NBA 2010 Wrap Up 12-2-10

Miami @ Cleveland - This was the game that was circled on lots of calendars when the NBA schedule came out.  This was LBJ's first return to Quicken Loans Arena as a visitor.  There was a lot of hype prior to this game last night, but I'm not sure for what.  The fans were going to wear their shirts, make their signs, and boo.  That's about it.  I think I'm with Shaq on this, 'if you spend your time writing up a sign to say something about me, you must really love me'.  LBJ led the destruction of the Cavs last night with a 38 pts, 8 asts, 5 rebs, 1 stl, 1 blk stat line.  To make things worse, he didn't play in the 4th quarter.  I wonder what the Cavs owner was thinking then about his Championship promise?  The Heat have dates against the Hawks (without Joe Johnson), Bucks, and Jazz so they should add at least 2 wins in the next 3 games. The Cavs have the Timberwolves, Pistons, and Sixers coming up and those are somewhat winnable for them. 


Phoenix @ Golden State - The under card normally is before the big fight.  On this night the Suns and the Warriors held this distinction of being the game AFTER THE GAME.  Steve Nash (13 pts, 16 asts, 4 rebs) and Jason Richardson (25 pts, 3 asts, 2 rebs, and 3 of  4 from the 3 point line)led the Suns to a necessary win against the Warriors.  Maybe NYSTOM was right about him?  The other big cog in this Suns wheel has been Grant Hill (24 pts, on 9 of 11 shooting) who is quietly having one of his best seasons.  The Warriors got great games from David Lee (25 pts, 8 rebs, 5 asts) and Monta Ellis (38 pts, 7 asts, 4 rebs) but the rest of the team was a no show.  The Suns got back to .500 but have dates with the Pacers, Wizards, and Trail Blazers coming up.  The Warriors are hurting from not having a back up point guard and their next three games are against the Thunder, Mavericks, and Spurs.  Looks like 3 more losses for them.      

NBA 2010 Wrap Up 11-12-10

Golden State 90 @ Chicago 120 – The Chicago Bulls blasted the Warriors Thursday night.  The Warriors were coming off of a win against the Knicks the night prior and they were playing without David Lee.  Without Lee, the Warriors were led by Monta Ellis (24 pts, 5 rebs, 5 asts, 1 stl, 4 to) and Stephen Curry (17 pts, 3 rebs, 6 asts, 5 stls, 5 to), but with no size the Warriors had no chance.  The Bulls pretty much had their way with the Warriors, with 6 players in double figures and they were led by an unlikely (based on last year) player in Luol Deng (26 pts, 11 rebs, 6 asts, 1 stl, 2 blks).  Deng has quietly (over a small sample) raised his level of play to average 20 points, 5 boards, and 2 assists (also 2 turnovers) a game.  If the Bulls can find a two guard that can shoot with range, they will be dangerous.  Write that down. 

Boston 112 @ Miami 107 – Round 2.  The Heat are having a rough time as of late.  Losses to the Hornets, Jazz, and the Celtics (again) have this Heat team in a Miami vice.  Jesus Shuttlesworth (Ray Allen) was in rare form last night as he connected on 7 3-pointers and ended the game with 35 points and is probably hitting buckets as I type.  The Heat got down early and made this close at the end, but it wasn’t enough.  KG (16 pts, 13 rebs, 2 asts, 2 blks), Paul Pierce (25 pts), and Rajon Rondo (8 pts, 16 asts, 3 rebs, 2 stls) were the usual suspects for the Celtics.  The Heat were led by LBJ (35 pts, 10 rebs, 9 asts, 3 stls) and Udonis Haslem (21 pts, 10 rebs, 1 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk), while D Wade had problems with the Celtic defense and ended a horrible game with 8 pts, 3 asts, 6 to.  The Heat’s problem can be spelled with one word, D-E-F-E-N-S-E.  When they buy in and get Marky Mark (Mike Miller) back they will be ok. 

Denver 118 @ LA 112 – This was a great game with lots of back and forth, but the Nuggets, to my surprise, pulled this game out.  I can honestly say this is about as bad as I’ve seen the Lakers this year, and yes this was their first loss, but they looked like they played down to their competition.  Kobe (34 pts, on 11of 32 from the field, 3 of 10 from the 3 point line) led the Lakers, but even his best effort couldn’t pull the Lakers out at the end.  That’s a lot of shots for 34 points.  The Nuggets were led by Melo (32 pts, 13 rebs, 2 blks) and a surprising small ball attack with Ty Lawson (17 pts, 5 asts) pushing the ball against a much bigger Lakers team.  The Lakers only outrebounded the Nuggets by 7, so this strategy seemed to work today.  We all know this was an anomaly because the Lakers are stacked at every position and barring an substantial injury to either Gasol or Kobe, this Lakers team is already playing in Game 4 of the NBA Championship in my opinion.  Note to NBA teams, if you can slow down Gasol, you have a real good chance of beating the Lakers.  Yes, Kobe is out there, but Gasol’s play is giving Kobe an extra 2-3 years on his knees. 

 

NBA 2010 Wrap Up 11-10-10

Washington 98 @ Houston 91 – Two big stories, Yao Ming got hurt and John Wall (19 pts, 10 rebs, 13 asts, 6 stls) had his first NBA triple double.  Both Andray Blatche and Al Thornton had 20 pts, as the Wizards ran up and down the floor.  It seemed as if Wall was everywhere making steals, passes, and even finishing an alley-oop from Gilbert Arenas.  Kevin Martin (31 pts, 7 rebs, 6 asts) and Luis Scola (24 pts, 6 rebs) led the Rockets, but with Yao going down, it really hurt their size advantage.  Wall became the 4^th youngest to get his first triple double and the Washington area fans are expecting a few more of these.      

Golden State 122 @ New York Knicks 117 – David Lee returned to the Garden and received a warm reception during introductions.  Lee would later receive a piece of Wilson Chandlers tooth in his elbow, but left the Garden after dropping 28 pts, 10 rebs, and 4 asts and leading his Warrior team to a win.  In an odd play, Lee got a rebound and brought his elbow down and chipped Chandler’s front tooth.  Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry combined for 47 pts, 8 rebs, and 14 asts.  Stoudamire led the Knicks with 33 pts and 10 rebs, but the Knicks weren’t able to keep up with the Warriors at the end.  The Knicks only got 11 points from their bench (Tone Douglas had 9 pts), and as usual D’Antoni has no chance to stop anyone on the defensive end.    

Minnesota 98 @ Sacramento 89 – We had a Micheal Beasley sighting.  Beasley had by far his best game as an NBA player with a 42 pts and 9 rebs outing against the Kings.  With really no other scoring threat on the floor the Timberwolves were able to get this win with the second leading scorer on the team being PG, Sebastian Telfair who had 16 pts and 1 ast.  If you can play point guard you might want to call the Timberwolves right now!!!!  The Kings had subpar games from Tyreke Evans (5 pts, 9 asts, 5 to) and DeMarcus Cousins (7 pts, 6 rebs, 4 to in 14 minutes).  Omri Casspi led the Kings with 17 pts (in 27 minutes) and I just have to question why no extra time for Casspi and Cousins wince they seemed to be playing well? 

Utah 104 @ Orlando 94 – Maybe they can move the Jazz to the East?  The Jazz finished their stroll through the sunshine state with a comeback from 22 to beat the Heat and then a comeback win from 18 last night, to beat the Magic.  Somehow the Jazz were able to turn it on once they get down.  They were led by Deron Williams with 30 pts, 14 asts, and 5 rebs.  Both Al Jefferson (21 pts, 8 rebs) and Paul Milsap (23 pts, 5 rebs, 3 asts) dominated the Magic frontcourt to spark the comeback.  As a group they were able to minimize Dwight Howard’s (14 pts, 9 rebs, 4 asts, 3 blks, 6 to) effectiveness and force the Magic to take 32 threes while only hitting 12.  The next team that plays the Jazz might just want to let them stay in the game late and then try and beat them. 

NBA Round Up 11-30-08

New York Knicks - 22 assists!!! I would have thought that it would come with Jason Kidd in the game or even Chris Paul. This feat was attained by none other than Chris Duhon against the Golden State Warriors. Duhon finished with 12 pts, 22 asts, 4 rebs, 1 stl, and 2 TOs. Not only that, but David Lee and Al Harrington had monster games too. Harrington finished with 36 pts and 12 rebs, while David Lee had 37 pts, 21 rebs, 2 asts, 3 stls, and 1 blk. This would mean much more if it were against a good team, but you gotta play the games that are on your schedule. Duhon goes into the record books with this one.

Oklahoma City Thunder - Finally a win!!!!! The Thunder had a 14 game losing streak stop with a 111-103 win against the Grizzlies. All the big time guys (for both teams) showed up. OJ Mayo had 30 pts and 7 rebs. Jeff Green had 22pts, while Kevin Durant had 30 pts and 7 rebs. Can the Thunder keep this going?

New York Knicks - The circus that is the Knicks and Stephon Marbury will hopefully end on Monday when Walsh, the NBA Players Association rep, and Marbury meet to discuss a buyout. I am not sure why the Knicks let this go this long. They should have just offered the dude a buyout amount and then paid him to get out of New York. Instead, you make your head coach look like a liar/a$$ and you keep the drama going on with the team. Please let Stephon go. Get it over with.

Did we miss anything? You got anything to add to the round up?