October 24th NBA Notes
Every night I watch as many NBA games as I can fit into my schedule. Some nights it’s a lot, and some nights none. Either way, I’m going to keep notes here on what I observe from what I do watch.
Published in
3 min readOct 25, 2017
Utah Jazz @ Los Angeles Clippers
- Donovan Mitchell looks confident. Mitchell had struggled through his first few games after having a scorching Summer League and Preseason. Last night he started really slow and I started to think he wasn’t ready for regular season minutes. However, he didn’t stop shooting and gained confidence as the game went on. He finished with 19 points on 7–20 shooting (not great), but the 20 shots showed that he has the confidence to be a good scorer for Utah at times this year, something they will need.
- Ricky Rubio came out and shot a lot early. He was not afraid to put up jumpers when he had the space. The Clippers commentators noted that Rubio has had struggles with his jumper, but they were quickly silenced after he hit his first couple of shots. Rubio can contribute to filling the scoring load that Gordon Hayward left behind.
- Announcers still call Joe Johnson, Iso Joe, and refuse to acknowledge that the nickname was not originally meant as a compliment. Iso Joe originated in Atlanta when Johnson would often dribble the air out of the ball and slow the Hawks offense. He doesn’t tend to do that anymore, so the nickname can stop now.
- The Clippers tried hard to feed DeAndre Jordan early, and when it didn’t work, they quickly got away from it. Rudy Gobert did a tremendous job inside (per usual) and Jordan only finished with nine shot attempts.
- Blake Griffin is shooting a lot more threes this year. Last year Blake made only 38 threes in 61 games. This season he has 8 makes in just three games. He is on pace to make 160 if he plays 60 games this year.
- Patrick Beverley is incredibly valuable and underrated offensively. Beverley has been a spark plug for not only the defense, but the offense. He is a good distributor, can attack the paint well, and is an above average three point shooter. He finished with 19 points on 14 shots, along with his 5 assists and as expected, 3 steals.
New Orleans Pelicans @ Portland Trailblazers
- Anthony Davis left with an injury. Davis played just 5 minutes before exiting the game and being ruled out for the remainder of the contest. Thankfully, after MRI results came back negative, AD has been listed as day-to-day.
- Jameer Nelson got a lot of minutes. It’s like this guy doesn’t age. In his first two games with the Pelicans, Nelson has played 25 and 30 minutes. That number will obviously go down when Rajon Rondo makes a return, but for now New Orleans looks comfortable with Nelson carrying a big load for this team.
- New Orleans has a surprising amount of shooters. This team is centered around its big men, but the front office has done a good job of getting shooters to surround them with. Cousins and Davis can of course knock down the three, but there are other wing players who have shown the ability to do so as well. E’Twaun Moore, Darius Miller, Jameer Nelson, and Ian Clark to name a few.
- Ed Davis is a very good rebounder. Davis doesn’t play starter minutes, but he fills a big role for the Blazers. With Jusuf Nurkic in foul trouble, Davis played 21 minutes in this one. He finished with 10 rebounds, 6 of which were offensive boards. He also shot an efficient 6 of 12 from the field.
- Damian Lillard had a bad game. Lillard only had 13 points on 3 of 16 shooting, and 1 of 8 from deep. Dame struggling and AD sidelined made this one a bit of a boring game to watch.
