Who Won?! NBA Scores

A question I never thought I’d ask, “are the Golden State Warriors better without Klay Thompson?” Has an answer I thought was equally outlandish: “Yes.” Let’s not get it confused, peak Klay Thompson was a force of nature. But 34 year old Klay Thompson, struggling to reimagine himself after 2 devastating injuries, that’s not the same guy. Still a deadly 3 point shooter. Absolutely. And the Dallas Mavericks, specifically Luka Doncic, will reap the benefit of that now. But he’s not the same. And with Chris Paul, well, he’s 39. He might be the most impressive 39 year old not named LeBron James, but he’s clearly had a decline as well and is coming off of injury. He’ll elevate Victor Wembanyama to an immediate All Star in San Antonio, but again. Not the same. And what GSW has done on the margins to replace those guys has been surprising. They’ve gotten a solid 2-way guard in De’Anthony Melton, a really good playmaking defender in Kyle Anderson, and one of the best 3 pt shooters ever, not named Klay Thompson or Steph Curry, in Buddy Hield. So most of what you were getting from Klay and CP3 has been replicated, a significant upgrade on defense has been made, and the pieces could fit into the puzzle in a way that brings more schematic consistency throughout the course of the game. Are they contenders for the NBA Championship? No. But they do seem like they’re a better team on paper, which is not something you would have expected to say if you knew the Splash Brothers were history and Chris Paul was walking away for nothing.

It’s been a few days since Dejounte Murray was traded from the Atlanta Hawks to the New Orleans Pelicans. A move that makes a ton of sense for one side and leave a big question mark for the other...

Catching you up on the games you missed while you were visiting family and stuffing your face!

Thanks for listening to Who Won?! - the podcast for the busy NBA fan who doesn't have time to watch every game, but still wants to know who won without all the hot takes and click bait!

The NBA season is officially underway!

Welcome to who won the podcast for busy NBA fans who don’t have time to watch every game but still want to know who won without all the hot takes and click bait.

There were two games on opening night. We’ll start in Denver where it was ring night and the Lakers were in town and Denver was favored by 5 - which they covered comfortably with a 12 point 119-107 victory.

The Lakers got off to a slow start in this one, which isn’t ideal when you’re taking on the defending champs.

Jokic led the way doing Jokic things turning in a 29 point triple double with 13 rebounds and 11 assists. He only had 2 turnovers and hit on 3 of his 5 3 point attempts.

Alongside the Joker, Jamal Murray had 21 points to go with 6 assists and also hit 3 of his 5 3s and Kantavious Caldwell Pope added 20 with 3 steals on the other end.

All the starters in this game scored in double figures.

For the Lakers, Lebron James had an efficient night with 21 points 8 rebounds and 5 assists on 10-16 shooting and no turnovers. The trouble came in the non-Lebron minutes. The team was +7 with Lebron on the floor and lost the game by 12.

The Nuggets next game will be Friday against the Ja-less Memphis Grizzlies.

The Lakers will be in action again on Thursday hosting the new look Suns.

In our second game of the night, we got a ton of new faces in new colors in the CP3 revenge-ish game?? As Phoenix took on Golden State. This was nearly a pickle em with the warriors favored by a point at home.

With all the offensive firepower in this game, I imagine you’d have made a killing if you put money on the first bucket of the game to come from Jusif Nurkic.

Now imagine you but in music Nurkic to score the first AND last buckets!!! What would those odds have been??

Well that’s what happened. But in between those buckets Devin Booker was the start of the show leading the suns to a 108-104 victory the road.

Book ended the game with 32 points 8 assists and 6 boards. He hit 3 of 8 on 3 pointers. He also had 6 of his teams 19 turnovers- which kept Golden State in this one.

His costar Kevin Durant didn’t shoot it very well going 7-22 and ending the game with 18 points. But he did secure 11 rebounds. Josh Okogie went 7-9 on the way to his 17 and Nurkic ended with 14 and 14 rebounds.

On the other side golden state just didn’t shoot it very well under 36% as a team and 23% from 3.

Steph Curry led the way with 27 going 8-20 and hit 4 of his 14 3s. Chris Paul managed 14 and 9 assists in his debut, missing all 6 of his 3 point attempts.

Up next the Suns play the Lakers on Thursday as mentioned.

And the Warriors head to Sacramento to play the Kings on Friday.

Both games from last night were on NBA TV including the annual Mexico City game as well as a 50 point performance in a losing effort.

Welcome to who won the podcast for busy NBA fans who don’t have time to watch every game but still want to know who won without all the hot takes and click bait.

In the first game the Indiana Pacers withstood a 54 point night from Giannis to get a come from behind 2 point victory 126-124

• The Bucks had a lead half way through the 4th quarter and Indiana went on an 18-7 run to close it out
• Tyrese Halliburton led the charge with 10 of his 29 in the final quarter
• He also dished 10 dimes and grabbed 6 boards
• He hit 5 3s in this game
• He got help from Ben Mathurin with 26 points and 11 rebounds as well as 4 3s from Myles Turner who chipped in 21 points
• Gianni’s’ 54 came with 12 rebounds
• He was 19-25 from the floor and 16-18 from the free throw line
• This was the definition of not getting help - Dame was out with a calf - and every other starter had a negative plus/minus except Giannis
• Next up for these teams
• The bucks head to Orlando for a game on Saturday
• And the pacers will be in Philly on Sunday

The drama continued in the second game of the night in Mexico City - where the Hawks managed a 1 point victory over the Magic 120-119

• They outscored Orlando by 6 in the final frame to get this one done behind Trae young who scored 41 points to go with 8 assists
• As you can tell by the score these teams were evenly matched throughout the night with the magic taking an edge in the rebounding column and Atlanta hitting 5 more 3s as a team
• Trae young got help from Jalen Johnson who’s continuing his break out with 19 and 9 - Bogie, Murray, and Hunter all scored in double figures for a well round supporting effort
• On the Orlando side Jalen Suggs led the way in scoring with 21 and 6 steals while 6 other guys reached double figures

It’ll be a busy night tonight with 9 games taking place around the league and they’re all in-season tournament - NBA Cup - group play games - that means funny courts and jerseys!!