D Rose Gets His Flowers | HOOPS Daily, 1/6/2025
Kawhi Leonard is back, Jimmy Butler vs the Heat, celebrating D Rose, and more.
The Tip-Off: Standout Performances from the Weekend
- CJ McCollum: 50pts, 10 3PM in W vs Wizards
- Victor Wembanyama: 35pts/18r/4a/2blk in W vs Nuggets
- Nikola Jokic: 41pts/18r/9a/2stl in L vs Spurs
- Cade Cunningham: 40pts/9a/6r in W vs Wolves
- Anthony Edwards: 53pts, 10 3PM in L vs Pistons
- Karl-Anthony Towns: 44pts/16r/5a in L vs Bulls
Game Recaps
Jalen Green had the best first quarter of his career on Sunday, putting up 18pts vs the Lakers to help the Rockets build a 22pt lead at one point. LA showed a lot of fight as they battled back, led by Bron (21pts/13r/9a) and Anthony Davis (30pts/13r/5blk) but the comeback attempt came up just short as the Lakers lost 119-115.
Sacramento absolutely dismantled the Warriors with a 30pt win despite not having De’Aaron Fox in the lineup. Malik Monk (26pts/12a/4stl) set the tone with an incredible +41 in just 29 minutes of action while Keon Ellis and Devin Carter ratcheted up the defense to frustrate Golden State all game long.
OKC pushed their win streak up 15-straight with an impressive win over the Celtics led by another effortless double-double from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (33pts/11r).
In the East, Cleveland notched their second 10-game win streak of the young season, pulling away from the Hornets early with a 15pt halftime lead.
Don’t look now but the Detroit Pistons are starting to build something nice. At 17-18 on the season, they eclipsed last year’s win total of 14, the last week of December! It’s a bummer they lost Jaden Ivey to injury over the weekend as him and Cade have been developing an incredible chemistry together, but in the two games since Ivey went down, the Pistons are 2-0 with wins over the Wolves and Hornets as Cade Cunningham has continued his All-Star caliber play and the team has also seen extremely positive contributions from Ausar Thompson on both ends of the court since he was able to return to action a few weeks back.
Welcome Back Kawhi
After 400+ long days, the LA Clippers welcomed back Kawhi Leonard to the lineup in what turned out to be a huge victory that only saw Leonard play 20 minutes.
He looked good in those minutes too. He moved without any limitations, shot it well enough, and most importantly, didn’t experience any soreness or setbacks. I’m sure the team will still be careful with their superstar but even as a staunch Clippers hater, I have to admit it was nice to see him back hooping.
The Jimmy Butler/Heat Saga
We were about eight days removed from Pat Riley’s “we aren’t trading Jimmy Butler” proclamation but let this be a reminder that time moves different in the NBA. In the last week we’ve got:
- Reports that Jimmy would go anywhere else to play that isn’t Miami
- Jimmy Butler’s “Joy” press conference
- The Heat suspending Jimmy for seven games
- The NBA PA announces they’ll file a grievance on Jimmy’s behalf
- The Heat losing by 36 to Utah the day after announcing Jimmy’s suspension
- Fans vandalizing murals of Jimmy around the town
Complicating this even more is the fact that Jimmy will be looking for a huge payday from whoever trades for him or a team will be making a massive rental for half a season. And there aren’t too many teams that can manage to acquire his contract anyways so options are going to be limited. I think it’s a bummer that this situation has devolved like this, seemingly over unresolved issues from Pat Riley’s comments last season to where we are now. Jimmy is an all-time Heat player by this point so to see the relationship fall apart is a bummer.
D Rose Gets His Flowers
Saturday night was D Rose night at the United Center and by the looks of it, just about all of Chicago turned out to celebrate.
If you haven’t had the chance to watch the full ceremony, it’s highly emotional and well worth 17 minutes of your time today to see all the love the city, the organization, and all of his former teammates had for him.
And nothing was better than this moment he shared with his son PJ that left both of them in tears:
Really though, just watch the whole thing because unless you were watching during Rose’s Chicago peak and MVP season, you won’t see a better example of what he meant to that city then this ceremony. We even got to see the moment the Bulls let him know that next season, they’ll be hanging his number in the rafters.
The Whole League is Tweakin’
We’re only six days into 2025 but thankfully, LiAngelo Ball decided to drop the song of the year already.
This song has been out for like three days and it’s already everywhere.
The Cavs played it Sunday after beating the Hornets
My Detroit Lions played it after clinching the 1 seed in the NFC
And according to Lonzo, this isn’t just going to be a one and done as the Bulls were bumping a completely different track after beating the Knicks on D Rose night:
At the Buzzer
- Pistons’ Jaden Ivey to be re-evaulated in four weeks following broken fibula
- Rockets’ F Jabari Smith to miss 4-8 weeks with fractured hand suffered in practice Friday
- Magic G Jalen Suggs had to leave court in wheelchair following scary fall on Friday, he’s officially listed as Questionable for Monday vs. Knicks
- Nets lose Cam Johnson (at least three games), Cam Thomas (at least nine games) to injuries
Watching Tonight
We’ve got nine games on tap for Monday night with some really intriguing matchups I’m excited to see:
Suns at 76ers
Magic at Knicks
Clippers at Timberwolves
What are you most excited for today?
Man it feels good to be back after a nice little winter break, I hope everyone has been doing well and is starting the year off in positive fashion. Thank you for taking the time to check out today’s newsletter, I hope you enjoyed at least one thing from it. Take care.