Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images
Sixers, Kings, Pistons, Suns all win Tuesday matches
It could’ve been an iffy night in the NBA. Only four games on the docket, and there were plenty of injured big names, especially in the TNT slate, where inactive players included Joel Embiid, James Harden, Tyrese Maxey, LeBron James, and Chris Paul.
But Ben Simmons played pretty well in his return to Philly despite a Sixers win and Pat Bev shoved a 7-footer in the back, which was enough to give TNT all the juice they needed in their slate. The two non-TNT games had plenty of intrigue too:
Philly gets first last laugh against Ben Simmons, Nets with 115-106 win
Credit where credit is due, Ben really stuffed the stat sheet with a 11/7/11/3/3 in a building where he thought the boos would be louder. But the Nets are just putrid on defense to the extent that the Sixers – despite missing their three best players – shot 43.4% from the floor and 50% from deep.
Kings beat Grizzlies 113-109 to extend win streak
De’Aaron Fox has quietly put together one of the best Novembers across the NBA, putting up 32/8/6 with four steals in their seventh straight win, their longest streak since 2004. During the streak, Mike Brown’s squad (10-6 overall) is winning by an average of 11.7 points per game, and they’re now sitting pretty at 3rd in the West, just a half game back of 1st.
Ja Morant had missed two of the last four games, but looked excellent in this one, totaling 34/7/6 on 12-21 shooting. This was just the third game of the season for Jaren Jackson Jr., and he played well too, finishing with 22 points (8-14) and 5 blocks, but it’s now four losses in the last five games for Memphis (10-8 overall).
Detroit sans Cade pulls out close W in Denver, 110-108
It was a big night for former Knicks as Alec Burks (21) and Kevin Knox (17) each gave Detroit a lot of juice off the bench. Killian Hayes, who’s been starting in place of Cade Cunningham, tied a season-high nine assists to pair with his nine points.
Denver was down by as much as 13 in the fourth, but cut the deficit to one at two different points in the final two and a half minutes. The Joker scored eight points in the final three minutes en route to a 31/9/10 night, but couldn’t quite complete the comeback for the Nuggets, who can’t seem to rise to the top of the West.
Patrick Beverly can’t help himself as Suns beat Lakers, 115-105
Chris Paul wasn’t playing for the seventh consecutive game, so Patrick Beverly had to find a new target in Phoenix. Deandre Ayton presented himself as that guy when he stood over Austin Reaves following a flagrant foul by Devin Booker on Reaves. Somehow, this body check in Phoenix was even dirtier than the most famous check in NBA history when Robert Horry shoved Steve Nash into the boards at the end of a playoff game. Given his long record of physical contact, we’d expect Beverly to be suspended for this most recent shove.
Booker, remembering what happened in the Suns-Clippers series a few years ago, had bold words to Chris Haynes after the game:
Suns have won 11 straight games against the Lakers since game 3 in round one of the 2021 playoffs, where this moment was born:
Oh, and Anthony Davis dropped 37 points, 21 rebounds and five blocks in the loss. It kind of reminds us of his dominating efforts in losing games from his early days in New Orleans. Is a trade demand coming next from AD?
