NBA Game Notes: Light Saturday Night

It was a fairly light Saturday night in the NBA. Only five games. Two were blowouts, one was a semi-blowout and two were close into the closing minutes. We’ll hit on all five games, even the blowouts, because a light night makes it easy to see everything.

Here’s what I saw on Saturday!

Chicago Bulls - 110 at Orlando Magic - 98

• The Bulls bench won them this game. Kevin Huerter and Patrick Williams had nice all-around games. Ayo Dosunmu was getting to his shots with relative ease. Jalen Smith played good minutes behind Nikola Vucevic.

• Dosunmu did a nice job here of attacking in transition. Jett Howard never really got into a stance to defend Dosunmu, and the Bulls guard used the semi-screen to get right downhill for the layup:

• Tre Jones and Dosunmu seem have developed a pretty good chemistry. Jones played a really solid game. This was one of the best of his eight assists for the game. Good play design with Kevin Huerter rolling, while Nikola Vucevic popped. That took the big out of the play for Orlando. Watch Dosunmu lift out of the corner to the wing as Desmond Bane sagged to tag the rolling Huerter. That made the closeout more difficult for Bane. Great read by Jones to see it and put the ball right on Dosunmu:

• Patrick Williams is playing with pretty good poise in the early season. This was a nice job to take the smaller defender into the paint for the short turnaround:

• I want to preface this by saying I’m a big fan of Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner. I think they are both really good players. But less might be more for the Magic. This team is deeper than other point in the Banchero-Wagner era. They both need to get off the ball a bit more. They don’t need to do everything anymore.

• I’m a pretty big fan of Anthony Black. He’s gotten so much over the last couple of years. This was a good baseline drive of the closeout. And look at the end, after the up-fake, Black uses the chicken wing to clear a bit more space for the layup:

• Mostly, and tell me if you’ve heard this before, Orlando couldn’t make shots in this one. They were terrible from deep, despite having some good looks. And inside the Bulls did a good job of contesting shots making like hard on the Magic to get clean looks.

Charlotte Hornets - 121 at Philadelphia 76ers - 125

• This was a really fun game. Both teams got up and down the floor. The ball was really moving on both sides.

• Let’s start with Joel Embiid…He looked miles better in this one than he did against Boston in the opener. It may be a case where the ability to string moves together comes and goes for Embiid, and some nights he has and some nights he doesn’t. When he turns, faced and then drives for paint shots, you know Embiid is feeling alright:

• VJ Edgecombe came back to earth with his shooting after his bonkers debut game. But Edgecombe stuffed the stat sheet in other ways, including eight assists and three steals. This was a really nice pocket pass out of pick-and-roll. When/if Embiid is feeling fully there, this is a layup or dunk:

• Speaking of Edgecombe…the guard depth Philadelphia has is something else. Tyrese Maxey is terrific, Edgecombe is going to be awesome, and Quentin Grimes is pretty good too. Oh, and don’t forget that Jared McCain will factor in here eventually. And if any of them are out or really falter, Kyle Lowry and Eric Gordon might have something left in them for emergency minutes.

• Sigh…Brandon Miller had to leave the game early with a shoulder injury. No idea yet how serious it is, but Miller will never reach his considerable potential if he can’t stay healthy for extended stretches.

• Wasn’t a fan of the Hornets downsizing their lineup to match the Sixers. If Kon Knueppel is your guy, he’s going to have to defend against all kinds of players. Same with Miller. Don’t adjust to your opponent. Force them to adjust to you.

• Knueppel played a pretty strong game. He had a couple of sidestep corner threes, which is a pretty difficult shot for a young player to have down this early. This one came off a fake to free himself up:

• One of the Hornets other rookies, Sion James, has done a nice job in his first two NBA games. Charlotte is comfortable using him as a screen-and-roll guy. As he gets more comfortable, this shot will become more fluid. He’s looking to pass-first, then takes the floater. This will all speed up as James sees more NBA time, but it’s still a soft finish over the shot blocker: