I wish that it had come against any other team but it was impressive.
An article (paywalled) for my fellow cat lovers and Michigan basketball fans:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/01/29/jordan-poole-cat-guy/
If Poole is covered in cat dander, I would have trouble guarding him without extra-drowsy allergy medication.
to be fair, he would have trouble guarding you whether or not you had pet dander on you
Moussa with 11 points, 14 rebounds, and 3 steals in an 8-point loss to his old team.
I cannot believe this trade. holy shid
Yeah that was not on my bingo card. Donāt know if I like the trade for either team as Dallas freakin traded a 25 year old for a 31 year old, and LA loses arguably their only defender
Did the Mavs consider making a second phone call???
Well according to those crime shows youāre only allowed 1 phone calls in jail
Just because it applies to many of our guys: The Magic are playing horribly. They are 2-10 in their last 12. 8 of those losses are 15+. All of these games have occurred with Paolo in the lineup, the last 5 (1-4 record) with Franz. They are losing all their game, they are not close to winning most them. They have cracked 100 points in 5 of these 12 games. Thatās the context!
Jett Howard played in 4 of the Magicās 6 games in the last 2 weeks (they went 1-5), albeit played only 45 seconds in one (their win over Detroit). I wonāt bother with per-game averages as that bried appearance will skew them hard, but - he played 41.5 minutes total, scoring 15 points (he scored 10 in 17 minutes in a 23 point home loss to Portland). He was 5/17 from the floor (29%), 4/10 from 3 (40%). He had 4 rebounds and 1 assist. Whatever is illing the Magic right now (itās everything!) Howard doesnāt seem to be seen as a solution to the problem, given healthy scratches and low minutes. They did use him in the rotation last night - a 14 point loss to Utah (!!), where he went 2/10.
Caleb Houstan also does not appear to be a solution, playing in 3 of the 6 games, a healthy scratch in 2 of the last 3 (he played 5 minutes in a 30 point point loss). He played over 44 minutes in these 3 games, scoring 11 points on 2/8 shooting (1/7 from 3). He had 8 boards and 4 dimes in a game vs Toronto, but didnāt register either stat in his other two appearances.
Moussa Diabate is BACK in the rotation! He played in all 8 Charlotte games, playing close to 22 minutes per games. In those 8 games, he averaged 8.5 points (heās hit double digits in the last 3 games), and 7 rebounds (3.25 of which were offensive). He also, in these 8 games, has snagged 9 steals and blocked 6 shots. The Hornets are still losing at a prodigious rate, but theyāve actually be close, and posted a top-10 in the NBA defense this month - a center playing 20+ minutes canāt be a tiny part of that. Diabate doesnāt start - when Mark Williams plays, heās firmly the backup. When Williams sits, he techinically ābacks upā Taj Gibson, but his minutes swing much closer to 30 in those cases.
Despite the poor form of his team, Franz had actually been pretty decent in his first 5 games back from injury - 32 mpg, 28.4 ppg, 5 rebounds, 3.4 assists. Heās shooting 43.3% from the floor and 27% from three. That efficiency isnāt very good, but heās making it up big time at the FT line - heās taken nearly 10 FTās a game (20 on Saturday) and made 85.7% of his attempts. So - his 142 points came on roughly league average true shooting. So, heās coming back from injury and scoring a ton on an acceptable efficiencyā¦but the team is just failing generally. Now is when Iād cross over to my āare Franz and Paolo hurting each other?ā theory, but Iāll save you.
The Wizards broke their second 15 game losing streak this year on the back of a solid Jordan Poole game! Poole played in all seven of their games in the past two weeks (until last night, none were competitive) playing almost 32 mpg. He scored 16.3 ppg on 34.3% shooting, makingā¦34.3% of his threes (Iāve triple-checked this). Thatās super weird obviously, but Iāll note that his scoring INSIDE the arc has generally been his swing skill. When he was unplayable in Golden State, he shot about 40% from 2, and his climb to efficiency coupled with 53%+ accuracy from inside the arc (which also saw his FT rate climb). Last year, he fell back under 50% to 49%, and is at 45% this year. Obviously - he better than his unplayable days, but heās never been a total dead-eye three point shooter (34% on his career - this year at 39% would be his only season over 36.5%). Heās been a high volume (high difficulty) three point shooter at acceptable clips who recoups efficiency by being solid inside the arc. I do think this 2 point accuracy is a bellweather here. Weāll have to see!
Caris Levert sprained his wrist, and missed all of the Cavsā games in the past two weeks before last night - a nuclear explosion of a short-handed Mavs team. Caris scored 10 in 23 minutes, shooting 50% both from the floor and from 3, and dropped 5 dimes.
Last time, we noted the sharp decline in Tim Hardaway Jr.'s usage this year (though last time he was shooting extremely hot). The general trend continues - he palyed nearly 30 mpg in the Pistonsā 7 games, taking all of 7.5 shots per game in the span. He made 35.8% of his shots, and 33% from 3 (his attempts obviously biased very hard to threes). You guys know this, but the Pistons were ok (4-3) in this stretch, so at least heās contributing to a solid product.
After a truly bizarre stretch where Jimmy Butler stopped playing and Duncan Robinsonās usage dropped through the floor (7.5 shots per game), Duncan Robinsonās usage is now closer to what youād expect in such a situation. Duncan played 33 mpg in their 6 games during this period, taking over 11 shots per game. He scored 14.2 ppg, handed out 3 assists, and grabbed 3 boards. He shot 41.8% from the floor but only 21% of his shots were twos. He connected on 37.7% of his threes, a good mark given the high volume. So overall - this is a good run of play in another rock solid season for Duncan. The Heat seem hellbent to continue to drive for a low play-off seed regardless of what happens with Jimmy Butler (they went 3-3 in the past 2 weeks), so I wouldnāt expect to see Duncan on the move prior to the deadline (Iāve long thought he was trade fodder here, but Butlerās whole thing has sort of shuffled the deck). I would still be surprised to see him in a Miami uniform next year generally, but my certainty there has definitely waned. What Iām pretty comfortable in (ready to again be made to look a fool) is that heās here through seasonās end.
Is Moussa now the starting center for the Hornets? Itās pretty amazing that they traded both of their young 7-footers.
I think he pretty much is the default starting center. Taj Gibson is their backup lol
I think Taj is literally the starter, but Moussa gets more minutes
i keep thinking you guys must be talking about some new player whoās also named taj gibson, not literally taj gibson. for some reason i was sure heād retired
right now heās in the walmart greeter stage of his career arc
well iām sure itās nice for him to get out of the house and have some enrichment in his life
He was with the Pistons for a hot minute last year lol
again, i thought that was a different taj gibson! āhow funny, he has the exact same name as a guy who used to be in the NBA.ā itās basically the apocryphal rickey henderson/john olerud story