Tempers Ignite in Goran Dragic's 1st Game Against Suns and Monday Takeaways
Miami Heat guard Goran Dragic didn't exactly light up the Phoenix Suns in his first tilt against the team that traded him at the deadline, but there were fireworks all the same.
Despite a ton of early foul trouble, Dragic totaled 21 points in just 15 minutes in the Heat's 115-98 victory. Unfortunately, his remarkable late-game production (Dragic scored 10 points on 4-of-4 shooting in the final five minutes) took a backseat to the game's physical nature.
This would be the part where a recap with less self-respect would point out that a contest between the Heat and Suns was bound to get fiery.
Markieff Morris earned a flagrant-2 and an early exit for leveling Dragic on a breakaway in the third quarter. It was an ugly play in real time, and Morris is no stranger to excessive contact; he now leads the league this season with three flagrant fouls.
Morris' intent is impossible to determine, but his resultant ejection kicked off a series of dust-ups that would define the duration of the game.
Hassan Whiteside and Alex Len exchanged pleasantries shortly thereafter, with the former flashing some solid form-tackling technique before the scrum got too congested.
Here's Matt Petersen of Suns.com with the play-by-play:
Both bigs were tossed, but don't expect Whiteside to back down the next time things get physical.
After the game, he told reporters he's ready for more, via Joseph Goodman of The Miami Herald:
After double technicals for both centers, there was a brief respite…until Phoenix's Gerald Green collected a T for protesting a call too vociferously. Then Heat forward Henry Walker picked up a flagrant foul, which paired nicely with the double technical he incurred alongside Marcus Morris.
There was actually a basketball game buried underneath the stoppages, and some of it was pretty entertaining.
Tyler Johnson came out of nowhere to score a Heat-high 26 points on just 13 shots off the bench. Calling his effort a career highlight hardly does it justice, as Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press noted:
In addition to Johnson's out-of-body experience, Dwyane Wade pumped in 16 points, nine assists, four rebounds and four steals, and Whiteside contributed his typical double-double with 17 points and 10 boards.
The Suns got a team-high 20 from Eric Bledsoe, and both Len and P.J. Tucker registered double-doubles of their own.
In the end, the Heat's offense was just too much for Phoenix to withstand. Miami shot 52.4 percent from the field and made seven of its 14 three-point tries.
The Heat stayed cooler in this one, and that'll bode well as they head down the stretch. The Suns, though, have lost seven of their last nine and look to be boiling over at the wrong time. Markieff Morris derided the home fans after a loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Feb. 28, and the personnel shakeups at the deadline have the Suns looking emotionally unstable overall.
Per Bleacher Report's Ethan Skolnick, Suns head coach Jeff Hornacek isn't thrilled with his team's makeup right now:
Phoenix will have to hope its on-the-fly retooling can survive a rough closing stretch. Losing Dragic and Isaiah Thomas wasn't intended to be part of a major overhaul, but if the Suns continue to burn themselves emotionally, bigger changes may be necessary this summer.
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Warriors Get Jacked
At the end of a nine-day, six-game road trip marked by a five-hour flight delay Sunday night and a 3 a.m. arrival in New York on Monday morning, the Golden State Warriors finally ran out of gas, falling 110-108 to the Brooklyn Nets on a Jarrett Jack jumper with 1.1 seconds remaining.
Even a nuclear-powered late scoring run by Stephen Curry couldn't save the Dubs. The 11 points he scored in the final 3:48 were enough to tie the game, but Curry could only watch helplessly as Jack's decisive shot fell through.
It was an unusual game from the start, particularly because the Dubs relied on size a day after going small to complete a 26-point comeback against the Boston Celtics. Andrew Bogut set a new season high in scoring (16 points) by halftime.
Backup big man Festus Ezeli contributed a season-best 14 points off the pine.
Brooklyn's bigs were better, though, led by Brook Lopez and his 26 points.
The win means Brooklyn is once again in playoff position after falling out of the East's top eight on Sunday.
For the Warriors, the loss is a disappointment. But with just two road games over the next three weeks, expect the Dubs to be excited to get on a plane for the first time in a good long while.
They're going home.
Wolves Fall to Paul
The Minnesota Timberwolves converted just one field goal in the fourth quarter of their 110-105 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, providing Chris Paul with the opening he needed to lead his team to victory.
CP3 finished with 26 points, 14 assists, four rebounds and three steals as the Clips survived a triple-double from Ricky Rubio (18 points, 11 assists and 12 rebounds) and some circus shenanigans from Andrew Wiggins:
If you've been paying attention, this is pretty much what Paul's been doing lately—putting up huge numbers and carrying his team to wins without Blake Griffin. This is the Clips' third consecutive victory, and they're now 7-3 since their superstar forward underwent elbow surgery.
No discussion of this game would be complete without Kevin Garnett barking at Clippers guard Austin Rivers, which, of course, happened:
Never change, KG.
DeRozan Finally Dials It In
DeMar DeRozan finally snapped out of one of the worst shooting slumps of his career, putting up 35 points on 12-of-24 shooting in the Toronto Raptors' skid-stalling 114-103 win over the Philadelphia 76ers.
Before Monday, Toronto had lost its last five games.
After connecting on just 33.9 percent of his field goals in February, DeRozan was in desperate need of a change. Coming into the contest, his 38.5 percent shooting on the season was the fifth-lowest mark in the league among players who had attempted at least 500 shots, per Basketball-Reference.com.
Before the contest, teammate Greivis Vasquez preached confidence in DeRozan's ability to get right, per Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun.
"Deebo is a shot-taking, scoring guard in this league so we need him to take shots. Some of those shots, people might not like them, but we do like them, and he has to take those shots; he’s our guy and when he makes those shots, we are good."
DeRozan has always been a fan of contested mid-range jumpers, which makes his field-goal difficulties somewhat predictable. But he found his stride against Philly, which is a good sign for a Raptors team in need of consistent offense going forward.
And hey, credit the Sixers who, despite immense roster turnover (they've used a whopping 27 different starting lineups this year), look like they still enjoy playing together. They registered 32 assists on 41 field goals in defeat.
Take Care of the Ball, Take Care of Business
The Dallas Mavericks set a season low with just five turnovers in their 102-93 win over a depleted New Orleans Pelicans squad.
Rajon Rondo came out with surprising aggression, scoring 13 points in the first quarter en route to 19 overall. Monta Ellis led the Mavs with 20.
This was a game the Mavericks absolutely should have won, and they did. So it's hard to draw many far-reaching conclusions. Except, maybe, for this: Yet again, we saw some developing chemistry between Devin Harris and Amar'e Stoudemire.
The former has been fantastic since the break, per Tim Cato of SB Nation:
And the latter contributed 14 points and four rebounds in just 23 minutes off the pine.
The Stoudemire-Harris pairing is one that works, according to Austin Ngaruiya of Mavs Moneyball: "Stoudemire's greatest contribution is unlocking Devin Harris. Harris scored 14 points tonight, mostly in the paint. He's at his most effective when paired with a solid pick-and-roll big."
Dallas may not be a contender, but it'll be a far tougher playoff out if the bench continues to contribute. Harris and Stoudemire look capable of making that happen.
