If the Rockets don’t play defense and don’t intend to play defense, why do they have a small forward rotation that consists entirely of defensively-oriented players? There’s Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, there’s P.J. Tucker, and there’s Trevor Ariza. That sort of redundancy is comparable to the redundancy of having two high-caliber ball-handlers in James…
Read MoreEric Gordon 24 Points/2 Dunks Full Highlights (10/17/2017)
Does it even really feel like Eric Gordon won Sixth Man of the Year to you? One of the commentators mentioned it during the broadcast and I was like “huh, oh yeah, I guess he did win that one”. At the same time, if you had told me it was Nick Young who won it…
Read MoreP.J. Tucker 20 Points Rockets Debut Full Highlights (10/17/2017)
Yet more evidence that Mike D’Antoni is a singularly offense-minded savant. We didn’t really need more evidence of that fact, but here it is anyway, ready to be added to the now towering pile: known non-scorer P.J. Tucker scored 20 points in his first game in D’Antoni’s system. Here’s a stat for you, because I…
Read MoreNick Young 23 Points/6 Threes Warriors Debut Full Highlights (10/17/2017)
A new season. Allow me to make a little noise of pure pleasure. UHHHHUUOOO. WUHHHH. It arrived a little earlier than expected, but it is, indeed, a totally new season. Who knows what’s going to happen? I’m not sure on the details quite yet, but I can tell you this: rookies will be scrubs, new…
Read MoreJayson Tatum 14 Points Celtics Debut Full Highlights (10/17/2017)
So this morning I woke up and everything was normal. I had pop tarts for breakfast (Stephanie thinks my reliance on pre-packaged “easy foods” is funny and endearing) then sat down at my computer to peruse the NBA news of the day. Of course I skipped all the news about contracts because 1. I don’t…
Read MoreJaylen Brown Career High 25 Points Full Highlights (10/17/2017)
Today was a strangely eventful day for your old pal DownToBuck. The good news is, I’m back to making highlights. The bad news is…well, you’ll have to keep reading to find out what the bad news is. Otherwise you’d stop reading here and I’d have written down all these words for nothing. So, I’m gonna…
Read MoreEvery NBA Player’s First Field Goal This Season (2016-17 Season Full-ilation Part IV)
This is what you’ve been waiting for. The scrubbiest scrubs in the NBA, making shots. Every player shown in this video made 55 field goals or less. Hell yeah. 0:09 – I’m not sure Jeff Withey even touched this ball. 0:52 – This is the first, but not the last, player in the video where…
Read MoreEvery NBA Player’s First Field Goal This Season (2016-17 Season Full-ilation Part III)
Part three of my full-ilation is subtitled “entering the void of lesser talent” because we’ve gotten to the point where some of these guys can’t even be called “role players” anymore. Diehard DTB adherents should recognize these dudes, but casual peasants might be confused by some of the names. That’s okay. You’re free to leave…
Read MoreEvery NBA Player’s First Field Goal This Season (2016-17 Season Full-ilation Part II)
This is part two of my video series displaying every player’s first converted field goal in the 2016-17 season. Part one was already getting towards some scrubby players by the end; part two continues that downward trend. If you like role-players, part two is pretty much the best part of them all. Just as in…
Read MoreEvery NBA Player’s First Field Goal This Season (2016-17 Season Full-ilation Part I)
Welcome to part one of my bold, forward-looking new series where I display the first made shot of every player who converted a field goal this season, starting with the most prolific shot-maker and ending with the most marginal scrub in the NBA. I have dubbed it a “full-ilation”, because what could be more “full”…
Read More