NBA Game Notes: Playoff contenders get key wins

Notes from: Magic-Knicks, Kings-Heat, Pistons-Trail Blazers, Timberwolves-Clippers and Bulls-Spurs

We’re back!

I never realize how much I crave being in my routine until I’m out of it for several days/weeks in a row. But everything is back to normal now, and that means we’re back with NBA Game Notes!

Monday night saw several playoff contenders pick up some key wins, including a few teams surging to and over .500 on the season.

Here’s what I saw on Monday!

Orlando Magic - 103 at New York Knicks - 94

• Look at the Knicks shot chart from this one. Not only did Orlando challenge every shot that New York took, but they chased them off the arc with regularity too. This was a defensive clinic from the Magic and a huge part of why they came away with a huge road win.

• With Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner and Jalen Suggs all out, Jamahl Mosley is having to generate offense from unlikely sources. One thing the Magic are leaning on is the playmaking of their big men. Both Goga Bitadze and Wendell Carter Jr. are underrated passers.

  In this compilation, Bitadze finds Tristan da Silva on a nice cut, then drops a nice no-look dish on Jonathan Isaac. Carter works a pretty high-low pass with Isaac, then a solid show-and-go setup for Cole Anthony. You have to create offense somehow and the Magic centers are doing well with that.

• Guys being out creates opportunities for others. Jett Howard took advantage vs the Knicks. In the first clip, he did a nice job with the rip-and-run off the boards to get to the pullup. Second clip sees Howard get himself square off the catch to knock down the buzzer beater. Last, it’s a simple one-dribble midrange pullup, but that’s a shot Howard has to be willing to take and to make. Good stuff here!

• You can write it off to Orlando’s defense (most of it) and cold shooting (some of it), but this was a tough loss for New York. Sure, Karl-Anthony Towns and Miles McBride were out, but the Magic were even more shorthanded, and the Knicks were at home.

  This loss showed the Knicks lack of depth. It’s not an easy fix either, unless they move on from Mitchell Robinson via trade. That has to be in consideration as the trade deadline approaches.

Miami Heat - 118 at Sacramento Kings - 123 OT2

• Doug Christie has the Kings energized. He’s also leaning a bit more towards having defenders in the lineup. Keon Ellis, Keegan Murray and rookie Devin Carter (now that he’s back from injury) are all making a huge impact for the Kings, especially with on-ball perimeter defense.

• Speaking of Keon Ellis…he never should have out of Sacramento’s rotation. He’s their best perimeter defender and an absolute menace. To successfully defend the Heat, you have to be prepared to defend countless DHO actions. Ellis does a great job here of trailing back to the ballhandler to force the turnover from Tyler Herro:

• As Devin Carter gets more reps, we’ll see more of this. He’s a smart playmaker and this was a good example in the pick-and-pop with Domantas Sabonis:

• Love that Doug Christie is making sure to keep Domantas Sabonis involved as the hub of the offense more. With De’Aaron Fox out, the Kings need Sabonis to be a primary playmaker. He’s too good to go too many possessions without the offense running through him. Christie has made sure to keep that from happening.

• Jamie Jaquez Jr. is the closest thing to Jimmy Butler that the Heat have with Butler suspended and likely headed out of town. Jaquez is patient and smart. This triple-double effort was a good example of how Jaquez can help Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo to run the offense for Miami.

  The first two clips are Jaquez running the offense with on-time passes to set up Tyler Herro for shots. The last clip shows Jaquez breaking down the defense with a nice drive-and-kick find to Terry Rozier III. This is a forward/wing running the offense successfully for the Heat the way Butler has for years:

• Too many of Bam Adebayo’s shot charts look like this on the season:

  

  Yes, he’s taking more three-pointers (almost 20% of his shots now) and not shooting well on them. But his finishing in the paint is a lot worse. Adebayo has dropped from 72.7% in the restricted area last season to 69.5% this season. But the real drop-off has come in the paint. Last season Adebayo was at 51.5% (best in his career). This season, he’s fallen off to 41.7%, which is near the worst marks of his career. That’s been a killer for Miami’s offense.

Portland Trail Blazers - 115 at Detroit Pistons - 118

• Let’s start by shouting out the Pistons, who reached a .500 record with this victory. This is the latest Detroit has been .500 in the season in years.

• This one was kind of an ugly victory. Malik Beasley couldn’t make anything until the very end of the game. Detroit’s bench wasn’t very good. But Cade Cunningham made enough plays, while Tim Hardaway Jr. and Tobias Harris stepped up their scoring. Good team victory for Detroit.

• Coaches will call the same play until it stops working, but that’s usually with a halfcourt set. It’s rare to see the same BLOB play work twice in the same game. Even more rare to see it work twice in the same quarter. Rarest of all? Working about one minute apart!

  The Pistons pulled it off here. What are you doing Blazers? You just saw this same action!

• Marcus Sasser delivered the assists on both buckets from Simone Fontecchio above. Overall, Sasser had five assists, and Detroit needs his playmaking with Jaden Ivey out. Ivey wasn’t just the Pistons starting point guard. He also functioned as the primary backup point guard behind Cade Cunningham. Detroit needs to replace those minutes. Sasser has a big opportunity to be the guy who gets them.

• BLOB defense issues aside, Chauncey Billups seems to have found a fairly workable rotation for Portland. He’s running with the same eight guys right now. Some of that is injury-related, but mostly Billups is playing the guys he trusts right now. That’s giving the kids enough room to play through mistakes, while a handful of vets keep things relatively stable.

• Loved seeing Shaedon Sharpe getting more work as a pick-and-roll playmaker. He put up a career-high eight assists. First two clips are nifty finds to Deandre Ayton on the roll. Then, Sharpe did a nice job finding Toumani Camara on the corner cut. Last clip is good patience from Sharpe to break down the defense before kicking to Kris Murray. Good stuff from the young wing!