BBNBA: Buzzer-beaters, posters and trick shots fill NBA Monday
After an exciting All-Star weekend and break, the NBA is officially back. Last night was a crazy NBA Monday filled with buzzer-beaters, poster dunks and insane trick shots. Let’s get into it.
KAT calls game in Cleveland
He wasn’t kidding when he dubbed himself the best big-man shooter of all time. After winning the 3-Point Contest during All-Star weekend, Karl Anthony-Towns proved last night that he can do it in a real game too.
On the same floor where he won the NBA’s 3-Point Contest just 10 days ago, Towns hit a 27-footer with 11.8 seconds left to defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers 127-122. It was his first triple of the game, but it was the one that counted the most. The Timberwolves held a 23-point lead in the third quarter before allowing a scrappy Cavs team to climb back in it thanks to a 26-point effort from Kevin Love off the bench. Jarrett Allen and Cedi Osman each added 21 to the comeback effort.
Towns averages 24.2 points per game this season, but scored well under that average last night. He, along with Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels, ended the game with 17. D’Angelo Russel led the Timberwolves with 25. Jarred Vanderbilt, another former Wildcat, ended just short of a double-double with eight points and nine rebounds.
Fox, Lyles lead Kings to first victory in four games
De’Aaron Fox has been criticized from time to time for a lack of consistency, but he certainly seems to have found his groove lately. In the month of February, the former Kentucky guard averaged 27 points along with 6.1 assists and 4.4 rebounds — all while shooting better than 50% from the field and 35.1% from the 3-point line. That seems pretty good, right?
Last night, Fox led the Kings to a 131-110 victory over the Thunder in Oklahoma City. He finished with 29 points and 10 assists. Fellow former UK star Trey Lyles was critical for Sacramento as well. Lyles scored 24 points in his first start with the Kings since being traded from Pistons a few weeks ago.
They weren’t the only two members of #LaFamilia to put on a show in this one, though. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is hot. Last night, the 23-year-old point guard racked up an impressive 37 points along with seven rebounds, 10 assists and three steals. It was his third consecutive 30+ point game. Yet another former ‘Cat, Olivier Sarr, made his Thunder debut last night, where he scored 12 points and grabbed four rebounds.
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Ja Morant scores a career-high…and more
Though he did not attend UK, I’m going to make the stretch here and include the Murray State grad in our list of former Kentucky boys (sue me), because this needs to be talked about. Morant went crazy last night down in Memphis, ending with a career-high 52 points in the Grizzlies’ 118-105 win over the Spurs.
That is impressive in itself, but wait until you see how he scored some of those 52 points. First, he hit this deep 3-pointer right in the face of the San Antonio defender, giving him his 12th point early.
This might be the most impressive highlight of the game…or of this NBA season? Morant threw down an absolutely ridiculous dunk over 7-footer Jakob Poeltl. Speaking of Poeltl…I mean he’s gotta quit after this, right?
Just minutes later, Morant caught this fullcourt pass from Steven Adams and flipped in a buzzer-beater from the left baseline to end the first half. Absolutely unreal.
FULL STATS FROM LAST NIGHT’S GAMES:
| Player | Result | Points | FG (3PA) | Rebounds | Assists | Steals | Blocks | Turnovers | Minutes | +/- |
| Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (OKC) | 131-110 L to Kings | 37 | 12-16 (3-3) | 7 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 33 | -17 |
| De’Aaron Fox (SAC) | 131-110 W over Thunder | 29 | 10-20 (1-5) | 4 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 41 | +21 |
| Trey Lyles (SAC) | 131-110 W over Thunder | 24 | 10-14 (1-4) | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 31 | +10 |
| Tyler Herro (MIA) | 112-199 W over Bulls | 20 | 7-13 (1-3) | 6 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 30 | +3 |
| Karl Anthony-Towns (MIN) | 127-122 W over Cavaliers | 17 | 7-13 (1-4) | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 34 | 0 |
| Bam Adebayo (MIA) | 112-199 W over Bulls | 15 | 6-8 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 29 | +20 |
| P.J. Washington (CHA) | 130-106 L to Bucks | 13 | 5-11 (3-9) | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 31 | -11 |
| Olivier Sarr (OKC) | 131-110 L to Kings | 12 | 5-8 (1-2) | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 0 |
| Keldon Johnson (SA) | 118-105 L to Grizzlies | 10 | 4-15 (1-7) | 8 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 30 | +7 |
| Jarred Vanderbilt (MIN) | 127-122 W over Cavaliers | 8 | 3-4 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 27 | -1 |
| Isaiah Jackson (IND) | 119-103 L to Magic | 6 | 2-4 (0-1) | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 18 | +1 |
TONIGHT IN THE NBA:
7:00 p.m. – Pistons (Diallo) at Wizards
7:30 p.m. (TNT) – Hawks (Knox) at Celtics
7:30 p.m. – Nets at Raptors
8:00 p.m. – Clippers (Boston) at Rockets (Wall)
8:00 p.m. – Warriors at Timberwolves (Towns, Vanderbilt)
10:00 p.m. (TNT) – Mavericks at Lakers (Monk)
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