Even though Malik Monk’s statline in this game was “only” twenty points and five assists, it still felt a little bit like a breakout game due to the following factors:
Factor 1: Alley-Oop Dunkage. There was some seriously high-flying whammage coming from Monk in this game and it made his impact feel really big just because of how amped the crowd/his teammates were.
Factor 2: Clutch late-game buckets. With the game on the line, Monk showed no fear, and not only did he show no fear, but he didn’t defer to Terry Rozier, who was the hot hand. Except that one play where he did defer. And there were probably some plays at the end where he didn’t do anything meaningful with the ball. But, overall, I would say that Monk stepped up when it mattered most.
Factor 3: Five assists is a season-high for Monk. They weren’t spectacular assists, but there were five of them, which is enough to make me shut up about Monk being a me-first chucker. Don’t worry, I’ll go back to harassing him about his scorers’ mentality soon enough.
Factor 4: Did I mention those dunks? In the words of Grizzlies commentator Pete Pranica: “Holy Cow!”
All in all, twenty points isn’t quite enough to qualify as a breakout game, but this can still be a breakout game in our hearts.