POWERED BY

Happy Denzel Valentine’s Day, Enjoyers! We Kevin Love You!

Today’s Lineup

🎉 Happy birthday to Rip Hamilton, Gheorghe Mureșan, and Enjoyers Andrew, Peter, and Koru! 🎉

Game Recaps

OKC goes on 24-0 run in 4Q, beats Miami 115-101

There’s power. There’s dominance. And then there’s what the Thunder did to the Heat in the fourth quarter on Wednesday night. After three quarters of maintaining a relatively comfortable ten-point margin, Miami was absolutely stunned when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (32 PTS, 9 AST) led the Thunder on a 24-0 run to open the fourth quarter, eventually bringing OKC to a 14-point win in one of the more stunning vibe shifts we’ve seen so far this season.

Shoutout to Bam Adebayo (27 PTS, 15 REB), whose performance on both sides of the ball stood out for Miami. But even more of a shoutout to the Thunder as a unit for pulling something this crazy off.

Knicks take down Hawks 149-148 in crazy OT thriller

The Knicks had led for pretty much this entire game. And with nine seconds left in regulation, Trae Young (38 PTS, 19 AST) and the Hawks were down 137-131 and it looked like Atlanta’s night could be over. But a Georges Niang (21 PTS) three with nine seconds left and a couple Atlanta free throws after some unfortunate KAT (44 PTS, 10 REB) and Josh Hart (18 PTS, 10 REB, 6 AST) fouls tied the game up with two seconds to go. Don’t you just love the NBA?

Jalen Brunson (36 PTS, 8 AST) led the way for New York in the extra period, hitting two field goals and two free throws to help the Knicks recapture the lead and escape with a win. What we’d give to see these teams match up in the playoffs again…

Elsewhere around the NBA…

• Look out for Jamal Murray! The Nuggets’ guard erupted for a career-high 55 PTS against Portland on Wednesday, bringing the Nuggets to a 132-121 win over Anfernee Simons (26 PTS) and company. He’s just the third player in Nuggets franchise history with a 55+ point game!

• A depleted Timberwolves squad took down OKC last night, as Naz Reid (27 PTS, 13 REB, 7 AST) flirted with a triple-double in Minnesota’s 116-101 winning effort over the Thunder led by SGA (24 PTS, 8 AST, 9 REB).

• Domantas Sabonis (22 PTS, 28 REB) grabbed the most rebounds out of any player in a game this season and the fourth most by anyone in the past five years, but the Kings ultimately fell 140-133 in an overtime battle against CJ McCollum (43 PTS, 7 REB) and the Pelicans.

• Jordan Poole (42 PTS, 5 AST, 5 REB) had another big scoring night, but the rest of the Wizards’ squad didn’t do enough as Obi Toppin (31 PTS, 10 REB) and the Pacers outlasted Washington 134-130 in OT.

• Something tells us that Boston vs. San Antonio might be a matchup to look out for in the next couple years come Finals time. This time around, Jayson Tatum (32 PTS, 14 REB, 7 AST) and Kristaps Porzingis (29 PTS, 6 REB) did just enough to comfortably take down the Spurs 116-103.

• Seven Cavaliers scored in double figures as Cleveland grabbed their fourth straight win, a 131-108 blowout of the Raptors in Toronto. Donovan Mitchell (21 PTS) and RJ Barrett (27 PTS) led their respective squads in scoring.

• Kyrie Irving (42 PTS, 7-10 3PT, 7 REB) backpacked the Mavericks to a 111-107 home win over Golden State, despite best efforts from Steph Curry (25 PTS, 8 AST) and Jimmy Butler (21 PTS, 9 REB, 7 AST).

Film Friday: The Pistons’ Ascendance

It’s official—with their 128-110 win over Chicago on Wednesday, the Pistons are headed into the All-Star break over .500 for the first time since 2009. And currently sitting at 6th in the Eastern Conference and 8.5 games above the 11th-place Sixers, it feels like a Detroit postseason berth is all but a sure thing.

But how? After a disastrous 2023-24 season, what changed and led the Pistons to be such a good team this year? We took a deeper look and found out:

1. Cade Cunningham has taken on a larger role… that’s getting larger.

Last season, Cunningham averaged just over 33 minutes per game and posted a 30.8% usage rate. Those were both career highs at the time, to Cade’s credit, but he’s been on the court even more this season and doing more with that expanded opportunity. In his now-career-high 35.5 minutes per game, Cunningham has recorded a usage rate of 32.6%—good for fourth-highest in the NBA behind only LaMelo, Giannis, and Shai.

Cade might give those three a run for their money, too. Increasing usage rates of 30.8 in November, 31.5 in December, and 35.1 in January show that we may not have seen Cade’s peak performance in Detroit just yet this season… if so, we can’t wait.

2. Isaiah Stewart and Jalen Duren are one of the best big man rotations in the East.

In late-season situations, center depth is everything. Physicality across the board starts to take a toll as the NBA season goes on, and no position experiences more of that physicality than the five.

Good thing the Pistons have two of the toughest fives in the conference! Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart have proven to be not only impressively athletic and show-stopping at times, but also just damn near impossible to score on—Stewart’s toughness has led him to record some of the lowest opponent field goal percentages in stretches throughout this season.

3. Good teams win ugly games, and Detroit’s role players can get it done when needed.

It’s been said time and time again—good teams win games they’re not supposed to. And even when Cade Cunningham or pre-injury Jaden Ivey couldn’t get it going, there’s still been hope in the Motor City because of the explosiveness of some of their role players. Case in point: Tim Hardaway Jr’s stretch of 25-point games back in January or Malik Beasley’s recent 36-point outburst. Something is brewing in Detroit!

Three in the Key

Make Mealtime Easy with Huel

• Packed with 40g of protein & 27 essential nutrients

• Fast & convenient for the busiest days

• 8 delicious flavors including Chocolate, Cookies & Cream, and Coffee Caramel

• Get 15% off your first order, plus a free t-shirt and shaker with code HUELBE15

Simplify Mealtime Today

Signing Off

Whether or not you have big V-Day plans, we hope each and every one of you will take some time to express love and gratitude to the people around you. A little bit goes a long way—trust us. See you Monday!

Austin Zeglis