An angry Giannis is scary

Giannis Antetokounmpo is an unbelievably competitive person. Today’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder showed that, especially after his Milwaukee Bucks entered halftime with a 6 point deficit. An innocent signboard was the first victim of his fury – as evidenced by the tweet below.

The second victim would be the Thunder players, who saw him erupt for 35 points (24 after halftime), 16 rebounds, and 3 assists. Eric Bledsoe chipped in another 25 points and 9 assists in the 121-119 victory.

The Thunder made a game out of it, for sure, but weren’t able to overcome being outscored by 13 in the third quarter. Their young guards Shae Gilgeous-Alexander and Dennis Schroder continue to impress. They posted similar statlines for the game with Gilgeous-Alexander putting up 22 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists while Schroder came up with 25 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists.

This game showed one thing: you don’t want to piss off the Greek Freak.

The shorthanded Raptors snap the Lakers’ winning streak

Kawhi Leonard may be long gone, but the NBA’s Canadian team is showing that they can battle the league’s best without him.

Pascal Siakam and the Raptors were missing Kyle Lowry and Serge Ibaka in LA, but that didn’t stop them from putting on a show on both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor.

A strong balance was what the doctor ordered, and the Raptors had six players score in double figures, paced by Siakam’s 23 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 blocks and 1 steal. Fred Van Vleet also had 21 points and 10 assists. Second-year player Chris Boucher had a huge game, and made big stops in the fourth quarter on the way to 15 points, 4 blocks, and 2 steals.

A pair of big three pointers from Kyle Kuzma cut the deficit from 12 to 6 points late in the game, and a big stop and a foul then allowed LeBron James to cut the lead to 4 with 2:26 left in the game. The Lakers had a couple more stops but they couldn’t capitalize off open shots, which let the Raptors take the lead back to 8 points with 1:18 left.

James put up yet another triple double with 13 points, 13 rebounds, and 15 assists. Anthony Davis posted 27 points and 8 rebounds in the 113-104 loss.

The Joker is making a habit out of hitting big shots

In the last episode of the Nikola Jokic show, we witnessed the star center hit a massive go-ahead bucket against the 76ers. Today, he decided that he would again muster up some heroics, hitting the game-winning shot in overtime against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

He didn’t have a crazy game by his usual standards, with 20 points, 6 rebounds, and 7 assists, but he came up when it mattered. No one on his team will complain that he actually finished the game with a -2 plus/minus rating.

The Suns bounce back by destroying the Nets

The hype train for the Phoenix Suns continues to roll down the tracks, thanks to a massive victory against the Brooklyn Nets. They bounced back perfectly with a 138-112 victory after being humbled by Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat over the weekend.

Summer signing Ricky Rubio looks to be everything that the Suns wanted him to be, providing veteran leadership and poise for the rest of the team and helping free up Devin Booker to terrorize the opposing defense. Having a steady and talented backcourt partner has helped Booker immensely – and it’s showing in both his stats and in the win column.

Rubio finished the game with 22 points and 12 assists, while Devin Booker finished with 27 points and 9 assists.

On the opposing end, Kyrie Irving had a pretty terrible game. He finished with 15 points, only made 1 out of 6 threes, and had a plus/minus rating of -31. You really don’t know what you’re going to get out of this Nets team on a nightly basis.

Other results

Blazers def. Hawks 124-113

Pacers def. Magic 109-102

76ers def. Hornets 114-106

Cavs def. Knicks 108-87