NBA Scores: The Los Angeles Clippers might want to consider tanking

If you came to the NBA on Sunday looking for good teams taking advantage of mediocre-to-bad teams, it was your day. Not an upset to be found (at least by record) as some of the league’s most fun squads showed off what makes them so. Into the action we go.

It’s pretty sick when you can roll a starting backcourt of All-Stars out there and have each one go out and get you 20+ in a single half. Overall, Garland and Mitchell combined to attempt nearly as many free throws as all of the Lakers combined and making plenty more; 19-20 for the Cavs duo compared to 12-21 from the Lakers.

The Lakers as bad as they are continues to be funny to me, especially considering the beautiful sliding doors of Cleveland using a mostly-homegrown squad that’s now 8-1 to assert it’s place above another homegrown Cav, LeBron James, who’s 2-7 to start in LA.

It was the first game without early MVP hopeful Pascal Siakam, out for at least a couple weeks with a right adductor strain, and Fred VanVleet stepped up in his place. He finished with 30 points and 11 assists, especially stepping up late with 9p and 3a in the fourth. If the Raptors take the Siakam absence in stride, they have a real shot to establish themselves near the top of the East standings.

Chicago, meanwhile, has to be searching for answers, coming up well short despite outshooting Toronto in each column. One standout issue is starting point guard Ayo Dosunmu who was -30 in 38 minutes. They may want to consider swapping Goran Dragic into the starting lineup, especially since Dosunmu is a good fit next to other bench guys like Javonte Green and Derrick Jones Jr.

From a 9-0 start to leading with less than seven minutes left, this game was right there for the taking for the Wizards. Instead, they decided to shoot 8-41 from deep and let the game slip away. Jordan Goodwin, however, was a bright spot for Washington in his sixth career game, showing real flashes and leading the team in plus/minus (+12).

The Grizzlies just keep looking like the Grizzlies night in and night out. Now 7-3, they’re on a mission this season to prove their 56 wins a year ago not a fluke. It seems like every game, Ja and Bane each put up 20+ while they get key contributions from others, like 10 rebounds from each of Aldama and Adams, or 16 and 5 off the bench from Clarke.

Despite moving off of Mitchell and Gobert, despite parting ways with Quin Snyder, and despite some putrid uniform rebranding, the Jazz continue to be awesome. They have as many wins as the Clippers and Warriors have combined (8), and the vibes are far beyond both combined, at least in the early stages of November.

Over in Steve Ballmer-land, maybe we’ve seen the peak of the Kawhi/PG era already. Maybe it’s time to regroup and reassess. The Clippers own their first round pick (currently #18 in the Tankathon standings), and a lot has already been made about teams that weren’t planning to deciding to sell in-season and enter their names into the Wemby sweepstakes. Clippers are looking more and more like a possibility for that, and they can take Utah’s place down there while the Jazz shoot to the top of the standings (currently #2 in the West).