Luka Doncic is Pretty Good At Basketball

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Whether you're cramming for finals, grinding to meet deadlines at work, or just struggling to come up with gift ideas for Christmas, we know it can be a stressful time of year. Hey, maybe you even missed a few NBA games (we promise we won’t judge.) So whatever you’re worrying over, treat yourself to a little break, and let us catch you up on the latest basketball action. 👇

Newsletter Preview

Luka the Wizard 🧙‍♂: Doncic's dazzling display leads the way on Tuesday night

Keep Up With The Pace 🏃‍♂️: Indy wins in style and more from a packed Monday schedule

Market Watch: Two former top-three picks are making some noise 🔊

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Yesterday's Games

Mavs Grab Chaotic 116-113 Win Vs. Warriors

With loads of traveling calls, multiple eight-second violations, and a flagrant-2 ejection, this game must have been like watching Game Seven of the NBA Finals for aspiring refs.

All jokes aside, this one felt like a playoff game in every way. And nothing made that more apparent than Luka Doncic going absolutely nuclear. The Slovenian Superstar put the Mavericks (10-10) on his back, leading the team in points, rebounds, assists, and steals.

For Golden State (11-11), Steph Curry (32 PTS, 5 AST) was his usual self, but how about Jonathan Kuminga (14 PTS, 10 REB, +21)? The second-year forward has struggled at times this season but was a massive ball of energy off the bench tonight on both ends of the court. It’s safe to say that Steve Kerr was more than impressed.

Warriors vs. Mavericks Box Score

Birthday Boy Randle Leads Knicks to Dominating 140-110 W Over Pistons

Dread it, run from it: Julius Randle still arrives.

New York's finest got the night off early on his 28th birthday, pouring in 36 points in just three quarters to match his +/- of 36 as the Knicks (10-11) strolled to victory over the Pistons (5-18). And he capped off the night with a towering poster, even though Isaiah Stewart didn't like it.

Outside of Randle, New York won this game by capitalizing on some great work on the offensive glass. The Knicks snagged 17 offensive boards compared to the Pistons' seven, leading to 21 second chance points. They currently lead the league with 19 games grabbing 10+ offensive rebounds.

Knicks vs. Pistons Box Score

Blazers Crumble Against Clippers, Lose 118-112

He might not admit it, but it realllyyyy seemed like Norman Powell wanted revenge against his former team. Powell scored 22 of his 32 points in the 4th quarter as the Clippers (13-9) climbed all the way out of an 18-point hole to get an impressive win over the Trail Blazers (11-10) despite missing two All-NBA level players. Now somebody, please buy this man's house!

And it might not have shown on the box score, but second-round pick Moussa Diabate made a MASSIVE impact in this one. LA wreaked havoc on defense after switching to a small-ball lineup with him at the five.

As for Portland ….. yeah, this one stings. Anfernee Simons and Jerami Grant combined for 69 points, but they just couldn’t get anything else going on offense and struggled to defend the perimeter down the stretch. With Damian Lillard set to return on December 4th, they just need to hold on until then.

Clippers vs. Trail Blazers Box Score

Monday Night Notes

Andrew Nembhard is an absolute KILLER. His dagger 🗡️ three sent the Lakers (7-12) packing as the Pacers (12-8) erased a 17-point second-half deficit to win 116-115. And maybe Bennedict Mathurin was right after all. 🤔 Speaking of Indy … here’s a fun Tyrese Haliburton stat for you all. He’s officially the ONLY player in NBA history (since individual turnovers were first tracked in the 1977-78 season) with at least 40 assists and zero turnovers over a three-game stretch. But one player who might have a chance of slowing him down is OG Anunoby, who made an early DPOY case by holding Donovan Mitchell to just eight points in the Raptors' (11-9) 100-88 win over the Cavs (13-8), breaking Spida’s 121-game double-digit scoring streak.

Over in Brooklyn, the Slim Reaper was snatching souls on his way to a season-best 45 points on 79% shooting in the Nets (11-11) 109-101 W over the Magic (5-16). It also might be time to welcome our new Celtics (17-4) overlords. Boston's 121 points through three quarters in a dominating 140-105 win over the Hornets (6-15) was the most by any C's team since 1970! And how about those boys down in D.C.? The Wizards (11-10) got a big 142-127 win over the Timberwolves (10-11) on the backs of a Kristaps Porzingis 41-piece and a 23-8-9 (with zero TOs!) from Kyle Kuzma. In Philly, Joel Embiid returned from injury to score the Sixers' (12-9) final 11 points in a 104-101 win over the Hawks (11-10) and got it done on the other end with this game-sealing defensive play.

Elsewhere, Devin Booker dropped 44 and tied a career-high with six steals in the Suns' (14-6) entertaining back-and-forth 122-117 win over the Kings (10-9), the Jazz (12-11) lost 114-107 at the hands of the Bulls (9-11) despite getting 32 from Lauri Markkanen, sending them all the way to 9th in the Western Conference after being in 1st just a week ago, Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray threw it back to the 2020 playoffs with matching 30 pieces in a 129-113 Nuggets (13-7) win over the Rockets (5-15), and the Pelicans (12-8) withstood another 30 point outing from SGA to beat the Thunder (8-13) 105-101.

Monday's Box Scores

Market Watch

Hold For Value: The Boston Celtics

Last year’s Eastern Conference champions are … really good. Who would have thought?

The Celtics have won 13 out of 14, are on pace to be the best offensive team of all time, and have a swarming defense led by the reigning DPOY. Jayson Tatum has been his usual spectacular self, and there’s a VERY easy argument to make that he would be the MVP if the season ended today, but the game that fully convinced us that Boston is as good as advertised didn’t even involve him. Last Sunday, with the heartbeat of their offense on the bench, the Celtics flambéed the Washington Wizards' defense before mercifully benching their starters after putting up 117 points in three quarters.

The key to their success? A quite frankly ridiculous war chest of elite shooting talent. They have seven players shooting at least 40% from three on at least one attempt per game. And that’s not even including Tatum and fellow co-star Jaylen Brown, who are combining for 57 points on average each night.

Rising Stock: Ben Simmons

Ridiculed and crucified by the Philly media and the butt of millions of shooting jokes, it’s hard to think of a player who had a lower stock coming into this season than Ben Simmons. Lackluster early season performances didn’t help his case, but Ben 10’s stock is finally starting to rise, even if it seems like not everyone has caught on yet.

The Brooklyn Nets are 5-2 over their last seven, and a lot of that has to do with the improved play of Simmons. In the first six of those games (he left Monday’s game against the Magic after 11 minutes with knee soreness), the former first-overall pick averaged 14 points, 8 rebounds, and nearly 7 assists a night while hitting over 80% of his shots.

Buy Low: Jabari Smith Jr.

Did everyone forget this guy was in the conversation to go first overall just a few months ago?

It feels like nobody is really talking about Jabari Smith Jr. despite being a top-three pick last summer. A lot of that silence has admittedly been justified. As other top rookies like Paolo Banchero, Bennedict Mathurin, and Jaden Ivey have shone early and often, Smith has taken some time to get his feet under him, especially when it comes to his shooting.

But the young sniper out of Auburn has quietly turned a corner over the last few games. He’s hit multiple threes in seven straight games, including a career-high of five in a recent Rockets win over the Atlanta Hawks. He’s averaging nearly 14 points and 8 rebounds over that stretch while hitting 40.8% of his shots from long range. If he can keep up this impressive play down the stretch, it might not be too late for Smith to plant his name in the rookie of the year conversation.

Good Reads

Behind the NBA’s Biggest Surprise - Chris Mannix (Sports Illustrated)

How Shaquille O’Neal’s new documentary brings about untold confessions - Jason Jones (The Athletic)

Signing Off

That’s all from us today! If you’re busy this week, make sure to still take some time for yourself to get your mind right. And just know that whatever big challenge lies ahead of you: you got this.

-Spencer Poole

Trivia Answer: The answer to Monday’s trivia question is Marcus Camby! The former DPOY became the latest player to grab 20+ rebounds in a game without scoring a single point in a 2012 game against the Suns.

Trivia Question: For all the pure bucket-getters out there, let us know: which player holds the NBA record for the most points scored in a game without recording a single other stat (REB, AST, STL, BLK)?