He made all of them.
"It wasn't much. Steven could do a lot more if he was really trying to wrestle." - Ime Udoka on the Plumlee/Adams ejection
The Rockets beat the Suns 111-104. The Suns are 4-8 since the All-Star Break. The Rockets have won four straight.
SIX) Only $100K!?
My eyes lit up when I saw the NBA PR account release the news about the Jazz being fined for tanking. Then I saw the fine amount. They were fined $100K because they kept holding out Lauri Markannen. They specifically brought up the game against the Wizards on March 5, but obviously, there were more than that. This goes back to the beginning of the season, when Lauri exited the Kings game on October 29 after hurting his back. Ever since then, he’s popped up on the IR multiple times and sat out. They milked the hell outta those spasms. Funny enough that he was questionable earlier in the day. Was ruled in shortly after the fine was announced, but do you really think the Jazz are gonna care about $100K if those ping pong balls treat them well? Nope.
SEVEN) Kennard 30-Ball
With the Jazz having Lauri Markkanen (14 points, 6 rebounds, 28 minutes) back, the team was almost whole. Keyonte George was the only real rotational piece missing, which led to a competitive game against Memphis. John Collins (22 points, 7 rebounds) didn’t need to jack up 30 shots this time around. Collin Sexton (22 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists) played 30 minutes a game after playing 33. It’s his fourth game of 20/5/5 or better this season.
The Grizzlies were without Jaren Jackson Jr. and Santi Aldama again. This time, it was GG Jackson (8 points, 4 rebounds) who started at the 4 instead of Vince Williams Jr. Jackson only saw 17 minutes because of some poor defense. Taylor Jenkins was visibly upset with him. He was a team-worst -15. Vince (2 points, 3 assists) didn’t do so much, either, in his 17 minutes. It was the Luke Kennard show. Kennard scored a season-high 30 points on 103.9% TS (!!!). He went 7-of-9 from three and hit a clutch 4-point play with three minutes to go to put them up three. God, I love shooters against the Jazz. Ja Morant (28 points, 7 assists) has been clutch as anyone as of late. He made two huge threes in the final three and a half minutes of the game to help secure the win. Lamar Stevens (12 minutes) was signed for the rest of the season since his 10-day expired. You already know how much I love that dude.
“Get him the ball. Get him the ball. Simple as that” - Ja Morant on feeding Luke Kennard
The Grizzlies beat the Jazz 122-115. Memphis wins their 4th straight.
EIGHT) The Fox They Wanted
De’Aaron Fox hasn’t exactly looked like himself lately. To be fair, it’s not totally his fault. His left pinky is hurt, and he needs surgery on it. From February 23 to March 10, he averaged 15.8 PPG on 47.5% TS (25.1% USG). He looked more like himself against the Mavs, falling one rebound short of a triple-double (32 points, 9 rebounds, 11 assists)—his first time touching 30% usage since February 21. The 32 points were the most he’s scored as a member of the Spurs. This is the version of Fox that they traded for. Keldon Johnson has been on one lately. He scored 18 points in just 17 minutes. You realize he’s been averaging 16.8 PPG since the All-Star break?
The Mavs were still hella short-handed. PJ Washington is getting closer but sat out for the sixth-straight game with an ankle injury. Brandon Williams returned, though but didn’t start. Had a suspicion that he might be limited being sent back to the bench, but nah, he scored 19 points in 28 minutes. He’s been so productive, I don’t know why they demoted him if he was good to go.
A really funny moment was caught on camera after the game. Spurs pranked Stephon Castle by removing the tires from his car. Castle jokingly looked like he was ready to throw blows once he saw LOL.
"Yeah, something needed to happen. I'm like, does he bring anything to the plane? Does he bring any food, snacks, donuts? I'm like, at least he could pass shoes out for you. But no, he deserves it for sure." - De’Aaron Fox on if Castle deserved to be pranked
The Spurs beat the Mavs 126-116. It’s their first win against Dallas since April 9, 2023.
NINE) We Owe Julius An Apology
Do we owe him or just me? I know I was hard on Julius Randle (25 points, 3-5 3PT) earlier in the season when it looked like he was best coming off the bench, but things have certainly changed. Since coming back from injury, he’s averaging 18.8 PPG, 7.5 RPG, and 6.5 APG. He’s been orchestrating the offense lately but turned more into a scorer against the Nuggets. He said after the game that it all comes down to what the defense is giving you, and the Wolves weren't double-teaming him, so he wanted to make them pay. Maybe we should have just given these guys time to acclimate cause they’ve now won 11 straight games with him in the lineup.
I’ve said the same thing about the Nuggets multiple times this season. It’s hard to win games when you’re getting outscored from the 3-point line by 30 points. It’s even harder when you’re secondary scorer (Jamal Murray) puts up just 12 points. I guess that shouldn’t surprise us since he’s struggled against Minnesota for a bit now. He’s scored 20+ points against them just three times over their last 10 meetings. Jokic was awesome as usual, against Rudy Gobert, scoring 34 points on 64/1% TS.
"I'd rather give him 40 than 30-20-20." - Julius Randle on Nikola Jokic
The Wolves beat the Nuggets 115-95. It’s their season-high sixth-straight win and fifth-straight against the Nuggets (including postseason).
TEN) Mikal Game Winner
This Blazers/Knicks game was easily the funnest one of the night. I mean, it went into overtime and had 42 lead changes. What more could anyone want? Pretty hilarious that before this game started, a story broke about how Mikal Bridges asked Thibs to ease up on starters' minutes. Said, ‘It’s not fun on the body. ’ Then you look at the box score, and no starter played less than 38 minutes. Yeah, I know OT had plenty to do with it, but Hart and Anunoby played 38 in regulation (Mikal played 35).
Bridges was the story, regardless of the minutes. With the Knicks down two, he made a game-winning three as time expired. Was aggressive all night (33 points, 28.7% USG), especially in OT, with a 40.0% usage rate. It’s crazy how they completely ignore KAT down the stretch in some of these games. He attempted just three shots in the 4th and none in overtime. Same thing happened against the Lakers where he attempted 1 shot in the 4th and 1 in overtime.
Feel bad for Portland. Looked like they had the game after Deni made an and-1 with three seconds left to put them up two. He was absolutely incredible, with 27 points and 15 boards. The guy had a double-double at the half (14 points, 11 rebounds). Never did that before in his first four and a half seasons. Just did it twice in the last two games. Oh, and Scoot… scores 30 points for the second time this season. Almost willed them to a win, scoring their last 10 points in regulation. Matisse Thybulle (ankle, knee) suited up for the first time this season but was a DNP-CD.
“He hit the shot. He’s the man of the hour, for sure. Got the ball and was confident. And I think what was better about the shot is he just missed one and had the confidence to get it again and shoot it again. And to take a tougher shot. So shout out to him.” - Karl-Anthony Towns on Bridges’ game-winner
The Knicks beat the Blazers 114-113.
Alright, catch y’all tomorrow. Kuminga returns…
