The Top 5 NBA Revenge Games Of 2012-13 So Far

We learned a few things while we all enjoyed ESPN and ABC’s quintuple header on Christmas with friends and family: the Lakers are back, the Clippers are legit, Houston seems to have found its legs, Oklahoma City still needs to figure out Miami, and LeBron James is unquestionably the league’s most dominant player right now. But we also saw Chicago and Brooklyn get whooped, and that former game featured one of Chicago’s former players, Omer Asik, dominating it on the boards and in the paint. Besides Asik’s big night in Chicago’s United Center, who else has gone off when they were going against their old team this season?

Here are five of our most noteworthy choices, and remember, we’ve only played less than a third of the season so far, so there are plenty more opportunities for revenge games.

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5. Ray Allen: Boston Celtics at Miami Heat October 30, 2012
Allen’s departure to South Beach, or more accurately, downtown Miami (and off the strip of overpriced Mojitos along Ocean Drive), was one of the bigger stories last summer. Kevin Garnett lobbed the first grenade when he claimed to have lost Allen’s number, implicitly relegating Allen’s time in Boston to that of an also-ran. But regardless of Paul Pierce, KG and more accurately, Rajon Rondo‘s distaste for Allen that led to his fleeing South for less money, it’s hard to ignore the absence of the NBA’s all-time leading three-point shooter. Allen has fit in well in Miami’s spread the floor small-ball lineup, and he’s had plenty of opportunities in the wake of LeBron and Wade’s individual brilliance.

In the season’s opening game, Allen faced his former team in Miami’s American Airlines Arena, and he came correct. In just over 30 minutes of action, Allen was 5-7 from the field and 3-4 from long range, scoring 19 points dishing two assists and grabbing two boards. Even though his stat line doesn’t wow anyone, his presence alone had Boston thinking twice about leaving him alone on the wing to help on ‘Bron and Wade, and the defending champions easily handled the Celtics in their home opener, 120-107. So far this season the change of scenery has helped Allen achieve career highs in field goal percentage, 49 percent, and three-point field goal percentage, 45.8 percent. The rich just keep getting richer it seems, and you can be sure Allen will be instrumental in the Heat repeating as champions.

4) Mo Williams & Randy Foye: Los Angeles Clipper at Utah Jazz December 3, 2012
Two former Clippers got a chance to exact some revenge on their former team in LA earlier this month. Both played superb and they were as aligned in their excellence while playing their former as two players can be. Check out the box score to the game, and you’ll see that both Williams and Foye were 7-11 from the field and 3-7 from beyond the arc. Foye would finish with 19 points and Williams with 20 (Williams was 3-3 from the line and Foye 2-3). Williams also added 12 dimes to his tally, and Foye had a couple steals. But the Jazz lost to the suddenly dominant Clippers, even as Foye got a late game steal; he wasn’t able to get a shot off in time. Even though the Jazz lost, both players showed their old team they might have been a tad overlooked while in the City of Angels.

Both had toiled as overlooked shooters off the bench with the Clippers last year, but Williams is the Jazz starter at point guard this season, and Foye is a valuable asset off the bench. Despite both players averaging more minutes in the Jazz rotation this year, they’re at the same level of production from last year. They haven’t dipped as a result of diminishing returns, but they’re not exactly shooting lights out either. Williams is shooting 44 percent from the floor–about the league average–while last year he was at 42 percent. And Foye is at 40.4 percent on three-pointers this season, and he was at 38.6 percent from the same distance last year. Those are slight improvements, but nothing drastic. Except, in this early season game in Utah, they showed their old team just what they can do when properly motivated. It should be noted here that the Clippers have won their last 14 games — including the aforementioned game in Utah — a stretch dating back to November, so they’re not exactly licking their wounds at having lost Williams and Foye to Utah. That being said both players made the list because without their shooting they wouldn’t have even been in that game against the Clippers.



3. Jamal Crawford: Los Angeles Clippers at Portland Trail Blazers November 8, 2012
What is it about Portland that led players to slip last year? Was everyone too busy trying to mimic the hilarity of Portlandia with subtle swipes at faux-hemian culture in the Brooklyn of the West? Both Jamal Crawford and the tire-around-the-middle Raymond Felton disappointed Pacific Northwest fans with their performances in Blazers uniforms last year, but both are socking it to ’em this season, on different teams. No one more-so than Crawford who has to the be the leading candidate for the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award with the overachieving Clippers.

As mentioned before, the Clippers are currently in the midst of a franchise record 14-game winning streak, and Crawford’s scoring off the bench is a large reason why. Maybe we all should have seen this coming after his performance against his old mates in Portland’s Rose Garden. Crawford came off the bench to score 25 points en route to a Clippers 103-90 victory over his old team. Even though Crawford struggled from long range, going 1-6 on the night, he was devastating everywhere else, finishing 9-17 from the field in a little over 28 minutes. Crawford also sported the team’s best plus/minus at plus 19 on the game. That’s how you show your old team what you can do. On the season, Crawford is shooting 42.9 percent from the field (up from 38.4 last season in Portland), and 38.1 percent on three-pointers (up from 30.8 last season in Portland). He’s making a solid case for his second Sixth Man (he won his first during the 2009-10 season with Atlanta), but he also felt the need to light up his old team. Nothing like a little revenge to up the play.


2. Omer Asik: Houston Rockets at Chicago Bulls December 25, 2012
Last night’s performance by Asik is the reason we’re writing this list. He was simply dominant and his presence can’t be overlooked when discussing Houston’s current 6-game winning streak. In a little over 34 minutes of action against his old mates in Chicago, Asik posted a plus/minus of plus-41, by far the largest advantage of any of his Houston teammates. He was 9-13 from the field for 20 points to go along with his dominating 18 rebounds (five offensive), and unquestionably elite defense with three blocks and countless shots altered. In a word, he performed exactly how GM Daryl Morey and Houston expected when they shocked a lot of GM’s around the league by offering Chicago’s super sub Asik, a three year deal worth over $25 million this off-season.

Asik only averaged 14.7 minutes a game last year for a Chicago team hit hard by injuries, but his 36 minute averages all translated into an elite defender and rebounder. Morey and crew thought he was worth it based off that limited sample size, and so far they have to be happy with what they’ve seen this year with Asik averaging a double-double through the season’s first 27 games. He’s grabbing 11.6 rebounds a game, and scoring 10.9 points per game while continuing to shoot over 50 percent from the floor (which, to be fair, isn’t that big of a deal since he takes over 80 percent of his shots at the rim, per hoopdata). But we’ll let former Chicago Tribune and current Bulls.com writer, Sam Smith, explain the differences in Asik last night when compared to his play the season before:

“Yes, that Omer. You remember. The one who couldn’t shoot free throws, catch the ball in the pick and roll, make one on one moves. But that was then. It appears now Asik’s evil brother, at least toward the Bulls, was on the court.
Asik was by far the best big man in the game, catching and dunking lobs, beating the Bulls along the baseline for dunks, basically owning the boards as the Bulls were demolished 45-31 in rebounding. The numbers were ridiculous: 66-32 Rockets in the paint; 31-8 Rockets in fast break points; the Rockets shooting 56.1 percent for the game, more than 60 percent in the first half.”

That’s how you go against your former team; that’s revenge you can savor.



1. Jeremy Lin: Houston Rockets at New York Knicks December 17, 2012
“Linsanity” might be over at Madison Square Garden, but that didn’t stop Jeremy from reminding the MSG faithful about the lone bright spot from last season’s up and down team when his Houston Rockets came to town a little over a week ago. Yes, the Knicks are the top team in their division, and they’ve been running teams off the court at home, going 12-2 so far this season on their way to the second best record in the East (20-8 after last night’s loss in LA). But there are still people upset owner James Dolan and the Knicks failed to match Daryl Morey’s poison pill contract for Jeremy Lin in the off-season. Instead, the Knicks signed portly Raymond Felton, and Lin was off to Houston to team with Omer Asik and–signed just a couple days before the season started–James Harden. While Felton and the Knicks were wowing New Yorkers, Lin struggled to start the year in Houston.

Lin didn’t struggle at all in his return to the environment where Linsanity reached its apogee last year. Madison Square Garden was bouncing in anticipation, and the crowd cheered when Lin was introduced with his opposing Rockets teammates during the pre-game. He did not disappoint, going 9-15 from the field for 22 points, eight assists, four rebounds and two steals in just under 40 minutes as the Rockets handed the Knicks their first loss at home on the season, 109-96. Lin also led his teammates in their plus/minus with his team at plus 18 while he was on the floor. It was a game Jeremy needed and it helped silence the growing chorus saying the Knicks made the right move in letting Lin bounce to Houston this off-season.

New York had already lost to Houston earlier this year, in Houston, with Lin playing just OK (13 points, seven boards, three assists), but in his return to MSG, he again showed New Yorkers why they fell in love so completely with him last year. And yes, he did start pretty slowly this season, shooting just 37.3 percent from the floor and 26.3 percent on three-pointers in November, but in December he’s upped his averages to 49.2 percent from the floor and 34.3 beyond the arc while continuing to hand out over 6 assists a game and lowering his turnovers (all stats via NBA.com). He’s improving and finding his place in a Houston squad that didn’t know each other at all after acquiring Harden a couple days before the season started and turning nearly the entire roster over in the offseason.

But regardless of Lin’s improved play in December and how that’s translated to the Houston team as a whole, he got retribution on his former team even as they’re enjoying one of their best starts since Patrick Ewing‘s No. 33 was raised to the Madison Square Garden rafters. With all the #LinSanity hype last year and the disappointing early returns in Houston, Lin rose to the occasion when he stepped onto the Garden floor, and even Knicks fans can feel good about that.

What do you think was the best?

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