FULL NBA Review From February 14, 2021

A stacked Sunday slate led to some great NBA basketball while simultaneously putting the biggest question mark on this entire season. It all started early in the day with an old Celtics-Wizards rivalry game featuring two St. Louis stars in Bradley Beal and Jayson Tatum with one dominating in a win (Beal) and the other playing horrendous in a blowout loss (Tatum).

The best game of the day saw two of the NBA’s biggest stars go at it until the final minute where Dame-time took over in Dallas and Luka missed the wide-open game-tying 3PA. A WCF rematch was ruined when AD re-aggravated his Achilles which puts a lot up in the air that could impact a variety of teams (more on this below).

Pascal Siakam missed the game-tying layup from point-blank range while KAT set the all-time T-Wolves 3PM record, Giannis’ triple-double wasn’t enough to beat the Thunder, and Mason Plumlee recorded his first career triple-double to take down the Pelicans.

A LaMarcus Aldridge-less Spurs squad overcame Scary Terry‘s crossovers to beat Charlotte. The Grizzlies-Kings game got heated after Metu’s dunk but Memphis made enough plays to win. Lou Will took over for the Clippers without Kawhi or Paul George as the Clippers keep rolling and the Suns made light work of Orlando on the second night of a back-to-back.

Here are the best NBA highlights, facts, performers, and takeaways from February 14th, 2021:

FINAL RESULTS

GAME OF THE DAY

Portland Trail Blazers (121) vs. Dallas Mavericks (118)

[Highlights] BLAZERS (+183; $11.09) d. @MAVERICKS (-183; $8.62) 121-118 [POR +5.5 | o235.5]

[Highlights] TIMBERWOLVES (+309; $6.50) d. @RAPTORS (-309; $8.20) 116-112 [MIN+7.5 | u229]

[Highlights] @THUNDER (+651; $8.57) d. BUCKS (-651; $9.78) 114-109 [OKC +12 | u228,5]

[Highlights] @PISTONS (+164; $9.35) d. PELICANS (-164; $9.24) 123-112 [DET +5.5 | o222]

[Highlights] SPURS (-115; $14.16) d. @HORNETS (+115; $14.86) 122-110 [SAS -4 | o227]

[Highlights] @WIZARDS (+246; $6.93) d. CELTICS (-246; $8.58) 104-91 [WAS +7 | u230]

[Highlights] GRIZZLIES (-109; $11.28) d. @KINGS (+109; $11.28) 124-110 [MEM +1.5 | o231.5]

[Highlights] @CLIPPERS (-577; $11.06) d. CAVALIERS (+577; $11.33) 128-111 [LAC -9 | o220.5]

[Highlights] @NUGGETS (+138; $9.44) d. LAKERS (-138; $11.78) 122-105 [DEN +3.5 | o219]

[Highlights] @SUNS (-477; $13.23) d. MAGIC (+477; $8.24) 109-90 [PHX -11.5 | u212]

NBA Game Odds via Vigit App

NBA Stock Prices via FANDEX

INTERESTING FACTS

Karl-Anthony Towns has the most career 3PM (522) in T-Wolves franchise history, passing Andrew Wiggins
KAT has the most consecutive GP (42) of 1+ 3PM in Wolves history & the longest streak in NBA history by a Center
Bradley Beal surpassed 700 PTS in the fewest GP (22) over a season in Wizards history, 3 fewer than any other player
Russell Westbrook is the fastest player to reach 300+ PTS/150+ REB/150+ AST during a season in DC history
Damian Lillard is the 1st player to reach 100 3PM during a season in fewer than 30 GP in Blazers franchise history
Other than LeBron (28), no player age 35 years or older has recorded 6+ straight GP of 15+ PTS/5+ REB/5+ AST
Giannis tied LeBron for the most triple-doubles (11) while recording multiple STLs and BLKs in NBA history
Giannis is the 2nd player with 100+ PTS/40+ REB/20+ AST over a 3-GP span but lose all 3 in the last 30 years
Nikola Jokic has the 2nd most GP (7) of 20+ PTS/15+ REB/10+ AST over the last 30 seasons, trailing Westbrook (23)
Jokic has the 3rd most career triple-doubles (47) through 407 GP, trailing only Oscar Robertson and Magic Johnson
Mason Plumlee is the oldest (30 y/346 d) Center at the time of his 1st career triple-double since Patrick Ewing in 1996
DEN joined BOS as the only teams w/ 4 straight 10+pt wins when facing teams on a 7+ GP win streak in NBA history

Luka Doncic facts:

Most PTS (118) over 3 GP in Dallas Mavericks franchise history
Longest streak (10 GP) of 25+ PTS/5+ REB/5+ AST since the ABA-NBA merger, tying MJ (1989) and Westbrook (2016)
Most PTS (90) over a 2-GP span and the t-most consecutive GP (2) of 40+ PTS in Mavericks franchise history
4th youngest player in NBA history with consecutive GP of 40+ PTS, behind LeBron, KD, and Iverson

BEST HIGHLIGHTS

It was Dame Time vs. Dallas

Dame is built different ⌚ pic.twitter.com/ldRGX0Hrgk
— NBA TV (@NBATV) February 15, 2021

Scary Terry had ’em skating

Scary Terry had 'em dancing 🤭 pic.twitter.com/3MlXhbzbnz
— NBA TV (@NBATV) February 15, 2021

Metu went for a wild ride

This Metu dunk on Valanciunas was wild 😅 pic.twitter.com/uvYYFccAip
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 15, 2021

King goes coast-to-coast easy

King James taking it coast to coast 👑 pic.twitter.com/uQy9KsTw0C
— NBA TV (@NBATV) February 15, 2021

Kuzma‘s filthy putback slam

Kuz on MPJ's head 🤯🤯🤯 pic.twitter.com/b13WtKP5oB
— ESPN (@espn) February 15, 2021

Campazzo‘s no-look dime right past Kuz

No angle, no look, no problem for Facundo Campazzo.

👀🎯📸

Take a look at every angle of the @nuggets guard's WILD dime to Zeke Nnaji. pic.twitter.com/RF6zgPTr7t
— NBA (@NBA) February 15, 2021

Floater from 3-point land

THIS SHOT BY LUKA 😮 pic.twitter.com/35c8BWhsYb
— ESPN (@espn) February 15, 2021

Murray put AD in the blender

Smoooooooth @BeMore27 pic.twitter.com/x4F9CGoY4F
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) February 15, 2021

Aggressive Ant attacks the rim

Anthony Edwards climbing the ladder 💪 pic.twitter.com/JIpPN1IIJV
— NBA TV (@NBATV) February 15, 2021

TOP PERFORMERS

[Highlights] C Nikola Jokic, DEN (W v.LAL): 23 PTS (8-17 FG | 1-5 3PT), 10 AST, 16 REB, 1 BLK, 0 STL, 3 TO

[Highlights] PF Giannis Antetokounmpo, MIL (L @OKC): 24 PTS (10-18 FG | 1-3 3PT), 10 AST, 17 REB, 3 BLK, 3 STL, 5 TO

[Highlights] PG Damian Lillard, POR (W @DAL): 34 PTS (12-26 FG | 5-11 3PT), 11 AST, 3 REB, 0 BLK, 1 STL, 5 TO

[Highlights] G Luka Doncic, DAL (L v.POR): 44 PTS (14-20 FG | 5-8 3PT), 9 AST, 7 REB, 0 BLK, 0 STL, 5 TO

[Highlights] SG Bradley Beal, WAS (W v.BOS): 35 PTS (10-18 FG | 4-9 3PT), 5 AST, 7 REB, 0 BLK, 2 STL, 6 TO

NBA TOP PERFORMERS

MAIN TAKEAWAY

ANTHONY DAVIS’ HEALTH IS THE BIGGEST X-FACTOR IN THE NBA THIS SEASON

Before the season began, the Los Angeles Lakers were overwhelming favorites to repeat as NBA champions thanks to their dynamic duo of LeBron James and Anthony Davis, along with an improved supporting cast that included the additions of C Montrezl Harrell, G Dennis Schroder, and G/F Wes Matthews.

Through over a third of the season, there’s been no reason for that to change as the Lakers have the second-best record in the league and just went on a 7-game winning streak. However, one major cause for concern is the health of Davis, who missed the last two games with Achilles tendinosis and then departed early against the Nuggets after re-aggravating the injury.

The Lakers may be able to stay afloat through the regular season with James carrying the squad, but the postseason is a whole different story. AD’s health is huge for determining the upcoming champion in the NBA.

With the Brow playing at full strength, the Lakers are THE team to beat and will be the Vegas favorites all throughout the postseason. However, if the 27-year-old is unavailable or even 90% as effective as he was in last year’s playoffs, the race becomes WIDE OPEN with an abundance of teams licking their chops at the proposition of an AD-less Lakers squad.

The current No.1 seeded Jazz and 76ers would benefit from home-court advantage
Giannis is looking to get Milwaukee over the hump with Jrue Holiday alongside him now
The Clippers are poised to bounce back from last year’s debacle
Denver can never be counted out
Boston has the highest potential of making a big move before the deadline
Miami is built to make another deep run if they can get back on track
Portland is a dark horse contender if CJ and Nurkic are healthy
Brooklyn would become the team to beat if AD isn’t there

The NBA has as many legitimate title contenders as it’s ever had but they have all had one thing in their way: a healthy Lakers team. If the reigning champs don’t have their second-best player producing at a near-MVP level, it’s anyone’s for the taking and should make for a very exciting 2021 NBA Postseason as the biggest x-factor in the NBA (AD’s health) is completely up in the air right now.

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