January 31, 2021 Results:

What we got right:

College Basketball:

SMU at #6 Houston - Houston continues to roll through AAC competition, winning another game by over 20 points. In the 70-48 win the Cougars held the Mustangs to 31% shooting and only two made three point baskets. They also outrebounded SMU by 12 in getting their eighth straight win and look to move in to the top five of the rankings.

NBA:

Philadelphia at Indiana - Joel Embiid didn’t play and Philadelphia still covered, winning 119-110. Tobias Harris had a season high 27 points for the 76ers while Ben Simmons added 21 for their third straight win. Malcom Brogdon led the way for the Pacers with 25 points in the loss.

What we got wrong:

College Basketball:

Michigan State at Ohio State - The Buckeyes beat the Spartans 79-62, dropping their record to 8-6. Michigan State is in trouble now. They haven’t missed an NCAA tournament since 1997, but they are in danger of missing it this year if they don’t improve, and rapidly. Ohio State led the whole way and every time Michigan State tried to get back in the game the Buckeyes had an answer.

NBA:

Los Angeles Clippers at New York - Maybe this is a new Clippers team, one that doesn’t have the “what the hell happened here?” game. They dominated the Knicks 129-115 for their tenth win in eleven games. New York came into this game with the best defense in the NBA, but the Clippers didn’t care. This was the most points the Knicks have given up in a game this season.

Utah at Denver - The winning streak had to come to an end at some point. Denver got a career high 47 points from Nikola Jokic to stop Utah’s winning streak at eleven games. The Jazz still have the best record in the NBA, but couldn’t stretch their winning streak to 12, losing 128-117. Bogdan Bogdanovic led the way for Utah with 29 points.

Orlando at Toronto - We didn’t give the Raptors enough credit as the beat the Magic 115-102 to snap a three game losing streak. We should have known that Orlando’s offense wasn’t going to be enough, because even though the Raptors aren’t playing well, they still are a good defensive team. We have learned our lesson and won’t be making the same mistake gain.

Brooklyn at Washington - This was a crazy finish. The Nets led 146-141 with under ten seconds left. Bradley Beal hit a three pointer, Washington got a quick steal, and Russell Westbrook hit another three and all of a sudden the Wizards were ahead 147-146. They added two free throws to end up with the 149-146 win. Brooklyn allowed a terrible Washington team to score 149 points, and now their are even more questions about their defense.

Cleveland at Minnesota - Minnesota proved us wrong in this one, playing hard and getting the 109-104 victory over Cleveland. Minnesota is still the worst team in the NBA, but for a night they looked like a competent basketball team. Cleveland had no answer for the guards of Minnesota, as Malik Beasley and Anthony Edwards both scored 23 points in the victory.