BBNBA: Keldon Johnson propels San Antonio to victory
Friday night wasn’t a fruitful one overall for most of our former ‘Cats in the NBA. Luckily though, we still had people such as Keldon Johnson who stood up and guided a team to a victory. Let’s dive in.
Keldon Johnson leads all scorers in win
For the third time in the last five games, Keldon Johnson broke the 20-point threshold with a career-high 28-point performance in the 131-106 victory for San Antonio last night. Overall, Johnson was 11-17 from the floor with a 3-6 mark from deep to go along with four steals.
Despite all the struggles the Spurs have seen as a team, Johnson is sneakily breaking out as a deep threat. He’s now shooting 43.1% from 3 this season, a significant jump compared to the 33% he shot last season. It’s still not close to his career-high, but he was barely shooting one 3 per game his rookie year. He’s now shooting at an exceptional rate while also tossing up more than four attempts per contest.
San Antonio is still miles away from even coming close to being a competing team. Dejounte Murray and Keldon Johnson seem like real keepers, but that’s about it now. Whether he eventually finds success with the Spurs or somewhere else, if Keldon continues to ball like this as a grows, he’s going to be an important piece to a playoff team.
Hamidou Diallo shows out in loss to Boston
On another edition of ‘Wildly athletically talented guys who can turn the corner,’ Hamidou Diallo went for 21 points and 14 rebounds in Detroit’s 102-93 loss to the Celtics. Everything with Diallo comes down to consistency. He had a three-game streak back at the turn of the year where he had no less than 28 points in each of the contests. He then followed that up with a nine-game streak in January where he only broke over 10 points twice. The talent is clearly evident, he just has to figure out how to use it day in and day out.
Everybody, The Original Shaedon Sharpe is still only 23 years old. There’s almost no doubt that Diallo continues to progress and become more consistent as a shooter and a defender. Game’s like yesterday though still just get us excited about what he can become as a player. Now, let’s see if Pistons head coach Dwane Casey tries to bury him on the bench again.
Statistics
| Player | Result | Points | FG (3PA) | Rebounds | Assists | Steals | Blocks | Turnovers | Minutes | +/- |
| Keldon Johnson (SAS) | 131-106 W vs. HOU | 28 | 11-17 (3-6) | 7 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 35 | 23 |
| Hamidou Diallo (DET) | 102-93 L vs. BOS | 21 | 8-17 (1-3) | 14 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 28 | 3 |
| Tyrese Maxey (PHI) | 107-98 L @ DAL | 18 | 7-12 (0-2) | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 36 | -6 |
| Trey Lyles (DET) | 102-93 L vs. BOS | 9 | 3-10 (1-3) | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 16 | -11 |
| P.J. Washington (CHA) | 102-101 L vs. CLE | 8 | 3-4 (2-3) | 9 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 13 |
| Rajon Rondo (CLE) | 102-101 W @ CHA | 2 | 1-5 (0-1) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | -5 |
| Enes Freedom (BOS) | 102-93 W @ DET | 0 | 0-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -8 |
| Kevin Knox (ATL) | 125-114 L @ TOR | DNP – Coach’s Decision | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Nick Richards (CHA) | 102-101 L vs. CLE | DNP – Coach’s Decision | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| DeMarcus Cousins (DEN) | 113-105 L vs. NOP | DNP – Coach’s Decision | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (OKC) | 96-93 W @ POR | DNP – Ankle | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Isaiah Jackson (IND) | 122-115 L vs. CHI | DNP – Ankle | – | – | – | – | – |
Today in the NBA
5:00 p.m. Grizzlies @ Magic
7:00 p.m. Heat (Adebayo, Herro) @ Hornets (Washington, Richards)
7:00 p.m. Suns (Booker) @ Wizards
8:30 p.m. (ABC) Knicks (Randle, Noel, Quickley) @ Lakers (Davis, Monk)
10:00 p.m. Bucks @ Trail Blazers
10:00 p.m. Thunder (Gilgeous-Alexander*) @ Kings (Fox)
* — Inactive
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