Sunday featured three close games that were all won by road teams. Is homecourt advantage starting to mean less in the regular season? That’s a topic we’ll tackle another day, but we are going to come back to it.
Here’s what I saw on Sunday!
Boston Celtics - 111 at Orlando Magic - 107
Joe Mazzulla had one of the more consistent rotations in the NBA over the last two seasons. This year, Mazzulla is mixing and matching a lot more. Outside of Jayson Tatum, the Celtics have been mostly healthy. But the lack of certainty with some of the new faces has Mazzulla trying a lot of different lineups. That included riding hot hands in the both the first and second halves of this road win.
Anfernee Simons was THE guy in the first half for the Celtics. With Boston’s offense really scuffling, Simons came in and heated things up immediately. He scored 25 points off the bench in the first half. This was one of Simons’ last hoops and a good example of how he had it going:
In the second half, Boston used Luka Garza to keep the offense moving. Garza scored 14 of his 16 points after halftime, including eight in the fourth quarter. Most of Garza’s impact was simply playing with great effort. This was a nice seal on the smaller player, then good tracking for the putback and-1 here:
Derrick White continues to have struggles with his shot. But White’s confidence has never faltered. That’s the sign of a good shooter and reason to believe that things will eventually swing back (progression to the mean?). This late pull was great, because White just let it fly without hesitation:
Jordan Walsh has been working for his opportunity for a while. Playing with great energy and making dagger triples will help Walsh keeping getting minutes. Really good ball and player movement here for the Celtics too. Even more important? Trust that the next guy will make the right play:
Too many shots like this from Paolo Banchero this season. Derrick White is a very good defender, but Banchero has a major size advantage here. Taking this shot, with so much time left on the clock is settling and making it easy for the defense:
Despite the above play, this was a decent game for the Orlando’s big three of Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner and Desmond Bane. But…only one three-point attempt for Bane? What are we doing here, Magic?
On the positive side: Jalen Suggs continues to be a menace. You can’t make anything even resembling a lazy pass with Suggs in the vicinity:
Detroit Pistons - 111 at Philadelphia 76ers - 108
The Pistons were shorthanded and looked dead in the water against the Sixers. Then Cade Cunningham did what superstars do: He took over. This, along with a late turnaround jumper, were “I’ve got this. We aren’t losing tonight.” plays:
Really loved this confidence from Ron Holland II here. He’d shot like crap for the game to this point (2-for-14), but Holland made the right read and got to a makeable pullup and nailed it:
We’ve seen the offensive growth coming from Jalen Duren for a couple of years now. The rebounding has always been there. He’s now become an impactful defender too. He’s reading plays and coming with help at the right times. Duren is making the leap:
I love V.J. Edgecombe, but he’s still a rookie. The Sixers are zoning here. You can see the moment that Edgecombe goes “Oh no! That’s Duncan Robinson!” and closes out a step too hard. This is Robinson’s gravity at work here:
Speaking of Edgecombe, but really the 76ers offense as a whole: They have to be careful to not get Tyrese Maxey-centric in the games where Joel Embiid sits. Maxey is wonderful, but he took 26 shots in this game. Only Kelly Oubre Jr. (13 shots) hit double-figures in attempts. More balance is better for Philadelphia.
I continue to enjoy Adem Bona. He’s all energy and toughness, especially around the rim:
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