Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images

Every Monday, John Bennett previews the games he’s most looking forward to.

1. LA Lakers @ Utah, Friday

OH YEAH BABY! My two favourite NBA coaches are going at it in Jackson and Sloan. Here’s hoping these grumpy old farts get T’d up this Friday.
I know I praised him last week but Pau is playing unbelievable basketball and Kobe is, well, Kobe. They’ve combined for 48.4 points, 18.4 rebounds and 8.9 assists this year.

The rest of the cast are all playing their roles very well. Shannon Brown has slimmed down significantly from what I can see. Maybe I’m wrong but he looks leaner. He wasn’t overweight before, just very bulky. Kudos to him for changing his body shape and probably extending his career. His shooting has improved by leaps and bounds since entering the league and when he gets out on the break, watch out.

2. Miami @ Orlando, Wednesday

If I hear another person say ‘South Beach,’ I’m going to snap. Honestly, it’s driving me nuts. That said, I can’t simply ignore the Miami Heat. This team’s coming off a 2 points loss to the Grizzlies but they’ll play the lowly Indiana Pacers on Monday and SHOULD be coming off a win.

When these two teams met in Miami, the Heat clamped down on Orlando for their 1st home win of the year in a 26 point drubbing. Rashard Lewis went 0 for 9 and Dwight scored all of his points in the first half, fouling out mid-way through the 4th. It really couldn’t have gotten that much worse for the Magic.

Score only 70 points and get taken down by everyone’s favourite new team by 26 points? There shouldn’t even need to be bulletin board material for this one – Orlando was embarrassed and I expect them to be fired up.

3. New Orleans @ Utah, Wednesday

The number one and number 2 point guards in the league go head to head. You decided who gets what number; I couldn’t care less. All I know is that these Chris Paul and Deron Williams play the #1 position about as well as anyone I’ve ever seen.

As for the game, well the game’s important but really I just want to see these two guys duel.

4. Toronto @ Boston – Friday 7:30pm

One of the most ridiculous games I’ve seen all year happened on Sunday and these were the two teams playing with the Raps winning 102-101 This divisional matchup will go down again, five days later, in Boston.

Sunday, Boston was without Rajon Rondo and Jermaine O’Neal. However, Toronto was shorthanded as well because of their trade with the Hornets.

Andrea Bargnani was brilliant at the offensive end for stretches and managed to earn 13 trips to the stripe.

It wasn’t the prettiest game to watch but it was exciting. Let’s hope for more of the same this Friday.

5. Sacramento @ LA Clippers – Thursday 10:30pm

Much like the Milwaukee/Philly game last week, this one might throw you off.
Eric Gordon is playing some inspired basketball. Last week he had back to back 30 point nights and put up 19 and 25 point nights to complete the week. For me the most important thing about his play is that he’s getting to the line. Over his last 5 games, he’s averaging 11.8 free throw attempts. Tag along the electrifying Blake Griffin and you’ve got yourself a team right? 9 straight losses for the Clippers so a resounding NO but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy watching them play.

On the other side, Tyreke Evans and DeMarcus Cousins are having issues as well. ‘Reke’s played well averaging a hair under 20, 5 and 5. Cousins is a different story. He’s put up 10 and 7. I am by no means saying those numbers are BAD but for Sacramento to have a chance every night, he needs to be better.

Alex Gallard / AP Photo

Some week to inexcusably slack on my daily blog, right? Holy crap.

You’ve no doubt watched/read about all of this already by now, but let’s have a quick look at what happened over the past week:

The Jazz came back from double-digit deficits in four straight road games, after coming back to beat the Clippers in double-OT at home. Two of those wins were against the Heat and Magic on a back-to-back. Against Miami, Paul Millsap went Reggie Miller at the end of the fourth and ended up with 46 points. I’m still not sure that all of this really occurred. I’ve no idea how good Utah actually is. And I don’t think we’ll learn much from tonight’s game against the tired Thunder… but I do know they’ve been successful against teams with singular names recently.

The Pacers scored 54 freaking points in a quarter. They made twenty straight shots, before Josh McRoberts missed a three-pointer on their last possession. Mike Dunleavy scored 24 points in that quarter.

Yes, I realize that I linked back to a post on this site. I’m allowed; I didn’t write it. I couldn’t have written it.

Michael Beasley hit a ton of J’s against the Kings. He hit J after J after smooth J and ended up with 42 points. Two days later, against the Knicks, he did the same thing without getting to the line as often. He ended up with 35 points. Nick Flynt had to apologize to him.

In that Knicks/Wolves game, Kevin Love had a double-Reggie. He scored 31 points and grabbed 31 rebounds. As I’m sure you’re aware, the last person to reach 30/30 was Moses Malone 28 years ago. That same night, the entire Wizards team only grabbed 30 rebounds against the Bobcats. Love didn’t grab a single rebound in the first seven minutes of play. He outrebounded the Knicks 22-17 by himself in the 2nd half, 15 of those coming in the third quarter. He raised his rebounding average from 12.8 to 14.6 per game. Press row was counting each rebound out loud after #25. None of these sentences look like they can possibly be accurate.

Lost in Beasley’s and Love’s numbers is the fact that the Wolves’ comeback was crazy in its own right. They were down by 21 with nine minutes left in the third. In the last 21 minutes, they outscored New York 55-25. And the game wasn’t even on local TV in Minneapolis.

From a New York perspective, this game was not fun. Take a look at this recap on Bandwagon Knick.

And of course, the week had to end with something absolutely ridiculous. Last night, the Suns hit twenty-two threes against the Lakers. That’s their franchise record, that’s the most the Lakers have ever given up, and that’s one short of the NBA record for threes in a game. Jason Richardson shot 7-10 from deep and is now 31-61 on the season. Obviously, an absurd 30-footer from Hedo Turkoglu was the dagger. Makes perfect sense, this week.

Fun with stats

Joakim Noah is hitting 56% of his ugly jump shots from 16-23 feet.

Josh Smith has 1102 career blocks. He moved past Dikembe Mutombo (1,094) on the Hawks’ all-time blocks list a bit over a week ago. Tree Rollins is #1, with 2,283. Smith led the league in blocks per game before recording only 1 last night. Now, Roy Hibbert (3.0, #TeamHibs) leads the league. And JaVale McGee leads the league in block percentage – he’s blocked an INSANE 10% of his opponents’ 2-point field goal attempts.

Brook Lopez is averaging 5.9 rebounds per game. Chris Bosh is averaging 6.0 rebounds per game. Russell Westbrook is averaging 6.0 rebounds per game.

When the Warriors beat Utah 85-78 on Nov. 5, Utah’s 78 were the fewest GS had given up since beating the Clippers 109-77 in November of 2006. Eight days later, the Warriors lost in Milwaukee 79-72.

When the Wolves beat Sacramento on Wednesday, it was their first road victory since a February win against a Heat team that started Carlos Arroyo, Daequan Cook, Quentin Richardson, Michael Beasley, and Jermaine O’Neal.

The Heat are awesome in the third quarter. They average 27.3 points in the third and give up only 19.6.

As you know, the Jazz have won five straight. The last time Al Jefferson won five straight was in December 2006. That Celtics group lost 18 straight later that season.

Rashard Lewis played 25:40 against the Raptors on Saturday and, for the first time in his Magic career, did not attempt a three-pointer. Mickael Pietrus, however, attempted 11 three pointers and made 8 of them. Pietrus didn’t take any two-pointers or free throws. Also, Lewis has been in a MAJOR shooting slump – he’s only shooting 27% from 16-23 feet and 32% from three.

Also shooting poorly – Brandon Roy. His problem is different than Lewis, though. His shooting from distance has actually improved, but at the rim Roy is shooting 52% (down from 63.6% last year), within 10 feet he’s shooting 43% (down from 46% last year), and from 10-15 he’s shooting 33% (down from 47% last year). It’s safe to assume this is because of his stupid freaking knees that I’m not ready to talk about yet.

The 8-0 Hornets have yet to trail by double figures in a game.

Rajon Rondo has had 15+ assists SEVEN TIMES this season. All other NBA players have combined to do it five times.

I don’t want to put any of Darko’s terrible stats here so just click this link.

Shannon Brown is shooting 47% on threes this season, after shooting 33% last season. He’s averaging 3.4 attempts from downtown this season, up from 2.3 last season. Shot looks way, way better, as well.

Matt Bonner shot 7-7 on threes last night. Those seven were a career high and none of them touched the rim. On two point attempts, he was 0-3. You should read this post about it.

The Spurs are 8-1. That’s their best start in franchise history. THEY WILL NOT DIE.

Quoted

“This would have been a tough one if we would have lost it. I might have cried. I’m glad we won… seriously.” – Deron Williams, after playing 54 minutes in Utah’s double-OT win over the Clips back on Nov. 6. I know this quote is old, but it’s good.

“I’m a Monster and everyday is Halloween.” – Michael Beasley, after scoring 35 against the Knicks.

“Coach Sloan motivates us. He makes you want to run through a brick wall for him.” – Al Jefferson, after the Jazz came back to beat Atlanta.

“Even when we had a little trouble to start the season, at least they stayed together and worked themselves out of it. That’s the only way you have a chance. If you get [in] an ice pick fight out in the parking lot, then you have to try to solve that problem.” – Master motivator Jerry Sloan, also after the Jazz came back to beat Atlanta.

“We’re asking him to play a position he’s never played and do things he’s never had to do. He’s never had to guard Zach Randolph, have to guard Pau Gasol… I think we have to give him a little bit of a break, it’s a huge transition for him. He’s doing everything we’ve asked him to do.” – Alvin Gentry, on Hedo Turkoglu. What I wonder is WHY you’re asking him to do things he’s never had to do. He’s not capable of doing them.

“Losing four in a row isn’t fun.” – Jamal Crawford, on snapping a 4-game losing streak.

“I think [the Pistons] are a playoff team in the East. I don’t think there is much doubt about it.” – Paul Westphal, after the Kings lost to Detroit. They could be a playoff team, but I think there’s some doubt about it.

It’s been a little while, hey? Nothing from me since the podcast. Time to recap what’s gone on since then.

On Thursday and Friday, I watched a total of three NBA games. THREE! That’s… nothing. And it’s not my usual routine. But I can explain: On Thursday, Knicks/Bobcats was the only game (you see that DEEP Gallo three?) and, on Friday, I actually went out. I usually feel like a bit of my soul is dying if I’m out somewhere while basketball is on, but wasn’t the case on Friday. I’ve gotta applaud the Raptors Republic team for putting on the awesome ‘Raptors Fan Fridays’ – a bar packed with basketball fans is always a place I want to be. In Canada, where the average person inexplicably prefers an unbearable sport called “ice hockey,” it’s also rare. So yeah, thanks RR. Anyway, I saw the Raptors pull out a win in Philly and I saw the Blazers (Webster! Roy) upset the Lakers, then came home and crashed. To make up for it, I decided to have a basketball-watching marathon on Saturday and did my usual thing on Sunday after catching Raptors/Celtics in person. It’d be a shame to watch all that ball and not discuss is, so weekend stuff is going in this piece along with last night’s happenings.

Friday, Jan. 8

Hawks 93, Celtics 85

• As soon as I started watching this game, I was reminded of an episode of The Basketball Jones when Skeets & Tas were talking about watching an ESPN/ABC game after the fact but not fast-forwarding like they normally do. When Hubie Brown talks, you must listen. Instead of fast-forwarding through free throws and 20-second timeouts, I stayed with the game. Well worth it. I love Hubie for his analysis, in particular the little things he points out, but I think my favourite line of his came early in the game after Kendrick Perkins had muscled the Hawks’ frontline on the inside. He said, simply, “This guy is a bear.”

• Another Hubie line: “If he gets some catches, fine, but he never stops working.” He’s referring to Al Horford here. Love him, especially this year. The numbers don’t even tell the story and the numbers were great: he finished with 16 points (on 7-10 shooting), 10 rebounds, 3 steals, and a block. What stands out to me is his defense. He’s good at man defense and help defense and the Hawks can pretty much switch EVERYTHING when he’s out there. People talk about his relative lack of size as a weakness, but it’s what lets him move his feet quick enough to stay with ballhandlers on the perimeter. If I ever think a bigger guy like Perkins is going to eat him up, my mind returns to this piece on Peachtree Hoops. He’s not a proper center, but it doesn’t look like the Hawks need him to be.

• When they show a replay of Rondo’s insane alley-oop to send the Heat game into overtime from Wednesday night, I can’t help but smile. Sooo thankful that John Schuhmann tweeted a #LeaguePassAlert with 5.5 seconds left in the fourth quarter. I saw none of the action before that, but was able to catch Dwyane Wade’s ridiculous steal and dunk, then Rondo, then the ensuing Celtics overtime victory. Fun fact: That was the first alley-oop basket of Rondo’s career. The viewing audience was told he’d assisted on 73 of them, though. Seems a bit low to me.

• More Rondo: he hit two threes in the first half – one from the corner and one from straightaway. Neither basket elicited any sort of reaction from him. It seems that, even though teams don’t respect his J and he doesn’t take threes very often, he expects the shots to drop when he takes ‘em. Some people hate his confidence, but I love it.

• Josh Smith has been a joy to watch since he entered the league. He has always made absurd, athletic plays (see: him blocking a Kendrick Perkins dunk attempt in this game) and he’s always been capable of filling up the stat sheet. But, in his first few years in the league, you weren’t going to see Hubie Brown analyzing his highlights at halftime and talking about how he doesn’t force anything and moves well without the ball. I know I’ve brought this up before, but it’s just fantastic to see Smith excelling this year. Always great when a guy’s mental game catches up to his physical gifts. I really, really hope I’ll be saying this about Anthony Randolph in a couple of years.

• Jamal Crawford was on FIRE. He scored 18 points on 12 field goal attempts. Jon Barry commented that Crawford is “one of the guys you just hate to guard” and, on this night, it was even more true than it normally is. He can rise and shoot at any time and, when he’s on, it’s scary. Two plays stick out, looking back. First, a corner three over Perkins – Perk fouled him on the play and he converted the 21st 4-point play of his career (Reggie Miller’s 24 is the record). Second, a dagger three with 52.5 seconds left from wayyyyyyyy downtown to bring the score to 91-82. Gotta say I’m thrilled at the success he has had in Atlanta – he’s a good dude who has never been on a good team. Watch Sonicsgate if you have never seen an interview with him. Actually, just watch Sonicsgate regardless.

• Jon Barry said he did not consider the Hawks an elite team yet because of their inconsistency. I suppose that’s a fair point, given how they’ve had multiple fourth-quarter collapses against good teams. But, um, are they supposed to be an elite team right now? There weren’t a lot of prognosticators who had them ranked them with the elite teams before the season started. Also, it’s January. It’s okay if they’re inconsistent now. The Hawks have shown a lot of promise and they should be expected to stumble a few times. The key is that they learn from their losses and are ready come playoff time. Everything Kevin Arnovitz wrote to Lakers and Magic fans at the end of December still applies here.

Nuggets 99, Cavaliers 97

• The game kind of looked scripted at one point in the first half, as they showed an interview snippet with LeBron James where he was asked about his dancing, which seems to have divided America. He said, “Every night I go out on the court, I feel like a kid again.” This was immediately followed by an alley-oop where Joey Graham hacked him and he was able to convert anyway. Then he got a layup on a fast break off of a turnover. All the while, Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson were talking about LeBron’s passion for the game.

• More JVG: “Every time you double team him, you’re making a mistake.” He was talking about Shaq and how he’s such a great passer, after The Big Witness found Jawad Williams wide open under the hoop. I nodded my head in agreement, but it’s not because of his passing ability. As John Krolik has pointed out all season, Shaq has simply not been a very effective scorer for the Cavs. You usually don’t need to double him these days.

• I got upset with George Karl when I saw Anthony Carter enter the game before Ty Lawson. Then I remembered that Lawson had an injured ankle. Damn. Get back soon, Ty.

• Kenyon Martin was amazing in the first half. He did a bit of everything, including a chasedown block on Delonte West and a fantastic bounce pass to Nene down low. He also hit from the outside, crashed the offensive glass, scored on the inside, and played his normal brand of solid/aggressive D.

• Anderson Varejao has impressed the hell out of me this year. He used to bother me because he’d flop in places where he should just play textbook defense, but to my eyes this isn’t happening nearly as much now. I laughed at his contract extension in the summer, but now I think Cleveland must be happy with their investment. His pick-and-roll defense is masterful and he’s leading the league in individual +/-. Gotta love how he picked J.R. Smith’s pocket on the pick-and-roll and blocked Kenyon Martin going to the hole in this contest.

• My DVR apparently ran out of space at the end of the fourth quarter, but at least I got to see a wild third. LeBron scored 11 points in the Q. and a big Delonte West three-pointer capped off an 11-0 Cleveland run before the Birdman had a nice dunk. Denver was behind by 4 as the quarter ended.

• So, what did I miss in the fourth? Kenyon Martin shut down LeBron (!) in the final minute – the King missed a layup and stepped out of bounds on back-to-back possessions. That turnover was just one of LeBron’s 8 and Cleveland’s 19 TO’s on the night.

• More fun stats: Chauncey Billups had 23 points on just 14 shots in his first game back from a groin injury. LeBron James shot 6-18 from outside of 15 feet (thank you Hoopdata!).

Mavericks 112, Spurs 103

• NOBODY was happy with the refs during the first half of this game. Erick Dampier, DeJuan Blair, and Antonio McDyess each picked up two quick fouls. Gregg Popovich got T’d up and I think it was general ineptitude rather than one particular play that set him off.

• It was very, very cool to see Manu Ginobili and Josh Howard matched up against one another and both playing well. These two need to find a way to stay healthy. I want them both playing All-Star caliber ball as we approach the playoffs. Howard hit his first three field goals, but missed his next four. Still, he finished with 12 points on 7 FGA’s and his +21 was the best on his team. Ginobili had 12/7/5 and did things that just shouldn’t be possible in the NBA. He did this hesitation crossover move that should be seen, not written about. Unfortunately, I can’t find a bloody video. Bah.

• Up until the fourth quarter, Dirk Nowitzki was taking tough shots and missing them. He even got rejected by the rim on a dunk attempt, trying to do a reverse on the baseline. His teammates stepped up, though. As Jason Terry, Dampier, Drew Gooden, Howard, and Shawn Marion converted shots, I was reminded that everything has changed for this Mavericks team.

• Rodrigue Beaubois got some burn in this game. This made me very happy. I considered it the universe evening things out for me with rookie minutes, as Blair was limited to just 7:31 in this game due to foul trouble. I’ve been working on a piece on players who I’d love to see get more burn for what seems like ages now and Beaubois is #1 on that list now that Anthony Randolph is hurt. He hit a J from the corner and a floater, but missed his other 2 attempts in his 5:32 of game action. Yeah, 4 shot attempts in that amount of time. And a rebound and a foul. Trust me: when he’s out there, you’ll notice him. If you saw him against the Spurs, you might have also noticed that it was the first time you’ve ever seen Tony Parker being only the second-quickest French guard on the court.

• I want to say that Beaubois was the Mavs’ best guard after his fun five minute stint, but that would be a blatant lie. Jason Terry scored 21 points on 7-13 shooting, with 8 assists, 4 rebounds, and 2 steals to his name. He played with the fire that you love to see and hit numerous difficult jumpers over much bigger players. I didn’t like him tripping George Hill, though.

• Plays of the game: Richard Jefferson’s chasedown block on JET and, well, everything Dirk did in the fourth quarter. Let me explain…

• …If the first three quarters reminded me of Rob Mahoney’s words about this Mavericks team not overly relying on Nowitzki anymore, the fourth reminded me of Tim McMahon’s words about how he comes through in the clutch. The man went crazy in the final frame, scoring 16 of the Mavs’ 42 (!) points. He got going early at the expense of poor Richard Jefferson and from then on nobody could stop him. After Jason Terry hit a three to put the Mavs up 95-92, he rejected an Antonio McDyess shot and then hit a three on the other end. Following this, Manu picked up an offensive foul and Dirk came back with a fading jumper. A tie game was turned into an 8-point one very, very quickly.

• San Antonio did manage to bring it a bit closer, as it was 104-100 with less than a minute left in the game. But then, with 51.7 seconds on the clock, Dirk hit a dagger three from the top of the key with Richard Jefferson’s hand in his face to bring the lead back up to 7. It was amazing. The crowd fell silent as they knew Dirk would simply not let his team lose the game.

Other Friday Games

• Raptors 108, 76ers 106: It was pretty cool to see Andrea Bargnani showing some emotion in the Raptors’ win in Philly. He made a few big plays on both ends down the stretch, including a block where I was proud of him. Also was cool to see Allen Iverson have a big offensive game (22 points on 13 field goal attempts), as my friends have been talking shit about him all year and I got to shove it in their faces every time he scored. Ivy’s defense wasn’t the greatest, though.

• Blazers 107, Lakers 98: Portland is incredibly fun to root for. I don’t like rooting against Kobe (or Lamar Odom and Shannon Brown, for that matter) but I was fully on the Blazers’ side, cheering every time Brandon Roy or Jerryd Bayless would find a way to get to the line. I know the Blazers ALWAYS seem to beat this team at home, but this is quite obviously not the same Blazers team we’re used to. I mean, Juwan Howard played over 34 freaking minutes and had to guard Andrew Bynum. Still a win. Nice.

• Bucks 96, Bulls 93: I was kinda miffed I didn’t record the Bucks/Bulls game. I pretty much automatically DVR every Bucks game, but I figured I owed San Antonio and Dallas some viewing time because they’re two of the better teams in the West and I haven’t seen enough of them. Turns out I missed Andrew Bogut having a Duncan night (27 points, 13 rebounds, 2 assists, 6 blocks), Brandon Jennings blocking three of Derrick Rose’s shots, and Michael Redd having what would turn out to be his last good game for a long while. Damn it. Shout outs to a couple of Bulls before I move on: Derrick Rose (25/9/5, although he took 25 shots) and Joakim Noah (10/18, although he took 10 shots) produced pretty well. Oh, and let me say that when I read that the Bulls needed a three to tie the game on the final possession and failed to get it, I wasn’t the least bit surprised. Read into that what you will.

• Wizards 104, Magic 97: Washington outscored Orlando 33-20 in the final quarter and that was the ballgame. For ORL, Vince Carter only played 10 minutes because he separated his shoulder and Dwight Howard had 23/11. For WAS, Antawn Jamison had 28/11 and Brendan Haywood had 18/15, shooting 6-6 from the field and 6-6 from the foul line. Check this tweet, heh.

• Timberwolves 116, Pacers 109. One team had to win and Minnesota did. Frontcourt players starred in this one. For Indy, Roy Hibbert had 15/6/3 with 3 blocks and Troy Murphy had 21/5/2 with 4 steals and 5-7 shooting from behind the arc. For Minnesota, Big Al had 25/12/2 and Kevin Love had 18/13/2, with a block and a steal each. This was Danny Granger’s first game since December 5 and he scored 19 points on 19 shots. His return was a surprise; coach Jim O’Brien had said a day earlier that he wasn’t going to come back on the weekend.

• Grizzlies 91, Jazz 89. This would have been a nice finish to see live. O.J. Mayo hit a jumper to put the Grizz up 2 with just 5 seconds left and Marc Gasol registered his fifth block of the night on a C.J. Miles attempt on the final possession. Nice revenge for Memphis at home, as they had lost in Utah by 23 points just two days earlier. Zach Randolph, most improved player and team leader, had 29 points, 15 rebounds, and a block.

• Hornets 103, Nets 99. The Nets shoot a league-worst 28% on threes on the season, but in this game they shot 9-17, which is 52.9%. Thank Courtney Lee (5-7 from downtown, 28 points) and Keyon Dooling (4-7 from downtown, 21 points) for that. Still, the Nets found a way to lose. David West had 32/10 and Chris Paul had 11/18/5. Those two are pretty good.

• Heat 109, Suns 105. Balanced scoring from the Suns – their starters posted totals of 16, 15, 15, 18, and 18 points. Unbalanced scoring from the Heat – Dwyane Wade (33) and Michael Beasley (21) accounted for just about half of the team’s points. The team stats are pretty even across the board except for one category – the Suns’ 17 turnovers killed them.

• Warriors 108, Kings 101. I briefly mentioned that Anthony Randolph is hurt – this is the game where it happened. At the very end of the first quarter, he went down on a Tyreke Evans drive and teammates had to help him off the court. Sprained ankle, blah. He’s out 3-6 weeks. Monta Ellis picked up the slack, though, besting Evans’s 25 points by scoring 39 in 46 minutes. The Kings were actually ahead by 10 going into the fourth quarter, but the Warriors dominated the final frame. The first 7 points of the quarter were scored by Ellis and he had a total of 13 in the Q. 10 of Sacramento’s 17 turnovers came in the fourth and GS scored 17 points off them. That was the game.

Saturday, Jan. 10

Magic 113, Hawks 81

• The last time these teams met it was (American) Thanksgiving, or “the night that the Orlando Magic started playing defense again.” Dwight Howard set the tone for another impressive defensive night by rejecting Joe Johnson on the very first play of the game in this one. He would have two more blocks in the game despite only playing 22 minutes. The great Orlando D forced the least turnover-prone team in the league to cough the ball up 16 times. It seemed they were pissed off about losing four straight games.

• Maybe this game proves Jon Barry’s point about the Hawks being inconsistent and not quite an elite team. Maybe, though, it just proves that Orlando is a terrible matchup for Atlanta and they haven’t figured out how to counter them yet. This is the Hawks’ 5th-straight loss to the Magic and this was not the only blowout. I think it’s fair to put some blame on the coaching staff here, as long as you acknowledge that there is still time to fix the problem. These two teams meet on January 30 and March 24 – you know Hawks fans will be expecting an adjustment or two.

• I loved the bench play of Ryan Anderson and Jason Williams. After not playing a single second in the previous two games, he came in and scored 5 very quick points. Finished with an efficient 16 points on 10 shots, doing his usual “threes and layups” routine and posting up when Atlanta switched players on him. J-Will was having a bad hair day, but his game was on point. He made me flash back to the days Whit Eboy was in Sactown – he was pushing the pace, hitting threes, and getting the crowd into it. The Magic outscored the Hawks 37-16 in the second quarter and their backup point guard (who finished with 14 points and 6 assists in the game) was the biggest reason why.

• Anderson and Williams weren’t the only Magic role players to get into it. Marcin Gortat had 12 rebounds, Michael Pietrus had 4 steals, Matt Barnes had 18 points (on 11 shots!) and 7 rebounds, and J.J. Redick filled in for the injured Vince Carter very nicely with 17 points in a starting role. The Magic are the deepest team in the league and it’s not close.

• Can’t lie, I stopped watching this one after halftime. It was 66-37 at that point so I don’t think you can blame me, especially seeing as Orlando’s bench managed to increase the lead by 3 points in the second half.

Thunder 108, Pacers 102

• I was excited pregame when the Thunder broadcasters were talking about All-OTN Team member Serge Ibaka. The sideline reporter (Elissa Walker Campbell, I think) said “he has been bringing it night in and night out.” Cliché, yes, but I’ll take it. Too bad he only played 5:15. In that time, he converted one field goal and grabbed one rebound. And Roy Hibbert scored on him. Blah. I was looking forward to that matchup.

• Ibaka’s minutes have been down for a while now because of the strong play of Nick Collison, who has been playing both the 4 and 5 for OKC. I can’t say enough about how good he is at setting screens. In this contest, he went 3-4 from the field and grabbed 7 rebounds, while adding 3 blocks and a steal. All this in 23 minutes. Oh, and a move he put on Solomon Jones inspired this awesome tweet.

• Another guy who took minutes from Ibaka on this night? “Byron” Mullens. This was the first time I’d seen him and I was impressed. He wasn’t spectacular or anything, but he ran the floor well and showed some skill with the ball in his hands. 4 points, 3 rebounds, and an assist won’t blow you away, but he was only on the court for a bit over 7 minutes. I don’t know how to deal with the fact that the Thunder might have another player I like.

• Speaking of players I like… JAMES HARDEN. There’s more to this man than the beard. J.G. of Daily Thunder revealed about a month ago that he was putting up numbers that made him one of the top shooting guards in the NBA. I’ve been paying close attention to him during games and I really love what I see. He has a pure three-point stroke, as he demonstrated by going 3-4 from deep in this game. He’s got good handles and the ability to run the Thunder’s offense when he’s asked to (although this happens less now that they have Eric Maynor on the roster). Plus, like everyone else on this team, he plays defense and hustles. This was made clearest when he made my favourite hustle play of the season by someone not named Amir Johnson – check out how he sprinted back to strip Danny Granger on the break.

• I still can’t believe what’s happened to T.J. Ford. Check what Jared Wade wrote about him in this piece. For the longest time, I thought Ford had star potential. He always had great handles, an ability to get his shot, and a knack for finding teammates open looks. Friends in Toronto would argue with me, calling him selfish and complaining that he took too many bad shots. I’d make excuses for his shot selection, saying that most of his bad shots came at the end of the shot clock and he would try to take over games sometimes because no one else on the team would do so. I think part of it was that I always remembered this SI feature. Here’s a quote:

“The only time I have to score is when the team needs me to,” he says. “My job is to make guys better. If you average four, I can get you to average eight or 10.”

• I suspect Indiana fans would laugh at this now. He’s not playing like the proper distributor and leader I thought he was. In fact, he’s basically the exact opposite. When he plays, he takes questionable shots and fails to rack up many assists. And he hasn’t played yet in 2010. Here are some nauseating stats: he’s shot 1-28 from downtown this season and has an assist percentage of 24.4% (down from 44.4% in his last season in Toronto). Oh, and his true shooting percentage is 50.1%. Ugh. I feel bad for him – he had tons of potential and in interviews he came across as a nice, thoughtful guy. I’m not totally ready to accept he’s a shit player – maybe a change of scene would do him some good. Can’t be easy to trade him right now, though.

• With T.J. in the doghouse, the point guard minutes went to Earl Watson and A.J. Price. Weird what’s happened to Watson in the last year and a half: he was a starter for the Thunder at the beginning of last season, but (rightly) was demoted to backup duty when Scott Brooks took over. He then signed in Indiana as a backup, but ended up starting again when the team gave up on Ford. It’s pretty obvious what Watson is about – he’s a very good passer and he can run an offense, but he’s no great shakes on D and he isn’t a good shooter. That’s a decent backup for you. Price is more intriguing – he hasn’t played a hell of a lot this season, but he took over this game for a little bit. In the fourth quarter, he hit a couple of HUGE threes including one that closed the gap to 93-92 with 5:16 left in the game. His 23 points were more than double his previous career high and his 9-15 shooting (including 3-5 from downtown) was very impressive. The problem was that he started off so strong that he tried to do too much. Near the end of the game, Price missed three field goal attempts in a row. He had a great game, but he probably shouldn’t have become the #1 option down the stretch.

• Kevin Durant is just silly-good. Guess how many field goal attempts he needed to score 40 points. Come on, guess… 18! EIGHTEEN. That’s insane. He went 12-18 from the field, 2-2 from downtown, and 14-16 from the line. Add 12 assists and you have happy fantasy owners everywhere, except for me because I’m a damn fool and forgot to set my lineups that day. He was benched. Blah. Anyway, 11 of those points came in the 4th quarter and a few of those baskets were followed by scowls. Loved that. We know KD is a joker off-court but it’s great to see him being mean on it. His step-back J over Brandon Rush on the right side put his squad up 8 with 51 seconds to play and that was the ballgame.

Kings 102, Nuggets 100

• Game of the weekend. You should already know about Tyreke Evans’s game-winner. It was glorious, and it followed a Chauncey Billups three that was glorious in its own right if you’re a Denver fan. A few plays before that, Omri Casspi hit a corner three that had me jump out of my seat. You could say I’m a big fan of his. You could also say this game had a pretty exciting finish. I couldn’t believe some people were watching Saturday Night Live instead, even with Charles Barkley hosting.

• Francisco Garcia joined the announce team for a little bit in the first half. He said he and Kevin Martin are “desperate” to get back and the Kings have “got a special thing going on right now.” I am thoroughly enjoying watching this group right now and am very curious as to how they’ll look once these two scorers get back in the mix. A couple of notable things that happened while Garcia was hanging out – first, Tyreke made a nice one-on-one move against Chauncey Billups and looked hurt afterward. No one mentions it on air, even when they show a freaking replay. I’m freaking out as ankle injuries terrify me, but ‘Reke relatively quickly signals to the bench/coaching staff that he’s okay and stays in the game. Phew. Second, he talked about Omri for a bit. It’s clear that he’s been a mentor for the rookie, even while injured. When Casspi received the ball, ready to launch a three, ‘Cisco yelled “Give me, one baby!” It dropped through and he excitedly exclaimed, “That’s what I like!” I liked it, too.

• It wasn’t just the game winner for Tyreke, it was everything. 27 points on 10-15 shooting? Nuts. I’m not going to call him a rookie anymore because I don’t think of him as one. The Nugs’ team defense was completely geared toward neutralizing him and he was unfazed. It didn’t matter who guarded him, he was getting where he wanted. Don’t think he’ll make it to the ASG this year, but he’s a star. Count on an appearance next year.

• You’ve probably seen this J.R. Smith play by now. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Still can’t.

• Spencer Hawes still frustrates me but he did go 8-10 from the floor for 17 points in 26 minutes, scoring in a variety of ways. Very nice. I’ll forgive him for only grabbing 3 defensive rebounds… this time.

• I want Kenyon Martin on my fantasy team. Check this: 20 Pts (9-17 FG), 10 Reb (5 Off), 5 Ast, 2 Blk, 2 Stl, 1 TO. Well done, sir. Pity you couldn’t stop Tyreke on that last play, though. Ha!

• Joey Graham had a very good first half for the Nugs. He was aggressive, got to the line repeatedly, took a charge on Spencer Hawes, and did this to Jason Thompson.

• Fun note: this was rookie Jon Brockman’s first start of his career. Always cool to witness a milestone for a player. He played 37:56, almost 12 minutes more than his previous career high. Unfortunately, the Brockness Monster shot too much, especially in the first half. He finished 2-9 from the field, but because he is awesome he added 12 rebounds, 7 coming on the offensive end.

Other Saturday Games

• Bobcats 89, Grizzlies 87. I missed the very beginning of the second half of the Thunder game because I was watching the crazy finish here. It looked like O.J. Mayo was might be a hero for the second straight night, as he tied the game with 8.8 seconds left, hitting a three from the top of the key with Gerald Wallace’s hand in his face. My favourite part was the way he reacted. As in, he didn’t. At all. Just walked to the bench calmly as Charlotte called a timeout. Unfortunately for O.J., Wallace would be the hero – he tipped in an errant Raymond Felton attempt at the buzzer to get his team the W.

• 76ers 104, Pistons 94. Allen Iverson wasn’t in the lineup for Philly in this one, but he was still unfortunately booed by the fans at the Palace when his name was announced. Luckily for the Sixers, Elton Brand came back and provided a scoring punch, scoring 25 points on 16 shots. The Pistons lost because that’s what they’ve been doing lately. Rip Hamilton attempted 22 field goals in almost 41 minutes and made just 6 of them. It was only a 10 point win in the end, but Detroit was down 26-10 (!) at the end of the first and 56-30 at halftime. Tayshaun Prince and Rodney Stuckey nursed their lingering injuries in the second half instead of playing. Ben Gordon scored 20, including the NBA’s 10 millionth point.

• Bulls 110, Timberwolves 96. Kirk Hinrich had, by my count, his third super-awesome game of the season: 20/4/7, 8-15 FG, 4-9 3PT. Joakim Noah had himself a game as well, scoring 20 on 9-13 shooting and adding 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, and a block. Fun rookie Jonny Flynn had 14/4/8 with 2 steals but his team was outscored 51-32 in the second and third quarters.

• Jazz 111, Mavericks 93. Josh Howard and Drew Gooden were both missing in action for Dallas. Utah managed 126.1 points per 100 possessions, shot 53.2% from the floor, and only turned the ball over 4 times. This is the kind of game that will help the Jazz move up the offensive efficiency rankings to where they’ve been in previous years. You’ve gotta expect more from the Mavs on D, though. Dirk had 29 on 22 shots; Deron had 20 on 13 shots. 9 assists for Utah’s PG, too. Hope he finally gets to play in the All-Star Game.

• Rockets 105, Knicks 96. Houston was down by 11 after one quarter, but outscored the Knicks in each of the next three to get the W. Luis Scola (23 points, 10-16 FG) and Aaron Brooks (20 points, 8-15 FG) both scored often and efficiently and the always-awesome Carl Landry scored 10 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter. Nate Robinson had a fine game (20 points on 13 shots), but David Lee was the star for NYK: 26/12/6 with 12-17 shooting. Daryl Morey pointed out that Houston surprisingly won the transition points category 51-32.

Sunday, Jan. 10

Celtics 114, Raptors 107

• I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep myself from applauding Rondo all afternoon and thought this would earn me some dirty looks from the ACC crowd. Couldn’t have been more wrong, I was surrounded by Celtics fans. The two loudest people in the arena were directly next to me, decked out in C’s gear and supporting their club. My guy Rajon had a 22/10/13 triple-double with 4 steals and a ridiculous buzzer-beating three to boot. I’m beyond impressed with him and seeing him zip around in person is something else. Not sure how you stop Rajon right now. If he’s not an All-Star I might go on a killing spree.

• Don’t get me wrong about the Rondo love – he’s great and I couldn’t shut up about him during and after the game, but I was definitely rooting for my Raps. I went crazy when Chris Bosh ruined Shelden Williams and Rasheed Wallace’s dominance completely pissed me off. Sheed hasn’t been fantastic this season, but he’s been amazing against the Raptors. He always is. 29/8 in this one, shooting 9-12 from the field and 5-7 (!) from downtown. If you’re wondering, Sheed was shooting less than 30% from deep entering the game. Bosh scored 31 on 17 shot attempts (13-13 FT), plus 13 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. Just a fantastic all-around effort. I don’t even want to think about the possibility of him leaving Toronto…

• …except people wouldn’t shut up about it on Sunday! Peter Vescey rumoured a Bosh-for-Bynum swap, even though in his article he quotes Bryan Colangelo as saying he hasn’t talked to the Lakers or anyone about Bosh. Ugh. I don’t even feel like I should have to comment on this, but it doesn’t make sense. Check what Kelly Dwyer said. Bosh is better than Bynum, but he doesn’t complement Gasol as well. If L.A. keeps everything together they could, seriously, have the best defense and best offense in the league by the season’s end. Bosh makes their offense worse because he isn’t the type of back-to-the-basket post player that Bynum is and he makes the defense worse because, quite simply, he isn’t the same defender Bynum is. Especially if they’re going to ask him to defend centers. Bynum-Gasol remains a downright terrifying combo in the triangle and they are great at defending around the rim. Why break that up by exchanging a 5 for a 4? Talent generally reigns supreme, but the Lakers already have more than enough of that. They need to have complementary players. As for the Raptors, um… Bosh and Bargnani might not be a great fit long-term, so I can see Colangelo trying to get a 5 for Bosh if he does indeed move him. Of course, that brings up the question of whether Bargs poses as many matchup problems against 4s as he does against 5s and blahblahblah I’m not going to get into that now. Let’s be clear: I don’t like this idea. I don’t want Bosh gone. He’s in the midst of having the best season of anyone in this franchise’s history, statistically at least. Unless he’s given an indication he wants to move on, you try to keep him.

• Eddie House makes me nervous and angry. He just runs around the perimeter and around screens, trying to get open threes. Every team knows that’s what he does. So, I HATE when he gets an open look. He hit 3 triples in this game and each one drove me nuts. Took some satisfaction in every one of his five fouls, though.

• Hedo Turkoglu was mainly invisible out there. He got 9 assists, yeah, but he shot 2-9 from the field and didn’t score his first basket until halfway through the third quarter. I remember Kelly Dwyer (yes, again with the Dwyer references) talking about how pretty much everything Turk does shows up in the stat sheet. I’m with that. The 9 assists didn’t impress me. I want to see him help his team when the ball isn’t in his hands, but he can’t really do that. He doesn’t play good defense, doesn’t rebound well, and doesn’t hustle. The only positive contribution I can think of from him aside from what he creates with the ball in his hands is floor spacing. But, hell, guys like Eddie House can do that. This is why I was pissed when I heard he was sort of complaining about not being as much of a facilitator this year. Man, you’re coming to a team run by Jose Calderon (I know Jack is starting right now – irrelevant), who is one of the most efficient players in the league. The team needs the ball in his hands. You’re 6’10, be a real small forward. And grab a damn rebound! Argh. I probably shouldn’t be mad at Hedo, really. His skillset is the same as it always was. It’s just frustrating to watch him sometimes.

• It’s nice to see Jose Calderon back for Toronto. He played hard and effectively on both ends, if only for 22 minutes. Hollinger’s called him the worst defensive point guard in the league this season and I haven’t even been able to argue with him. Kills me because I know he CAN play D, but he wasn’t doing it. Against Boston, he was moving his feet and staying with people. Even Rondo, who is impossible to check. One trip down, he ended up on Ray Allen and played him perfectly, forcing him into an extreeemely difficult shot. I yelled out, “GREAT D, JOSE!” and then watched the shot drop. Deflating as anything. Couldn’t be mad at Calderon, though. Just like I couldn’t get mad at the Raptors for losing to a superior team.

Cavaliers 106, Blazers 94.

• LeBron James is insane. Check this pic. That’s probably the only time I’ll ever link to a picture of somebody catching an alley-oop pass and not scoring. I don’t know how James can still be considered human. I mean, did you SEE that first half? 31 points and it all seemed so easy. The game began with him driving every damn time and then he made some perimeter J’s, too. And then, in the second half, when Portland was determined to make other players beat them, he made the right passes. That’s how you end up with lines like this one: 41/10/8. I’d say you’re in pretty good shape if you can score 41 whilst only taking 19 field goals, but to almost have a trip-dub too? It’s unfair. Everything about LeBron is unfair, except his sometimes-shaky shot selection.

• Shaq’s 11/11/5 in 24 minutes? Huge. I know his close encounter with a Baldwin made headlines, but it’s also worth noting that he was +16 on the night. It helped that Juwan Howard had to guard him, but still. Give the big man credit, he has been playing significantly better lately.

• Brandon Roy: 34 points on 23 shots. LaMarcus Aldridge: 18 points on 11 shots. Offense wasn’t the problem for the Blazers here – this was an 84-possessoin game. They just couldn’t stop Cleveland. This is actually a bit of a misconception about the Cavs – you’d assume that because their offense looks (and is) simple that they’re simply relying on their D to get wins. Not the case, they’re 6th in the league in offensive efficiency. Believe me, I want Mike Brown to add to his playbook too, but it’s not as if they’re having a lot of trouble scoring.

Other Sunday games:

• Hornets 115, Wizards 110. New Orleans remains undefeated in 2010, getting their 6th win in a row. Check out the margins of victory in those games, though: 4, 4, 4, 5, 4, 5. Ha. Does this mean they’re good at executing down the stretch or they’re just getting lucky? As with everything, the answer is probably somewhere in the middle. Anyway, Chris Paul had 26 points and 14 assists, 8 of which came in the opening period. Antawn Jamison, who we’d like to see in Cleveland, had 32 and 8 rebounds. but it wasn’t enough. Neither was Randy Foye’s 23 points and 8 rebounds or Nick Young’s 20 and 6 on 7-10 shooting. Andray Blatche didn’t attempt a shot in the losing effort and he didn’t like that one bit.

• Clippers 94, Heat 84. Again, Miami got most of their offense from Wade (24) and Beasley (20). This time, it wasn’t enough for a win. Some fun figures for the Clips: Baron Davis had 14 assists and Kaman and Camby had 14 and 17 rebounds, respectively. I’m not upset that I missed this game, with the ugly shooting. The teams combined to shoot 40.5% from the field and 28.6% from downtown. Gross.

• Spurs 97, Nets 85. The Nets returned to their normal crappy three-point shooting, finishing 3-14 on the night. San Antonio didn’t do much better, at 4-12, but they made up for it in other areas. A big one: they outrebounded NJ 48-35. Timmy D. finished with 14 points, 17 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 blocks while Manu Ginobili contributed 21/3/3 and only had 11 field goal attempts. As for the Nets, Brook Lopez had himself a great night – 28 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 blocks, and a steal. 10-17 FG, 8-8 FT as well. This efficiency wasn’t shared by Yi Jianlian, who shot 4-10 on shots closer than 10 feet but 0-7 otherwise.

• Lakers 95, Bucks 77. I recorded this game, but didn’t end up watching any of the first three quarters (besides the very end of the third) because I heard they were incredibly ugly. I mean, the Bucks only scored 8 points in the first Q. 8! It was 39-28 for the Lakers at halftime. Brandon Jennings shot 4-17 and Kobe Bryant and his completely fucked up finger shot 4-21. No thanks. Andrew Bynum had 17 points and 18 rebounds and Lamar Odom had 17 rebounds and 9 assists. With the amount of missed shots available, those rebounding numbers probably aren’t as impressive as they seem. As I said, though, I did watch SOME of the game. This was purely because of Shannon Brown. The All-OTN Team guard hit a hell of a buzzer-beater to end the third. Then came a dunk. Then came two blocks on the same play. Yeah. Finished with a career-high 19 points as well, helped by the fact his jump shot was falling.

Monday, Jan. 11

Pacers 105, Raptors 101

• Troy Murphy started this game as the only Pacer doing anything offensively. After Roy Hibbert’s layup in the first minute, the next FOUR Pacer field goals were threes by Murphy. This didn’t sit well with me. You know my deal with Eddie House? The scouting report tells you “no open threes” yet he seems to somehow get open threes. With Murphy, it’s the same except for the fact that he doesn’t run around screens. Ever. He just trails in transition or stands on the perimeter in the halfcourt. There is no excuse for not staying with him out there. I wanted to slap Bargnani around a little bit after those threes. But with the way the rest of his team was playing, it was alright… I guess.

• How was the rest of his team playing, then? HORRIBLY. They were taking quick (read: poor) shots and, when the Raptors were on offense, it seemed pretty damn easy to score. If one Pacer got beat, the rotations weren’t there. It looked like this was going to be a blowout when the Raptors were up by 23 in the second quarter. Things changed, though, when Danny Granger and Sonny Weems got in a little bit of an argument. After this, Granger went on a scoring spree and his team cut it to 13 by halftime. It was a 16-3 run and the Raptors went 1-6 from the field to end the quarter before Antoine Wright hit a lucky/exciting shot from the backcourt at the buzzer.

• I felt pretty good about the halftime lead even though it could have been bigger. So did Jose Calderon, apparently. He was asked about strategy and he said it was simple: “get a stop, run, easy basket.” Couldn’t argue, with how most of that first half went.

• The second half felt like a different game. The Raptors looked tired and the Pacers looked… decent. I’m not ready to say the Pacers made a fantastic comeback because of the sloppiness of the whole thing. It felt like an NCAA game to me and I don’t mean that in the fun/intensity good kind of way. I mean that in that there were a ton of missed three pointers, turnovers, and mental mistakes. Still, their defense improved and they held the Raptors to only 4 made field goals in the third quarter. Credit A.J. Price, Earl Watson, Mike Dunleavy, and Danny Granger for efficient scoring in the comeback.

• Andrea Bargnani had a very un-Bargnani like line of 12 points on 4-14 shooting, with 17 rebounds (4 offensive) and 3 blocks. Chris Bosh had a very Bosh-like line of 27 points on 6-14 shooting, with 10 rebounds (2 offensive), 2 steals, and 2 blocks. Hedo Turkoglu had 10 points and 6 assists, but everything I said about him in the Boston game applies here. I liked what I saw from DeMar DeRozan in 20 minutes and Rasho Nesterovic in 4 minutes and would have liked to have seen more from both of them. Oh well.

• Roy Hibbert only played 7 minutes. Dahntay Jones and T.J. Ford both received DNP-CD’s. Weird, right?

Cavaliers 117, Warriors 114

• If LeBron continues to go in the post and works on improving his game down there, the whole league is fucked. When he catches there, it changes everything. I think he’s starting to realize this – don’t think he hasn’t noticed Kobe Bryant this season. His work in the second half of this game is just a taste of what might be to come. This is either exciting or horrifying, depending on your perspective. His line? 37 points, 8 rebounds, 11 assists, 4 blocks, 2 steals, 12-23 FG, 12-14 FT.

• More fun stats: Anderson Varejao unsurprisingly had the highest +/-, with +16. Monta Ellis played 45 minutes, scored 30 points, took 25 field goals, dished out 5 assists, picked up 5 steals, turned the ball over 5 times, and had his shot blocked 5 times. Corey Maggette scored 32 points on just 14 field goals, going 17-18 from the line. Anthony Morrow only attempted (and made) one shot, a three that looked absolutely perfect.

• Cartier Martin just got called up from the D-League. Guess who he was matched up against when he checked in for the W’s. You got it, LeBron James. I can’t even imagine what was going through his mind.

• Ronny Turiaf sprained his ankle. X-rays were negative, but he didn’t return after playing just 11 minutes.

• I don’t understand how anyone could NOT root for Stephen Curry. I’m a bit biased because I love PG’s and rookies, but seriously… he looks like he’s 14 years old, but he’s schooling people with his handles and he has one of the purest shots in the league. This, plus his awesome passing ability. Did you see that steal + behind-the-back pass near the end of this game? Insane. If he had hit that three to tie it at the buzzer, I would have lost my mind.

Other Monday Games

• Hawks 102, Boston 96. Saw the very end of this one and I’m going to go back and watch the whole thing on my PVR. It always seems like a good game when these two teams meet, but lately Atlanta has just had Boston’s number. 3-0 against the Celts this year. You just know they’re hoping to face Boston and NOT Orlando in the playoffs. Atlanta needed a 25-16 4th quarter to get the win and, again, Jamal Crawford made key clutch plays to seal it. Rasheed Wallace didn’t play because of a sore foot, but Boston’s coaching staff made up for it by picking up three technical fouls. Head coach Doc Rivers was ejected. Joe Johnson and Rajon Rondo both put forth good arguments to be named an All-Star starter, even though neither of them will be. JJ: 36/3/1 on 14-25 shooting including 5-7 (!) from downtown. Rondo: 26/3/7 on 12-20 shooting.

• 76ers 96, Hornets 92. Allen Iverson continued his efficient scoring, finishing with 16 points on just 9 field goal attempts, but only racking up 1 assist. Sam Dalembert continued his strong play since the addition of Iverson – he had 14 rebounds and 5 blocks. For New Orleans, David West and Emeka Okafor combined for 33 points and 24 rebounds, but the 6-game winning streak is over. Chris Paul had 13 points and 14 assists, but he didn’t shoot well (5-13).

• Thunder 106, Knicks 88. OKC was up by 17 at the half and 23 after three. Not close, people. Kevin Durant scored 30 points on just 14 field goal attempts and Russell Westbrook scored 17 on 11. All-OTN Team member Serge Ibaka tallied 10 and 7 in 24 minutes and added a block, a steal, and 5 (ugh) fouls. For the Knicks, Chris Duhon and Danilo Gallinari combined to shoot 0-15 from the floor, including 0-9 from downtown. But hey, Jonathan Bender had a good game! 16 points on 6-10 shooting, including 2-5 from downtown. 2 blocks, as well. Happy he got those numbers, but this is a sorry effort from his team.

• Bulls 120, Pistons 87. Detroit was outscored by 25 points in the second and third quarters and failed to win a single Q. Sad times for Piston fans, as they haven’t seen their team win since December 12. The Bulls average 96.9 points per 100 possessions, good for 29th in the league. Last night? 126.3 points per 100 possessions. The Pistons made the Bulls look like they’re WAY better than the best offensive team in the league. I feel like I’m piling on if I go any further, so I’ll leave it at that. 27/6 for Deng, 22/9 for Rose, 16/11 for Noah.

• Suns 105, Bucks 101. I’ve got to watch this on my DVR, too. Really weird game, as the Suns were up by 21 after one quarter. It was 43-19 in the second quarter before the Bucks went on a 12-0 run. With Scott Skiles in hospital for an irregular heartbeat, the Bucks tried to get out of the hole they dug for themselves under Jim Boylan. Almost had it, too, and Alvin Gentry sounded like his team had LOST the game in the post-game presser because of the way they let the Bucks get close. Steve Nash had an unreal line of 30/7/11, but had 7 turnovers. Grant Hill reached the 15,000 point plateau. Hakim Warrick had 21 and 10 on 8-13 shooting for the Bucks.

• Nuggets 105, Timberwolves 94. Carmelo Anthony returned for Denver and scored 24 points on 17 shots, but only added 2 rebounds and 2 assists. Chauncey added 18/10 and a couple of timely threes, Kenyon Martin had 8/15, and the Birdman almost had a double-double off the bench with 10/9 along with 2 blocks and a steal. Corey Brewer (25), Al Jefferson (22), and Kevin Love (20) all scored big for Minnesota, but the Wolves are just not in Denver’s league right now.

• Jazz 118, Heat 89. This one was close (24-22) after one quarter, but broke open quickly. Miami could not take care of the ball and could not stop Utah’s offense, falling to .500 on the year. Deron Williams had 23 points and 10 assists, Carlos Boozer had 25 points and 11 rebounds, undrafted rookie Wesley Matthews scored 18 points on 8 shots off the bench, and Mehmet Okur (not a typo, not AK47) had 5 blocks.

Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

Another seven games on the schedule on Tuesday night and I’ve got a lot to talk about. My eyes were focused mainly on Cavs/Hawks, Thunder/Wizards, and Lakers/Warriors, but I’ve done my best to cover everything.

The All-OTN Team

Will Bynum: He didn’t play tonight, as he was bothered by injuries to both of his ankles. Without him, the Pistons lost 104-87 to the Knicks. Yes, the Knicks. With the ATL/CLE and OKC/WAS games going on at the same time, I hope you’ll forgive me for missing this one. Just looking at Detroit’s shot distribution is interesting, though. Rip Hamilton went 5-21 from the field to score 16 points. Rodney Stuckey managed 15 points on 13 shots. Ben Gordon got 17 points on just 9 shots. The rusty Tayshaun Prince played 24 minutes and went 1-4; the still-hurting Charlie Villanueva played 12 minutes and went 0-4. This all adds up to a terrible offensive night, but that’s not what I’m getting at – the question is how coach Kuester is going to keep all these guys happy. To be effective, all of these players aside from Prince absolutely NEED touches and NEED shots. When Bynumite comes back, he’s gotta have ball in his hands and the freedom to create. With all the injuries this team has been through, the feeling out process that should have happened in training camp and the first few weeks of the season is happening now. This team has to find a rotation that properly balances minutes for their numerous scorers as well as guys like Ben Wallace and Jonas Jerebko. What complicates matters is the fact that we know Joe Dumars is likely trying to move Prince and Hamilton. You don’t want to put too much effort into featuring these two if it’s not best for the team, but you can’t banish them and kill their trade value either. To be clear, I’m not saying the Pistons can’t get it together – there’s a lot of potential on this squad. The problem: as presently constructed, the roster is unbalanced and there are a lot of mouths to feed. I fear Bynum might get lost in the shuffle.

Shannon Brown: 7 Pts (2-6 FG, 1-3 3PT, 2-2 FT), 3 Reb, 1 Blk, 1 TO, 0 PF in 19 mins.

I was excited to see Shannon get 15 first half minutes, only to see him unfortunately ride the pine for most of the second half of this 124-118 win. While he was on the court, though, I appreciated his effort guarding Monta Ellis. It’s a tough assignment, but Brown doesn’t back down from anyone. He managed to make life difficult for the Warriors’ star guard, who scored 22 points on 23 shots in 43 minutes. As for offense, Shannon had three big plays, each coming near the end of quarters. As the buzzer beater sounded to close the first, he drew a foul on Ellis on a jumper. Then, near the end of the half, he dunked HARD on Vladimir Radmanovic, the man he was traded for last season. This should have been and and-1, but wasn’t, and I’ll post it here as soon as I can find a video. Finally, he hit a big three with a minute left in the third. Shame he didn’t sniff the floor for the final ten minutes of this one, save for the last 40 seconds when it was decided. Hope he focuses on the fact that his team got the W instead of the fact both Sasha Vujacic and Jordan Farmar got more burn.

Update: Video of the dunk below.

Serge Ibaka: 2 Pts (1-2 FG), 2 Reb (1 Off), 1 Blk, 2 PF in 7 mins.

Forget not playing in the 4th, Serge wasn’t inserted into the Thunder lineup at all in the second half! Hard to complain, again, because his team won 110-98 over the Wizards and Nick Collison continued to play well in his place. Ibaka did have a very nice putback at the beginning of the second quarter, but that’s really about it.

Rookie Watch

Eric Maynor: 11 Pts (3-4 FG, 1-1 3PT, 0-1 FT), 2 Reb, 4 Ast, 1 Blk, 2 Stl, 0 TO, 1 PF in 12 mins.

Here’s where I admit I have mixed feelings about Maynor. On the one hand, I liked him a lot the couple of times I saw him play at VCU and was enjoying his work this year in Utah. On the other hand, his arrival in Oklahoma City spelled the departure of Shaun Livingston, a long-time favourite of mine who I looked forward to watching every time the Thunder were playing. It kills me that Livingston is out of the league at the moment and so far it’s been difficult for me to watch Maynor without thinking about it. I know it’s unfair, but that’s probably how it’s going to be until Shaun catches on somewhere else (hopefully very soon). That said, Maynor was fantastic at the beginning of the fourth quarter in this one. His steals, passing, and penetration were huuuge. He even nailed desperation three at the end of the shot clock. It was all very nice to see. Kinda.

Jonny Flynn: 17 Pts (7-14 FG, 1-3 3PT, 2-2 FT), 1 Reb, 2 Ast, 2 TO, 0 PF in 29 mins.

Didn’t see much of this 117-99 Spurs victory over the Wolves, but I like Flynn’s line. 17 points on 7-14 shooting is a nice bounce back after the 8 points on 2-12 shooting that he posted against Washington on Saturday. This is all a learning process for Jonny and the Wolves, though. Expect more nights like this and expect more nights like Saturday before the season ends.

Stephen Curry: 15 Pts (6-10 FG, 0-1 3PT, 3-3 FT), 3 Reb (1 Off), 3 Ast, 4 TO, 3 PF in 23 mins.

Quick point guards generally do well against the Lakers, so I thought we might be in for a big bounce-back effort from Steph here. After he posted 9 points in the first quarter, it seemed like it was heading that way. Unfortunately, he didn’t quite keep it up and committed too many turnovers in the second half. Still, we saw him do the things we know he can do: he scored on jumpers and drives to the basket, and he pushed the ball and made the right passes.

Fun With Stats

Tyrus Thomas had a Tyrus Thomas stat line in his second game back from injury: 8 points on 2-10 shooting, 15 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 blocks, and 5 turnovers. Two of those blocks came on consecutive possessions in the fourth quarter. I’ve missed seeing stats like that from him. For most of this season, I’ve also missed his teammate Derrick Rose. I mean, he’s been on the court for most of this campaign, but he hadn’t been putting up great numbers. In happy news, he extended his recent streak of good games last night by recording 28 points on 20 shots, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists. I’m still not a fan of the 6 turnovers or the fact that 12 of his shots came from 16-23 feet out, though. Get to the basket, Derrick!

For the Knicks, David Lee had a 30/12/5 night and people are talking about him as a possible All-Star. Great stuff, especially because it only took him 19 shots to score those 30 points. His teammate Danilo Gallinari went 5-10 from the field and 4-9 from behind the arc. His one two point attempt was a jumper a minute and a half into the game. I love his three-point stroke, but come on! We know he can do much more than launch triples – his line frustrates me more than it amuses me.

Manu Ginobili and Richard Jefferson led the way for San Antonio, which is a nice change. Manu had a near-triple-double: 14/9/10 in less than 28 minutes. It’s hard not to get excited about that. Same with the fact that RJ poured in 24/6/3 with 4 threes and a block. Strange that he didn’t manage to draw a single foul, though. It’s also worth noting that the Spurs have now won 9 of their last 11 games, even if it has been a soft part of their schedule.

David West set a new career high in scoring as he finished with 44/12/4, including a 22-point third quarter and TWO three-pointers. Chris Paul had a 16/11/10 triple-double whilst only turning the ball over once in 42 minutes. Still, the Hornets lost to the Rockets 108-100. This is largely because Shane Battier and Aaron Brooks combined to shoot 15-24 from the field, including 10-15 from behind the arc. Insane numbers.

Emeka Okafor recorded 5 blocks against Houston, all of them coming in the same third quarter where David West went off. Anthony Randolph only played 19 minutes in Golden State’s loss to the Lakers, but he swatted 5 shots as well.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas has scored 104,000 points in his career, all as a Cavalier. He moved past Brad Daugherty’s mark of 10,390 last night to become Cleveland’s second all-time leading scorer, behind LeBron James.

Speaking of LeBron James, he turns 25 years old today. Hard to wrap my head around this. On one hand, he looks and plays like he’s a lot older than 25. On the other, I vividly remember reading about him for the first time in SLAM when he was balling for St. Vincent–St. Mary. If you’ve been following along since then too, consider yourself lucky. We are obviously, OBVIOUSLY seeing something very special here. Happy birthday, Bron. I think I’ll celebrate by getting started on Shooting Stars.

Impressive

Kevin Durant: 35 Pts (12-19 FG, 3-6 3PT, 8-10 FT), 11 Reb, 4 Ast, 1 Blk, 5 TO, 2 PF in 40 mins.

This is the 5th-straight 30+ scoring game for KD and, yet again, he’s doing it without sacrificing efficiency. The Thunder needed it, too. Despite all the holes in the Wizards’ defense, Durant was the only one who had it going for most of this game. That’s actually one of the most important things to take away from this game – the Thunder can find ways to win without playing their best ball for 48 minutes. In this game, their star kept them competitive for three quarters and then they took it to another level. Bad habit? Probably. But it’s also a sign they’ve learned how to win games.

Gilbert Arenas: 24 Pts (8-20 FG, 4-8 3PT, 4-5 FT), 7 Reb, 8 Ast, 2 Blk, 3 Stl, 3 TO, 3 PF in 40 mins.

If you’re a Gilbert Arenas fan, just look at that line for a second. Awesome, right? He hit every category and was kinda-sorta near a triple-double. I know I’m happy he’s on my fantasy team. Offensively, he was great all game. He hit very, very impressive shots and created for his teammates like the Gil we know and love. It would be dishonest of me to move on without bring up the defense, though. It was awful. The whole team’s D was awful, but Gil’s stood out. I don’t expect any NBA guard to completely stop penetration, but you have to at least be able to limit it. Arenas did not do that last night. Not saying it cancels out his great offensive effort, but it has to be mentioned.

Delonte West: 17 Pts (6-11 FG, 1-2 3PT, 4-6 FT), 5 Reb (2 Off), 2 Ast, 2 Stl, 2 TO, 1 PF in 29 mins.

Yay, yay, yay. I love seeing Delonte play well and, this night, he was the player of the game. He demonstrated a knack for coming up with huge plays on either end when his team needed them. Did you see where he back-tapped a missed shot to a teammate? He has no business doing that at his size, but he got it done. Did you see when he got a rebound over Josh Smith and drew the 5th foul on Atlanta’s stud forward? Again, no business doing that. He’s able to guard bigger guys, penetrate the D, draw fouls around the basket, and score when it seems improbable. Ernie Johnson called him “effective and annoying”, with the latter referring to how opposing teams see him. I’ll tell you one thing: he doesn’t annoy me. I love LeBron, but Delonte is my favourite Cav and he has been playing fantastic ball lately. You should have seen me when he dunked on Josh Smith (video below). Best part? It was payback for a couple of possessions earlier, where Smith had blocked him.

Anthony Parker: 10 Pts (4-7 FG, 0-1 3PT, 2-3 FT), 2 Reb, 1 Ast, 1 Blk, 0 TO, 1 PF in 22 mins.

Those numbers aren’t going to blow you away, but I found myself thinking that this was the best I’d seen AP play in a couple of years. His block on the fast break was awesome, as was his cutting and his defense. His J looked perfect, too. If the Cavs can get inspired ball from Parker, West, and Mo Williams for the rest of the season, watch out.

LeBron James: 14 Pts (6-20 FG, 0-5 3PT, 2-3 FT), 8 Reb (1 Off), 10 Ast, 1 Blk, 5 Stl, 4 TO, 2 PF in 39 mins.

He’s not in this section because of his offense, trust me. His jumper was as off as I’ve ever seen – he missed it from seemingly everywhere on the court. He made up for it by delivering every time that he went to the rim (although this should have been way more often), setting up his teammates well, and playing amazing defense. Joe Johnson started the game 4-4 for Atlanta, but then he missed his next 9 shots and LeBron was a huge part of that. His defense on Johnson caused the Hawks to go on a ridiculous 8-minute drought to begin the 4th quarter. We all know James’s help defense is great, but I love seeing him take the challenge of shutting someone down 1-on-1. He suffocated Tyreke Evans in the Kings’ scoreless overtime last week and did the same to JJ here. The Hawks should have been more creative offensively, but this doesn’t take away from the work Bron put in.

Jamal Crawford: 26 Pts (10-17 FG, 4-5 3PT, 2-4 FT), 4 Reb, 2 Ast, 2 Stl, 2 TO, 2 PF in 34 mins.

Crawford impacted this game as soon as he came in. It seemed he reached double-figures in scoring before I could blink. We know that Crawford hasn’t always been the most efficient scorer, but he’s been better in that regard for the Hawks than he has at any other point during his career. Last night, he had a TS% of 69.3. In addition to his 4-5 mark from downtown, he hit 4-7 from 16-23 feet, prompting Kevin McHale to start talking about the lost art of the pull-up jumper during the broadcast. He hit 8 straight field goals at one point (including a banked three-pointer), but his hot streak didn’t result in a win because he just didn’t have the help necessary to topple the Cavs.

Kobe Bryant: 44 Pts (13-27 FG, 2-6 3PT, 12-12 FT), 4 Reb (1 Off), 11 Ast, 1 Stl, 1 TO (!), 2 PF in 43 mins.

A season high in points and assists for Kobe. 7 of the assists came in the first quarter. He had to guard Monta Ellis for stretches, too. You’ve seen him have games like this before, though. The Lakers didn’t play a great game against Golden State, but Kobe put the team on his back. He’s the league’s most skilled, most fiercely competitive, and hardest-working player. He did everything he needed to do to get the win.

Corey Maggette: 25 Pts (7-11 FG, 0-1 3PT, 11-13 FT), 4 Reb, 3 Ast, 1 Stl, 0 TO, 3 PF in 31 mins.

25 points on 11 field goal attempts? Another solid effort from Maggette, including numerous nice finishes on the break. He’s always been good at scoring and getting to the foul line, though… The problem is that often he has failed to bring anything else to the table. Lately, he’s been playing pretty hard on defense and sometimes making plays for other people on offense. He knows he’s a scorer, but he hasn’t been a black hole. This is a great thing.

Quoted

“By his effort alone, I think we owe this game to him in the win column.” – Phil Jackson, on Kobe Bryant.

“That guy is amazing. To be able to shoot like he did with the finger problems that he has on his shooting hand, it’s amazing. I love watching him play, and it’s always a pleasure to coach against him.” – Don Nelson, on Kobe Bryant.

“I can go out there on that floor and take anybody on our team on one-on-one at 52 years old and drive right around them.” – Flip Saunders (More on Flip’s post-game comments, including video, at Bullets Forever.)

“Right now we stink. And we’re showing it.” – Gilbert Arenas

“LeBron just treated Josh Smith like a rental car” – Ernie Johnson, after LeBron went past J-Smoove to score at the rim.

“Worst hair in the NBA, but he’s got hops” – Rick Kamla, on Josh McRoberts

Tweeted

@flintstone14: I am killing this rookie Jodie meeks in madden 10. 28-0 in second
@YUNGBUCK3: @flintstone14 omggg Jodie weak man, smh
@flintstone14: @YUNGBUCK3 this dude is weak. Lol

@talkhoops: How has Andray Blatche not taken over the world yet? And don’t say hookers.

@TheNoLookPass: A few friends of mine can probably relate to this 4th quarter between the Cavs and the Hawks: no scoring.

@ShamSports: Tyrus Thomas with his usual combination of awesome and terrible tonight. That combination can take different forms, but it’s always there.

Some background for these tweets coming up: The Hornets very nearly traded Devin Brown yesterday. Then, as you know, they lost to the Rockets.

@ticktock6: How many times a game do you think cap space will turn over the ball? More or less than Devin Brown?
@ticktock6: Noooo, Devin! Don’t leave meeeeeee!! Who will I blame everything awful that happens in life on now?
@ticktock6: OMG now the T-Wolves have taken the Devin Brown announcement OFF THEIR SITE. *dies* (if this falls through it will ruin my day. Ruin.)

Now, during/after the game…

@KDonhoops: Devin Brown, judging by his play, does not like his current team.
@ticktock6: None of this would ever have happened if we had traded Devin Brown today.
@ticktock6: The gloves are off now. It’s me vs. Devin. The gauntlet has been thrown down. Watch your step, Brown. I’m right behind you…..
@ticktock6: I’m afraid to fly home tomorrow for fear I will find Devin Brown has eaten my cats & written his name across the wall in their blood

To Watch

Delonte on Josh Smith:

Kobe getting Turiaf’d:

A nasty putback from Tyrus:

LeBron being LeBron at the end of the first half:

Manu is amazing:

To Read

A Kobe Bryant feature in GQ.

Tom Ziller names Tim Duncan the NBA player of the decade.

Ryan Jones names LeBron James the high school player of the decade.

Matt Moore says a book should be written about the Wizards.

Dave from BlazersEdge continues his decade retrospective, looking at Portland’s tumultuous 2002-2005 period.

Jason Friedman’s great recap of Rockets/Hornets includes a full transcript of Rick Adelman talking pre-game about Tracy McGrady.

Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images

Oh, it has been far too long since the last BfB. Holidays and all, you know. I can promise these will be more frequent now, though. Anyway, seven games on the schedule last night and three of them turned out to be fairly big upsets. Fun!

The All-OTN Team

Will Bynum: His team didn’t play last night, and I’m kinda worried about his playing time and his role after watching Rip Hamilton, Ben Gordon, and Tayshaun Prince return to the Pistons’ lineup on Sunday at the Air Canada Centre. HOWEVA, I have something for you: an awesome look at his high school days from a documentary, discovered by Piston Powered.

Shannon Brown: 10 Pts (4-5 FG, 1-2 3PT, 1-2 FT), 2 Reb, 1 Stl, 1 TO, 1 PF in 15 mins.

No highlights for you today, unfortunately, but that’s a nice line in limited action. What pisses me off, though, is that Sasha Vujacic played 19 minutes in this game. Plus, when we reached garbage time with 6 minutes to go in this surprising 118-103 loss to Phoenix, Brown played and Vujacic didn’t. So, the minutes discrepancy is even greater if you’re talking about meaningful minutes. That’s not okay.

Jared Dudley: 19 Pts (6-10 FG, 3-4 3PT, 4-6 FT), 7 Reb (2 Off), 3 Ast, 1 Blk, 1 Stl, 1 TO, 2 PF in 28 mins.

Dudley was the player of the game for Phoenix, as he led the bench unit that took apart the Lakers. That scoring total ties his career high and that efficiency brings a big smile to my face. The Suns’ announcers called his performance “amazing”, “off the charts”, and said “he is so fun to watch”. Agreed. He hit several big threes, grabbed key rebounds, made great passes, drew fouls around the basket, and played smart defense, much of it coming against a guy named Kobe Bryant. I loved every second of it. Here’s his post-game tweet and his first ever appearance on NBA TV’s arena link:

Serge Ibaka: 6 Pts (2-3 FG, 2-3 FT), 9 Reb (4 Off), 1 Ast, 0 TO, 2 PF in 17 mins.

Going up against the Nets, this wasn’t Serge’s most spectacular game. The rebounds stand out, though. The talent-deficient Nets can’t afford to let teams get offensive boards if they want to win and Ibaka got 4 of ‘em. The Thunder rolled to their 3rd straight win, 105-89. This rookie’s best highlight came immediately after checking into the game, where he came flying out of nowhere to get a put-back lay-in. His lowlight was when Keyon Dooling dunked on him. Sadly, Tony Battie dunked on him too. Meh, there’s still plenty to like here and his team won the game they were supposed to win.

Rookie Watch

Brandon Jennings: 24 Pts (9-18 FG, 2-5 3PT, 4-6 FT), 2 Reb, 7 Ast, 5 TO, 3 PF in 41 mins.

His play was the only thing to be happy about when it comes to last night’s game if you’re a Bucks fan. And I’m kind of a Bucks fan. I witnessed him score 7 points in about a minute in the first quarter and he scored 9 straight points in the third quarter as well. The third quarter run wasn’t enough to get his team out of the hole they had dug themselves earlier, though. What hole, you ask? Well, the Bobcats outscored Milwaukee 33-14 in the second Q. Blah. I still love the Bucks, but Jennings can’t do EVERYTHING for them if they expect to win. His teammates shot 35% from the field in this one.

Jeff Pendergraph: 11 Pts (4-5 FG, 3-4 FT), 5 Reb (2 Off), 1 Blk, 0 TO, 2 PF in 19 mins.

He wasn’t supposed to play these minutes, but you know the deal in Portland. Good for him, I say – last night’s effort shows that Pendergraph intends to make the most of his opportunity. Portland fans have to be a bit depressed about losing 103-94 to the Sixers, but they should take some solace in the fact that their unheralded rookie managed to score 11 points on 5 shots in just his fourth game back from injury. I need to see more of him to get a better feel for his game, but I can tell already that he’s got the right attitude. Much like the next two guys on this list, he provides energy and toughness. The skill stuff? Not sure yet, but I’m optimistic.

Omri Casspi: 11 Pts (4-9 FG, 1-3 3PT, 2-4 FT), 6 Reb, 2 Ast, 1 Stl, 2 TO, 3 PF in 36 mins.

You just have to love this guy. Unfazed by his 1-6 start from the floor, he contributed in other areas and hit his last three attempts with his brother watching from the stands for the second straight game. This included a thrilling dunk a couple of minutes into the third quarter and a HUGE three-pointer with 2 minutes left in the 4th. As is usually the case, his man and help defense was a positive for Sacramento in this 106-101 victory over Denver.

Jon Brockman: 6 Pts (1-3 FG, 4-4 FT), 10 Reb (4 Off), 1 Ast, 2 Blk, 1 TO, 5 PF in 17 mins.

Whoa, two Kings rookies here and neither one is Tyreke Evans! Ha. If you didn’t know, ‘Reke sat this one out with an ankle injury, making this W all the more impressive. Brockman was a big part of the winning effort, as you can see by those rebound and block numbers in limited action. I love watching this guy and think every team needs someone like him. You know the type – dirty work and defense. You can tell that other bigs don’t like facing off with this particular rookie and you can tell that he doesn’t give a shit. It’s unfortunate that his exuberance sometimes leads to more fouls than you’d like, but you kind of have to accept that for now. At least he helps make up for it with his knack for drawing fouls on the opposition when he goes up for rebounds and puts up shots on the inside. Without Brockman, I don’t think the Kings would have made it to overtime against the Lakers the other night. Doubtful that they would have pulled out this win without him, too. And I’m quite sure there’s no one else on this roster capable of blocking a Nene dunk.

Stephen Curry: 0 Pts (0-4 FG, 0-1 3PT, 0-1 FT), 2 Reb, 0 Ast, 1 Stl, 1 TO, 3 PF in 11 mins.

I take no joy in pointing this out, but he was -16 in that time too. If you’re talking about the toughest night of Steph’s young career, this has got to be right up there with the time Nellie benched him against the Knicks in mid-November. Normally, I’d be pissed off that he didn’t get more time even if he was playing poorly, but it’s hard for me to do that on a night like this one, where the Warriors defeated the Celtics 103-99. I just hope Curry can enjoy the huge win with his teammates, even with the way he played.

James Harden: 3 Pts (0-10 FG, 0-4 3PT, 3-4 FT), 6 Reb (3 Off), 1Ast, 3 Stl, 1 Blk, 2 TO, 3 PF in 23 mins.

This was very strange to watch. I’m not sure what was wrong with the bearded rook last night, but he couldn’t get anything to fall. It didn’t matter if the shot was open or contested, whether it came on the perimeter or around the basket – nothing would go down. The shots I’ve seen him make all year were bricks. The rest of his game wasn’t affected too much, despite what the low assist total might imply. He played the same type of ball we’re used to, but just couldn’t buy a bucket. Luckily, all he’s concerned about is the win. I am sure he’ll bounce back.

Fun With Stats

Andrew Bogut and Michael Redd combined for 4 points on 1-10 shooting in 35 minutes. This should give you some insight as to why coach Scott Skiles opted not to play them in the second half.

Zach Randolph filled up the stat sheet with 23 points, 19 rebounds, 2 assists, a block, and a steal in Memphis’s 116-111 overtime win over Washington. Oh, and Z-Bo went 9-9 from the line, including hitting two free throws to tie the game with 0.3 seconds left in regulation. What’s crazy is that I expect this production now. Check out the numbers he’s been putting up lately! In the same game, Gilbert Arenas filled the stat sheet with 30 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 steals, and 5 threes.

The Grizzlies only have a winning record overall against 4 NBA teams: the Wizards, Raptors, Clippers, and Bobcats. The last time the Wiz won a game in Memphis? November 3, 2004.

Vladimir Radmanovic pulled down 10 rebounds in 18 minutes. Yes, that Vladimir Radmanovic. I don’t understand it either.

The Celtics had 25 turnovers in a game they lost by 4 points. The Nuggets shot 20-35 from the free throw line in a game they lost by 5 points.

Philly shot 58% against Portland. 104 points might not look like a crazy offensive night, but this was an 87-possession game. That’s 119.5 pts per 100 possessions. The Suns lead the league in that category with an average of 111.8. This was a combination of very solid offense from the Sixers and poor interior D from the Blazers, as Philly managed to go 23-31 at the rim and 7-11 from inside of 10 feet. (Hoopdata’s box scores are awesome.)

Brandon Roy has managed at least 23 points in 13 straight games now. No player has a longer 20+ scoring streak going.

With 8 wins on the road this season, the Thunder have matched last year’s total. Also, the team is now 11-2 when KRS-TIC scores 10 points or more.

For the 19th consecutive game, the Nets were outrebounded.

The Lakers really seem to be missing Ron Artest. With Luke Walton sidelined as well, their lack of depth was exposed last night – the Suns’ bench outscored L.A. 52 to 31.

The Suns have now defeated the Lakers, Celtics, and Magic this season. These are the top three teams in the league, record-wise.

Impressive

Gerald Wallace: 21 Pts (7-13 FG, 0-1 3PT, 7-9 FT), 14 Reb (2 Off), 4 Ast, 1 Bl, 1 Stl, 1 TO, 3 PF in 43 mins.

21, 14. Ho-hum. This is what it’s come to with G. Wallace, which is crazy. He is just piling up stats and he’s as fun to watch as he’s ever been. Unless you’re rooting for the other team, that is. I appreciate the hell out of the way he hounds you on defense, outjumps and outworks you for rebounds, and gets out on the break. Last night, I just wished it had a less demoralizing effect on Milwaukee.

Kevin Durant: 40 Pts (15-22 FG, 0-2 3PT, 10-12 FT), 5 Reb (1 Off), 2 Ast, 3 Stl, 5 TO, 1 PF in 40 mins.

I feel for you, Trenton Hassell. You’re smart enough to know there’s no one on your team better fit to guard Kevin Durant. You’re smart enough to know how to best defend KD, given your size and athletic ability. You’re also smart enough to know that it probably won’t make a difference. Your best effort won’t be close to enough if Durant is playing as he should be, which he was. 40 points on 22 shots? Incredible. And none of it seemed forced. Hell, none of it seemed particularly difficult. The Nets don’t have anyone that comes close to matching up with him and their team defense is just poor. KD scored in every way imaginable. Beautiful to watch.

Nick Collison: 11 Pts (5-7 FG, 0-1 3PT, 1-1 FT), 10 Reb (4 Off), 1 Blk, 3 PF in 29 mins.

Before I leave the stats behind, I should mention that he was +25 on the evening and he would have been 5-6 if not for a full-court heave at the end of the third quarter. Now, remember when I said every team needs a Jon Brockman type? Collison is that guy for the Thunder. He’s less reckless and thus less exciting than Brockman, but he’s ahead in the mental game at this point. If you’re still focused on his stats, then add two charges taken, numerous solid picks, and a few nice passes that didn’t result in assists. I’m telling you, he was big.

Yi Jianlian: 29 Pts (11-20 FG, 0-1 3PT, 7-9 FT), 7 Reb (3 Off), 2 Stl, 3 TO, 4 PF in 42 mins.

I must say I was intrigued to see Yi after Mark Ginnochio of Nets Are Scorching showed me that he looks like a different player these days. Little did I know he was going to tie his career high last night and engage in a scoring duel with Kevin Durant (18 to KD’s 22) in the first half. What I liked most was Yi’s aggressiveness – in the first half, he was persistent in getting to the basket and had some nice finishes. He hit some perimeter jumpers, sure, but I’m more interested in the fact that he converted some dunks and hook shots. I’ve been pretty critical of him in the past, but would like nothing more than to see him shut me up. The way to do that? Keep this up and keep getting stronger.

Robin Lopez: 8 Pts (4-4 FG, 0-2 FT), 5 Reb (3 Off), 1 Blk, 3 PF in 21 mins.

At the end of the first quarter, Lopez led the Suns in scoring. The announcers called his work “sensational” and said it was “the best stretch of his career”. I’m not one to argue, there. His good work continued throughout the game, as he used his size to disrupt the Laker bigs better than anyone else on the Suns’ roster could. Had a nice block on Kobe, too.

Elton Brand: 25 Pts (11-16 FG, 3-5 FT), 9 Reb (4 Off), 1 Ast, 1 Stl, 1 Blk, 4 PF in 30 mins.

Hell yes! I feel a sense of pride when Elton puts up awesome numbers like these. I’ve said it before: this man has plenty left in the tank. He’s just been used improperly this season. Last night, though, the Sixers made a point of getting him the ball on the inside and Portland did not have an answer for him. Playing with Speights helps because he can be the 5 on offense and playing with Iverson helps because AI can set him up. Expect much more of this if Eddie Jordan allows it to continue. 30 minutes is still not enough if you ask me.

Allen Iverson: 19 Pts (7-11 FG, 5-7 FT), 4 Reb, 5 Ast, 2 TO, 3 PF in 31 mins.

19 points on 11 shots? Efficiency! Iverson! Again, hell yes! This isn’t just about the numbers, though. Qualitatively, there’s a lot to impressed with as well. He started off the game by hitting a few shots, but that didn’t make him try to dominate the game. Instead of forcing up contested shots or going on-on-one, he pushed the ball and shared it with his teammates. He looked quick, confident, and happy. I don’t know if a lot of people were paying attention to this game, but I loved it. Felt a bit bad rooting against the injury-ridden Blazers, but I really wanted AI and Elton to get this one. I remain convinced that this Sixer team is significantly better than its record.

Andres Nocioni: 21 Pts (6-7 FG, 3-4 3PT, 5-6 FT), 6 Reb, 2 Ast, 1 Blk, 2 TO, 3 PF in 25 mins.

This was probably best game I’ve ever seen Noc play. He was essentially perfect on offense and he worked hard against Kenyon Martin and, briefly, Carmelo Anthony on defense. With their stud rookie sitting out, the Kings needed someone to step up and provide scoring punch – Andres’s dead-eye shooting was huge. In all honesty, I can still hardly believe what I saw. GREAT night for him.

Donte Greene: 17 Pts (6-9 FG, 1-3 3PT, 4-4 FT), 1 Reb, 1 Ast, 1 Blk, 1 TO, 1 PF in 23 mins.

1 rebound for a 6’10 forward, but I’m impressed? Yeah. He really was good in all other areas. From the tip, Greene set the tone for the Kings – in the first two minutes, he scored 7 points, blocked a Carmelo Anthony shot, and drew an offensive foul on the Nuggets’ star small forward. His defense remained solid all night – 34/8 sounds good for Melo until you see that he needed 42 minutes and 35 shots to get there. Greene was a big part of this – he did a great job of making Anthony work and avoiding fouls. I’ll forgive him for the lack of rebounding this time. I’ll forgive him for the dumb heat-check in the first Q. I’ll even forgive him for the thoughtless gamble he made when he tried to intercept a pass he had no chance of getting to. Hm, now it sounds like I’m hating on him. Trust me, I’m not. Very solid game.

Monta Ellis: 37 Pts (15-26 FG, 1-3 3PT, 6-8 FT), 3 Reb (1 Off), 4 Ast, 1 Blk, 1 Stl, 3 TO, 3 PF in 48 mins.

For the fifth time this season, Monta played the entire game. The Warriors needed it to beat the Celtics, it would seem. Anyway, this was just a fantastic effort. He puts such pressure on your defense, even if your defense is one of the league’s best. To put up these kind of numbers against Rajon Rondo is extreeeeemely impressive. You know Monta is most dangerous with his penetration and finishing ability, but his jump shot was falling this time out – he made 9 out of his 12 attempts from 16-23 feet. (Again, Hoopdata’s boxscores are AWESOME.)

C.J. Watson: 11 Pts (4-8 FG, 1-3 3PT, 2-4 FT), 0 Reb, 7 Ast, 7 Stl, 1 Blk, 3 TO, 1 PF in 37 mins.

Wow, wow, wow. 7 steals! Forget about the last one; that came on a long pass on the last possession, when the game was out of reach. Those first six, though? All of ‘em came in the second frame. Crazy, right? I was excited when I flipped to the game and he picked off a Rondo pass and went the other way for a layup. I was even more excited when he did the same thing on the next possession. Sitting Steph Curry was definitely the right decision with the way Watson was playing. You have to love the steals, but he did a great job defensively in ways that won’t show up in the stat sheet as well – he worked his ass off chasing Ray Allen around screens and managed to slow the sharpshooter down a bit. With the way his off-season went and the way everything’s gone with the Warriors this season, I couldn’t be happier to see him have a game like this.

Rajon Rondo: 30 Pts (11-18 FG, 1-3 3PT, 7-9 FT), 3 Reb (1 Off), 15 Ast, 3 Stl, 6 TO, 3 PF in 46 mins.

Yet again, Rondo was the best Celtic on the floor. I won’t pretend that I was rooting for his team this time, but I enjoyed every one of his points and assists anyway. I still haven’t quite figured out how exactly he is able to do whatever he wants on the court even with guys playing a few feet away from him when he catches the ball on the perimeter. I love that he shot 7-9 from the line and I love that he uses pump fakes more often and more effectively than almost anyone in the league.

Quoted

“There’s no such thing as being too intense.” – Stephen Jackson, when asked about his technical foul/being vocal

“Once I got my second wind I was all right. The first couple minutes I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest.” – Allen Iverson

“Having Allen back helps. He’s a finisher. He can get to the line and get the ball to guy at the right time. We’ve missed that.” – Elton Brand

“You just expect everything. With them, you don’t know what kind of crazy lineups they’re going to have out there.” – Doc Rivers, on the Warriors

Tweeted

@BothTeamsPlayed: Ummmm…..seriously, who’s the dude in this Yi costume?

@gswscribe: I will not be bringing my wallet into the locker room after the game. @quietstorm_32 might steal it

@johnschuhmann: Do we really know what AI’s got left in the tank? When’s the last time we saw him play injury-free & without rust?

@HPbasketball: Lakers, Nuggets, Celtics all lose? CHAOS REIGNS. #onenightonly

@freedarko: If Monta’s not an All-Star, I’ll puke myself to death. Can you win Most Improved twice?

@cdouglasroberts: I’m going to be cheering like Roni Turiaf tonight. All I need is the Pastor Troy beard & chin. Yes yess.

@cdouglasroberts: Tonights game put me in a horrible mood!!! I hate watching from the sideline. I already don’t have any patience. Can’t wait until practice!

@cdouglasroberts: We need to change our thinking & approach!! I hate where we are! I MUST practice tomorrow. PERIOD!

@cdouglasroberts: Had to go get some eggnog. I’m going to go to the market tomorrow to buy the REST! Fridge full. I’m on that! Family Guy is on too. Yes yess!

To Watch

Amar’e posterizing Mbenga:

A wild play that begins with a Devin Harris steal and ends with Courtney Lee slamming home an alley-oop:

Kevin Durant’s sweet baseline dunk:

Awesome NBA singing Part 1, starring three young Sacramento Kings:

Awesome NBA singing Part 2, starring Danilo Gallinari:

To Read

Kevin Durant blogging about his new teammate, Eric Maynor.

Adrian Wojnarowski tells us what’s going on with Tracy McGrady right now.

Zach Harper takes a look back at how astonishingly good Tracy McGrady used to be.

Christian Petersen/Getty Images

A later, but longer BfB today. It was a busy night in the NBA last night and a busy morning/afternoon for me as I watched the games I recorded. To be clear, I saw most of Raptors/Hawks, most of Thunder/Grizzlies, all of Sixers/Rockets, all of Suns/Magic, all of Lakers/Wolves, and the last quarter and a half of Blazers/Cavs. For the other five games, I’m working with box scores and recaps. You can expect similar posts every Saturday, although I’ll try to get them up earlier than this. Anyway, let’s get to it – I’ve got John Wall and Ricky Rubio games to watch before NBA games tip at 7:00 PM EST.

The All-OTN Team

Shannon Brown: 7 Pts (3-9 FG, 1-4 3PT), 2 Reb (1 Off), 0 TO, 0 PF in 17 mins.

A rough shooting night for Shannon in this 104-92 victory, but he did have this amazing play:

I appreciate Kobe’s pass just as much as Shannon’s thunderous finish. How many shooting guards in the league throw that lob with their off-hand? Hell, forget shooting guards, is there another player at any position who does that? Maybe Nash, maybe. (Sidenote: I can’t get enough of left-handed passes from right-handed players. Saw a ton of them last night, with Kobe, Nash, and Johnny Flynn in action. Makes me smile every time.)

Jared Dudley: 19 Pts (6-13 FG, 4-8 3PT, 3-4 FT), 5 Reb (3 Off), 2 Stl, 0 TO, 3 PF in 33 mins.

Heyyyy! Check that out, an undeniably impressive stat-line from an All-OTN Team guy. I’ve been waiting for this. Those 19 points matched the career-high he set near the end of his rookie season and he got them very efficiently. What’s not in the stat sheet: he played excellent defense on Vince Carter in the 2nd quarter (who, I must say, helped Jared out a bit by playing the least aggressive ball I’ve seen from him in years, before leaving the game with a sore right knee) and he was on the floor in crunch time, making plays and taking big shots in this 106-103 victory. A few more things before we move on:

“He’s just beating ‘em up right now with his effort and energy” – Jeff Van Gundy, in the 2nd quarter, after Dudley grabbed one of his three offensive boards.

JMZ Part 1:

JMZ Part 2:

Amir Johnson: 7 Pts (2-4 FG, 3-4 FT), 4 Reb (3 Off), 1 Blk, 1 Stl, 1 TO, 3 PF in 22 mins.

A blah stat-line in a blah game. As always, I enjoyed Amir’s effort, but it wasn’t nearly enough against this excellent Hawks team, as my Raptors fell 111-89. Normally, his hustle and athleticism stands out, but when up against Josh Smith, Al Horford, and Zaza Pachulia, he isn’t as noticeable.

Serge Ibaka: 0 Pts (0-0 FG, 0-0 FT), 1 Reb, 1 Blk, 1 Stl, 1 PF in 9 mins.

No points on no shots in this 102-94 victory, but there’s a lot to say here. As is always the case, because the man is just full of activity when he’s on the court. I saw him flub a couple of defensive assignments that led to Marc Gasol baskets, but I also saw him do some impressive things, like successfully getting a stop on Rudy Gay on the perimeter. With this Thunder team, he is mainly out there for defensive purposes and, on that end, he is really working. When he does mess up, it’s because he is channelling his energy in the wrong way. Sometimes he over-helps and sometimes he is too aggressive, but he’s never lazy. Once he relaxes out there, he is going to be a consistently great defender. The potential just oozes from him. Still, I’ll admit that it wasn’t his best game.

Rookie Watch

Tyler Hansbrough: 21 Pts (8-18 FG, 0-1 3PT, 5-6 FT), 7 Reb (4 Off), 1 Ast, 3 Stl, 0 TO, 3 PF in 24 mins.

I didn’t see the game, but by all accounts Psycho T (or Buckaroo Banzai) was huge. I have to wonder just how he managed to get 18 shots up in 21 minutes, but remain impressed. Methinks some of those offensive boards must have come off of his own misses. Anyway, he killed the Nets last night with his jumper and, more specifically, killed their run in the third quarter by hitting back-to-back midrange jumpers when New Jersey was trying to make a game of it. Fantastic effort and a career-high in scoring for this rookie, in a much-needed 107-91 win for the Pacers. Here are a couple of quotes from people who actually saw this:

“He was playing as well as anybody on the team. His intensity on the court was something we needed.” – Jim O’Brien

“Hansbrough held up well defensively with three steals while guarding everyone from Brook Lopez to Chris Douglas-Roberts.” – Tom Lewis of Indy Cornrows

Chase Budinger: 15 Pts (6-8 FG, 2-4 3PT, 1-1 FT), 2 Reb, 1 Ast, 1 Blk, 0 TO, 2 PF in 18 mins.

I am so very impressed with this kid. With DeMar DeRozan getting more aggressive and thus making a few more mistakes, and with Omri Casspi’s continued inexplicable free-throw woes, Chase Budinger stands alone as the rookie who plays least like a rookie. He’s got a gorgeous jump shot, good defensive instincts, fantastic passing ability for a wing, and has a knack for using screens correctly and drawing contact. He was pretty much perfect in this game and, along with Carl Landry and Kyle Lowry, was a part of the Houston bench unit that turned this game around. When he checked in with a couple of minutes left in the first quarter, his team was down 17. By the end of the quarter, the deficit was only 10. In the end, the Rockets won 96-91. He did pick up a couple of blocking fouls on quick Sixer players, but, honestly who cares? Great, great night for Chase.

Jeff Teague: 11 Pts (5-6 FG, 1-1 FT), 3 Reb, 7 Ast, 3 Stl, 1 Blk, 1 TO, 2 PF in 20 mins.

Another rookie doing damage off the bench. Serious damage, I mean – the Hawks’ main bench guys (this rook plus Mo Evans, Jamal Crawford, and Zaza Pachulia) rocked the Raptors last night, outscoring them 45-34. I was not pleased. Anyway, you can’t expect 11 points on just 6 shots from Teague every night, but you have to appreciate last night’s work if you’re a Hawks fan. That scoring, plus 7 assists in just 20 minutes of action? Brilliant, even if it came against soft Toronto defense. What might go unnoticed in all of this is that Teague is a far superior perimeter defender to Mike Bibby and Crawford. I like his offensive game, but if he sees increased minutes as the season goes on, I think it’ll be a result of his D.

Jonny Flynn: 10 Pts (3-8 FG, 0-1 3PT, 4-6 FT), 2 Reb, 4 Ast, 3 Stl, 4 TO, 1 PF in 25 mins.

I must say I was expecting much better numbers from Flynn last night. Quick point guards tend to have great nights against the Lakers. It didn’t happen this time, though – Flynn did make the Lakers look silly a few times with his ball-handling, penetration, and passing, but for the most part he deferred to his teammates rather than acting as the primary playmaker. A solid, if unspectacular game for the Syracuse product, with a couple of very frustrating turnovers unfortunately sticking out. This 104-92 loss was Jonny’s first time against the Lakers, though, and I anticipate that he’ll put up bigger numbers the next time they meet.

Fun With Stats

A lot of individual performances stand out when looking at the boxscores from last night, so let’s check ‘em out.

J.J. Barea: 12 Pts (4-8 FG, 3-5 3PT, 1-2 FT), 4 Reb (1 Off), 10 Ast, 2 Stl, 1 TO, 4 PF in 34 mins.

Wow, check out those three-pointers and those assists and that lone turnover. Phenomenal work for the lovable little guard in his second straight start, a 106-93 victory against the Heat. Let me say this: Dallas’s 2-guard rotation is ridiculous. Quinton Ross started for a while, Jason Terry is a fake bench player who gets starters’ minutes, Josh Howard is now back from injury and likely will take over that 2-spot eventually, and my favourite Maverick, Rodrigue Beaubois, is currently glued to the bench because of Barea’s strong play. It’s quite a logjam, but that’s a very good problem for coach Rick Carlisle to have.

Udonis Haslem: 22 Pts (9-10 FG, 4-6 FT), 10 Reb (1 Off), 0 TO, 3 PF in 35 mins.

Unfortunate that this came in a losing effort, but wow. Haslem made the first 8 shots he took. That’s nice, especially when you consider how much the team NEEDED him to shoot like that – Miami started this game 0 for 10 from the floor. A simply fantastic game, but his Heat stood no chance because everyone not named Udonis Haslem combined to shoot 24-72 from the floor against Dallas. Ugly.

Zach Randolph: 19 Pts (8-21 FG, 0-1 3PT, 3-5 FT), 20 Reb (11 Off), 1 Ast, 2 TO, 1 PF in 40 mins.

19 and 20? 11 offensive boards?! This doesn’t look like a real stat line, but it is. Randolph had a 12-point/13-rebound double-double in the third quarter alone, where his Grizzlies outscored the Thunder 28-10. They couldn’t sustain it in the fourth, though, and they fell 102-94.

John Salmons: 11 Pts (4-16 FG, 1-7 3PT, 2-2 FT), 7 Reb, 3 Ast, 3 Stl, 3 TO, 2 PF in 44 mins.

Salmons is continuing to rely on his jumper, even when it isn’t falling. Kevin Arnovitz said that John told him he would make more of an effort to get to the basket and draw fouls, but he only managed to do that once last night. I want Salmons to turn his season around; seeing these 1-7 shooting nights from beyond the arc is getting very, very old.

Andre Miller: 20 Pts (8-13 FG, 2-3 3PT, 2-2 FT), 6 Reb (1 Off), 3 Ast, 1 Stl, 2 TO, 3 PF in 32 mins.

Bam! Great night for Miller off the bench. I’ve been saying all along that Portland is overthinking this whole backcourt situation and they just need to put the ball in Andre’s trusty hands. Brandon Roy is dangerous as a primary ballhandler, but he’s a shooting guard and he’s also fantastic off the ball. Steve Blake is a backup who can play next to Miller when they need to spread the floor. Andre Miller can score and he can create easy baskets for his teammates like no one the Blazers have had in years. He really should be the starter, but if he’s getting 32 minutes of playing time, it doesn’t really matter. I was rooting for him more than anyone down the stretch of this one, but the Blazers eventually fell to Cleveland, 104-99.

Anderson Varejao: 22 Pts (10-17 FG, 2-3 FT), 10 Reb (4 Off), 1 Ast, 1 Blk, 2 Stl, 1 TO, 2 PF in 36 mins.

I was pretty critical of the Cavs when they gave him his big contract extension in the summer, but I’ve got my mouth shut now. I should really put him in the “impressive” section because he impressed the hell out of me last night, but let’s stick with the numbers. Those points were unexpected and they were enormous for his team in the second half of this kinda-close game. You expect the great on-ball and help defense from him, and you expect the rebounding, but if he’s converting around the basket at that rate it makes the Cavs a way more dangerous team.

Chris Duhon: 22 Pts (7-11 FG, 6-8 3PT, 2-2 FT), 2 Reb, 9 Ast, 1 Stl, 0 TO, 4 PF in 34 mins.

Ugh. Who is this guy? This isn’t the guy I dropped from my fantasy team. That guy was shooting something like 3% from the floor earlier on this year. I was shocked when I saw that efficiency, those threes, those assist. And… no turnovers?! Unbelievable. I didn’t catch any of New York’s 113-96 victory over the Hornets, but it sure looks like Duhon played a perfect game. Apparently it was 96-95 for New Orleans with under five minutes left in the game when he sank back-to-back threes and Al Harrington followed with a pair of his own. What a crazy way to end a game.

Manu Ginobili: 22 Pts (7-12 FG, 4-5 3PT, 4-4 FT), 4 Reb (1 Off), 2 Ast, 2 Stl, 1 Blk, 3 TO, 3 PF in 26 mins.

I remember these stat lines. You see 22 and 4, with some steals and blocks and think “hey, Manu had a decent game.” Then, you notice he only played 26 minutes. The Poo God came up big in this 104-85 blowout against Charlotte. I should add that this was kind of a weird game – the Spurs were up 65-43 only minutes into the 2nd half (thanks to Ginobili’s 20 first half points), but the Bobcats ended up winning the third quarter 29-13. Down by 1 entering the fourth, Charlotte would get no closer, as the Spurs turned it back on and cruised to their 10th victory in 11 tries against the ‘Cats.

Mickael Pietrus: 23 Pts (8-15 FG, 4-8 3PT, 3-3 FT), 8 Reb (2 Off), 1 Stl, 1 Blk, 2 TO, 2 PF in 32 mins.

Pietrus made up for Vince Carter’s absence in the third quarter by scoring 15 points in that period alone. Phoenix continually lost him behind the arc and he made them pay. If Orlando had ended up pulling out a victory, Suns fans would be having nightmares of this guy shooting three-pointers. This was the second game this season he’s scored more than 20 points and I hope he reaches that total many more times before the season’s end. Love those 8 rebounds, too.

Dwight Howard: 10 Pts (1-1 FG, 8-17 FT), 18 Reb (5 Off), 2 Ast, 2 Stl, 5 TO, 3 PF in 41 mins.

Can you remember the last time you saw Dwight Howard only attempt one field goal? Me neither. I’m telling you, this was a weird game. Whenever he caught the ball under the basket, Phoenix hacked him. And it worked out alright this time – Howard shot below 50% from the line for the first time since November 22 in Toronto. The rebounding is impressive, but if you’re a Magic fan you want less turnovers, more field goal attempts, and at least one block from your superstar.

Impressive

Carl Landry: 20 Pts (4-9 FG, 12-14 FT), 7 Reb (3 Off), 2 Ast, 2 Blk, 3 TO, 2 PF in 33 mins.

Is it possible to say a gritty big man “makes it look easy?” Normally, when you hear someone say that about a player, it’s about a wing guy or a point guard who has just made some beautiful spin move or gliding lay-up or something, not a tough 4-man who has scored in the post. But, seriously, Carl Landry makes it look easy. “It” being scoring inside and drawing fouls. You watch him and you wonder why every power forward can’t get those shots off and draw that contact. Well, I’ll tell you why. Landry is a natural around the basket. He has great footwork, perfect timing, and a very soft touch. He knows how to score against bigger and smaller defenders and he knows how to get to the line. When he gets to the line, he converts them, and that’s how he ends up scoring 20 points on just 9 shots. Coach Rick Adelman made a conscious effort to feed him the ball down the stretch, as nobody Philadelphia threw out there could deal with him. I’ve been pumping up this guy for a long time so it makes me happy to see him develop into Houston’s go-to-guy. He was easily the best big man on the floor in this one, and Elton Brand actually had himself a pretty damn good game.

Allen Iverson: 20 Pts (7-18 FG, 6-9 FT), 5 Reb, 3 Ast, 1 TO, 2 PF in 35 mins.

The numbers are pretty good, especially considering the whole “34-year-old who has barely played in months” thing. But what impressed me more is what doesn’t show up there. He’s doing good things, but he’s also NOT doing the things that some people were worried about. He’s not dominating the ball, he’s not taking a lot of contested shots, and he’s not embarrassing himself on D. I’ll admit it’s a bit weird that he’s not always the fastest guy on the court now (this night, it was Aaron Brooks) and he did make me scream when he fouled the fastest man on the court when he was shooting a 3-pointer, but I liked what I saw. I like it even more when I consider the fact that he should be twice as comfortable and in rhythm in just a couple more weeks.

Jamal Crawford: 15 Pts (6-12 FG, 1-3 3PT, 2-2 FT), 3 Reb (2 Off), 3 Ast, 1 Stl, 4 TO, 1 PF in 29 mins.

Obviously, I’m not impressed with the assist-to-turnover ratio here, but I am in general impressed with Crawford. He was going to get some numbers last night, as he could get his shot off and get in the key whenever he wanted against Toronto’s defense (God, I hate mentioning this), but what I like is just how well he’s fit in with that team. He’s playing 8 fewer minutes than he did last season and he seems 100% happy with it. This is the first time in his career he’s played for a good team and he has embraced his 6th-man role. There have been more than a handful of nights this season where his team has needed him to step up and pour in a ton of points, but, with all the other options available, he doesn’t need to do it all the time. So, he’s become a willing passer and has run the offense for significant stretches. For a guy who was born to score, this is something to respect.

Kevin Durant: 32 Pts (10-22 FG, 1-7 3PT, 11-12 FT), 10 Reb (3 Off), 4 Ast, 2 Blk, 2 TO, 2 PF in 41 mins

Speaking of guys who were born to score, wow. It’s hard to describe Durant here. I’ve already used the “he makes it look easy” thing, haven’t I? Bah. Last night, whenever Durant wanted to score, he did. Or he got fouled, where he converted all but one of his free throws. This team wins games because it goes the extra mile on defense, and, when it needs a basket, KD can get one. The thing with Durant, though, is that we’ve seen this scoring ability before. Hell, we saw it at Texas. But we didn’t see those 10 rebounds all that often. Or those 2 blocks, or those 4 assists. He has made a leap this year – where he was once merely one of the league’s foremost assassins, now he is an all-around player who can hurt you in many ways on both ends. His man D has improved, his help D has improved, and his passing has improved. I feel privileged just watching this happen. You should be tuning in, too.

Nick Collison: 8 Pts (4-8 FG), 7 Reb (4 Off), 1 Ast, 1 Blk, 1 Stl, 1 TO, 4 PF in 17 mins.

All heart, this guy. I should hate him for taking minutes from my man Ibaka, but I don’t. He takes charges, he contests shots, he crashes the glass, and he helps his team win. Nothing flashy here, but it works.

Steve Nash: 20 Pts (6-13 FG, 2-4 3PT, 6-7 FT), 7 Reb (1 Off), 18 Ast, 3 TO, 1 PF in 40 mins.

Am I allowed to say that he played better than this? I mean, that’s an incredible line. I’m not sure it does Nash justice, though. He had 18 assists, but that could have easily been 24 or 25 if his teammates had hit a few more open shots. He put on a clinic, as he often does, and Orlando had no answer for him. This was a hell of a victory for the Suns and there was no one more responsible than their point guard.

Amar’e Stoudemire: 28 Pts (12-21 FG, 4-7 FT), 10 Reb (1 Off), 2 Ast, 3 Stl, 3 TO, 4 PF in 41 mins.

This guy was close, though. See that one offensive rebound? It was critical. When Jared Dudley missed a three-pointer, contested by Dwight Howard, Amar’e ripped the rebound away from Orlando and slammed home a dunk with 6.9 seconds left in the game. This ended up being the winning play in this strange, strange game that featured a number of late turnovers and one of the most dumbfounding referee decisions I’ve ever seen on a jump-ball with just seconds left in the game. Anyway, yeah, terrific work from the big man with the goggles.

Kevin Love: 7 Pts (3-14 FG, 1-2 3PT,), 19 Reb (8 Off), 1 Ast, 1 Blk, 1 TO, 2 PF in 33 mins.

It’s as if he was honouring his coach, Kurt Rambis, who received his championship ring last night for his work as an assistant to Phil Jackson last year. Yes, those 8 offensive rebounds and those 11 missed field goals are related, but you still have to appreciate Kevin’s effort. I really dig it when hustle guys are also skill guys, and this is certainly the case with Kevin Love. He is not only an elite rebounder and energy guy, but he is one of the best passing big men in the league and boasts legitimate 3-point range. The Wolves might not win many games, but they’re worth watching to see him and Jefferson down low. Oh, and that Jonny Flynn guy too.

Ramon Sessions: 15 Pts (7-9 FG, 1-2 3PT), 5 Ast, 1 Stl, 4 TO, 4 PF in 22 mins.

You know the story. He should play more. He was remarkable yesterday. One of his two misses was a heave at the end of the third quarter. Yet, still, 22 minutes. Finally, Damien Wilkins was limited to just 9 minutes on the court, but Rambis handed out 22, 25, and 17 minutes to Aleksander Pavlovic, Corey Brewer, and Wayne Ellington respectively. Nothing against those guys, really, but Sessions is far superior. And yes, he can play with Flynn. Kinda. He can play better with Flynn than those guys can, and that’s the point. I’m going to keep tracking his minutes and his production in this space, with the hope that soon I’ll be talking about 20-point, 12 assist, 34 minute efforts from this talented young guard.

Kobe Bryant: 20 Pts (8-18 FG, 1-3 3PT, 3-4 FT), 5 Reb, 5 Ast, 1 Blk, 1 Stl, 4 TO, 2 PF in 24 mins.

The numbers aren’t special for Bryant, but he got them with a fractured index finger on his right hand. He hurt himself in the first quarter, played through it for a bit, got X-rayed, and returned in the second half with a splint on his finger. Since he is the most skilled player on the planet, it didn’t slow him down much. He just used his left hand, because he’s basically ambidextrous. You remember that pass to Shannon Brown? Yeah, the majority of his passes were left-handed. As were his shots around the basket. There is only one Kobe.

Pau Gasol: 17 Pts (8-14 FG, 1-1 FT), 20 Reb (8 Off), 7 Ast, 1 Blk, 1 Stl, 5 TO, 2 PF in 38 mins.

With Kobe limited (sorta), Pau dominated. 17/20/7? Those are Hakeem numbers. And you shouldn’t be surprised. He may act like a second-banana alongside Kobe, but Gasol is a truly elite big man. With him operating at full strength, the Lakers seem unstoppable. I’m really hoping that Orlando gets their D sorted out, the Celtics find a way to stay healthy, and the Spurs and Nuggets get consistent, because I fear that the Lakers will just roll through the competition all year, including the playoffs.

Quoted

“It’s not disheartening, they beat us. You’re going to get beat. Sometimes teams are better than you. They’re better than us. They smoked us once and they beat us again today.” – Chris Bosh

“Is Robin Lopez a twin brother of Brook Lopez or Anderson Varejao?” – Jeff Van Gundy, in the 2nd quarter of the Suns/Magic game.

Tweeted

@stackmack: Hawks bench is 12-for-13 from the floor.

Moments later…

@stackmack: Make that 13-for-14..

@ShamSports: Bulls and Warriors at an 87-87 tie with 31 seconds left. Warriors about 45 points below their season average. Bulls right at theirs.

@HowardBeckNYT: Knicks have won 4 straight — longest winning streak since Jan. 2006 (six straight under Larry Brown)

To Watch

Dunk of the year candidate – Corey Brewer on Derek Fisher:

To Listen

Episode 35 of The Chronicles Of Crotty

Podcast Paroxysm featuring Matt From Blog-A-Bull.

Ned Dishman/Getty Images

Very, very quick recap today, as I don’t really have any time to be doing this but am trying anyway. The Basketball Gods didn’t help me out much last night, as the Celtics/Wizards game was unavailable in Canada, the Pistons/Nuggets game crapped out on me with 6 seconds left in the game, and my recording of Jazz/Magic stopped with about 7 minutes to play. Weird night.

The All-OTN Team

Will Bynum

Bynumite is hurt right now. He already had issues with his right ankle, but when he rolled his left ankle right at the end of the Philly game the other night, it ensured he’d sit a game out for the first time this year. Luckily, Rodney Stuckey stepped up in his absence and Detroit was able to top Denver, 101-99. More on Stuckey in abit.

Shannon Brown

The Lakers weren’t on this week’s Thursday sched, but I really should post his insane alley-oop from Wednesday night, shouldn’t I?

Jared Dudley

He didn’t play yesterday, but he did post this picture and this video.

Fun With Stats

Congrats are in order for Chauncey Billups and Ray Allen, who passed the 13,000 and 20,000-point plateaus last night, respectively. Crazy stuff to think about when you’ve been watching these guys play since they were rookies. I remember when the Raptors acquired Billups mid-way through his rookie season. HATED losing Damon Stoudamire, but at least we were getting another young, promising PG. You know the story after that. (Update: Apparently, Paul Pierce passed 19,000 points last night too. How’d that one get by me at first? Anyway, congrats to him as well.)

Dwight Howard shot 6-7 from the free throw line last night. In his last 4 games, he is shooting 29-39 from the stripe. That’s 74%. Gilbert Arenas shot 1-6 from the line last night, including two crucial misses in crunch time (sad face), and is now shooting 71% on the season.

Orlando’s awesome bench started out the game 12/15 from the field, with much of that damage being done by the sharp-shooting Ryan Anderson. I love watching this guy play – he is absolutely perfect for Stan Van’s system. He essentially only shoots when he’s open for three or he’s right under the basket. And he’s efficient as hell. You CANNOT leave this man open or he will burn you, as Utah found out last night to the tune of 14 first-half points. It seemed like he scored all of those points in about 3 minutes, but I could be wrong there. The Magic raced out to an 18-point lead early, but couldn’t match Utah’s energy in the second half, falling 120-111 at the end of their road trip.

Rajon Rondo eclipsed the 20-point mark for the first time this season last night in Boston’s 104-102 win in Washington. That surprise you like it did me? He’s been one of the best players in fantasy basketball all year, despite only averaging 11.5 points a game. His fantasy owners and Celtics fans have to extremely happy with his work last night. This is the second game in a row where he was the major difference-maker in a Boston win. In addition to the 21 points, he had 11 assists. But, of course, he’s garbage and we only think he’s good because he has quality teammates….

Almost forgot this… The Washington Wizards grabbed 0 rebounds in the 2nd quarter last night. I don’t know if that’s ever been done before in the post-shot clock era. Insane.

Update: Totally forgot to mention Melo. The man scored 40 points in 43 minutes last night, with 16 of ‘em coming in the final frame. Think maybe he should have taken the final shot rather than Billups? Can’t just be me.

Impressive

Rodney Stuckey: 25 Pts (7-14 FG, 0-1 3PT, 11-15 FT), 3 Ast, 2 Stl, 5 TO, 1 PF in 39 mins.

Shame about that assist-to-turnover ratio, but you have to live with it when you’re getting this kind of scoring. His former mentor, Chauncey Billups, had 21 points on 16 shots and only had 2 assists himself. In a game decided by 2 points (and one that ended with a missed shot from Billups), you have to give Stuckey huge credit for coming out on top in the individual matchup. This followed what might have been his most impressive performance as a Piston on Wednesday night, where he scored 27 points and added 8 assists in a victory over Philadelphia. Is Rodney turning the corner? I don’t know. He had a great stretch of games last December, too. With all the injuries the Pistons are dealing with right now, though, they really needed him last night and he came through. Hope he keeps this up.

Ben Wallace: 7 Pts (2-7 FG, 3-6 FT), 16 Reb (6 Off), 3 Ast, 1 Blk, 3 Stl, 3 PF in 35 mins.

Ignore the 2-7 and the fact that he airballed a free throw during this game. Ben Wallace is super fun to watch again. His return to Detroit (and good health?) has rejuvenated his career. Didn’t see this coming at all. I’m loving watching him battle for boards underneath the glass and get steals that he really has no business getting. Even though he still cheats too much on D, he remains a terror on that end and has forced John Kuester to start him and give him 31 minutes a game. He is 35 years old. Fantastic.

Deron Williams: 32 Pts (9-18 FG, 2-5 3PT, 12-15 FT), 8 Reb, 15 Ast, 1 Stl, 1 TO, 3 PF in 42 mins.

You can’t ask for a better line for that from your point guard. He ran the team perfectly, finding teammates for open threes and for layups under the basket. If your point guard is getting to the line like that and only committing one turnover in over 40 minutes, you’re in good shape. Adding those assists and rebounds, too? Phenomenal. Methinks he has a good shot of FINALLY making the All-Star team this year, assuming this McGrady foolishness gets turned around.

Carlos Boozer: 20 Pts (8-16 FG, 4-8 FT), 14 Reb (4 Off), 4 Ast, 1 Blk, 2 Stl, 1 TO, 2 PF in 44 mins.

Ho-hum, another 20 and 10 game for Boozer, who is the only player not named Chris Bosh averaging those numbers this season. He did need a few extra minutes to get his stats tonight, but it’s still impressive. During the broadcast, Doug Collins pointed out what I feel are the two most striking things about Boozer this season – he’s in shape and he’s smiling. It’s great to see him able to battle under the glass against likes of Dwight Howard and it’s great to see him having fun again. I missed this Carlos Boozer last year.

Quoted

“I’m really proud of Stuck and the way that he’s been able to develop into not only a great player but one of the leaders on the team now. I watch his games all the time… it’s like a big brother watching a little brother.” – Chauncey Billups.

Tweeted

@TheRealTWill: Boy I love my new work ethic I owe it to doug overton an sitting out made me a better ball player I believe, an get to work on my left hand

@Truth_About_It: Walked in media room bathroom just b/f the game, Gheorghe Muresan was squatting over a urinal trying 2 pee, turned around & walked back out.

@canishoopus: Revamped Pistons are infinitely more watchable than I expected this offseason and better without their stars. They’re like Rockets East.

@BulletsForever: Obsessive much? Gilbert Arenas said he went to the practice court right after the game to shoot 50 free throws.

@kpelton: Watch Deron Williams play tonight, realize *he’s never been an All-Star*, and try to tell me the NBA is not blessed with talent right now.

To Watch

Ray Ray’s big dunk:

No, this isn’t where he reached 20,000. That took place when he hit a three-pointer. Fitting.

Antawn Jamison’s crazy shot:

This had me going nuts. I love Jamison’s floaters. This one made me particularly happy though, because it’s the kind of ridiculous shot I like to take. When I was 12 or so, I did this in some meaningless game and the crowd went crazy. I don’t have a lot of moments like that I my totally-not-illustrious playing career, but I’ve got that.

Rondo’s huge dunk:

This happened right after the Jamison play. Man, I was happy the game ran late and I got to see the ending on the channel that had the Jazz/Magic game. I was freaking out. If it isn’t abundantly clear, I am a pretty big Rondo fan.

To read

…speaking of, here’s a fantastic piece on Rajon Rondo by Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald.

And here’s one from Jeffrey Martin of the Houston Chronicle on Kyle Lowry, who is leading the league in charges taken.

Then, there’s Darnell Mayberry of the Oklahoman giving us a very, very encouraging update on Shaun Livingston.

And… whoa I guess it’s all point guard linkage today. I dig that. Here’s Ben Golliver of BlazersEdge breaking down Jerryd Bayless’s promising play and Holly MacKenzie of The Score appreciating the greatness of Steve Nash.

Gary Dineen/Getty Images

A quick recap this morning, due to time constraints. First, though, I should mention Saturday night. I skipped out on BfB yesterday because I didn’t want to talk about the horrible thing that happened in Portland. I feel like I should acknowledge the other stuff that took place that night, though: DeMar DeRozan kicked ass and made me happy, Jarrett Jack tied his shoe while holding onto the ball and made Bulls fans angry, Steve Nash and Vince Carter owned their respective 4th quarters to secure wins, Joe Johnson helped his Hawks win ugly, Kevin Love put in his second straight double-double in a win against the Jazz, and the Spurs are apparently not to be feared anymore. Okay, we good? Onto Sunday…

The All-OTN Team

Will Bynum: 16 Pts (3-12 FG, 1-1 3PT, 9-14 FT), 2 Reb, 1 Ast, 1 Stl, 1 TO, 2 PF in 28 mins.

Bynum continued his poor field goal shooting but also continued to make up for it by getting to the foul line. In the interest of fairness, I’ll mention that some of those free throws came at the end of the game on intentional fouls, but it’s an impressive number nonetheless. His team took care of the struggling Wizards, 98-94.

Shannon Brown: 12 Pts (4-10 FT, 2-4 3PT, 2-2 FT), 2 Reb, 1 Ast, 3 TO, 0 PF in 19 mins.

No dunks for Shannon last night. Bummer. He came up big in the 4th, though, hitting back-to-back threes (!) when the Suns were trying to make a game of it. Another Lakers blowout, 108-88.

Jared Dudley: 9 Pts (3-7 FG, 2-3 3PT, 1-2 FT), 5 Reb (3 Off), 1 Ast, 1 Stl, 1 TO, 1 PF in 24 mins.

Jared knocked some down threes and worked his ass off. If you didn’t know, that’s what he does. He drew the unenviable (not a strong enough word) task of guarding Kobe Bryant for long stretches and kept the intensity up even when the point differential was enormous. Hated to see the Suns fall behind like that, but still loved watching Dudley play. Oh, another thing: HoopsHype named him the NBA’s MVT. And… one more thing. I came across this fantastic picture of him:

Serge Ibaka

J.G. of Daily Thunder wrote a great piece on Ibaka yesterday. While I’m incredibly biased and want to see him get all the minutes he can get, the distribution of playing time in Oklahoma City is becoming quite a tricky puzzle to solve.

Rookie Watch

Brandon Jennings: 24 Pts (9-22 FG, 0-2 FT, 6-6 FT), 4 Reb, 4 Ast, 3 TO, 1 PF in 40 mins.

Yeah, he only shot 41% from the field, but that represents a better shooting percentage than the vast majority of his teammates could muster yesterday. After a stunning 11-0 Milwaukee run to start the game, the Cavs’ picked up their defense when Shaquille O’Neal moved to the bench. The Bucks were scoring at will on high pick-and-rolls early, but these dried up when the Cavs ratcheted up their defensive intensity and the Bucks’ offense degenerated into “give Bogut the ball and hope for the best”. Cleveland ended up going on an unfathomable 29-0 run that spanned some of the 1st and 2nd quarters, fueled largely by the great play of Delonte West off the bench. In the second half, Jennings put a lot of pressure on Cleveland’s D and found ways to score, but it was way, way too late. I loved his play and I love his team, but damn. That was a beating. The final score, 101-86, doesn’t really tell the story.

Austin Daye: 11 Pts (5-5 FG, 1-1 3PT), 2 Reb, 2 PF in 12 mins.

In the second half, creative Pistons coach John Kuester put the 6’11 Daye at 2-guard. It worked mighty well, as, um, he didn’t miss a shot. His 7 points in the third quarter were huge and he added a couple of key baskets in the 4th. Only 12 minutes, but those were 12 BIG minutes. This kid really has the potential to be a dangerous offensive player. He might need to put some weight on, though – I think he’s the only NBA’er skinnier than Kevin Durant.

Jonas Jebreko: 10 Pts (3-8 FG, 1-3 3PT, 3-4 FT), 11 Reb, 1 Ast, 1 Stl, 2 TO, 3 PF in 38 mins.

Look at that – 38 minutes! That’s more than any other Piston in this game and it allowed the rook to get his second career double-double. I continue to really dig this kid’s game. I like him for the same reasons I like Omri Casspi – he’s tough, skilled, and plays both ends of the floor. I’m really interested in how Kuester will distribute the minutes when Rip Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince come back. The Pistons might not be loaded with elite-level guys, but they have as many rotation-worthy players as any team in the league, save for the Magic.

Omri Casspi: 14 Pts (5-8 FG, 4-4 3PT, 0-2 FT), 3 Reb (1 Off), 1 TO, 5 PF in 19 mins.

And speaking of Casspi… These are some nice numbers. I’d have more than stats for you, but I didn’t catch much of the game. Going to give it a close look later today, as I recorded it with my brand new PVR last night. Anyway, 4-4 from downtown? Great to see. He continues to confuse me with his free-throw shooting, though – by all accounts his stroke looks fine, but something’s going wrong when he lets the damn ball fly. He’s at 50% on the year, whilst shooting 51.2% from behind the arc! That’s messed up.

Tyreke Evans: 30 Pts (10-19 FG, 0-3 3PT, 10-12 FT), 4 Rebs (3 Off), 4 Ast, 3 Stl, 2 TO, 5 PF in 39 mins.

‘Reke continues to make his case for ROY… You have to love him doing his D-Wade impression against the real Wade (who bested the rookie with 34 points on 16 field goals with 10 assists to boot). It’s obvious that Evans is extremely gifted at getting to the basket. Looks like a special player. He couldn’t lead his team to a victory last night, though, as the Kings dropped their second in a row after winning four straight, falling 115-102 to Wade’s Heat.

Impressive

Alright, here’s where the time constraints are kicking in. No “Fun With Stats” today, and I’m going to be quick with who impressed me yesterday and stick with just the Cleveland/Milwaukee game. For the Cavs, Delonte West and Anderson Varejao were phenomenal off the bench. Delonte played a very, very efficient game, somehow managing 21 points on 9 shots in just 24 minutes. He was simply brilliant on offense, dominating Milwaukee’s usually-stellar D and getting numerous and-1s around the basket. You have to think he rejoins the starting lineup at some point soon. Just hope he has his head straight. Varejao was almost as dominant as Delonte, but it won’t show up in the stats. He did his work on the defensive end, effectively protecting the paint and stopping penetration at the same time. In his first 16 minutes on the floor, he was +31. Crazy. Before I move on, I have to mention the Bucks’ Luc Richard Mbah A Moute. I expect amazing defense from him because that’s what he does, but he surprised even me yesterday with how well he defended LeBron James. No one on this planet can stop LeBron, but LRMAM can at least make life more difficult for him. I think he’s the best in the world at guarding the MVP, and with his ability to guard 1-4, he might be the best defensive player in the league overall.

Quoted

“It’s very tough to be a superstar in this league, but right now he’s doing an unbelievable job for this team, for this franchise and he’s only going to get better.” – LeBron James, on Brandon Jennings.

“The biggest thing I was saying to the guys was we can’t lose to the Nets. No disrespect to them, but if we want to start taking steps forward and going in the right direction, we have to win games vs. teams like the Nets.” – Al Harrington, after his Knicks took down the Nets 106-97 in the afternoon. No disrespect, really? Because to me, that is very disrespectful to the Nets. Not that they haven’t earned this, but still.

“He pretty much came in and changed the complexion of the game. We needed something, so it was great for a young guy to come in and make that kind of contribution.” – Ben Gordon, who was limited in action yesterday because of his lingering ankle issue, on Austin Daye.

Tweeted

@cdouglasroberts: I’m late, but respectt to my big dog AI. Glad he’s back in the “A”. Cuz retired for 13 hours. Haaaaa. #1 hardest player I’ve EVER guarded. If I was to give out my own MVT, I’d have to give serious consideration to CDR.

@KDonhoops: Also, I just clicked over to the Y! NBA page, I didn’t know, and I’m … no other way to put this, crying. This just isn’t fair. Well, I know I wasn’t alone.

To Watch

Rockets broadcaster Matt Bullard hilariously castigating referees:

Raptors broadcaster Jack Armstrong hilariously enjoying some in-game entertainment:

LeBron James ruining a nice Brandon Jennings play:

The third instalment of the “One Rookie” series starring my boy DeMar DeRozan:

To Read

Some great quotes from AI’s first practice with Philly.

A look at what’s happened to ex-Syracuse guard and ex-SLAM High School Diary keeper Eric Devendorf.

Some clarity on the Portland/Andre Miller situation

Evan Gole/Getty Images

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:

Jeff Gross/Getty Images

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

Nothing easy, except scoring on the Raptors. (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Finished this up late again today, my apologies. I wish I could blame the mental trauma from that Raptors loss, but that wasn’t even it. I might have to change the title to Basketball For Brunch. Anyway, let’s get to it.

The All-OTN Team

Will Bynum: 10 Pts (4-9 FG, 0-1 3PT, 2-2 FT), 3 Reb (1 Off), 7 Ast, 1 Stl, 2 TO, 3 PF in 33 mins.

On night where Rodney Stuckey (17 points on 16 shots, 4 Ast) and Ben Gordon (18 points on 16 shots, 0 assists) didn’t score very efficiently or distribute, Bynumite stepped up with a team-high 7 assists. Pity it wasn’t enough to help a not-yet-100% Gordon get a victory against his old team, where a smattering of ignorant fans were booing him.

Shannon Brown: The Lakers didn’t play last night, but here’s a video of Lamar Odom gushing about “Mr. Fantastic” for his Let Shannon Dunk campaign:

Favourite bit there: “Even the shots that he blocks or tries to block are like posters.” Yup.

Jared Dudley: 6 Pts (2-6 FG, 1-2 3PT, 1-2 FT), 3 Reb (1 Off), 1 Ast, 2 PF in 21 mins.

Uninspiring numbers for Jared in another bad loss. The Suns failed to score 100 points for the second time this season and the second night in a row, falling 107-90 to Cleveland in a game that by all accounts didn’t feel even as close as that. I’d like to tell you Dudley’s hustle and defensive intensity was a positive (as it was in their loss to the Knicks – see the “Aside from Jared Dudley and Steve Nash…” sentence here), but I can’t be sure because I didn’t see the game and none of the recaps I’ve seen have mentioned his name, preferring to focus more generally on his team’s epic failure. We know he’s keeping his head up, though.

Amir Johnson: 9 Pts (4-6 FG, 1-2 FT), 7 Reb (3 Off), 1 Blk, 2 TO, 5 PF in 19 mins.

“If you are looking for bright spots in this game, Amir Johnson certainly is one of them, if not the brightest one.” – Leo Rautins, during the Raptors telecast.

I fortunately did not see too much of this horrible 146-115 blowout as it was happening (although I feel like I saw every second because of all the tweets and text messages I read), but I believe I saw the perfect microcosm of Amir Johnson’s game during a timeout of the Bucks/Wizards game. In one possession in the first half, Amir Johnson grabbed a difficult offensive rebound, kicked the ball out, eventually received it again, and hit a tough inside shot. On the ensuing defensive possession, he had a vicious block but then sent Zaza Pachulia to the foul line after the Hawks recovered the ball. That is Amir: activity all of the time, even if his team is getting slaughtered. 5 fouls in 19 mins, though. You know I love the guy, but I have to mention the fouls.

Serge Ibaka: 2 Pts (1-2 FG), 2 Reb (1 Off), 1 Stl, 1 TO, 2 PF in 6 mins.

Rats. Only 6 minutes for Serge. Sort of hard to complain, though, as I would have played Nick Collison over him on this night too. Collison was brilliant as he returned from a sore knee – 18 points on 8-9 shooting, with his one miss coming on a three pointer at the end of the shot clock with 20 seconds left in the game. Add in the defense (drawn charges, 1 steal, 1 block) and his team-high 7 rebounds (5 offensive!) and he might have been the most important player in this 117-106 Thunder victory over the Sixers. But wait, this is supposed to be about Serge Ibaka! Not to worry, I have a link to share. Here’s Tom Haberstroh of Hoopdata giving Ibaka some love for contributing more quickly than anyone expected and being a major contributor to his team’s elite defense around the basket.

Rookies

Brandon Jennings: 17 Pts (7-21 FG, 2-8 3PT, 1-2 FT), 2 Reb, 7 Ast, 1 Stl, 0 TO (!), 5 PF in 36 mins.

There’s some good and some bad here. Obviously, looking at the stats, you don’t like the shooting. I can tell you one positive from this though – Jennings made more floaters than he missed last night. That is HUGE. As per Kevin Pelton of Basketball Prospectus, Jennings’s recent shooting slump is mostly because he is missing shots around the basket. My eyes tell me that this is because, rather than getting all the way to the hole for layups, Jennings is shooting a lot of contested floaters around the rim. In Jennings’s words, from the always-excellent Bucksketball:

I learned in pre-season that I wasn’t going to be able to go to the rack that much, so I had to change things quickly and get a floater going. It makes things easier. It’s still in the development phase.

I’m not worried at all about Brandon’s 3-point shot. He had an off-night from behind the arc last night, but that happens to everyone. If he gets more consistent with his floater, I don’t see how you stop him. You already can’t let him shoot from distance and have to be terrified of his pull-up jumper. Watch out, league.

…I can’t move on from Brandon without talking about the last few possessions of the game, though. I was on an emotional rollercoaster watching this. First, he took a ballsy pull-up jumper with 50 seconds left when his team was down by 1 and then committed a silly frustration foul when it missed. Then, with his team down 3, he hit an incredibly difficult leaning three to tie it up with 10.5 seconds left. I’d say it got me out of my seat, but I was already standing up. Unfortunately, on the next possession, he bit on an Earl Boykins pump-fake and sent him to the line for what turned out to be the game winning free throws. The game ended when Luke Ridnour (who played a great game, more on him soon) badly missed a desperation three with 1 second left in the game. I can’t have been the only one who wanted Jennings to get that last shot.

DeMar DeRozan: 21 pts (6-11 FG, 9-12 FT), 3 Reb, 2 Ast, 3 PF in 30 mins.

I really wish his career-high didn’t come on a night like this. But then again, it gives me something positive to think about. Look at that, 12 free-throw attempts! Love that. I saw DeRozan get two impressive and-ones near the end of the first half and it would seem that he kept up that aggressiveness for all of his career-high 30 minutes. Raptors colour guy Leo Rautins, who has not been one to hand out excessive praise to the rookie, said he played with “hustle and determination that wasn’t necessarily shared by his entire team.” That’s a very polite way of saying it.

Jonny Flynn: 12 Pts (5-12 FG, 1-4 3PT, 1-2 FT), 2 Reb (1 Off), 9 Ast, 2 TO in 30 mins.

Gotta love those 9 assists, even if the 12 points on 12 shots is a bit blah. Whenever I watch Minnesota play, I feel like Flynn deserves more assists than he gets – he simply does not have shooters on the team that will convert open looks. Luckily, Ryan Gomes knocked down some shots tonight, going 8-13 including 2-3 from downtown to score 20 points. One of his threes came off of nice behind-the-back feed from Flynn with 1:39 left in the game. The miss? It came with 1:14 left on a wide open corner three, set up by… you guessed it, Flynn. It’s easy to dismiss the rookie from Syracuse, trying to run the triangle with an incredibly unbalanced team, but you shouldn’t. He can play. This was the first time he had recorded 9 assists in an NBA game, but it won’t be the last.

Toney Douglas: 17 Pts (7-11 FG, 2-5 3PT, 1-2 FT), 1 Reb, 1 Ast, 1 Stl, 4 PF in 21 mins.

Nice line for Toney Douglas. He can really, really score. Reason #958 I’m happy Allen Iverson ended up in Philly: he’s not taking minutes from Douglas. I’m not getting too optimistic about his standing in New York, though – this performance came on a night where they were losing by 22 at the end of the third quarter. Douglas only got these minutes because the game was lost and Nate Robinson is in the coach’s doghouse. Blarg. Stupid Knicks.

Tyreke Evans: 26 Pts (7-14 FG, 0-2 3PT, 12-14 FT), 5 Reb, 6 Ast, 4 TO in 32 mins.

Now this I can be optimistic about. Yeah, it was against Indiana. But isn’t it crazy that we suddenly EXPECT the Kings to beat Indiana? This team has a 9-8 record and a 4-game winning streak despite losing Kevin Martin five games in and not seeing a single minute from Francisco Garcia. Huge credit has to go out to Paul Westphal and everyone in the rotation, especially Evans. I admit that, as far as ROY is concerned, I’m with Kelly Dwyer and not Zach Harper, but Evans has been fantastic this year. He can get to the basket and score with ease and has played point guard with much greater success than most people imagined he would have. If he shoots fewer jumpers and gets to the foul line at a rate similar to last night, I might have to reconsider my stance on the aforementioned award before this season is over.

Fun With Stats

Blowout city: There was a point last night where, of the eight games being played, four of them (TOR/ATL, NYK/ORL, PHX/CLE, DAL/NJ) had a point differential of at least 20.

Let’s get the Raptors out of the way: Chris Bosh scored 2 points, going without a field goal for the first time since November 6, 2007, when the Raptors were routed by the Milwaukee Bucks. Bosh only played 16 minutes, sitting during the first time because he was in foul trouble. One of those fouls was assigned to someone else at halftime, but by then it was way too late. Oh, and the Italian Rodman? Andrea Bargnani failed to grab a single rebound in almost 22 minutes of action last night. Sad face.

No more negativity here. Let’s talk about some point guards. I love me some point guards. First, Jason Kidd: 16 Pts (5-6 FG, 2-2 3PT, 4-4 FT), 8 Reb, 10 Ast, 5 Stl, 1 Blk, 4 TO, 1 PF in 34 mins. Wow. That’s… insane. I’d be impressed with a line like that even from 2002 Jason Kidd. The downside is it added insult to injury, as he did this whilst etching his former team’s name into the record books in a most unflattering way. Next, Russell Westbrook – weird line for him. Definitely not the perfection of J-Kidd, but check this out: 7 Pts (1-11 FG, 0-3 3PT, 5-6 FT), 5 Reb (2 Off), 15 Ast, 2 Stl, 2 TO, 3 PF in 33 mins of a winning effort. Again, wow. He was supposed to be a scorer, someone who could get his but would have trouble involving his teammates and being a true point guard. Well, hey, critics: 15 assists! He already has more than half of the 10+ assist games he had last year and we’re only a month in. Let’s just ignore the terrible shooting on this night. Hell yeah, development! Thunder!

Now, onto the bigs. I’ve gotta mention Brandon Bass here – this beast has been waiting patiently to be unleashed this season, as Stan Van Gundy has understandbly opted to keep the floor spread with the sweet shooting of Ryan Anderson and Matt Barnes off the bench at the 4 spot and stay big at the 5 with Marcin Gortat. With Bass out of the shuffle, he has been unable to show us what we saw from him last season: rebounding, interior scoring, solid D, and the mid-range shot. Against the Knicks, however, there was no need to stay big off the bench, so Bass got Gortat’s minutes at center. He responded by scoring 17 points in just 17 minutes, shooting 7-12 from the field and adding 3 rebounds. This is how you earn more minutes. Also, Marcus Camby had a Marcus Camby night: 9 points on 4-6 shooting, with 19 rebounds, 4 assists, 5 steals, and a block in 39 minutes. I miss seeing those numbers on my fantasy team. Gotta wonder, though – as Kelly Dwyer mentioned in the BDL chat yesterday, do the Clips try to trade Camby? His value has to be pretty high and Griffin is going to need every minute he can get when he comes back. Just something to think about.

One more tidbit before I move on – not only did Zydrunas Ilgauskas become the Cavs’ leader in games played last night, he moved into third place on the team’s all-time scoring list. He now trails only LeBron and Brad Daugherty. Effing great night for him.

Quoted

Argh, a bunch of depressing ones today. I apologize.

“It’s not the coach. Red Auerbach couldn’t coach us the way we are playing. It’s us. It doesn’t matter who you bring in. It starts in here. You have to have heart. You have to have the heart to overcome something like this.” – Chris Douglas-Roberts, after his team became the lone team in NBA history to lose its first 18 games.

I’ve been following CDR closely this season. I feel worse for him than any other player in the league. It’s not hard to see how rough this has been for him. He’s never been through anything similar to this in life. I really hope they win a damn game soon. Anyway, onto more depressing stuff – here are ex-Yellow Jackets and current-Raptors Chris Bosh and Jarrett Jack, post-game.

“We can’t give up 75 points in the half and expect to be successful in this league. We can’t come in with the mindset that we’re just going to outscore everybody. It’s not possible.” – Jarrett Jack.

“We’re not playing D and we’re not rebounding – we’re shooting ourselves in the foot twice.” – Jarrett Jack.

“You can’t say we did anything right on defense. We should be embarrassed, everybody should be embarrassed. Us, coaches – everybody who was involved in this game should be embarrassed.” – Jarrett Jack.

“I was upset that we don’t buy in on the defensive end of the floor and every time something happens, it’s, ‘it’s okay, it’s alright.’ It’s not alright. We’re letting problems go by without attacking them or challenging them or bringing them to the forefront or getting them solved.” – Jarrett Jack.

“Everybody can’t just walk on eggshells around here and act like we’re playing good basketball. We’re not, we’re playing terrible.” – Jarrett Jack.

“We haven’t stopped anybody all year.” – Chris Bosh

“We don’t get on the ground, we don’t consistently get rebounds, we give up points in the paint… We’re just not a good team.” – Chris Bosh

Jesus. It’s not even 9:00 AM and I need a drink. This is bad. Very, very, very bad. It’s only early December, but I’ve seen previous awful Raptors teams lose games like this. Well, rarely EXACTLY like this – I mean, down by 30 at the end of the third? Anyway, it’s obviously not the loss to Atlanta that bothers me. The Raptors need a win in the worst way, but I wouldn’t have been too upset with an L if they had just shown some signs of life on defense. Jay Triano stressed from training camp onwards that defense would be his main focus – he knew he had the pieces to be a great offensive team, but this squad severely lacked athleticism and one-on-one defensive skills. To compensate, you have to play extremely focused, smart team D. The Raptors have done this only for small stretches this year and haven’t done it at all during this 5-game losing streak. Damn it. I need a happy quote to cheer me up…

“That’s the closest I’ve ever come to tears on the basketball floor.” – Zydrunas Ilgauaskas, on his big night. The fans chanted “Z” for him. Yay!

Impressive

These will all be from the Bucks/Wizards game, since it had my complete attention.

Nick Young: 21 Pts (7-12 FG, 0-1 3PT, 7-7 FT), 5 Reb, 1 Ast, 1 Stl, 5 TO, 2 PF in 34 mins.

Gotta love his aggressiveness. The man just knows how to score at the NBA level. You can criticize him for being sort of one-dimensional, I guess, but when that dimension is great, it’s okay. Same argument I’ve always made for Ben Gordon, even though Young isn’t near Gordon’s level yet. Love seeing him starting again, though – those erratic minutes and DNP-CD’s from the early part of the season were starting to piss me off.

Earl Boykins: 13 Pts (3-5 FG, 7-10 FT), 1 Reb, 4 Ast, 2 TO in 19 mins.

I’ve always loved watching Earl Boykins play. You know why. He’s the tiniest guy on the floor, by far, but he doesn’t play like it. The effort, the confidence? Always there. I’m definitely enjoying his return with the Wizards, and so is Gilbert Arenas, as it’s allowing him to play off the ball. Put a smile on my face just to see Boykins on the floor at the end of this game, let alone seeing the ball in his hands on the Wizards’ final possession. Still not pleased with the result, but whatever. Go Earl.

Hakim Warrick: 20 Pts (6-9 FG, 8-8 FT), 4 Reb (3 Off), 3 TO, 2 PF in 32 mins.

14 of those points came in the first half, including two aggressive and-ones and the missed shot that resulted in Scott Skiles’s ejection. Quick note on that if you didn’t see it – Skiles was miffed that Hak didn’t get the foul, so he approached the nearest ref and screamed at him. Upon receiving a technical foul, Skiles made a “T” with his hands and screamed, “Technical!” in the ref’s face. For this, he received another tech and was ejected. After storming to about halfcourt to let out some more steam, he went back to the locker room. Anyway, Hak – love the effort, as always. Nice to see the shots falling tonight and VERY nice to see all those free throw attempts. It’s ridiculous how many of these Bucks I look forward to watching – him, Jennings, Bogut, Ilyasova, Bell, Luc Richard Mbah A Moute (come back soon!), Meeks, Delfino, and…

Luke Ridnour: 20 Pts (9-16 FG, 2-6 3PT), 4 Reb, 6 Ast, 1 Stl, 4 PF in 33 mins.

Whoa. Didn’t expect that. I didn’t even expect to become a Ridnour fan. This year, though, he’s proven to be a much more than capable backup point guard, even if I’d much rather have the ball in Jennings’s hands at the end of the game. You won’t see 20 point games from him all the time, but last night wasn’t that much of a statistical aberration. He has a PER of 18.3 this season. I love that Skiles has been playing him and Jennings together from the start, realizing that the advantages that the pair bring on offense far outweigh the defensive limitations of having two small, thin point guards on the floor on D. I wish Kurt Rambis would realize the same thing and play Jonny Flynn and Ramon Sessions together more often in Minny. While they did see some time sharing the floor last night in their 97-95 loss to Memphis, Sessions still played 6 fewer minutes than Damien Wilkins even though he was hot, going 7-9 from the floor.

Tweeted

@NBAKays: I’m starting to think that the Raptors are not a very good defensive basketball team. (When he tweeted this, the Hawks had 118 points with 9:41 left in the game.)

@NBAguy: @jeskeets who’s your squad?

@jeskeets: @NBAguy The [/covers mouth] Raptuyfdgyrs.

That does it. I’m going to puke.

@HowardBeckNYT: Not that anyone cares, but the Mavericks have scored 90 points on the Nets with 6:54 left in the third. They lead 90-66.

@johnschuhmann: This may be the Nets’ best offensive game this season… and they’re down by 27.

At least I’m not alone.

To watch

Al Thornton off the backboard to himself:

Trevor Ariza on Chris Kaman:

Apologies for not mentioning the Rockets/Clippers game until now. I fell asleep and missed it, bummer. Seems like it could have been a good one for three quarters, until the Rockets put the Clippers away with a 26-13 4th Q to win 102-85. Aaron Brooks managed 22 points on 9-11 shooting from the field.

Caron Butler on poor Andrew Bogut:

Derrick Rose’s alley-oop from Brad Miller:

LeBron’s sweet chasedown block in the throwback uni:

To read

Britt Robson, one of my favourites, takes a look around the league for SI.

Kendrick Perkins is getting scary good, says Chris Forsberg of ESPN Boston.

Bethlehem Shoals’s take on Ron Artest for the Baseline.

Eddy Rivera’s great interview with J.J. Redick for Third Quarter Collapse