NAW thats cute led this one from the first night to the last and beat Latrells 5-4. It was 6-3 after Tuesday 20 Oct and 7-2 after Thursday 22 Oct, before Latrells closed to 5-4 on Friday 23 Oct. It stayed 5-4 through the weekend.
The push from Latrells came on Friday 23 Oct, when Jayson Tatum scored 36, Cameron Boozer had 25 points and 13 rebounds, and Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett and Stephen Curry all had their best games of the week.
NAW thats cute won it with depth. Julius Randle (22.0 points a game), Karl-Anthony Towns (21.0), Nickeil Alexander-Walker (21.0), Jaime Jaquez Jr. (20.7) and Dylan Harper (20.0) all averaged twenty or more. Towns added 12.0 rebounds a game on 62% shooting, and NAW thats cute won points 574 to 504 and rebounds 221 to 199.
Jaime Jaquez Jr. beat his projection comfortably: 20.7 points and 8.7 rebounds a game on 61% shooting, against projections of 14.4 and 4.9. Nickeil Alexander-Walker hit 11 threes, with 31 points on Wednesday 21 Oct, and Stephon Castle hit 11 more; NAW thats cute won threes 51 to 38.
Not everyone fired. Alex Sarr averaged 7.7 points against a projected 16.5, Darryn Peterson 10.7 against 19.4, and Scottie Barnes shot 35%, though Barnes also had 28 points and 14 rebounds on Friday 23 Oct.
Latrells had the better of the defensive categories, steals 37 to 33 and blocks 25 to 16, with Zion Williamson and Moussa Diabaté on 8 steals apiece and Myles Turner blocking 7. Cameron Boozer pulled down 35 rebounds, 11.7 a game against a projected 7.9, though he shot 29%. Yaxel Lendeborg averaged 19.0 points, well above his projected 10.6.
Latrells had fewer games on the floor, 34 to 38: Jimmy Butler III spent two days on the injured list, Jusuf Nurkić four, and Stephen Curry sat out one start. Some of the rotation came in short: Mikal Bridges averaged 3.3 points on 22% shooting against a projected 15.2, and James Harden shot 30%. NAW thats cute also took assists, 124 to 115.