A TRAGEDY Struck The NBA...

Last night tragedy struck the NBA… We witnessed a bunch of catastrophic injuries that left all of us traumatized. But let’s start on a good note with Luka Doncic prepping a little magic show for the fans in Utah. Luka almost broke Bailey’s ankles, and I mean literally as we see him stomping on his sneaker before stepping back for the 3. The Lakers stormed all the way back from -18 in the 1st quarter to take a 3 point lead heading into the locker rooms. One guy that was instrumental in the Lakers regaining control of the game was Matisse Thybulle. Look at Thybulle shooting a no-dip 3 off the assist by Doncic, cash! He had 11 points on 50% efficiency but his defense was the key. Matisse has the instincts of a cheetah, securing a couple of extra possessions for LA in less than a minute which resulted in a 6-0 blitz. He had 3 steals and 1 block in this one. (repriza) But the main shot blocker for the Lakers had a pretty disappointing game. Walker Kessler picked up his 4th personal early in the 3rd period which limited his production to just 2 points, 7 rebounds and 1 block in his 1st game back in Utah. Regardless, nothing else matters when you have this guy leading your team. Just like he did at halftime, Luka finished the 3rd with a triple right in the face of his defender. And when winning time came, he unlocked god mode. HEAT CHEEECK! Doncic delivers a 50 burger in the 3rd game of the season, putting the Lakers up by 6 points in the clutch. And up by 4 with time winding down, he made the right play by not forcing his hand. Stone Cold Reaves hits the dagger with his 29th point of the night on a blistering 80% shooting from downtown! Luka finished the game just 2 rebounds shy of a 50 point triple double, becoming the fastest player in franchise history to reach 3.000 points. The gap between him and other Laker greats is wild btw. And the gap between the Pistons and the Sixers was wild as well, especially in the 1st half. Cunningham scored 15 of his 26 points in the 1st half to put his team up by 20! Detroit played without Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson who got injured in the previous game. And if that wasn’t enough, Isaiah Joe took a scary fall in the 1st quarter and had to leave the game. And Philly was missing Embiid and VJ, so the oldest guy in the league was forced to do some superhuman stuff just to keep them afloat. LeBron played the point on offense and the center on defense, probably wondering on a couple of occasions: “why did I even sign up for this”? Cade had a lot of help from John Collins who posted 16 and 11, as well as Robinson and Jenkins who combined for 39 points on a sizzling 61% shooting from beyond the arc. All of this resulted in a wire to wire win for the Pistons in Philadelphia. And playing without Kawhi Leonard who was out with a swollen knee, the Raptors didn’t even stand a chance against the Wolves in Minnesota. Damn, Lamelo plays so smooth and elegant it seems effortless… So, up by 20 in the 3rd period, he was out there playing on rookie mode. And after back-to-back lobs, he saved the dessert for last. Oh my goodness, Melo took Murray-Boyles jam skating, hitting him with an array of crazy moves before the stepback splash. ANT on the sidelines was all of us when he saw that. And he wasn’t too shabby either. Edwards led his team with 26 points on 56% shooting from the field, and the game turned ugly in the 4th quarter as they led by as many as 32 points. On the other end the Raptors ceiling is pretty low without the Claw, and we saw why… Scottie Barnes ran around for 28 minutes without scoring a single bucket. Yeah, he shot 0 for 12 from the field and finished the game with 0 points and 3 turnovers. With the Wolves defense focused on him, he really struggled getting into his rhythm. This has to be his worst game in a while… RJ and Quickley are not the type of players who can drag a team themselves, so Toronto will need Kawhi on the floor in order to hope for any kind of success. I know I was hoping that my Knicks could get their first win of the season with the Orlando Magic coming to MSG. And it went pretty well at the start. A 12-0 opening to the game, let’s go! OG must’ve been fired up inside like me when he did this. Anunoby runs through Carter Jr. like a freight train, sending him crashing to the floor. He got a flagrant for that, but he kept bulldozing through the defense the entire game. OG scored 8 straight points early in the 4th to give New York a double digit lead. We’re good! Right…? Well… Franz Wagner with 9 of Orlando’s 11 points in a span of 2 minutes took over the lead. Geez…