NBA Game Notes: Young players shine on a busy night!

Notes from: IND-ORL, CHI-NYK, HOU-LAC, DET-MIL, MIN-POR and MEM-LAL

With the NBA avoiding back-to-backs before NBA Cup games, and trying to avoid them after, we’re getting these super packed nights of games. Then, we’re getting nights with very few games. The lack of balance is pretty jarring. It’s a flood of games, followed by a drip.

Alas, I digress! Here’s what I saw on a busy night!

Indiana Pacers - 90 at Orlando Magic - 94

• Another good win for Orlando. It’s important to keep stacking wins while Paolo Banchero is out.

• Tristan da Silva is starting to figure things out. Pre-draft, the book on da Silva was how good he was in the non-scoring parts of the game. This was a nice off-the-dribble find here:

• Goga Bitadze continues to produce for the Magic in the absence of Banchero and Wendell Carter Jr. His presence should allow Orlando to make sure the two starting bigs are fully healthy before asking them to return.

• Really impactful game from Jonathan Isaac on the defensive end. He continues to be arguably the best per-minute defensive player in the NBA.

• Another weird game from Tyrese Haliburton. He’s been such an inconsistent shooter this year, but the lack of pace is also jarring. Something just seems off.

• Bennedict Mathurin putting up 23 points is good. But what was really great was seeing him grab 12 rebounds, 11 of them on the defensive glass. That’s huge.

Chicago Bulls - 124 at New York Knicks - 123

• 31 assists on 44 hoops for the Bulls. They’ve really figured out the pace and ball-movement stuff in the early season.

• Zach LaVine looks really, really good. Teams who might have been scared of trading for him might be coming back around.

• Big game from Ayo Dosunmu off the bench. He’s done a nice job keeping the offense humming when he’s in there.

• A few flashes for Matas Buzelis in this one. Had an aggressive dunk off a nice cut and a few solid defensive moments.

• Karl-Anthony Towns was dominant, but then didn’t get enough touches late. That’s a balance the Knicks need to find.

• Good game from Cameron Payne off the bench for New York. That was big in a game where Miles McBride wasn’t his usual productive self.

• Holding the Bulls to “only” 22-of-29 shooting at the rim was an improvement for the Knicks. Rim protection continues to be a major issue for New York.

LA Clippers - 103 at Houston Rockets - 111

• Amen Thompson and Tari Eason come into games and everything changes for Houston. It’s not just a burst of energy, but like an atomic bomb’s worth of energy. They won this game for the Rockets.

• Hey Jabari Smith Jr.? You wanna join the party?

• Houston is still figuring stuff out, especially at the end of games. They also gave this one to LA, after have it well in hand.

• Not sure what drove the decision to swap Terance Mann out of the starting group for Kris Dunn, but it worked. Dunn put together a really nice game and gave the Clippers another passer in the opening lineup.

• Norman Powell came back to earth a bit and that hurt LA. The Clippers need him to be a 20+ points guy ever game, or they don’t have enough offense.