The NBA from a high schooler

  Hello, I’m Carlos Andres Segrera, and this is the NBA from the mind of a high schooler. After a Thanksgiving with no basketball, all-day hoops hit different yesterday. I was at the golf course till about 2 yesterday, so I only watched the last bit of Knicks-Hornets, but after that, I was locked in for the rest of the day. Yesterday was the second-to-last day of NBA Cup group play, and by far the most important. Almost all standings have been set, and for those groups that are yet to be decided, the stage has been set for Tuesday. Starting the day off at noon was the Knicks and the Hornets. The Knicks had a scary-high 19 turnovers but were able to pull out this game behind Jalen Brunson’s 31, 6, and 6, winning 99 to 98. Brunson also clutched up for my fantasy team. KAT continued his great play with 19 and 12. For the Hornets, Brandon Miller had a team-high 20 but did so on 7-for-25 from the field and 2-for-11 from downtown. The rookie Tidjane Salaun had a good game but airballe...

  Hello, I’m Carlos Andres Segrera, and this is the NBA from the mind of a high schooler. Last night’s slate of games were a great way to start off my Thanksgiving break, and another reminder as to why I’m so grateful for the game of basketball. You wouldn’t expect one to watch the worst team in the league very often, but the Wizards always have the 7 p.m. game. Last night I watched the first quarter of Bulls-Wizards, waiting for the Heat game to start. I was expecting a close game after what I saw in the first quarter that ended 29 to 21 in the favor of the Wizards, but the final score was 127 to 108 in the favor of the Bulls. So what happened? The Bulls scored 40 to the Wizards’ 18 in the second quarter and were able to carry that momentum with them for the rest of the game. Vucevic, Coby White, and Zach Lavine combined for 58, and Vuc brought down 12 boards. While the Wizards advanced their losing streak to 12, there were some bright spots for them this game, in the form of ro...

  Hello, I’m Carlos Andres Segrera, and this is the NBA from the mind of a high schooler. After two nights of no hoops for me due to a school trip, last night was a nice welcome-back slate of games. Embiid and PG, who were supposed to be the top two guys for the 76ers going into this season, were out once again last night in the 76ers' matchup against the Nets. As it has been for the past few weeks, Jared McCain, alongside Tyrese Maxey, had to haul the load in the absence of Embiid and George. The game ended 113 to 98 in favor of the Sixers, with McCain dropping 30 on over 50% from the field and from three. Maxey helped solidify the victory with 26 of his own. Maxey also tacked on 5 assists and 4 steals. Kelly Oubre, Yabusele, Caleb Martin, and Drummond all surpassed the 10-point threshold, securing the W in the City of Brotherly Love. On the losing side, it was Cam Johnson who put up 37, knocking down 9 of his 13 three-point attempts. The Sixers earned their third win of the ye...

Hello, I’m Carlos Andres Segrera, and this is The NBA from the Mind of a High Schooler. Last night was Day 3 of the NBA Cup. While we are still in group play, there were only six games last night compared to the 12 on Friday. I do believe the worst is behind me as far as writing this series goes. I knew the longer it went, the less I’d have to write, but those first two days were rough. Jumping straight into the action, we’ll start with the game people have been anticipating for weeks: Will the Cavs remain undefeated when matching up against the defending champion Celtics? In short, the Celtics won 120-117, but the game had its fair share of ups and downs. Off the jump, the Celtics were dominant from range, finishing the night with 22 threes on a 54% clip. Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland both started the night off slow, and it was actually Evan Mobley who kept them in the contest. While Garland never found his rhythm, Mitchell heated up in the second half. The Celtics were up by a...

  Hello, I’m Carlos Andres Segrera, and this is the NBA from the mind of a high schooler. Tonight’s NBA Cup recap is a little later than I planned, but I’ll always get the job done. We’re still in group play, so there was a big slate of games. Let’s get straight into the action. The Heat and Coach Spo made up for their heartbreaking loss against the Pistons in their first NBA Cup game. Kevin Love had 15 points in 12 minutes, Haywood Highsmith had the perfect game, going 6-for-6 from the field with no turnovers, Bam was three assists shy of a 30-point triple-double and added five steals, and the Heat had four other guys in double figures. Last year’s NBA Cup runner-ups started their road to the final with a loss, but there were some bright spots. Obi Toppin led the Pacers with 21 points off the bench, and Tyrese Haliburton had 18 and 8 on efficient shooting. The Pacers' defense looked inconsistent at times, allowing the Heat to drop 124, while the aggressive and well-coached Heat ...

  Hello, I’m Carlos Andres Segrera, and this is the NBA from the mind of a high schooler. In writing my blogs so far, I’ve been all over the place, writing about whatever I wanted. But I’ve decided to start a series of sorts. Every Wednesday and Saturday—the day after the NBA Cup matchups—I will be doing a recap of the evening’s events. Last night was the start of group play for the newly named “NBA Cup,” and there was no lack of drama on those boldly painted courts. Many people, including Vegas, predicted the first game of the night to be heavily one-sided, but the Trae Young-less Hawks ended up squeaking out a win by one point against the defending champ Celtics, 117-116. This win wasn’t handed to the Hawks, though (unlike other games last night); they needed career nights from both Dyson Daniels and Jalen Johnson to get it done. Daniels had a career-high 28 points paired with 7 assists while putting on a defensive clinic with 6 steals. Johnson recorded his second career tripl...

  Hello, I’m Carlos Andres Segrera, and this is the NBA from the mind of a high schooler. Today I wanted to give myself a bit of a challenge: To focus solely on one game. Now I didn’t just pick the Heat game from last night, knowing I could talk about the Heat for hours. I wanted to place myself in unfamiliar territory without forcing myself to talk about two irrelevant teams. So, today we will be breaking down last night’s matchup between the Mavericks and the Nuggets, where the Nuggets ended up winning 122-120.  Knowing I wanted to dedicate an entire post to this game, I ended up watching it three times. The first time was live, casually with my family; the second time was the morning after, where I took some notes; and the third and final time I muted the game and did the broadcast myself as a way to practice.  The Nuggets started off the season slow and there were a lot of questions about the legitimacy of their finals contention. Currently they are on the longest w...