Daily Juice report - Wilt. Bam. Kobe??
Okay guys let’s dive right into it, and I assume you can guess by the title - today’s headliner is Bam Adebayo. What the hell happened last night in the Heat/Wizards game? He started off the game by dropping 31 points in the first quarter, passing Kobe for the 5th highest scoring quarter ever. What an incredible start, I feel like everyone watching knew he was heating up - if you saw our twitter, you know we did too. That wasn’t the big news though obviously, as the headlining stat was a whopping 83 points in the game. 20/43 (47%) from the field, 7/22 (32%) from three, and 36/43 from the free-throw line. Factoring in a pair of blocks and steals and 9 rebounds, the man was an all-around terror.
2 Hot Takes: Kobe’s 81-point game was significantly more impressive. And Bam’s 1st quarter was more impressive than his whole game.
Now, hear me out. In Kobe’s game vs the Raptors he shot 28/46 (61%) from the field, significantly better than Bam. He shot 7/13 (54%) from three, again way better. Kobe also shot exactly 90% from the line on 18/20 free throws. Let me spell this out for you, Kobe did this on 90/50/40 shooting percentages while digging his team out of a double-digit deficit to win the game. He didn’t even play the most minutes for the Lakers that day. Bam stayed in the game well past his mark, while all the other starters were out because of the insane lead. They were intentionally fouling, they were doing stupid shit to force the ball in Bam’s hands. He was hacking up every shot he could and yeah some of them fell. Don’t get me wrong, he deserves his flowers for an unreal performance - but it was not better than Kobe’s. Kobe scored 81 points fighting for a win, and Bam scored 83 just trying to make it past 81. Bully-ball is a good strategy and drawing fouls are great for extra points, but shooting double the free throws and three’s while on significantly less percentages - an example of what his motive was after the first quarter. Dropping merch the next day and branding his 83-point game is a little disrespectful to the genuine magic we saw from Kobe. Ime Udoka said basically the same shit, and I don’t know maybe people would value your opinion if you didn’t spend your time in Boston fucking your assistant. Anyways, Bam was hot in the first quarter though, and that was historic in it’s own sense, but I still say Wilt. Kobe. Bam.
In more record-breaking news, AJ Dybantsa absolutely went OFF for BYU last night. It’s a shame he’s risking passing on the draft because he’s easily top three. 40 points alone gives him the Big 12 record for most points by a freshman in a single game (previously Kevin Durant). He also did it while grabbing 9 rebounds and shooting nearly 75% from the field. Come ON man, I need you in the NBA soon.
One more record before we move to news, and we’ll keep it quick. This morning Iowa State absolutely STOMPED Arizona State, winning 91-42. Their winning margin (49) was larger than Arizona State’s team total, and it was actually a record in the Big 12 - the largest winning lead in tournament history.
Oh yeah, the U.S baseball team also lost in the Baseball World Classic to Italy last night, a game that we were supposed to absolutely steamroll. I was pretty fucking mad at everyone on that roster except Pete Crow-Armstrong (2 HR’s) until this moring - when I saw the managers comments. Apparently, he made a mistake and thought we had already secured advancement to the next round… Are you FUCKING KIDDING ME? Please for the love of fucking god, fire Mark DeRosa. We don’t need him for this, plenty of other good coaches wouldn’t have fumbled that bag.
Speaking of a fumbled bag, Mxax Crosby is… not going to the Raiders? Honestly, there’s so many conflicting reports and rumors - all we know is he failed his physical. People are speculating that the Ravens knew that he had issues but used it as a way to pussy out, which would make sense considering their massive Hendrickson signing today. Like literally an identically big signing for their defense, just not as good of a player. Who knows if the Raiders will shop him or keep him, but wherever he goes - that’s a tough division. I just feel bad for the guy out there that shaved his head once he heard Crosby got traded, tough luck but at least it grows back!
Lastly, something small (unless you’re a Sixers fan): Tyrese Maxey will be out for the next 3 weeks with a strained tendon in his pinkie. Yes, we heard that right… I double-checked. It probably hurts more than it sounds, but this is just tough timing with Philly fighting to get up in the East. Unfortunately, I’m a Celtics fan so this is music to my ears - the higher placement for us, the better.