Friendly Bounce Open Run: Nikola Vucevic plays hero, Kristaps Godzingis almost does too

Nikola Vucevic’s magical night

By: Chris Barnewall (@ChrisBarnewall)

Nikola Vucevic had been absent from the Orlando Magic lineup as of late. A knee injury in a recent game sidelined the Orlando big man, but tonight was his return. In a strange situation, Vucevic returned to the Magic with a bench role. Something he had never once done his entire Orlando career.

However, Vucevic came to play tonight with a huge 9-for-16 performance and 18 points in 25 minutes of play. It was a fantastic return that just needed an awesome play to top everything off.

Orlando gave Vucevic that opportunity with a close game late. This one really should have gone into overtime, but a shot clock violation by the Los Angeles Lakers gave the Magic a chance with just over one second left in the game. That second was all Magic big man, Nikola Vucevic, needed to sink a turnaround jumpshot. The Magic swarmed him, and he walked off as the hero.

KAWHI SO SERIOUS?

Dirk leads Dallas to a big win

by Ryne Prinz (@ryneprinz)

Wednesday night’s game between the Mavericks and Clippers proved to be another chapter in the dramatic DeAndre Jordan saga. The matchup gained hype during the day until the two teams tipped off, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. It was a two point game until around a minute left, when Dallas pulled away to win 118-108.

The Mavericks wouldn’t have won without the contributions of one Dirk Nowitzki. The future Hall of Famer pulled out a vintage Dirk performance, as he dropped 31 on a frustrated Los Angeles team. Nowitzki made 11 of his 14 shots from the floor, including several iconic fadeaways as well as four of his five attempts from beyond the arc. He also grabbed 11 rebounds for the double-double.

As he was drilling those turnaround jumpers, there were flashes his dominant prime. It will always be awesome to see Dirk delivering, especially on the big stage. We might not have many of these games left from the former-MVP.

But then again, who knows? It’s Dirk.   

The Rockets lost at home to the Nets. What?

By: Taylor Smith (@TaylorBojangles)

Following a dreadful 0-3 start during which they lost every game by at least 20 points, the Houston Rockets appeared to have cured their ills. They’d subsequently reeled off four straight wins, capped by a resounding W over the Clippers in L.A. on the second half of a back-to-back. All was well again in H-Town.

But then…the Brooklyn Nets came to town.

Brooklyn came into Wednesday night’s affair in Houston riding a seven-game losing streak to open the year. The Nets, who have the league’s 10th-highest payroll this season, were in a battle with the lowly 76ers to see which team would be the last in the league to notch a win this season. Yes, the 76ers, whose payroll is dwarfed by every team in the league other than Portland. On this night, though, it didn’t matter.

The Nets stormed into Toyota Center and earned a 106-98 victory Wednesday night.

Bojan Bogdanovic (???) finished the game with 22 points and nine rebounds in 34 minutes. He was 10-20 from the floor, including 2-5 from deep. The Rockets had no answer for Bogdanovic, which is a sentence that will be typed exactly once in the history of earth.

Houston was a mess defensively, and still hasn’t totally figured out how to incorporate Ty Lawson on offense. Mixing Lawson with James Harden was always going to take time, but a loss at home to a winless Nets team wasn’t supposed to be a part of the process. It’s extremely early in the season, and they’ll undoubtedly hit their stride at some point, but, man. The Nets? Really, Rockets? Go to your room and think about what you’ve done.

~Steph Curry ridiculousness interlude~

Boogie reminds everyone he’s part of the solution, and not the problem

By: Donnie Kolakowski (@donniebuckets)

The worst part of the week for the Sacramento Kings wasn’t the coach-star player rift. Or Vlade Divac laughing off analytics in a puff of cigar smoke. Or even the horrible basketball that led to everything boiling over.

The worst part was that this was the new normal. And it felt very much like the old normal.

Vivek Ranadive took over a team that was a laughingstock in how it was run. And he promised change, and a bright future.

Instead, Sacramento has continued to be a laughingstock, both on and off the court. And while there is plenty of finger pointing to go around, a lot of the ire has been directed at DeMarcus Cousins.

To be fair, Cousins hasn’t handled every situation in the best way. He probably could vent his frustration in a better way than screaming at his coach postgame. He takes plays off on defense, and he whines to officials constantly.

But then, on Wednesday, a funny thing happened. DeMarcus Cousins took the floor and dominated. He scored from everywhere on the floor. He hit four of his five three-point attempts! He thoroughly outplayed Andre Drummond to the tune of 33 points and 9 rebounds. His team got its second win of the season by handling a Detroit squad that has been impressive all year.

And everyone remembered how good he is at basketball. And how there are several nights that he is the best player on the floor. And how he has the potential to be the best center in the league. And how, despite the constant turmoil around him, he’s added to his game each and every year.

Cousins is far from blameless in this mess, but how many young players could endure what he has had to endure and come out looking good? Coach after coach, new regime after new regime, new teammate after new teammate, Cousins has had one of the most tumultuous starts to a career for any star player ever.

For one night, the ridiculousness wasn’t the story front and center in Sacramento. Cousins reminded other teams in the league why they should be lining up to see if he is available, and reminded the Kings why he might be the only person in the whole organization worth keeping for the long haul.

Hi, Monta

Kristaps Porzingis is the hero New York deserves

By: Jack Maloney (@jackhaveitall)

Extremely early returns make it seem like New York has a new hero in their midst in Kristaps Porzingis, and he almost added another chapter to that legacy last night.

I was at work, but luckily things were slow and I happened to check in on the Knicks-Hornets matchup just in time to see the main event. Cody Zeller hit a late bucket for the Hornets, but almost left too much time on the clock for Godzingis. Everyone’s favorite Latvian hit a deep three off the inbounds as time expired, but a review determined that the ball was still on his fingertips as time expired.

(h/t @talkhoops)

My phone screen is so tiny (shoutout to the iPhone 4S, we still out here) that I couldn’t really tell if they were right, but my feeling is that you should just count a shot like that. I don’t know, maybe it was on his fingers still, but that’s an iconic shot, you just have to count it. You called it good on the floor, just say there’s no evidence to overturn. Come on, refs, let Kristaps be great!

Regardless, I do have to say, that was the most exciting 2 seconds of basketball I’ve ever watched on my phone at work. God bless League Pass. God bless the New York Knicks. God bless Kristaps Porzings.