BBNBA: Devin Booker drops hammer on T-Wolves; Miami's Civil War
It was a Wednesday night full of fireworks throughout the NBA. Headlined, of course, by several impressive performances from former ‘Cats Devin Booker and Tyrese Maxey. Let’s get into it.
Booker wins Battle of 2015 vs. hot Timberwolves
On Sunday’s BBNBA post, I wrote that Minnesota was the NBA’s best team since the All-Star break, posting an 11-2 record and top-3 ratings on both offense and defense over the last month. Well, the Phoenix Suns cared not one bit about Minnesota’s March dominance.
Even without Chris Paul, Phoenix went on the road and trumped the Timberwolves 125-116 behind a bullying performance from Devin Booker. Booker only hit one of his four threes and failed to shoot 50% from the field, but poor shooting didn’t stop him from accumulating 28 points on the night. He did it by getting to the foul line and doing what Kentucky couldn’t do against Saint Peter’s. Booker converted 13-16 free throws to pull his team over the top. He also reminded everybody who the real top dogs are in the West with this slam dunk in transition.
Fierce, dominating outing from Booker and the Suns. Despite losing Chris Paul, the Suns have won six straight, including four by 16 points or more. The championship favorites, I believe.
Karl-Anthony Towns didn’t have his best night as Deandre Ayton went for a career-high 35 points for Phoenix and KAT himself only had 15. However, he didn’t go down without a fight and also threw down a nasty dunk of his own.
Trouble in Paradise
The Golden State Warriors were without Steph Curry in Miami on Wednesday, but still came out and beat the Heat by 14. An oddly bad loss for the East’s one-seed, a team that consistently wins the games they should. For instance, against Golden State at home without Curry.
Perhaps some boiling demeanors on the Heat sideline are to blame for the poor showing. During a timeout, Jimmy Butler and Miami head coach Eric Spoelstra exchanged heated words.
Spoelstra appeared befuddled, asking Butler, “What? You want me to fight you?” Which led to further altercation between Spoelstra, Butler and Udonis Haslem, the oldest man in the NBA at 41 years old.
Bam Adebayo served as the hold-back man for Haslem, who berated Butler for quite some time during the stoppage. No surprise that the Heat weren’t able to get back on track following the sideline spat, and they fell to a crippled Warriors team by 14. Not a good look. I can only imagine the peace would have been upheld if Tyler Herro was on the bench and not sitting out with a knee injury.
Lakers turn to Wenyen Gabriel for help
The Los Angeles Lakers are throwing crap against the wall and seeing what sticks at this point. Coach Frank Vogel’s latest experiment is inserting Wenyen Gabriel into the starting lineup in place of Malik Monk. Gabriel played 29 minutes against Philadelphia on Wednesday, scoring a modest eight points and playing serviceable defense.
Meanwhile, Monk brought a spark off the bench by scoring 23 points on 10-20 shooting. More and more, LAL is leaning on Monk’s shooting as a major part of their floundering offense. If only the Lakers kept adding former Wildcats, perhaps they’d finally win a game or two. Even though they got solid outings from Gabriel and Monk, Tyrese Maxey and the Sixers’ Big Four secured the road win for Philly.
Maxey racked up 21 points in 38 minutes of play as he, Joel Embiid, James Harden and Tobias Harris combined for 95 points. The Harden acquisition hasn’t led to the dominance Philly fans hoped for yet, but it’s clear that when all four are on the floor, the 76ers have as good a top-four players as any team in the NBA. That tends to matter more as the postseason draws closer and rotations start being cut.
Stats from Wednesday
| Player | Result | Points | FG(3PA) | Rebounds | Assists | Steals | Blocks | Turnovers | Minutes | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Devin Booker (PHO) | 125-116 W @ MIN | 28 | 7-15 (1-4) | 3 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 35 | +4 |
| Keldon Johnson (SAS) | 133-96 W @ POR | 26 | 8-14 (5-8) | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 28 | +30 |
| Bam Adebayo (MIA) | 118-104 L vs. GSW | 25 | 9-16 (0-0) | 9 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 33 | -10 |
| Malik Monk (LAL) | 126-121 L vs. PHI | 23 | 10-20 (3-9) | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 31 | +6 |
| Tyrese Maxey (PHI) | 126-121 W @ LAL | 21 | 8-14 (3-5) | 5 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 38 | +17 |
| Karl-Anthony Towns (MIN) | 125-116 L vs. PHO | 15 | 6-13 (0-3) | 11 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 30 | -12 |
| Jarred Vanderbilt (MIN) | 125-116 L vs. PHO | 12 | 5-11 (0-0) | 12 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 26 | +2 |
| Trey Lyles (SAC) | 110-109 W @ IND | 11 | 5-10 (1-4) | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22 | -5 |
| Immanuel Quickley (NYK) | 121-106 W @ CHA | 10 | 4-9 (2-6) | 5 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 21 | +10 |
| PJ Washington (CHA) | 121-106 L vs. NYK | 10 | 4-10 (2-7) | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 26 | -15 |
| Wenyen Gabriel (LAL) | 126-121 L vs. PHI | 8 | 4-11 (0-3) | 9 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 29 | +1 |
| Isaiah Jackson (IND) | 110-109 L vs. SAC | 2 | 1-4 (0-0) | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | +5 |
| Kevin Knox (ATL) | 122-101 L @ DET | 2 | 0-1 (0-1) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | +2 |
| Nick Richards (CHA) | 121-106 L vs. NYK | 0 | 0-0 (0-0) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | +3 |
| Tyler Herro (MIA) | 118-104 L vs. GSW | DNP – Knee | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (OKC) | 118-102 W vs. ORL | DNP – Ankle | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| De’Aaron Fox (SAC) | 110-109 W @ IND | DNP – Hand | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Hamidou Diallo (DET) | 122-101 W vs. ATL | DNP – Finger | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Julius Randle (NYK) | 121-106 W @ CHA | DNP – Quad | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
Today in the NBA
7:30 p.m. Cavaliers (Rondo) @ Raptors
8:00 p.m. Pacers (Jackson) @ Grizzlies
8:00 p.m. Wizards @ Bucks
8:00 p.m. Bulls @ Pelicans
9:00 p.m. (NBA TV) Suns (Booker) @ Nuggets (Cousins, Murray*)
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