January 24, 2021 Results:

What we got right:

NBA:

Toronto at Indiana - While the raptors didn’t held the Pacers under 100 points like we anticipated, they did get the win 107-102. That was despite playing without Kyle Lowry and Pascal Siakam, their two leading scores. Toronto has now won five out of six to improve to 7-9 on the season. Indiana dropped to 9-7 with the loss, and are still trying to find scoring answers after trading away Victor Oladipo.

Oklahoma City at Los Angeles Clippers - With the 108-100 win, the Clippers tied the Lakes for the best record in the NBA at 13-4. Kawhi Leonard led the way for Los Angeles with 34 points, helping lift the Clippers to their seventh straight win. The Thunder were once again paced by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who led the way with 23 points in the loss.

Cleveland at Boston - This is what you call a get right game. The Celtics punished the Cavaliers 141-103, ending their three game losing streak. Boston shot 56% from the field, 50% from behind the three point line, and outrebounded Cleveland 55-34. Pick any stat in this game and the Celtics had the advantage.

Washington at San Antonio - The Wizards, playing for the first time in two weeks, fell to the Spurs 121-101. Bradley Beal led the way with 31 points, but it took him 29 shots to do it. No one else on the Wizards took more than 15. The Spurs had a much more balanced approach, with no one taking more than 14 shots, and seven players scoring in double figures.

Atlanta at Milwaukee - Milwaukee snapped their two game losing streak, beating Atlanta 129-115 on Sunday. Giannis Antetokounmpo had 27 points and 14 rebounds for the Bucks, who did most of their damage in the paint. They outscored the Hawks 60-30 inside, erasing any hope that Atlanta could steal this game.

New York at Portland - Even though we picked the Blazers to lose, they didn’t cover the four point spread so this is a win. Damian Lillard had 39 points for Portland in the 116-113 win. This was the first game for Portland in six days, and they looked well rested against a Knicks team playing its third game in the last four days. New York tried to make a game out of it after being down by 20 points at halftime, but didn’t have enough juice to complete the comeback.

NFL:

AFC Championship Game: Buffalo at Kansas City - The Kansas City Chiefs are heading to their second consecutive Super Bowl after beating the Bills 38-24. Patrick Mahomes showed no signs of the concussion he received last week, passing for 325 yards and 3 touchdowns. He got the ball into the hands of his playmakers all day, with Tyreek Hill catching 9 balls for 172 yards and Travis Kelce catching 13 for 118. The Bills had no answer for the Chiefs offense in this one, and couldn’t score enough to stay with them. Josh Allen played his worst game of the season, and he was wildly inaccurate for the majority of the game. This season was still a success for the Bills, who made the Conference Championship game for the first time since 1993. Now it’s the offseason for the Bills, while the Chiefs head to Tampa Bay to face the Buccaneers in Super Bowl LV.

What we got wrong:

NBA:

Charlotte at Orlando - Going into the fourth quarter the Magic had a 12 point lead and we thought we were going to have a perfect day. Than Charlotte came alive, outscoring Orlando 33-18 in the last frame to get the 107-104 win. Gordon Hayward led the way for the Hornets, scoring 39 points and hitting the game winning shot with less than a second left. The win ended a four game losing streak for Charlotte.

NFL:

NFC Championship Game: Tampa Bay at Green Bay - The backbreaker for the Packers came at the end of the first half. With 34 seconds left and the Buccaneers leading 14-10, Green Bay was trying to move the ball for a field goal that would have cut the deficit to one. Instead Aaron Rodgers threw an interception, and Tom Brady responded with a 39 yard touchdown pass to Scotty Miller with one second left on the clock. That turned what could have been a one point game into an eleven point game, and the Packers were playing catch up the rest of the way. They picked Tom Brady off three times in the second half, but that only led to six points. Everyone is going to be talking about the field goal that the Packers made with 2:05 left in the game that cut it to five, which still is very confusing to us, but the bigger reason they lost was the execution at the end of the first half. Now Tampa Bay becomes the first team in NFL history to play a Super Bowl in its home stadium, as they play the Chiefs in Super Bowl LV in two weeks.