Steph and Joker went off for 50 on the same night. And both lost… The rookies are starting to percolate, the Jazz and Kings are playing great, the Mavs and Heat, less so–it’s Cody’s Weekend Rebound!
Well folks, it was another action-packed sports weekend! We had two GOATS solidify their cases. Tom Brady won his 7th Super Bowl and LaMelo Ball got the start against the Jazz and went off for 34-4-8 (in a loss). The truth is that several of these NBA rookies had very good games over the weekend and most of them were not born when Tom Brady started playing in the NFL. That is nuts.
Cole Anthony dropped 17 PTS and 9 AST to kick off the weekend. Tyrese Haliburton had a 23-4-6 against the Nuggets. This guy gets 6 assists like it’s his job. Which I guess it is… Isaiah Stewart doubled-doubled with 10 PTS and 10 REB against Phoenix and Patrick Williams posted a 16 PTS, 10 REB effort in a win against the Magic.
We’re getting to the part of the season where these guys really start to produce. Meanwhile, the former 2003 rookie LeBron James continues to do his best Brady impression vanquishing all challengers. Now to grab some more numbers you may have missed this weekend while you watched that other sport.
Speaking of Haliburton and the Kings, they are playing good basketball. They’ve won 4 straight, are firmly in the play-in game hunt, and are fun to watch. De’Aaron Fox has really turned up his play of late.
The Jazz also continue to turn up the volume, winning 14 of their last 15 games. On Sunday, Donovan Mitchell had himself a 27-9-11 while Gobert went for 16-16. They are so consistent, it’s scary.
Speaking of scary, Nicola Jokic went OFF on Saturday. His box score of 50-8-12 and 3 BLK is monstrous.
On that same Saturday, Steph Curry blitzed the Mavericks for 57 points with 11 threes! That is the first time two players have gone for 50 on the same day since November 2019 (D’Angelo Russell and Dame Lillard).
Both the Nuggets and Warriors lost those games. (Russell and Lillard also lost). The moral of this story is, don’t score 50 the same day that someone else does. Easy.
On Friday, Nikola Vucevic put the Magic on his back to beat the Bulls. He threw down a 43 PTS and 19 REB gem! He is definitely the second-best Nikola in the league.
In a battle of teams missing their wingman, Jayson Tatum had 34 PTS, 7 REBS, and 4 STL without Jaylen Brown while Kawhi Leonard had 28 PTS and 11 REBS without Paul George. The Celtics prevailed.
The Jazz and the 76ers maintain slim leads as the one seed in their respective conferences.
This isn’t a number, but Derrick Rose is being traded from the Detroit Pistons to the New York Knicks. It is important to point out that peak Derrick Rose would have made this article many, many times.
