If Donatas Motiejunas goes hard, goes hard starting right now and keeps going hard for the rest of the season, he might earn himself a “Post Move-ilation”. He’s been getting jerked around by teams and their doctors a whole bunch this season, but now all that is behind him. It’s been a long time, and he finally gets to show his stuff again. He’s on an NBA team, an NBA team that wants to give him minutes, and it’s time for him to get buckets. Buckets in the form of hook shots with either hand.
If D-Mo has to take some shots away from Anthony Davis, so be it. Sacrifices must sometimes be made in the name of sick end-of-season highlights packages. Davis is great, but he’s old hat now. D-Mo is new hat. Everyone wants to see what he can do, what kind of moves he has, and he needs to impress them by doing Hakeem-esque moves in the paint, by doing spinny ballerina moves around either pivot foot before throwing up a confident one-hander.
This is a good start. I counted two buckets that would go in a hypothetical post move-ilation. Add in one of his “D-Mo for three-mo” (no word on whether the Pelicans commentators will coopt that phrase), some free throws, and some relatively pedestrian assists, and you have a great debut for one of the more talented offensive players in the league. What’s wrong? A little hyperbole never hurt anyone.