309 Point Game: This Is Not A Typo

Happy Wednesday! Crappy weather conditions aside(for ½ of the US), we’re dialing up a helluva week in sports. We’ve got football, more football, basketball, hockey, and oh yeah, more football!

Let’s dig into last night’s matchups and see what other news is out there today.

Feast Week In The NCAA

We’ve got ranked vs. ranked matchups in the Maui Invitational, the Battle 4 Atlantis, and the Acrisure Classic (yup, that’s a weird one), plus a few other Thanksgiving tournaments taking place in the Northern Hemisphere. When it’s ranked vs ranked, not every team can stay perfect. A #1 or #2 ranked team might get beat and while it’s not all about having the best ranking, getting that #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament at the end of the year should be the goal. Since the tournament expanded back in 1985, #1 seeds have won the entire thing more than 50% of the time.

Let’s check a few scores from last night

#7 Tennesse 67 | #2 Purdue 71

🏀Purdue grabbed a semifinal win at the Maui Invitation after Fletcher Loyer led the Boilermakers with 27 points and Zach Edey had a double-double with 23 points and 10 rebounds.

👉️ The game was close throughout, but Purdue pulled away in the final minutes, thanks to a 10-6 run.

🌴 Purdue had the advantage under the glass last night, with a center as tall as a palm tree they grabbed 44 rebounds to Tennessee’s 31

#1 Kansas 59 | #4 Marquette 73

🌴 Marquette upset #1 ranked Kansas in the other semifinal game of the Maui Invitational.

🏃 Marquette was trying to run away with this one. They led the Jayhawks for all but 22 seconds of the entire game. Marquette even had a 17-point lead with less than 8 minutes to go in the game.

⚡️This might be the biggest win for Marquette’s 2nd year coach Shaka Smart. Smart is relying on developing his players in-house instead of going to the transfer portal, which is something Kansas did. Kansas has elite talent but they’ll need to work through the season and get comfortable with each other.

309 points in an NBA Game

Nope, that’s not a typographical error aka a typo. There was a 309-point NBA game last night and there was no overtime. Let’s check it out along with some other games and performances.

Indiana Pacers 157 | Atlanta Hawks 152

🏀 I don’t know if it’s the in-season tournament working its magic but if you live in Atlanta and decided to go to the Hawks game, you were in for a treat, even if your team lost.

📈 We talked the other day about how the Pacers are scoring way more points per possession than any other NBA team, and they showed that last night. Tyrese Haliburton scored 37 points and Buddy Hield dropped 24. Obi Toppin rounded out the 20+ point scoring effort with his own 21 points. 4 other Pacers scored in double digits, in fact, everyone on the Pacers scored last night.

👉️ If your opponent scores 157 and you only lose by 5, you must’ve had a pretty good night too. The Hawks were led by Trae Young who had 38 points, Dejounte Murray had 28 and Bogdan Bogdanovic had 26.

⌛️ It was a close one throughout but the Pacers got a few calls in the final minute to help secure the win and the score looked better than it was as Hield hit a layup at the buzzer.

Portland Trail Blazers 107 | Phoenix Suns 120

🌤️ Phoenix had some cloud cover in the beginning of the season but they are starting to make moves and are on a 4 game win streak.

👉️ The Suns easily handled a young Trail Blazers team with Kevin Durant scoring 31 points. Devin Booker also dropped 28.

Cleveland Cavaliers 122 | Philadelphia 76ers 119

📉The Sixers have lost 3 of their last 5 after starting the season 9-1.

👉️ The Cavs outscored the Sixers 65-53 in the first half and it was just enough to be able to hold off a 4th quarter push by Philly.

🏀 Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen had 32 and 26 for the Cavs

🏀 Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and Tobias Harris had 32, 30, and 23 for the Sixers, respectively.

Utah Jazz 99 | LA Lakers 131

🏀 The Lakers easily rolled the Utah Jazz in Los Angeles and LeBron scored his 39,000th point after putting up 17 while only playing half the game. Anthony Davis led the Lakers with 26 points and 16 rebounds.

NFL News

Steelers Fire OC

👀The Pittsburgh Steelers have fired offensive coordinator Matt Canada.

👎️ Head coach Mike Tomlin made the decision after the team's 13-10 loss to the Cleveland Browns on Sunday. The Steelers are 6-4 but have been outgained by their opponents in every matchup. The Steelers rank 28th in scoring and 31st in passing in the NFL

🔈️Running backs coach Eddie Faulkner will be in charge of coordinating the Steelers' offense moving forward while quarterbacks coach Mike Sullivan will handle the "bulk" of play-calling duties and HC Mike Tomlin said “I just want to see points”

👉️ This is the first time the Steelers have made an in-season coaching change since 1941.

Colts Release Shaq Leonard

🏈 The Indianapolis Colts released LB Shaquille Leonard after his last two seasons haven’t been up to his early career all-pro standards.

📉 The former defensive rookie of the year dealt with some back injuries and surgeries during last year’s season and hasn’t been an every-down LB this year.

👍️ Leonard was cut on his day off but he still showed up with his former teammates to hand out turkeys to the community.

I Hope Aaron Rodgers Isn’t This Dumb

❤️‍🩹 Apparently Aaron Rodgers is expecting to be back on the practice field in two weeks… just 3 months after his Achilles surgery. He’s currently jogging on an anti-gravity treadmill and I’m not sure how he’ll progress to jogging on a field in just a few weeks. His unofficial target to play is Dec 24 against the Washington Commanders. Ready or not, the Jets are 4-6 and they can’t protect anybody with that offensive line. As much fun as it is to see the Jets be terrible, I’d like to see Aaron Rodgers not reinjure himself and see what he can do with this team in 2024.

What’s on TV Tonight?

NBA

🏀 Milwaukee Bucks @ Bostons Celtics, 7:30 pm ET on ESPN

🏀 GS Warriors @ Phoenix Suns, 10 pm ET on ESPN

NCAA Bball (full schedule here)

🏀 Northern Iowa vs. #14 North Carolina, Noon ET on ESPN

🏀 #7 Tennessee vs #1 Kansas, 2:30 pm ET on ESPN

🏀 #8 Creighton vs Loyola Chicago, 4 pm ET on CBSSN

🏀 #2 Purdue vs #4 Marquette, 5 pm ET on ESPN

NHL (full schedule here)

🏒 Boston Bruins @ Florida Panthers, 7 pm ET on TNT

🏒 Vegas Golden Knights @ Dallas Stars, 9:30 pm ET on TNT

That’s all for today.

Enjoy the games tonight and we’ll be back with you tomorrow for Turkey Day!

-The Daily Breakroom