BBNBA: Another career high for Reed Sheppard; three separate 'Cats score 37

While you were watching Kentucky put a mollywhopping on Tennessee Tech on the night before Thanksgiving, Reed Sheppard was busy being a professional bucket-getter. For the second straight week, Sheppard recorded a career-high in points, pouring in 31 bigguns against the Golden State Warriors, helping the Rockets secure the 104-100 win.

Sheppard got the start in place of an injured Kevin Durant and took advantage of the opportunity. Naysayers will complain that it took Sheppard 25 shots to get up to 31 points, but Jeff and Stacey’s baby boy made 12 of those 25 field goal attempts (4-12 from deep) and played an all-around quality game.

In addition to hitting the 30-point milestone for the first time, the 6-foot-3-inch guard also set a career-high in rebounds with nine. And because Reed gonna Reed, the former Kentucky star also added two blocks and a steal to his stat line.

The proverbial light appears to be turning on for the third overall pick in the NBA draft from a year ago.

De’Aaron Fox puts up 37 for the Spurs

While Reed Sheppard was going his thing for Houston, De’Aaron Fox was putting up a season-high of his own. With Victor Wembanyama out, Fox is taking it upon himself to fill the scoring void and is doing a good job of it. Against the Trail Blazers on Wednesday, Fox rolled for 37 points to go along with eight assists, six rebounds, and three steals.

It is still weird to see Fox in a Spurs jersey after spending so many years as the face of the Sacramento Kings franchise, but he and Wemby have the Spurs off to a 13-5 start.

Jamal Murray also dropped 37 points just two days later

The NBA gives players Thanksgiving off, but Jamal Murray was back in action on Friday and showed no sign of a turkey hangover. In what was a matchup between two of Kentucky’s finest, Murray and De’Aaron Fox, the Blue Arrow scored 37 points on an efficient 13-20 from the floor (5-8 from 3). He also added seven assists on the night, but it was Fox and the Spurs who got the last laugh, as San Antonio pulled away with the 139-136 win.

Fox had 15 points on a rough shooting night just two days removed from his 37-point outing, but he dished out 12 assists to help his team pull out the victory.

Other BBNBA Notes

• It feels wrong to tuck a 37-point performance from a former Wildcat down in the Other BBNBA Notes section, but that is how ho-hum Shai Gilgeous-Alexander‘s excellence has become. He scored a ton of points (again) to help the Thunder win (again), this time over the Phoenix Suns on Friday.
• Devin Booker scored 21 points in the aforementioned Suns loss to the Thunder, but made some headlines afterwards talking about OKC’s style of play. He said, “[Oklahoma City] play aggressive. They’ll grab, they’ll hold, but it’s never like when you’re in a shooting position. It’s always on the handle or on your drives when they get away with it.”
• Tyler Herro is back! The Bucket has been out all season with an injury, but three games into his return, he is averaging 25.6 points per game for Miami. The Heat are 2-1 in those games.