Another rather uneventful game, wasn’t it?

Was sure nice to catch up with Bismack, he seems to be doing fine even if he’s on a way worse team that’s got myriad issues. But he took advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make unimaginable money so good for him.

And quickly, there’s this, done a bit late and a bit rushed and I’ve got to get a better handle on time, I think.

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THREE POINTERS

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A slight alteration

Yeah, that was Jonas Valanciunas out there for the entire second quarter, which his unusual usage for him. He had played the first six minutes or so of the game with little impact before being lifted for Lucas Nogueira.

That was maybe a couple of minutes earlier than usual but JV going the entire second was by design.

“We just thought the matchup with Jonas and his size would be better match for Vucevic,” was how Dwane Casey explained it. “That’s why we gave him a quick blow to get him back and timed it where when Vucevic was coming back in to get that matchup.”

Worked, too.

In that 12-minute run, Valanciunas posted a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. He ended up with an overall good game with 16 and 13 and only logged 26 minutes, which isn’t too bad all.

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Sorry, not sorry

Okay, we all saw the DeMar DeRozan dunk in the third quarter and it was impressive. Open path to the rim down the lane but he was super-quick to throw it down at the rim and really quick to explode to the basket.

It was about the only “holy crap” moment of the night and when it was brought up to DeMar after the game that it’s getting harder and harder to believe him when he says he can’t or won’t dunk again, he was quick to respond.

“An accident. Any time you see that, it’s an accident.”

But if, perchance there was an opportunity to dunk on his old buddy Bismack Biyombo, don’t think DeRozan wouldn’t take it.

“I want to dunk on him so I can wag the finger at him, that’s all I want to do.”

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Ready, Freddie?

I don’t hear that an awful lot – haven’t heard it in too long a time – but the answer last night was yes.

We’ll have more on Mr. VanVleet later on today because I need an off-day story and it’s the logical one, but he did an admirable job filling for the sick Cory Joseph, didn’t he?

Took a bit of minutes massaging early, though. Lowry didn’t go the first 14 or 15 minutes straight – he came out the last minute of the first quarter and then played through the last 9 ½ minutes of the second – but the time VanVleet had to run the team on his own, they didn’t lack much at all.

Nice, they all agreed, to have a guy like that ready to go when it was his turn. Shouldn’t be a surprise after listening to him:

“I am a harsh critic of myself, but the confidence level has always got to be high and there’s nobody that can take that from you. Every time you step out there you gotta feel like you are the best player on the court and you have to try and exude that energy out there.”

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Kid’s got a head on his shoulder.

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More?

A wee bit before the bare bones Air Canada Rouge flight back and, man, you wanna talk cut rate airlines, that’s it.

Jammed seats like a cheap charter, no entertainment unless you have an app and your phone or want to rent an iPad.

But the people are nice enough and they eventually got me to Orlando on a snowy day.

I do, however, try to avoid ‘em at all costs.

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Found this to get us through today, I really need to work harder and find more esoteric stuff. Maybe tomorrow.

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It’s too bad that Zsa Zsa Gabor passed away but, honestly, how many of you said, as I did, “she was still alive?” when you heard the news yesterday.

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Scheduling announcement:

I’ll Have Another will be a day delayed because of my travel; She Who Supports Arsenal needs her co-host so we’ll try to find a time to tape the Christmas extravaganza on Tuesday.

But there will be Listener Mail, we hope, if you do your part and find us to ask questions. Do it any way you like and don’t forget Number Sign IHAPodcast on the tweeter to give the young ‘uns something to look for.

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