The NBA is truly an unpredictable league. This season, it feels like anyone can win on a good day, and a pair of games today showed that. It’s a wonderfully weird league right now, and I’m all for it.
The Timberwolves really don’t like to back down
Things were going swimmingly for the LA Clippers. They were thoroughly dominating the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first half, going up by as much as 22 points after James Harden made a layup with 5:13 to go in the second quarter. This happened even after Kawhi Leonard had to leave after the first quarter due to thoracic spasms. By all accounts, it looked like they were going to beat the shit out of the Timberwolves, who are missing Karl-Anthony Towns for the foreseeable future thanks to surgery.
Well, it turns out that the Clippers really could have used Leonard in the second half. With one less elite wing defender to worry about, Anthony Edwards lost his goddamn mind. Minnesota’s young star finished the game with 37 points, eight rebounds and four assists while shooting 15 of 29 overall, once again wowing NBA fans with his ability to take over a game.
Edwards led a remarkable turnaround that saw them take their own 22-point lead at one point before finishing the game with a 118-100 win. He got plenty of help from Mike Conley, who scored 23 points, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker, who had 28 points while shooting 9 of 10 over all (5 of 6 from three).
It was the kind of game that showed that no lead is safe in the modern NBA. Any team can get suddenly hot and turn things around in a single quarter. However, it’s no joke to take on the Clippers, and the Timberwolves still managed to break their spirits after following down by so much early on.
The Kings are kind of a bipolar team this season
The Sacramento Kings are kind of like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get on any given night. Last season’s darlings of the NBA are having a bit more trouble this time around, with a 36-27 record that has them currently in the play-in positions in the jam-packed Western Conference.
The Kings have been the model of inconsistency all season and have notoriously lost very winnable games against inferior opposition. The Kings have found ways to lose to the likes of the Pistons at home, while also allowing teams like the Chicago Bulls to go on 22-7 runs to close out another defeat.
On top of that, they’ve blown a ton of other double-digit leads in their current campaign and have been prone to massive defeats to the league’s elite teams. Yet, sometimes they find a way to win against the odds.
The latest example of their weirdness was a 35-point victory against the Milwaukee Bucks, where the Bucks were actually slight favorites heading into the game at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento. The Kings took a huge first time advantage and somehow didn’t melt down in the third quarter this time, which led to the 129-94 win.
The Kings snapped a 15-game losing streak to the Bucks and were led by 29 points, six rebounds, seven assists, two steals and a block from De’Aaron Fox. Domantas Sabonis was his usual consistent self as well with 22 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists. Malik Monk, who is fighting for the Sixth Man of the Year award, also had 25 points, five rebounds and five assists for Sacramento.
Giannis Antetokounmpo was the only effective player for the Bucks with 30 points, 13 rebounds and four assists. Damian Lillard had another stinker with 10 points, five rebounds and six assists on 2 of 12 shooting. Antetokounmpo actually outscored the rest of his starting five 30-28, which is never going to be good enough for a victory.
