Victory Beams and Tip-In's

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Good morning, Enjoyers. Some of you may still be wondering why we launched this newsletter in the first place. Well ... what's happening with Twitter is EXACTLY why: Elon can't shut down our email list.

But on a more serious note, if Twitter is still around by 12 P.M. CT today we have a HUGE collab with the Houston Rockets 🚀 (it will be on our IG as well), highlighting one of the most under-appreciated LEGENDS in NBA history. So please, go show some love on social, so we can keep doing fun collabs with NBA teams ... now let's dive into basketball!

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All Hail the Beam: The Kings win again, Royce O'Neale shows out, and more on Thursday night

SGA for the ASG: Thunder star led the way during an exciting round of Wednesday night hoops

We Talk About Bruno: A Q&A with the Houston Rockets Bruno Fernando!

Yesterday's Games

O’Neale's Heroics Lift Nets Over Blazers 109-107

From the Blazers' (10-5) perspective, it’s still encouraging to play a wire-to-wire game despite an 8-for-24 shooting night from Damian Lillard (25 PTS, 11 AST). And at the very least, they can take solace in the fact that they got to witness a new career-high from Shaedon Sharpe (20 PTS, 21 MIN), along with another jaw-dropping jam to add to an already extensive dunk catalog.

For Brooklyn (7-9) four players were absolutely central to this morale-boosting W. Kevin Durant (35 PTS, 8 REB) was his usual silky smooth shooting self, Yuta Wantanabe (20 PTS, 5-7 3PT) had one of the best game of his career from beyond the arc, Ben Simmons (15 PTS, 13 REB, 7 AST) overcame his charity stripe struggles to hit three of four in crunch time, and Royce O’Neale (11 PTS, 10 REB, 11 AST) clutched up with a last-second tip-in to cap off a nearly symmetrical triple-double.

Old College Duo Power Kings to Victory Against Spurs 130-112

We’re not saying that the victory beam gave the Kings superpowers … but the victory beam definitely gave the Kings superpowers.

Tonight, it seemed to zap a little extra juice into old college teammates De’Aaron Fox (28 PTS, +36 +/-) and Malik Monk (26 PTS, 4-9 3PT). The two led the charge for a white-hot Kings (8-6) squad that has now won eight of their last ten games for the first time in over 17 years. For a city that’s dealt with as much NBA torment as Sacramento, it’s great to see them having fun again.

With one win in their last nine games, the Spurs (6-10) long-expected tank is starting to reach full speed ahead after a hot start. But at least Jeremy Sochan threw down an absolutely filthy dunk of the year contender as consolation.

Clippers Grit out Defensive Win Over Pistons 96-91

Bojan Bogdanovic (26 PTS, 10-18 FG) led the game in scoring, and the Pistons (3-13) needed every one of those points to keep this one close. The rest of the team just couldn't get much going shooting-wise, combining to make less than 33% of their shot attempts.

Maybe that had a little to do with one of the best defenders in the league returning. Former DPOY Kawhi Leonard (6 PTS, 4 AST) made his return after missing multiple weeks due to knee issues. He didn’t exactly stuff up the stat sheet, but Leonard’s impact on defense was invaluable, leading the Clippers (9-7) in +/- with a +26. A big welcome back to the Claw!

Wednesday Night Notes

The good? Stephen Curry (50 PTS, 9 REB, 6 AST) had himself another absolute monster of a game. The bad? The Golden State Warriors (6-9) were still handily defeated 130-119 by the Phoenix Suns (9-5). The Warriors have dug themselves into quite a hole if they want to repeat as champs. To date, ZERO teams who have started a season 6-9 or worse have gone on to win the NBA title.

Meanwhile, the Warriors' opponents in last year's Finals are on an absolute TEAR. The Boston Celtics 🍀 (12-3) went into State Farm Arena and disassembled, destroyed, and demolished a very impressive Atlanta Hawks (9-6) team 126-101. And if you haven’t looked yet … they’re currently on pace to have the greatest offensive season of all time by a considerable margin.

How about that Shai Giligeous-Alexander guy over in OKC? SGA has been tormenting defenses all season, but his 42-point performance on Wednesday night in the Oklahoma City Thunder's (7-8) 121-120 win over the Washington Wizards (8-7) was closer to a work of art. And he topped it off by ripping the Wizards' heart out with a last-second ICE COLD ❄️ dagger.

The Minnesota Timberwolves (7-8) might have handily defeated the Paolo Banchero-less Orlando Magic (4-11), but it was 7’2” phenom Bol Bol (26 PTS, 12 REB) who stole the show with a career night! Now that he’s doing stuff like this, the league better watch out. And a quick shout-out to Karl-Anthony Towns (30 PTS, 5 AST) who got the W on his 27th birthday 🥳.

The Houston Rockets (3-12) clearly got some inspiration from NASA 🚀🌙 cause they were getting UP in their 101-92 win over the Dallas Mavericks (8-6). They became just the 5th team in the last 20 years to record 19 or more blocks in a single game.

Ladies and gentlemen, Julius Randle is BACK! The 2020-21 Most Improved Player caught lots of flak for his up-and-down play last season, but he completely silenced the haters with an all-out performance last night. Randle poured in an efficient 34 points during the New York Knicks (8-7) statement 106-103 win on the road against the Denver Nuggets (9-5).

Brook Lopez clearly didn’t get the memo that 34-year-old centers coming off a major injury are supposed to regress. Lopez dropped a crisp 29 to go along with three blocks as the Milwaukee Bucks (11-3) took care of business against the Cleveland Cavaliers (8-6) 113-98. The former All-Star is having his best season in years, averaging his most points (16.4) since the 2016-17 season to go along with a career-high in blocks (2.5).

Everything was going great for LaMelo Ball (26 PTS, 6 AST) during his season debut through the first 46 minutes and 26 seconds. But in the waning moments of the Charlotte Hornets (4-12) 125-113 loss to the Indiana Pacers (7-6), Ball reinjured the left ankle that had sidelined him for the first 15 games of the season after stepping on a fan's foot. Prayers up for the young star. 🙏

And finally, congrats to Trey Murphy III for getting his first career double-double during the New Orleans Pelicans (9-6) 124-110 victory over the Chicago Bulls (6-9), even if he had to steal some rebounds from Jonas Valinciunas to get it done.

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Q&A With Bruno Fernando

Q: What moment made you fall in love with the sport of basketball?

A: I used to play soccer, you know. I have three other older brothers and they’re all short, so they wanted to play soccer. So me being one of the boys and being the youngest one, obviously you're going to try to follow whatever they do. So I was just playing soccer with them, but eventually, I started growing taller, and my parents kind of just asked me to try basketball and see how I like it. As you know, everything in the beginning is never fun but I just kind of tried to stick with it and find my way around. And you know, with time, it became a thing that I learned to love.

Q: Who was your inspiration growing up? Basketball related or otherwise.

A: I'll keep it basketball related, I’ll say Kevin Garnett for sure. He was somebody who never took a day for granted. You know he just enjoyed the game of basketball and played with so much passion just by watching the game. Every game he plays the same way with the same intensity, same energy, and I kind of grew up being somebody like that.

Q: What is it like being the 1st Angolan-born player to be drafted into the league?

A: It's an honor man, I can't say that enough. It's something that I'm forever grateful for, to be able to put myself in that position. When it got to the point where I was then able to make it happen and make it our reality, is one of the dopest things that's ever happened for me. And not just in my career as a basketball player, but life in general. I’m happy that I can now go back home and kind of serve as an inspiration to a lot of those other kids and just continue to be kind of like a place of hope for them.

Q: Your team is down by two with two seconds left, you can pick any NBA player past or present to take the last shot. Who are you picking and why?

A: With two seconds to go man … I’m giving the ball to Steph Curry. We’re down two with two seconds to go? I’m going for the win.

Good Reads

Kevin Durant Explains Trade Request, Coaching Frustrations and More - Chris Haynes (Bleacher Report)

'Too small' taunt, explained: Origin story behind NBA's most disrespectful sign of trash talk - Gilbert McGregor (Sporting News)

Mathurin's Fire Fueling Special Rookie Season - Wheat Hotchkiss (NBA.com)

Signing Off

That’s all from us this Friday! Remember to tune in to next week's Twitter space if you want a chance to ask an NBA pro a question, and don’t forget about our special collab with the Rockets later today. 🔥

Until next time,

-Spencer Poole

Trivia Answer: The word “Knicks” is short for knickerbockers, the style of pants worn by the original Dutch settlers of New York (then called New Amsterdam). Talk about a unique nickname!

Trivia Question: The Celtics might have the best offensive rating in league history right now, but let us know; which team has the best single-season defensive rating in NBA history?