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On this day in 1993, Shaquille O’Neal had 24 points, 28 rebounds and 15 blocks in an 87–85 win over the New Jersey Nets. This tied Manut Bol for the second most blocks in a game in NBA history. (There were two other 20-20 games with at least 12 blocks. Hakeem Olajuwon had 24 points, 21 rebounds and 12 blocks in 1989. The other happened in 1998 with 22 points, 22 rebounds and 13 blocks. Shawn Bradley did the same.)
left behind?
Where are the rockets standing?
“You watching the Cavs game with the Rockets?”
That was a message from my dad during the first quarter of Houston vs. Cleveland last night. After about 45 minutes he modified his question.
“Should have asked if you were watching the Rockets!”
The Rockets (10-3) have certainly attracted a lot of attention over the past year or two. He controlled the Cavs (10-6) for most of their 114-104 win, capped by a 19-point Donovan Mitchell fourth quarter. Alperen Sengun had 28 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. Kevin Durant had 20 points. Aaron Holiday scored 18 off the bench. The stars were good. The role players were assistants. Opponents were hammered on the offensive boards.
On the broadcast, Doris Burke said that the Rockets should not be mentioned at the top of the Western Conference right now with the Thunder and Nuggets – the Rockets were expected to be part of a group before the season. But those chances were significantly hampered by the loss of Fred VanVleet to a knee injury before the start.
Even without FVV, Needed Would the Rockets be considered in that top tier in the West? The Rockets are currently a half game behind the 11-3 Nuggets. And the Rockets have a better net rating than every team not named the Thunder.
Houston had the 13th most effective offense a year ago. But it couldn’t shoot (23rd in eFG) and was based mostly on not turning the ball over (sixth) and maintaining possession on offensive rebounding (first). Now that is not the case.
The Rockets now have the best offense in the NBA. They’ve moved up to eighth in effective field goal percentage and sixth in free-throw volume (up from 26th!). They are playing slow. They are more organized. And they’re just performing on this end of the court instead of playing a chaotic game of tip-in practice.
The Rockets are the top 3-point shooting team in terms of accuracy, making 42.3 percent of their attempts. But this team has the lowest amount of 3-point attempts. So they’re making the most of the few 3-pointers they make. They are simply bullying everyone on the board and making the inner life of every opponent hell.
The entire Rockets team outside of Amen Thompson is shooting outside. He appears to have a great balance of threatening ball possession and offensive execution. So why wouldn’t they be with OKC and Denver when they both have similar results?
The Rockets haven’t slipped much on defense. They finished fifth last season and are currently seventh in the league – losing just over a point per 100 possessions in comparison. The difference between Houston and the OKC-Denver squad early this season appears to be due to recent bias. The Rockets haven’t won a title in decades. Durant hasn’t won one in seven years. And the Nuggets and Thunder took two of the last three.
If the Rockets aren’t there yet, they’re certainly not far off. Their results show they should join that conversation.
last 24
Dallas stays the course
🏀Business AD? Mark Cuban says Mavericks won’t trade Anthony Davis. ,we want to try to win,
🙅 Not a chance. Remember when the Knicks were pursuing Jason Kidd this summer? He said he never considered it,
📈 Most improved? Fred Katz has five players who are looking their best this season. Jalen Duren and Jaime Jacquez Jr. are leading the way,
💰 bad ok? NBA fines Cavs $100k for violating participation policy. “I have to look out for the best interest of the Cavs,” Kenny Atkinson said.
🌎Heavy Hitter. The NBA wants to create a European league. This powerhouse is keeping an eye on Real Madrid and Barcelona,
Stream the NBA on Fubo (try it for free!) And catch out-of-market games league pass,
And no one else
Offensive foul or not, this Jarrett Allen dunk will be scored
During the first half of the Cavs’ loss to the Rockets, we thought we were going to get a big Dunk moment for about two seconds. Lonzo Ball hits Jarrett Allen with a perfect pocket pass on a pick-and-roll. There was only Sengun in Allen’s way, and he decided to be very ambitious with the next step.
Ay dios mio! He There is a poster! But unfortunately, an offensive foul was called on the play. I immediately cursed in disagreement and demanded a replay. I wanted confirmation of the bad call. And this angle is quite difficult to refute.
It’s a good thing! He hit him in the face! But sometimes dunks should count, even if you still need to assess the foul. If a dunk is amazing enough, it should still count. We need to encourage more efforts at the rim to catch a body. But an offensive foul will not prevent the BIDS (Bounce Index Dunk Score) system from assessing the dunk:
- Cramps/Jump Scare: 10/10. We know Allen can rock the rim, but jumping two feet above the dotted line made this a big surprise dunk. The violence of it all made it a different level. It’s a perfect “out of your seat” moment.
- Bench reaction: 7/10. You won’t see it until the end of this clip, but it jumped out immediately. However, it is always better when it is near your bench. And the Rockets bench didn’t react at all, not even instinctively.
- Dunker Feedback: 5/10. A few things hurt this score. 1) It fell just above Sengun. 2) He generally doesn’t talk or react too much. 3) By the time he was helped, he knew it was a flagrant foul call.
- Where is that replay? 9/10. I needed to see it immediately, and I was hoping for more angles with each showing. Plus, you also wanted to see if the offensive foul was legal.
- Witness protection scale: 8/10. It hurts Allen with the wrong call. Otherwise, it could have been a perfect 10/10.
Overall bid score for Allen: 39/50.
You have the Zach Harper/Bounce Guarantee. Just because an offensive foul is called, doesn’t mean the dunk is wiped out. It’ll stay here, and be scored… if it’s bad enough.
about last night
Raptors are second in the East
Yes, those Raptors. All summer long, the Raptors (10-5) have been mocked for having such an expensive roster. He is the 12th most expensive player for a team that won only 30 games last season. Their roster cost is about the same as Denver’s. So clearly, they might be spending wrong. I like their roaster and don’t mind the price. This isn’t even my money.
Nearly a month into the season, Houston is spending wisely. After beating the 76ers (8-6) last night and the Rockets beating the Cavs, The Raptors moved into second place in the East. Did anyone make him so successful in the beginning? Even though I openly protested the travesty of their spending, I was too cowardly to join them in the postseason.
Against Philly, Brandon Ingram and RJ Barrett led the way with 22 points each and Scotty Barnes added 16 points (and a taunt from Jared McCain). Toronto has the seventh-best offense in the league and plays league-average defense. It is working now.
Elsewhere:
Heat (9-6) 110, Warriors (9-8) 96: The Warriors didn’t have Steph Curry, Draymond Green or Jimmy Butler. The Heat didn’t care. They used a 38-22 fourth quarter to overcome a 55-point effort from the Warriors’ bench.
Nuggets (11-3) 125, Pelicans (2-13) 118: Any positives for the Pelicans? Derrick Queen accomplished that last night, scoring 30 points on 12-of-18 shooting. Nikola Jokic finished one turnover away from a quadruple-double (28-11-12-9). Peyton Watson had 32 points and 12 rebounds for Denver.
Knicks (9-5) 113, Mavs (4-12) 111: Cooper Flagg missed his first NBA game (due to illness), and Jalen Brunson returned for the Knicks, so it was a recipe for disaster for Dallas. And yet, it almost forced overtime but for a questionable offensive foul off the bucket. Brunson had 28 points and NY survived Dallas with 64 bench points.
Thunder (15-1) 113, Kings (3-12) 99: What did you think was going to happen? Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 33 points. OKC is the most popular team in the West with seven consecutive wins. They are at 76 dub speed.
Bulls (8-6) 122, Blazers (6-9) 121: Neither the Bulls nor the Blazers can play normal basketball games this season. Portland used a 33–9 run over the final 9:15 to look victorious. Then Nikola Vucevic dropped the dagger with the game-winning 3.
Wolves (10-5) 120, Wizards (1-13) 109: Minnesota led by 25 at halftime and then Washington made it very close before the Wolves closed it out in the final minutes. Naz Reed scored 28 off the bench and Julius Randle scored 32. A win is a win, but Wolves shouldn’t have let it get this close.
Pacers (2-13) 127, Hornets (4-11) 118: The solution to the pacers’ problems? Hornet. Benedict Mathurin scored 24 and Jay Huff scored 20 to give the Pacers their second win of the season. Con Knueppel continued his good play by scoring 28 runs for Charlotte.
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