Light NBA Highlights

Tatum hits a smooth step-back three to give him 21 points midway through the second quarter
https://streamable.com/undgb

Jayson Tatum gets free and throws down the hammer
https://streamable.com/pcyod

Daniel Theis channels his inner point god, connecting with Jaylen Brown for a long-range alley-oop
https://streamable.com/ji2jg

Jaylen Brown misses a step back, but grabs his own miss and throws it down
https://streamable.com/pypaq

Jaylen Brown checks out of the game with 5 minutes left with a career high of 34 points

Jaylen Brown steps in to a heat check 3 to get his 30th point
https://streamable.com/o5u7r

The Jays combined for 64-14-4 on 60/50/85 with 70% TS in a 117-129 win over Cavs as they continue their all-star campaign. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are going strong, Jaylen also set a new career high tonight with 34 points.

Rudy Gobert on Lillard calling Hassan Whiteside the best defensive center in the league: “Tell his coach to put him in at the end of the game.”

The Sixers give Fultz the Ben Simmons treatment... and he makes them pay
https://streamable.com/2xwoh

Jaylen Brown achieved his third 30+ point game this month, second this week.

Tyler Herro throws back-to-back lobs for Derrick Jones Jr and Bam Adebayo
https://streamable.com/mwafp

The Orlando Magic (14-17) defeat the Philadelphia 76ers (23-11) 98-97

Aaron Gordon gets up and throws down the reverse as Magic take 11 point lead late in the 4th
https://streamable.com/pssst

KP lobs it to Dwight Powell for the and-one
https://streamable.com/9vwsi

Since returning to the starting lineup, Joe Ingles has averaged 16/5/6 on 54/53/93 shooting splits including 1.3 steals and 3.3 threes per game over his last 10 games.

Derrick Jones Jr flies over Aaron Holiday for the nasty slam from a Kendrick Nunn lob
https://streamable.com/lf1uz

Rozier throws the ball into the stands in celebration of CP3 missing the game winner... but the game wasn't over so he gets a technical
https://streamable.com/m7kmu

Nunn throws the lob for the big Derrick Jones Jr. dunk
https://streamable.com/gvxpg

Devonte' Graham goes the full length of the court and lays it in to tie the game
https://streamable.com/vdqdg

Good Celtics Ball Movement Leads to a Daniel Theiss 3
https://streamable.com/ae2ml

Dante Exum and Jordan Clarkson almost had 9 points/ 0 Assists/ 0 rebounds on their new team's respective debut. Dante had 1 assist before the end of the game.

Evan Fournier steals the inbound with 22 seconds left, giving Orlando the chance to make it a two-possession game
https://streamable.com/qxbjo

Khris Middleton: 18 points / 6 reb / 6 assist on 8/11 shooting, 2/3 from three in 17 first half minutes vs. Atlanta

The Brooklyn nets are last in the league in total post ups with 15 in 30 games.

Trae Young left game with right ankle sprain.....

The Golden State Warriors (9-24) comeback in the fourth to defeat The Pheonix Suns (11-20) 105 to 96

In a strange of circumstances the Hornets entered overtime against the Thunder trailing 95-94 because of Rozier's technical foul

Kerr: "You can't stop us. You can only hope to contain us."
https://streamable.com/sfzx3

"And even if you do stop us, our draft pick only gets better. The choice is yours"

Dragic with the floater puts wins it for the Heat
https://streamable.com/j0gg8

D'Angelo Russell 31pts 6asts and a game high +19 to lift the Warriors to their 4th straight win

The Miami Heat (23-8) defeat the Indiana Pacers (21-11), 113-112 in another Heat thriller

Glenn Robinson III soars for the insane slam for the lead late in the fourth
https://streamable.com/6twbf

Draymond hits the 3 to extend the Warriors lead late in the 4th
https://streamable.com/0z0b8

Alen Smailagic’s first NBA basket
https://streamable.com/6cz8s

Alen Smailagic gets a couple of buckets in his first NBA minutes, Steph and Klay enjoying it!
https://streamable.com/ezx7r

Over the last 5 games, Shai-Gilgeous Alexander is averaging 26-5-2 and 2 steals a game, on 53-40-90 (61.2% TS).

Steph Curry loses it after Glenn Robinson’s putback dunk
https://streamable.com/kb1o8

CP3 gets excited after tripping up Rozier with a yo-yo dribble
https://streamable.com/cpcgp

The Suns have only two more wins than they did this same time last year. Second year in a row where their off-season signings flatlined.

Devonte' Graham hits a deep three to cut the lead to one with 12 seconds left
https://streamable.com/30jk3

Pat Connaughton puts Damian Jones on a poster
https://streamable.com/4m5id

Six Heat players have scored 25 or more points multiple times this season

Since starting the season 5-2, the Phoenix Suns have fallen to 11-20 after losing their eight consecutive game

Draymond Green from 3 this season Fourth quarter: 7 of 13 The first three quarters: 9 of 50

LeBron James addresses to Kuz's trainer instagram post: “Anytime someone wants to get some notoriety they can throw my name in it”
https://streamable.com/lu4jk

The lethal right to left crossover of Austin Rivers
https://streamable.com/7946r

When the Celts massively underachieved last year given all the hype (“lots of high fives” facepalm) a lot of people here were pumping their brakes hard on Brad Stevens the wunderkind. The hype for Stevens had been real as he year over year proved he could elevate a roster to be noticeably greater than the sum of its parts. We got rid of guys like Rondo and Green for what seemed like a collection of worse players with roster filler free agent signings until guys like Jordan Crawford and Evan Turner started having career best stints here. Crawford and Turner eventually became IT and Horford and as the roster got better, Stevens continued to help them overachieve their way deeper into the playoffs. After suffering disappointing injuries to the two shiny new superstars that were supposed to elevate them to real contender status for the first time, Stevens still improved their mark by coming within 6 minutes of a Finals berth by way of dethroning the 7-year reigning King of the East with Al Horford and a 19yo & 20yo. With all of the pieces back together last year, the expectations were justifiably high for Stevens - barring further injuries which there were none of, this team should be in the Finals, and yet they weren’t even close. A lot of questions came out around whether or not Stevens could convince the multiple All-stars it takes to win a chip to buy into his system in a way that could appease everyone’s egos the same way he could with guys like Crawford and Turner. While he definitely bares some responsibility for the dysfunction on the team last year that led to their disappointing season, here he is now back to maximizing his talent. Brown and Tatum deserve plenty of praise and credit for their hard work in the offseason thats clearly paying off and Hayward is noticeably healthier. The more real these things look as the season continues, we have to start to give credit to Brad for keeping it going. No one expected this team anchored down low by Theis and Kanter and a hole up top in Kemba to be a top-5 defense yet with all 5 guys buying into the scheme and switching and helping efficiently and effectively, they can be smothering. Kemba is leading the team with 0.39 charges drawn per game. Tatum has been a menace help defender jumping out in the passing lanes and blocking shots from behind. No one expected this team to have the 2nd best point differential this far into the year yet he’s got role players like Kanter to crash the boards and Theis and Smart to buy into doing the dirty work like sealing off defenders and setting double drag screens as outlined in this video with an annoyingly hyperbolic title (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3INe9hPAEk) allowing guys like Tatum, Kemba, and Brown get their most efficient shots. Kemba is shooting a career high 40.2% from 3 on a career high 9.1 attempts. Brown has the 2nd highest FG% for 20+PPG scorers after Giannis at 52.1%, also a career high with his 62.2 TS%. Tatum’s efficiency could stand to be better, but he’s also increased his scoring output almost 6 points to 21.6PPG this year and I’d expect him to get more efficient as he gets more comfortable with the extra 5 FGA he’s getting this year. All of these stats are about the All-stars, but Brad and the role player are making it happen. When he’s been on the court (and prognosis looks hopeful with no structural damage associated with the recent nerve pain) Hayward has been playing the Swiss-army knife playmaking function that Horford filled in years past and guys like Wanamaker are experiencing the same boost we used to get out of Crawford and Turner. For all their success, the praise on the Jays, the happiness for Kemba, and annoyingly the shit talk about Kyrie, I think Brad should be a bigger part of the conversation for putting this all together. I haven’t watched them nearly as much, but Carlisle and Spo are also doing incredible jobs with their clubs. The NBA is so much fun this year when teams overachieve and muck up the contender conversations.