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This is a late fiver, apologies on that front. Had a work week chock full of…work and didn’t get’ round to watching the Denver game until late last night. That was an incredibly fun game and rather than go into the in-game minutiae I’m rather going to highlight what certain plays mean to me in terms of this team’s overall growth. But that was an incredible 45-17 lock down run to basically end the game.

1. The Double Dive. Dennis ended up on the floor a few times last night but the double dive was emblematic of how coach Vogel wants the team to play. I know this because Frank dashed onto the court to help his 27 year old point guard up off the deck. Schroder had his typical sneaky good game. He canned multiple threes for the first time in almost 20 games, dished and dove with aplomb and was a general force on defense all night long.
2. The LeBron triple-double effect. I’m not sure that, outside of Magic Johnson, I’ve seen a player accumulate triple doubles with the ease that The King does. The most ot ever looks like he’s going for it is if he’s a pass or two away near the end of the game. Other than that he just grabs his rebounds, makes the right play and doesn’t overtly force the issue. James is having one heckuva season and has a good chance of being the MVP of the Association if he keeps this up. I actually expect his stiffest competition to come from the 5 spot this season in the form of both Jokic and Embiid with Jokic edging Joel in my book simply because he runs the Nugget offense as much as any guard does for their respective team. For my part the fact that LeBron is doing this at a point in an NBA life when most dudes his age would be getting their spot minutes in addition to any towel waving or team hyping they cared to engage in. A truly historic season among many for James.
3. Talen’s big game. This was really great to see. Prior to his 4 game DNP-CD stint on the bench THT was having some issues on defense. Not so much in terms of his effort or energy but his being in the right place as dictated by the staff. That is, in my opinion, the biggest reason why he got the 4 game bench vacation. The other was likely to see if either Wes or ‘Kieff could be jump started with more minutes or a larger role and we saw how that turned out. If he minds his on court P’s and Q’s, does what the staff asks and doesn’t push his attack on offense when there are plays that can be made in front of him I don’t see another stretch on the bench of Talen. That’s why you stay ready and don’t pout all you kids reading this, this life we’re living is one big old lesson that starts at zero and ends when you’re dead. THT kept his head, kept learning, kept grinding and was rewarded by being a part of what looks to be an elite 9 man rotation.
4. Robert Horry and I had the same reaction when we looked at the stat sheet: “Alex Caruso was -2?!” That is the Caruso effect for you, in a nutshell. He missed all of his shots (only took 3 all from distance) and only played 17 minutes. But his third quarter defense on Murray, Morris or whomever he got switched onto was a big reason for our epic 45-17 run where we pulled away and turned the 4th quarter into garbage time. If I had to pick a player to compare Alex to it would be Tony Allen because I can’t think of another guard/wing who could effect a game to the degree they do without scoring the ball once.
5. The trade deadline. Unless we trade someone outside the 9 I don’t see one happening. It’s not that we don’t have needs to address, we do, especially at the center position, but I don’t see us moving any of our key figures. Here’s why: with almost no time for practice based on COVID scheduling, the defense finding it’s groove and the synergy our two superstars have with their supporting cast a trade kind of doesn’t make sense. Whomever comes in might not even start, or even crack the 9. From my perspective you’re going to give up too much to get a role player when our role players already fit like gloves into our team identity. The best thing I could imagine would be trading Gasol for Howard straight up. Since Philly is leading the East with the team it has I don’t see that happening. So I expect the Laker moves to be relegated to scanning the waiver wire and rolling the dice with the squad we have rather than make a move for a player that barely moves the needle, if at all. That being said, it’s the NBA and I expect Rob and the front office to explore every available avenue for improvement.

Sorry Nuggets fans, Denver must feel like they’re still in the Bubble (heck, they played us tougher in the Bubble) but take heart that Jokic, Murray and Michael Porter Jr. are going to be a force to be reckoned with for a good long time. Nikola will probably win an MVP at some point when he starts pushing his scoring average into the 20s, Murray is a lights out/knockdown shooter and MPJ has a huge ceiling of untapped potential. Wasn’t enough last night.