Rolando del Bosque | ESPN DigitalNov 11, 2023, 09:39 ETLreading: 5 min.
The NBA Cup began, the undefeated in the league ended, the Lakers ‘crying’ for LeBron, Harden debuted with the Clippers and the Hawks vs. Magic captivated CDMX; this and more in the Top 10
1.- Great game in Mexico.- What a great game NBA fans were able to see at the CDMX Arena in which the Atlanta Hawks took the 120-119 victory against the Orlando Magic thanks to a triple in the final moments by Dejounte Murray after an assist from Trae Young, who He equaled the mark for most points scored in a game in Mexico City by Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks.
The Hawks point guard scored 41 points, the same amount set by Luka ‘Magic’ in 2019 against the Detroit Pistons.
2.- Without words.- The game between the Hawks and the Magic was in its opening moments, when suddenly a thunderous applause was heard in the CDMX Arena and many people stood up to turn their gaze towards one of the hallways leading to the court. Any NBA legends? What was happening? After a few minutes, a line of at least eight ‘escorts’ (four in front and four in the back) guarded the entrance to the VIP seats on the court for the singer? Artist? I really don’t know how to classify it, Featherweight. Seriously?… Well, the commotion was similar to the one heard at the halftime break when Scottie Pippen stepped on the floor with Dominique Wilkins and some former Mexican NBA players, yes, but for Featherweight?
It sounds like a joke, but it’s not…
Featherweight attended the game at the CDMX Arena between Hawks and Magic. Photo: Getty
3.- Nothing out of this world.- The NBA Cup turned out to be, at least in its first games, a tournament that does not seem like an official tournament, except for the change of floors in the arenas of the local teams that are quite striking, the games, without anyone telling us which are Cup matches, happen to be ‘normal’, regular season matches, although we will have to see how things go when the elimination matches arrive to see which franchises compete for the trophy and financial prize in Las Vegas.
For the moment, although it was not a must, it is not something unmissable either…
4.- How delicate.- The LeBron lovers must be quite upset with the NBA just like the Los Angeles Lakers, who complained to the league about the lack of calls and few trips to the free line that the ‘King’ (of crying) makes in the nascent campaign.
LeBron James reacts during the game between Lakers and Heat. Photo: Getty
It is rare that a player of the size, experience and years in the league like James, who must be more than accustomed to physical contact and must be clear that he is in a physical and high-touch league, complains that he is hit a lot and does not. apapachan
Could it be that despite the number of videos in which he shows off his physique, his body no longer responds to him or is it another of his tricks to divert attention due to the poor performance of the yellow and purple this season?
5.- Goodbye undefeated.- The Boston Celtics’ perfect record lasted the first five games of the campaign and last Monday, the Minnesota Timberwolves brought them down from their cloud in a game that went to overtime.
Despite being one of the strong candidates, Wolves showed some of the green team’s weaknesses and what is worse, days later their great rival in the East, the 76ers, handed them their second consecutive defeat.
Jayson Tatum tries to reach the basket against Anthony Edwards’ mark during the game between the Celtics and Wolves in which Boston lost undefeated. Photo: Getty
6.- The Clippers, bread with the same?.-The much-vaunted incorporation of James Harden to the Clippers turned out to be quite disappointing and ‘La Barba’, or should we say ‘El Sistema?’, saw how his 17 points did little to help his team avoid a 111-97 defeat against the Clippers. New York Knicks.
There will be those here who say that it was his first game as a Clipper, but, with his career and on a team with figures like Kawhi, PG13 and Westbrook, he doesn’t have many excuses for not giving immediate results because it is not like he has faced a candidate, the Knicks were 2-4 until before facing the Angelenos.
It will be a matter of time to know if the Clippers are serious now or it will just be the same.
7.-Who explains Toscano-Anderson?.- The brand new addition of the G League Captains, Juan Toscano-Anderson made a somewhat exaggerated statement.
The former Warriors, Lakers and Jazz considered that CDMX is a better place to host a franchise than the American cities of Seattle or Las Vegas in the event of the much-promised expansion of the NBA.
I don’t know how CDMX could be better than Las Vegas, but good Juanito, who was in the Hawks vs Magic, considered it that way; It would still be nice if they let you know that the NBA, like all the professional leagues in the world and any sport, what matters to them is money and in that sense, DOLLARS are always going to be more attractive than PESITOS.
8.- Another one from LeBron (so he can seriously complain).- During the Denver Nuggets’ 134-116 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans, center and MVP of the last NBA Finals, Nikola Jokic surpassed LeBron James for fourth place on the all-time list of most triple-doubles. The ‘Joker’ had 35 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists against the Pelicans to reach 108 in his career compared to 107 for James.
The impressive thing about this data is that Jokic did it in 813 fewer games than the Lakers star; That is, James needed 1,417 games to reach 107 triple-doubles. It took Nikola 604 to add 108 triple figures at just 28 years old and playing as a center!
Now Jokic is 30 triple-doubles away from reaching Magic Johnson (138) and 90 away from equaling the, for now all-time leader in that area, Russell Westbrook, who has 198 at the moment.
And also the ‘Joker’ offers gems like this off the court…
9.- Wemby is not unstoppable.- What a block that Indiana Pacers forward Buddy Hield gave to rookie Victor Wembanyama during last Monday’s game that the Indy team won overwhelmingly 152-111.
Hield gave a wild welcome to the NBA to the French rookie who did not have his best night and is surely still dreaming about that play.
10.- We close this week’s Top 10 with this nice message from Shaq…
2023-11-11 14:39:00
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