Eric Wagman and Zombie Julian Guy-McCarvill

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In yesterday’s recap, I said I “let myself down” by falling asleep and missing 4 hours of NBA action. Well, last night I fell asleep and missed one half of basketball. Just one half. But, ugh, when I was awoken with a phone call at about 1:30 AM and the broadcast was over, I positively hated myself. I stay in to watch basketball, always loving it, always hoping to see something amazing… and last night, although I was in, I was passed the hell out on my couch when amazing happened. There were numerous great performances last night and I’ll get to them all, but first let’s re-live the incredible ending of the Lakers/Heat game, the ending that I missed because I am a complete idiot:

Holy shit. Okay, let’s move on…

The All-OTN Team

Will Bynum: 12 Pts (2-8 FG, 0-2 3PT, 8-10 FT), 5 Reb, 5 Ast, 1 Stl, 1 PF, 4 TO in 29 mins.

Gotta focus on the 10 free throw attempts, here (although the 5/5 is nice too). I read an excellent Pistons breakdown on Bucksketball the other day, where Jeremy Schmidt pointed out that Bynum averages four attempts at the rim per game. Beyond that simply seeming impossible for sub-6-footer playing less than 30 minutes a game, this is just so valuable to a team. Penetrating the D and making the opposition shift is one of the most important parts of basketball and Bynum is able to do that extremely well at the NBA level. He can get himself all the way to the basket seemingly by sheer will-power (oh man, no pun intended – seriously) and draw fouls if he can’t convert. Terrific skill to have for a “backup” point guard.

Shannon Brown: 2 Pts (1-5 FG, 0-2 3PT), 2 Reb, 1 Ast, 2 PF, 1 TO in 15 mins.

I don’t have much on Shannon from last night, but should point out that he spent a bit of time guarding Dwyane Wade during Flash’s quiet first half. Also, check out his reaction to Kobe’s buzzer-beater:

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Amir Johnson: 4 Pts (1-2 FG, 2-2 FT), 3 Reb, 1 Stl, 5 PF, 2 TO in 17 mins.

Funny how a guy who deservedly has a bad reputation for fouling ends up saving a game for his team by avoiding contact. After having picked up 5 fouls in 17 minutes of action, Amir was able to use a bit of “trickery” to fool Gilbert Arenas on the final play of OT. As Gilbert went to the basket, he was focusing on drawing contact rather than putting the ball in the hole. When Amir got out of the way, Gil was unable to convert. Check out Amir talking about the play, post-game:

Serge Ibaka: 6 Pts (3-5 FG, 0-1 FT), 2 Reb, 1 Stl, 1 Blk, 1 TO, 2 PF in 23 mins.

The numbers won’t blow you away, but this nasty block will:

Rookie Watch

DeMar DeRozan: 16 Pts (6-10 FG, 0-1 3PT, 4-5 FT), 2 Reb, 1 Ast, 4 PF in 27 mins.

So proud of DeRozan last night. The first half was something special. Building on what we have seen before, he made aggressive move after aggressive move on offense, putting pressure on Washington’s weak D. He scored 16 points in his first 16 minutes, including these three beauties:

It’s just a shame he didn’t add much in the second half. I wanted to see him come back in the game down the stretch, but it’s hard for me to complain too loudly when his team came away with the overtime win.

Wesley Matthews: 18 Pts (7-13 FG, 2-7 3PT, 2-3 FT), 5 Reb (2 Off), 1 Ast, 2 Stl, 1 Blk, 1 TO, 5 PF in 35 mins.

Matthews was absolutely huge for the Jazz in this game, which ended up being closer than it should have been after Utah started the game up 22-3 on Indy. The Pacers were killing it in the 2nd quarter, but this rook converted a 3-point play with 37 seconds left in the half and followed it up with a three-pointer to beat the shot-clock with just 3 seconds remaining to keep the lead at 13. He continued his solid play on both ends of the floor down the stretch. The 18 points were a career-high and his defense on Danny Granger was fantastic. No Jazz player was bigger besides Carlos Boozer, who finished with 35 and 13 in this 96-87 victory.

Taj Gibson: 14 Pts (7-14 FG, 0-2 FT), 13 Reb (4 Off), 1 Stl, 5 PF in 36 mins.

This is the first double-double of Taj Gibson’s career and I’m actually surprised it hasn’t come sooner. The guy plays with a ton of hustle and you have to dig that. As the 26th pick in the draft he was definitely not supposed to be starting for the Bulls, but he has done a more than admirable job all year considering the circumstances. Of course, you’d like him to get to the foul line more often, but, again, this is a late first-round pick giving his all. Appreciate this guy, even if you’re still bitter about the whole DeJuan Blair thing.

Brandon Jennings: 15 Pts (6-20 FG, 3-10 3PT), 5 Reb, 8 Ast, 1 Stl, 1 Blk, 1 TO, 2 PF in 38 mins.

Damn. Another poor shooting night for Brandon. I can get behind the 8 assists and 5 rebounds, though. Here’s the frustrated rook on Twitter, down on himself after this 105-96 loss on the road.

You just feel his frustration, don’t you? But here’s what I love about Twitter: two of my very favourite players in the league telling the star rookie to keep shooting:

Jonas Jerebko: 16 Pts (5-9 FG, 0-1 3PT, 6-7 FT), 7 Reb (2 Off), 3 Ast, 1 Blk, 1 TO, 2 PF in 27 mins.

This is the first time this Swede has been mentioned in my Rookie Watch but it won’t be the last. He is definitely an All-OTN-type player, doing all the little things that help you win games. He’s only 22, but he contributes on both sides of the floor. Always great to see that in a rookie. You have to read Brian Spencer’s piece on him for Empty The Bench and check out this quote from his coach last night:

“Jonas has emerged as one of the best rookies in this league—he is really expanding his game. He was huge.” – John Kuester

Before I move on, I should mention that he hit a key jumper with less than 2 minutes to play to put his team up by 9. Fantastic when a rookie helps to secure a victory like that.

Fun With Stats

For this night, I’m going to examine a few pairs of players who came through in big ways.

Kobe Bryant: 33 Pts (12-25 FG, 2-3 3PT, 7-8 FT), 7 Reb (3 Off), 3 Ast, 3 Stl, 2 TO, 5 PF in 42 mins.
Dwyane Wade: 26 Pts (7-21 FG, 0-1 3PT, 12-18 FT), 7 Reb (2 Off), 9 Ast, 2 Blk, 2 TO, 4 PF in 41 mins.

Those lines aren’t important – these are superstars, you expect numbers. What’s important here is the battle these two had in the 4th quarter. Kobe had 17 in the final frame and Wade had 12, including 9 in the final two minutes. As you know, though, Kob’ had the last laugh with his impossible game-winner after Dwyane missed a free throw.

Brook Lopez: 31 Pts (12-22 FG, 7-7 FT), 14 Reb (6 Off), 2 Ast, 2 Blk, 2 TO, 3 PF in 40 mins.
Courtney Lee: 27 Pts (11-16 FG, 3-4 3PT, 2-4 FT), 4 Reb, 1 Ast, 3 Stl, 1 Blk, 0 TO, 5 PF in 33 mins.

Amazing numbers there, but the most important numbers are here: 1-18. Yes. FINALLY. The Nets have erased that 0 from the win column. It took enormous efforts from these two sophomores to get it done, but they finally got it done. Thank God Courtney Lee is finally starting and thank God Stephen Jackson’s clutch three-point shooting wasn’t enough for the Bobcats to avoid the 97-91 defeat. On this night, the whole NBA world was rooting for the Nets and they came through. Such a relief.

Al Harrington: 27 Pts (11-17 FG, 4-8 3PT, 1-4 FT), 5 Reb (2 Off), 1 Ast, 1 Stl, 3 TO, 4 PF in 39 mins.
Chris Duhon: 25 Pts (10-16 FG, 4-8 3PT, 1-2 FT), 4 Reb, 10 Ast, 1 Stl, 0 TO, 1 PF in 36 mins.

Look at that efficiency! BY FAR the best performances from these two guys this year. Knicks fans have been used to these two clanging threes, but on this night they went in. Harrington took it to his former team in Danilo Gallinari’s absence and Duhon thoroughly outplayed Mike Bibby. I bet you didn’t expect the Knicks to beat the Hawks by 7 on the road, but it happened: 114-107.

Zach Randolph: 24 Pts (11-20 FG, 2-2 FT), 15 Reb (9 Off), 3 Ast, 3 TO, 3 PF in 39 mins.
O.J. Mayo: 25 Pts (10-16 FG, 5-8 3PT), 4 Reb (1 Off), 1 Ast, 2 Stl, 2 TO, 0 PF in 40 mins.

I bet you didn’t expect the Grizzlies to beat Dallas by 16, either, but you should know that Dallas has now lost 3 straight games in Memphis. The Mavs couldn’t match the Grizzlies’ energy and they let Randolph and Mayo completely school them on the offensive end. Knock their low assist totals if you like, but these guys can flat-out put the ball in the hole and that helped their team get a 98-82 win on this night.

Impressive

I’ll continue with another pair of players here – these two faced off against each other as they returned from injuries:

Chris Paul:16 Pts (6-13 FG, 1-3 3PT, 3-3 FT), 6 Reb, 15 Ast, 8 (!!!) Stl, 1 Blk, 3 TO, 3 PF in 38 mins
Kevin Love:11 Pts (3-7 FG, 2-3 3PT, 3-4 FT), 11 Reb (3 Off), 3 Ast, 2 Stl, 2 TO, 3 PF in 24 mins.

Woooooow. 8 steals for Paul? 11 rebounds in 24 minutes for Love? It’s amazing how these guys can come back and be seemingly without rust. Don’t expect them to put up these performances every night from now on, but appreciate what they did last night. Paul completely dominated the game en route to a 98-89 Hornets win, and Love showed off the three-point stroke he worked on this summer. I am so very much looking forward to watching these two play for the rest of this year.

Now, the most impressive player of the night for me (aside from Kobe, obviously). This guy showed the heart and determination his team desperately needed in a winning effort:

Chris Bosh: 31 Pts (13-25 FG, 0-2 3PT, 5-8 FT), 16 Reb (9 Off), 4 Ast, 2 Blk, 2 TO, 2 PF in 41 mins.

His work in the 4th quarter was breathtaking: 13 points and 6 boards, with 5 of them coming on the offensive glass. He made timely, difficult plays and bailed the Raptors out when nothing else was working. Hedo Turkoglu ended up making the game-winning shot in overtime, but it was Bosh who kept the team alive and put them in a position to win. Raptors fans have been seeing these amazing performances from him all season, so it’s a shame the team only has 8 wins. Really hoping the team can string a few wins together here and it’s not just because I’m from Toronto. It’d just be a shame to waste an MVP-level season from this young power forward.

Quoted

“Chris Bosh is a man possessed right now.” – Raptors colour commentator Jack Armstrong, during the 4th quarter I just mentioned.

“It’s just one at the end of the day. It’s one win. We wanted it to get it out of the way. It means a lot. We did it. We can’t be satisfied with it. We’ve got to move forward and put something together.” – Chris-Douglas Roberts, after the Nets defeated the Bobcats.

“That’s Black Mamba. I knew he was gonna make it.” – Ron Artest, on Kobe’s game-winner.

Tweeted

I’m just going to go with a string of Kobe-related tweets today.

@RobMahoney: For everyone who doesn’t think it’s worth it to stay in on a Friday night to watch the NBA…you just missed something special from Kobe.

@offseasonblog: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

@seanfrancois: KOBE! wow…#ShouldWeHaveExpectedAnythingLess?

@kpelton: Are you kidding me? #wherekobehappens

@jalenrose: Lakers Kobe for 3…of the wrong foot for the Win vs heat…best clutch in the NBA…insane!

@Nat77: wow… That was a ridiculous shot! you can’t help but love this game when you get moments like that from legends like Kobe

@AndreHoops: You watched it for 2-plus hours like I did. It’s not about hate, it’s about excellence. Appreciate THE best player n the NBA 2day. Thx Kobe.

@stackmack: I just lost my mind. Totally just lost my mind. Holy freaking Wow.

@outsidethenba: fjsad;klj;sakljls I didn’t see Kobe. Didn’t see anything. FUCK.

To Watch

An unfortunate series of events for rookie Sam Young:

Jeff Green hammering home the reverse before the Celts took over to win 105-87 :

LeBron James and Joakim Noah exchange words during the Cavs’ 101-87 victory over the Bulls:

Some long-overdue joy in New Jersey:

The newest 76er talking to his college coach, John Thompson:

To Read

The best piece I’ve ever read on future #1 pick John Wall.

Part One and Part Two of Chip Crain’s interview with Grizz owner Michael Heisley.

Some words on Allen Iverson from Eric Snow, Holly MacKenzie, and Dei Lynam.

To Listen

Kelly Dwyer on Lakers.com

The latest FreeDarko Presents: The Disciples of Clyde NBA Podcast

The latest Chronicles of Crotty