Christopher Creveling-USA TODAY Sports
Plus: Giannis lands a new career high and OKC hangs 150 on Boston
I’ve said it time and time again, but #THISLEAGUE is mind-blowing, night in and night out. Even on a night with only three games, each one had a high level of intrigue.
Also a big congratulations after Tuesday night to the Utah Jazz, who join the Detroit Pistons as the only clubs to have played 40 games by this point. It serves as another signal that we’re approaching the halfway mark of the regular season.
Meanwhile a team like Milwaukee has only played 37, but their 24th win was exciting as could be:
Giannis posts career-high 55 points for Bucks in 123-113 win over Wizards
It’s a little hard to believe that in this era of routine 60- and 70-point games across the league that Giannis Antetokounmpo had never scored 55+, but it is in fact the case; his previous best of 52 came on Mar. 17, 2019. He shot 20-33 (60.6%) from the floor and 15-16 (93.8%) from the line on his way to 55 in just 37 minutes.
OKC puts on offensive clinic in 150-117 win over Celtics
The Thunder shot 58-98 (59.2%) from the floor and 20-40 (50.0%) from distance on their way to a magnificent scoring total. Five OKC players scored 20+, led by Josh Giddey’s 25/5/5 line on 10-15 shooting (quite a pleasant line if you’re into multiples of five like I am). In the third quarter, they scored a season-best 48 points, per StatMuse.
Marcus Smart was ejected at the 2:46 mark of the third quarter when Boston trailed 83-111 after arguing whether a foul should’ve sent him to the line or just a side-out. Smart was so aggravated by the ruling that he had to be held back by head coach Joe Mazzulla.
De’Aaron Fox wills Kings past Jazz, 117-115
The Sacramento Kings have found themselves in the top 5 of the West approaching the halfway mark of the season; that’s a lot of beams to shoot into the sky. This wasn’t your average win though.
De’Aaron Fox absolutely took over the game late, scoring 22 of Sacramento’s 29 fourth quarter points, including the game-winner with 0.4 seconds remaining. The game nearly got crazier from there when Utah connected on a full-court pass to Lauri Markkanen on the left wing, who put up a prayer from three that cashed, but was just a blink too late.
