Monta Ellis must be pissed. Presuming the biggest reason he was left off the All-Star team was the Warriors’ sorry win-loss record, hearing the news that Chris Kaman of the almost-as-sorry Clippers is making the squad as an alternate is a tough pill to swallow — especially considering Kaman, a center, was named to replace Brandon Roy, a guard like Monta.
Over the weekend, it was announced Roy (hamstring) would be out through the All-Star break. Seeing as Chauncey Billups was just named to replace Chris Paul due to his knee injury, it would make sense that B-Roy would also be replaced by a guard, leaving Monta — the NBA’s sixth-leading scorer at 26.2 ppg who just dropped a career-high 46 on the Mavs last week — and Aaron Brooks as the two strongest candidates. Read More »
The field for the NBA All-Star Three-Point Shootout is set. And almost lost amongst superstar names like Paul Pierce and Chauncey Billups, rookie sensation Stephen Curry, and big-market bombers Danilo Gallinari and Channing Frye — the first and third-leading three-point shooters in the NBA, respectively — is defending champion Daequan Cook.
Cook was something of an unknown commodity last year when he entered the contest, and this year he’s back under the radar. Read More »
Less than a minute to go in Orlando, the Wizards were up one with the ball. And as one of the Magic announcers put it, “Their body language is such that they don’t believe they’re really here.” In other words, the Wizards were acting like they knew they were going to somehow blow the game. As if on cue, they committed a turnover, and a couple possessions later, Rashard Lewis stuck a corner three to put Orlando up one with four seconds left. Given all that’s happened to the Wizards this year, you’d think they might as well just go home at that point, but this time they had one reason to stay optimistic: Caron Butler … Read More »
Upon reading this headline, the majority of you might think that I’m crazy (and after tonight, that very well may hold some weight). Truth be told, this is either going to be a David triumphs Goliath or a blowout. However, in looking at the collegiate schedule tonight, the matchup of Kansas at Colorado is an intriguing one (9 p.m. EST) – and it will all depend on how the Buffs respond to the first 12 minutes. Both Pitt/West Virginia and Mississippi State/Vanderbilt will also be great to watch, but don’t sleep on the run in Boulder this evening. Read More »
You kind of saw this coming. According to Yahoo! Sports’ Marc J. Spears via his Twitter feed, Chauncey Billups was named the West’s All-Star reserve to replace the injured Chris Paul. While cases could have been made for Aaron Brooks, Monta Ellis and even Andre Miller, the League made the right call. Read More »
30. New Jersey Nets (4-42)
Last week: Beat L.A. Clippers; lost to Washington; lost to Philadelphia.
With Kris Humphries being able to step in and immediately become Jersey’s second-best big man, is that a credit to Humphries’ talent or an indictment of the team’s lack of talent? We’ll go with “B.”
29. Los Angeles Clippers (20-27)
Last week: Lost at New Jersey; lost at Minnesota; lost at Cleveland.
Technically, they could have had a worse week. At least the players’ paychecks didn’t bounce. Read More »
Yesterday, the Hornets found out Chris Paul will miss the next two months or so following surgery on his left knee, which he hurt against the Bulls the other day. With the game in-hand, all New Orleans had to do was inbound the ball, get fouled and the game would be over. Instead, David West sends the rock to the other end of the floor, and in pursuit, CP3 smacks his knee, the Bulls get the ball and score, and eventually win it in overtime. Paul is definitely out for All-Star, meaning somebody – Chauncey Billups, Monta Ellis or Aaron Brooks – will be getting the alternate spot. But the bigger question is this: What will the Hornets do now?Read More »
In a lot of ways, Lakers/Celtics shouldn’t have even come down to Kobe Bryant and Paul Pierce looking to trade daggers in the final seconds. The Lake Show dominated the first quarter as Andrew Bynum (19 pts, 11 rebs) took ownership of the paint and Kobe (19 pts) hit his typical array of tough shots that he made look easy. Then, after Boston recovered to make it a ballgame, L.A. found themselves down by double-digits in the fourth thanks to Rajon Rondo (21 pts, 12 asts) carving up the defense and Eddie House throwing in some big threes. So the Lakers rallied, and with 45 seconds left, Ron Artest made an awkward runner — yes, you could say all of Ron-Ron’s buckets are awkward — to cut the lead to one. Read More »
