Sometimes it’s hard for me to look at the big picture with these videos. I get so caught up in the individual performances that I don’t consider what the larger impact of the performance actually might be. So it took me a few minutes to realize that this game might be the defining game of Montrezl Harrell’s career. It might be the game that people go back to when people want to relive their memories of the man who was fondly known as “Monsterezl”, the man for whom “beast mode” was not just a mode that he slipped into occasionally, but a true way of life.
When I think about it that way, I get a little nervous. I don’t want future people judging my highlight videos based on their unreasonable, unattainable future-standards rather than the standards of my time. Yeah, so it doesn’t have fully-4D holographic replays or Real-Smel™ scenth-synthesis technology built in. I didn’t have those things available to me when I made this video in the year 2019. Stop judging me, future losers.
Anyway, Monsterezl’s final 32/5/5/0/2 line on 14-of-17 shooting is not only the best game of his career, it might also be one of the best performances by a backup center this season. In fact, I just looked it up, at 32 points is indeed the most that any big has scored coming off the bench this season. Julius Randle had 31, but Harrell actually holds seven of the top thirteen spots in that category. Damn. That’s nuts.