Day 4: The duel out west, the high flying Hawks, and much more!
Tags: Houston Rockets, NBA, Oklahoma City Thunder, Atlanta Hawks, James Harden

POR 128 v. 126 HOU

In undoubtedly the best game yet Harden and McCollum went head to head as they each scored 44 PTS and went hit for hit with 3 pointers in overtime. McCollum is usually overshadowed by the success of Dame but last night McCollum took over the game and iced it with a 3 in OT to lead Portland to their first win.

Unless your team is the Lakers or the Nets you should want Harden on your team. Even without getting to practice, having only 9 players on the roster, and gaining weight in the off season he dropped 44 PTS with 17 AST his first game back. Not to forget Christian Wood who dropped 31 PTS in his debut as a Rocket.

ATL 122 v. 112 MEM

This free throw shooting competition ended with Trae Young icing the game and telling JA he was too small. The rest of the game was literally just free throws. The Hawks made 33 of their 38 free throws whereas the Grizzlies made 25 of their 29 free throws.

Ja got his 28 PTS and Trae got his 36. The Hawks got crucial buckets from Huerter and Hunter in the end to keep the game far away from the grasp of the Grizzlies.

ORL 130 v. 120 WSH

Again there were an insane amount of free throws this game. The Magic made 23 of their 29 compared to the Wizards making 15 of their 28. Fultz was the closer this game as he looks to turn his career around.

Westbrook after the game said “This one is on me — bullshitting around, missing these shots.” Beal dropped 39 PTS in this tough loss for the Wizards.

OKC 109 v. 107 CHA

Even with CP gone SGA is not ready to tank. He hit the game winner with 2.4 seconds remaining on the clock to round off his 24 PT night. George Hill also made 8 of his 9 shots for 21 PTS leading the Thunder to their first win even though they shot a measly 27.8% from 3.

CLE 128 v. 119 DET

I don’t care what anybody says Cavs basketball is exciting to watch. Garland and Sexton combined for 53 PTS and Drummond also put up 24 PTS 15 REB 5 AST to beat the Pistons in double over time.

In the end the difference was 3 Pt shooting. The Cavs shot 47% from 3 with Garland going 3 for 3 whereas the Pistons shot 35.6% from 3.

MIN 116 v. 111 UTA

Timberwolves just shot better than the Jazz last night. Anthony Edwards showed some of his offensive prowess scoring 18 PTS on 8–12 shooting. D’Lo and KAT did their thing and even with a injury scare for KAT they managed to eek out a victory. Utah was also careless as they had 18 TO compared to the Timberwolves 9 but only lost by 5.

SA 119 v. 114 TOR

The Spurs start off the season 2–0 as Derozan scores 27 PTS shooting 3–4 from 3 to take down his former team the Raptors. With Popovich as his coach and his robust mid range game Derozan hitting 3s consistently is scary for other teams in the west.

SAC 106 v. PHO 103

The Kings start out their season 2–0 as they take down the Suns behind 24 PTS by Fox. No one could hit a 3 to save their lives in this game. The Suns shot 25% compared to the Kings 21.7% from 3 but the Kings made 23 free throws compared to the Suns 13 to win the game.

PHI 109 v. 89 NY

Seth Curry as expected is proving to be a great addition to Philly. He scored 17 PTS shooting 6–8 FG. Embiid got his 27 and Simmons got his 17. Philly’s defense was just too much for NY to handle as Simmons held barrett in prison the whole game.

IND 125 v. 106 CHI

Sabonis is slowly developing into one of the best all round bigs in the league. A triple double from Sabonis combined with 4 of the Pacers starters scoring in double digits left Chicago reeling as they could not come up with stops on one side or score the ball on the other.