Baseline to Baseline: October 26th
- Damian Lillard and Jusuf Nurkic playing the two-man game.
There are few things more beautiful than a well-executed pick-and-roll. Lillard and Nurkic are one of the more underrated combinations in the league, thrusting together great shooting acumen off the bounce (Lillard) with a great screen-setter and thunderous rim-runner (Nurkic).
Dame hits a rolling Nurkic with a needling pocket pass, and Nurkic finds the body control to sustain the blow from Blake Griffin (no easy task by any means) for the floating finish.
Nurkic adds a whole new dimensional of physicality for Portland that they had been missing since the departure of Robin Lopez and his Sideshow Bob hair. I don’t quite know what their ceiling is as a potential playoff team, but I don’t really care — they are fun as hell.
2. The Milwaukee Bucks pay homage to the MECCA.
Retro courts need to become more of a thing. Can we make one game per week designated as the “retro court game?” Is that too much? Too little?
What a tasteful display of the NBA’s past — it legit felt like you were watching a game from the 1970s except in high definition. The lighting, the hues, the Bucks wearing their masterful throwback jerseys along with it. Everything was top-notch, and should set the stage for more courts to follow in rotation with it.
There was something poetic about Giannis being the featured player on this court too — a blending of the league’s past and future right before our eyes.
3. Bully Blake.
Griffin has been the Clippers’ entire offense to this point, and there were large portions of last night’s game where he would get the ball on one of the wings, clear everyone out, and go to work. That was it. That was the offense.
Is this process sustainable? Unlikely, but against a team like the Blazers that don’t have the requisite girth to contain? Sure. Griffin has actually been up to the task regardless of who the opposition has been thus far — whirling dribbles that look lost before they parlay into a chance at the rim or straight bullying fools with his broad shoulders. It isn’t always pretty, but damnit is it effective.
Stay healthy man!
4. Welcome to the David Nwaba show.
Who??
David Nwaba.
Within two minutes of watching the Bulls-Hawks recap, I found myself a new NBA crush. I must admit, I knew nothing about this man prior to last night — no summer league recollection, no experience picking him up late in a fantasy draft in 2k, nothing. After what he displayed against the Hawks, he will not be forgotten. This guy is a hooper.
He is 6'4", but plays with the bounce and aggression of a player who has more size. His ability to grab a rebound and go without skipping a beat will be lethal against sluggish second units, and he isn’t even a straight line driver when he goes coast to coast! There is some wiggle there, and even a nifty euro when needed.
The Hawks stink, but there is something there with Nwaba. Some good team should trade for him before the Bulls realize what they have or they sell him to the Warriors for $3.5 million.
