Guess who scored 50?Funny how Kobe Bryant scoring 50 points in a game seems almost routine now — he dropped 50 again on the Sonics last night, his 10th Curtis Jackson of the season — but then you look it up and see that Wilt Chamberlain did it 45 times in ‘61-62, then another 30 times the next year. Either way, Mamba’s 50-spot helped the Lakers clinch a playoff spot. The highlights: a reverse dunk KB24 threw down to score his 49th and 50th, and the hanging fadeaway he stuck over Chris Wilcox and Mickael Gelabale that looked a lot like the shot Mike hit over Juwan Howard in the ‘97 playoffs. Can’t say he was gunning, either; 18-for-25 from the field (3-for-6 from deep) and 11-for-13 at the stripe … The other highlight: Lamar Odom got a one-handed rebound on a long miss and in one motion fired a no-look to Kobe underneath for a layup … That left one playoff spot open in the West, and the Warriors made a move for it yesterday by smacking the Wolves (without KG) at home. Ricky Buckets dropped 42 for Minnesota, but he couldn’t outshoot everyone. Six Warriors hit double figured, including Jason Richardson (32 pts, 12 rebs, 7 asts), Al Harrington (18 pts) and Baron Davis (17 pts, 7 asts) … We have to give Nellie his props: back when Chris Mullin hired him, we didn’t think he would have Golden State in this position. A lot of credit has to go to Harrington and Stephen Jackson, too. No way this group sniffs the playoffs with Troy Murphy and Mike Dunleavy still around … Boom Dizzle had his b-day party at San Fran club Mezzanine after the game. Mos Def hosted, and The Game, Styles P, 49ers QB Alex Smith and a bunch of other Niners, Oakland A’s, Raiders and Baron’s GS teammates were scheduled to be in the house. We’ll hit you with some pix later on today … The Clippers, meanwhile, lost at home to the Kings. We were pretty sure Sacto would roll over without putting up a fight, but they surprised us … Same goes for the Knicks, who hung with the Raptors on the road when Toronto was trying to clinch the third spot in the East. Chris Bosh (23 pts, 8 rebs, 7 asts) and Co. got the win — with CB4 playing every single minute — but only by two points … Spurs/Mavs didn’t actually mean anything, but it still had that playoff atmosphere, with all the big guns playing big minutes. In the end it came down to Josh Howard stripping Manu and getting it to Greg Buckner for the go-ahead layup in the final minute … What’s more pointless: Austin Croshere trying to guard Tim Duncan, or Francisco Elson trying to guard Dirk Nowitzki? Both guys got served something ugly … Duncan got tossed in the third quarter when he picked up his second tech from the bench. TD was already sitting due to one tech, and the ref apparently thought Duncan was laughing at him and slapped him with the second. Great reactions from Tony Parker and Elson, who looked like two kids getting caught trying to shoplift … Jerry Stackhouse wrote Jackie Robinson’s name on his shoes — apparently Robinson is the reason Stack’s always worn No. 42 … The Magic almost blew a 17-point fourth quarter lead, didn’t make a shot from the floor in the last six and a half minutes, and turned the ball over about 400 times. And this was against the Celtics. “We went through a long stretch where we couldn’t catch the ball, make a basket or do anything,” Dwight Howard said afterwards. Despite all that, Orlando managed to win the game and clinched the last Eastern Conference playoff spot … One last thing: If you happen to know any NBA studio show hosts, do us a favor and tell them to stop calling Vince Carter “Vincenzo.” It hasn’t even caught on yet and it’s already tired. Thanks … We’re out like Duncan …
April 16th, 2007 at 2:10 am
Keith says:
Good Mavs/Spurs game except for the last few minutes when both teams got sloppy.
Can’t decide if I want the Clippers or the Warriors in the #8 spot. I like them both, but I find myself pulling for the Warriors just to see them in a series with the Mavs. Western Conference is looking like it’ll be another year of great playoff basketball.
Can’t say I’m happy about the new “no laughing” rule. I hope we get some feedback from Stern and Stu Jackson on that one. I don’t want Crawford’s paranoia (they’re all laughing at me) kicking in when the games mean something.
April 16th, 2007 at 7:13 am
Kobe says:
18-25. Who else in the league is dropping 50 on only 25 attempts? Better yet neame another perimeter player who can do it while shooting 72 percent! Haters need to do an “about face”.
April 16th, 2007 at 8:33 am
James Wright says:
In other news, the Chicago Bulls cruised to a 101-68 victory over the depleted Washington Wizards, who were held to their lowest offensive output of the season. The Bulls, led by Ben Gordon’s 30 points, maintained their tenuous hold on the No.2 seed. Chicago can clinch the No. 2 seed with a victory Wednesday in New Jersey, or through a loss by the Cleveland Cavaliers in either of their final two games.
April 16th, 2007 at 9:37 am
Dave says:
This just in: the Fab Five take over the L! Chris Webber, starting center on the East’s best team! Jalen Rose, on the 2 seed, one of the most prolific offenses the League has ever known! Juwan Howard on one of the strongest 5 seeds the Association has ever known! I’m out like Jimmy King and Ray Jackson…
April 16th, 2007 at 10:15 am
JT says:
Does Duncan get fined for being ejected?
I like the stealth shoes being advertised on dime. Are those duncan’s shoes?
April 16th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
Kianoosh says:
Kobe (the guy that posted the comment, not the real one) needs to chill. This was against the Sonics who are doing nothing but counting days until the off season. There were SEVERAL nights this season where his production was more like 25 shots for 25 points. Nobody’s hating. He’s just enjoying life as the ONLY guy that can score on the Lakers. Looks a whole lot like AI with Sixers all those years. No Shaq, no title. Sorry.
April 16th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
Dime Magazine says:
JT -
yes, the Stealth is Timmy’s shoe…
April 16th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
Gmoney says:
yeah so crawford is supposed to be this awesome ref and have great a great rapor with all the players, but i mean c’mon, refs have egos too, huge ones, sometimes bigger than the players! they want to make it all about them sometimes, they should just ref the game, blow the whistle and let the players play. i hope these playoffs don’t come down to refs makin’ or breakin’ a game…that ejection was weak though…
Money
April 16th, 2007 at 7:19 pm
docta j says:
who else do you want takin those shots, kianoosh? jordan farmar? kwame, maybe? no no no….. vladimir, right? and that sure sounds like hatin, btw.
April 16th, 2007 at 7:34 pm
Grissy says:
I knew that Kobe fadeaway was eerily familiar with someone else’s…
As for the Raps, we’re letting teams hang with us on purpose so we can get ready for the playoffs and get used to executing in crunch time…book it.
April 16th, 2007 at 8:26 pm
Easy says:
I agree, that Andre Aldridge character is horrible. I watch NBATV Daily every night and he is by far the worst host. Whenever he is on, I often mute the audio. The “Vincenzo” crap is just the icing on the cake. Corny!
April 16th, 2007 at 8:39 pm
kowtz says:
@Kanoosh?
Ai on Sixers? He never consistently dropped 5o like this. Stop hating and give the due credit.
And if you argue with the fact that he’s the only one who can score in the lakers team, then we should also shrug Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 points and 50 pppg with:
- the lane was too narrow, if it was shaq back then he would have scored 150.
- defense was not yet invented back those days.
- no other center on the league that could have stopped him during that time.
- this a time where tall power forwards and centers stand at 6′8″.
- he’s a freaking ball hog
* See? We could come up with lots of excuses but we don’t. We give the credit where it is due. STOP HATING!
Besides, compare Wilt’s 100 and Kobe’s 81? Kobe had higher fg% than wilt. And wilt took more shots during the first half. IF Kobe went out that night shooting for Wilt’s record, I think he would have come CLOSE….
I’m out like close minded doubters and haters.
April 17th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
Ben says:
Kobe is the Man!! Too bad the voters won’t give him his credit and award the MVP to him. Without Kobe, the Lakers would be a lottery team…can’t really say that about the Mavs and Suns…
April 17th, 2007 at 10:39 pm
M Dubbs says:
real quick. Im watching NBA Coast to Coast right now only because no game is televised. they are cutting to the suns game every so often. they pick up the local announcers too. at one point raja bell gets mention. the announcer then says “Raja Bell, the heart and soul of this Suns team.” Thats not a typo, he didnt even just give him “the DEFENSIVE heart and soul of the Suns team.” Straight up “the heart and soul.” Should he be fired immedietely? No, really, should he?
- Staten Island