NBA Game Notes: Road Teams Rule

What a night of hoops! Road teams largely ruled the night. A handful of games came down to the buzzer. Fun night of NBA basketball!

Here’s what I saw on Monday!

Miami Heat - 120 at LA Clippers - 119

• Norman Powell was back for the Heat and he looked good. This kind of downhill, finishing through contact play is something Miami’s offense was missing after trading Jimmy Butler. Powell is so good at driving to his spots:

• The variety in Bam Adebayo’s offensive game is fun to see now. He’s doing more different things than ever. Adebayo remains a very good initiator, but it’s good to see him getting more work as a play finisher too. Nifty little pass into tight space by Davion Mitchell too:

• Kel’el Ware has done a nice job of being productive whether he starts or comes off the bench. A regularly changing role can be tough on a young player, but Ware is rolling with it quite well.

• The Clippers defense has too many good defenders to be this laissez faire. Something is off with LA on that end of the floor.

• Ivica Zubac remains a monster on the glass. He helped limit Miami to just six offensive boards, while grabbing five of his own on the other end.

• This isn’t anything against Derrick Jones Jr., who is having a nice season, but the Clippers should start John Collins. It would give LA better roster balance. His skills overlap too much with Brook Lopez on the bench units.

Dallas Mavericks - 102 at Houston Rockets - 110

• Tari Eason got the start with Jabari Smith Jr. out, and Eason delivered. Because Eason has become a pretty reliable shooter, this play works for Houston. Amen Thompson starts the action, but as the ball makes its way to Kevin Durant at the elbow, watch Thompson slide down to the dunker spot, as we Eason spaces to the corner. This is good spacing and movement to take advantage of Eason’s shooting, while covering for Thompson’s lack of shooting:

• The Rockets seem to be finding the right balance within their offense. Kevin Durant and Alperen Sengun are the focal points, but they are making sure everyone gets touches and looks. That’s how you keep everyone engaged.

• Clint Capela isn’t playing a lot, but he’s productive when he does play. Because he can play without worry of getting in foul trouble, Capela is attacking the offensive glass. He’s averaging 5.8 offensive rebounds Per 36 minutes. That’s really good for the Rockets off the bench.

• It was pretty quiet, but the Mavs moved Cooper Flagg off the ball more in the last few games. That’s helped him and the offense. The bigger issue now is that Dallas can’t make a shot.

• Staying with Flagg, he’s doing a much better job of punishing teams for switching small defenders on him. He created good shots going against Reed Sheppard a handful of time. This paint turnaround is a good shot for Flagg:

• The teamwide shooting struggles have hit D’Angelo Russell too, but he’s made plays as a passer. The Mavericks seem committed to keeping Russell as a reserve, but the offense functioned best when he was on the floor. 12 assists don’t lie!

(Note: The rest of the games will be just notes without clips. The NBA site isn’t being cooperative this morning!)

Utah Jazz - 105 at Boston Celtics - 103

• This is the best Keyonte George has looked in the NBA. He’s so much more patient. And he’s been aggressive about attacking the paint without settling too.

• The question about Walter Clayton Jr. was is if he could run an offense without looking for his own shot. He’s made a really good transition so far. Clayton is getting his own looks, but his passing has been better than expected.

• Jusuf Nurkic has been pretty productive for Utah. He got the start in this one and scored the game-winner off a putback. Nurkic’s passing ability also fits the Jazz offense quite well.

• Related to the above: Boston’s defensive rebounding has been atrocious to start the season. Through seven games, the Celtics defensive rebounding rate is 69.4%, which is 28th in the league. The only teams behind Boston are the Phoenix Suns and New Orleans Pelicans. Rough look for the Celtics.

• Derrick White has been in a major shooting slump to open the year. Even his floaters and pullup midrange jumpers aren’t falling. It’ll swing back, but White’s struggles are a direct correlation to Boston’s struggles.

• The Celtics big man rotation remains a work in progress. In this one, Chris Boucher gave the team a major lift during his minutes. Joe Mazzulla will have to continue to mix and match, given the personnel.

Milwaukee Bucks - 117 at Indiana Pacers - 115

• Giannis Antetokounmpo played the hero for the Bucks. But it was cool to see Antetokounmpo make so much of the game about Myles Turner and the less-than-warm reception he got from his former home fans. Antetokounmpo picked up his teammate in a big way, beyond just the obvious one with the buzzer-beater.

• They didn’t fill up the stat sheet with points this time, but Milwaukee continues to get really good point guard play from the Ryan Rollins-Cole Anthony combo.

• The Pacers are battling. This group is very undermanned, but they get after it. Pascal Siakam is playing at an All-NBA level.

• All of the injuries have Rick Carlisle searching for the right bench mix. He may not find it until some regulars are back in the lineup.