From Coby White Putting Wemby On A Poster To Anthony Edwards Daggers, We Had One Hell Of A Ball Night In The Association

Jeff Haynes. Getty Images.

If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times. The beauty of NBA basketball is you can sit down, flip around League Pass and every single night something awesome is going to happen. Good teams, bad teams, it doesn't matter. The talent has never been better and this season continues to deliver with every new opportunity.

Take this random Monday night in early January. Almost at the midway point of the NBA season, these are the early dog days of the NBA calendar. And what happens? Another electric Ball Night.

Let's start with the Pistons and the Blazers. Yes, that is a real sentence. See this is something you may not be aware of if you're not paying all that close attention. The Pistons are sneaky good now. Not just by Pistons standards, but by regular standards too! One might think a Pistons/Blazers game in early January wouldn't be worth your time, but you'd be wrong. It was electric

The Blazers once led by 22, we had massive runs by each side, with the Blazers punching first and then the Pistons roaring back

Cade Cunningham is playing at an All Star level, and he certainly lived up to that hype tonight while putting this team on his back and going blow for blow with Anfernee Simons (36 points)

You know how people say they want to see a return of defense in today's game? I couldn't agree more. Awesome defense rules, especially when it comes in the fashion we saw in this win for the Pistons. This is about as good as it gets to secure the win

and suddenly the Pistons are back at .500 and have currently won 7 of their last 8. They currently sit in 8th in the East and just 1 game out of a top 5 seed. Should they be buyers at the deadline? Is that maybe why they might try and land Bradley Beal? One thing is for certain, Cade Cunningham by himself is worth giving some of your TV time to on a nightly basis, and as a whole the Pistons are finally looking like the young ascending team many people thought they'd be for the last few years now.

Immediately after this game we had another wild finish, this time in Chicago between the Bulls and Spurs. If Wemby is on the TV it's obviously worth your time, and this was another thrilling game that came down to the wire featuring a massive comeback by the home team.

The Bulls trailed by as many as 19 points but then once we got to winning time, they started going nuts

Coby White might be one of the most electric points guards in the league, and someone who I would describe as a microwave scorer. It doesn't take much for him to settle into a zone and then once he's there he turns into an avalanche of offense. Zero fear and the ultimate confidence. Do you know how brave you have to be to go at Wemby at the rim for a layup off the glass in that spot? That's a shot Wemby blocks 99 times out of 100. Little did we know, Coby White was just getting started

OK, new question. How many point guards put one on Wemby like that and survive? Not only that, but to effectively end the game? Sure the Spurs did their part to blow that lead and then completely crumble down the stretch, but this is more about the Bulls and White. What a play.

This is another team that makes no goddamn sense. The Bulls seem to be able to beat the good teams, yet there's talk of them blowing it up. I don't get it. The talent is there, why not just say screw it and try and make a run? It's not like the East isn't open after the top 3 seeds, and their record against good teams is 12-14. Those 12 wins are more than NYK/ORL/MIL/IND/DET/ATL have at the moment, and that's seeds 3-9. Try making any sense out of that.  

So if a 22 point comeback by the Pistons wasn't enough, and a 19 point comeback by the Bulls wasn't enough, let's all move over to what took place out in Minnesota.

The Clippers, now with Kawhi Leonard back, built a 19 point lead over the Wolves. Given how things have gone for MIN these last few games, it sure looked like this was going to be another brutal loss in what has been a brutal season. 

Then Anthony Edwards happened

When it came time for the dagger, everyone watching this game and really the entire planet knew where it was coming from. For those who find themselves disgusted by 3P shooting and can't bare to watch the evolution of the game, look away. For the rest of us? Enjoy

While he may have his issues reading a double team and procIessing defenses quickly, one thing Ant does do is rise to the occasion in these types of moments. He's a big time late game shot maker, and has been for a few seasons now. He's a guy who's not afraid of the moment and wants to go for the kill, and that's partly what makes him so fun to watch. Not only because he has the balls to take shots like that, but that he mixes that with the skill to actually make it. 

Given how the Wolves have been sliding, that shot and comeback is beyond massive. The vibes were a bit of a disaster with that team lately, especially around Ant. Getting outplayed against Tatum, complaining about having to pass, scoring 53 and losing the next game, everything around the Wolves needed a comeback and a shot like that. For a team desperately trying to get out of the Play In, every win against teams like LAC are important, if for nothing else but potential H2H tiebreakers.

So wadday know, a random Monday in early January just so happened to be another great Ball Night. 

P.S.

I didn't even mention the HUGE win by the very injured Magic over the Knicks at MSG (no KAT). That's another team that's an incredible watch this year, even with all their injuries they just find a way to remain competitive. What a coaching job by Jamahl Mosley. We also had a Giannis triple double in 3 quarters in his game, so yeah. Not a bad night of hoops.