At some point during the fourth quarter, as the Hawks were getting all they could handle from the Rockets and seemed on the verge of their first home loss of the season, Dominique Wilkins said the same thing you’re gonna hear from a bunch of opposing team announcers about the Rockets this year: “This is a GOOD basketball team!” in a surprised tone … In what might have been the most entertaining finish of the year, Houston went up by seven midway through the fourth when Aaron Brooks dusted Joe Johnson on a crossover/hesitation along the baseline for a layup. Read More »
It took about 47 and a half minutes for Don Nelson to really miss Stephen Jackson. In the Warriors’ first game since trading Capt. Jack to the Bobcats, they were actually hanging with the Cavs on the road last night. On a critical possession with under a minute to go and Cleveland ahead by four, LeBron of course had the rock, a situation where S-Jack would normally have been guarding him. This time, however, Nellie had to enlist Vlad Radmanovic for the job. (Well, he didn’t have to; Anthony Randolph might have been a better choice.) To the surprise of no one, LeBron scored easily, sticking a pull-up jumper for the dagger … Read More »
30. New Jersey Nets (0-10) — During the lopsided part of the Pacquiao/Cotto fight, Jim Lampley enthusiastically said Cotto “almost landed a big left.” And he meant it in a good way. That’s how it’s been for the Nets; last week they almost beat Philly and Miami, so far the highlights of their season.
29. Minnesota Timberwolves (1-10) — The rest of November has them facing Houston, Denver and Phoenix at home, and the Blazers, Nuggets and Clippers on the road. It could be a long couple of weeks. Read More »
They’re panicking in Los Angeles. Or something close to it. While you could reasonably write off Friday’s blowout loss in Denver to tired legs from a back-to-back and the high altitude, there aren’t many excuses the Lakers can make after the Rockets (who were supposed to stink this year, remember?) went into Staples and thoroughly outplayed the champs … Trevor Ariza was the main story going into the game. He received his ‘09 championship ring in his first trip back to L.A. and was playing in front of his hometown crowd, but by the end it was all about Aaron Brooks. Read More »
Thank goodness they don’t teach defense in Golden State. Otherwise, how many highlights and one-night explosions would we have been robbed of over the last few years? As great as Brandon Jennings was last night — dropping 55 points on 21-of-34 FG with seven triples — it was hard not to look at the boxscore and say, “Oh, it was against the Warriors,” and allow the fifth-best NBA rookie performance of all-time to lose some of its luster. But just a little. Jennings was doing whatever he wanted whenever he wanted; if Monta Ellis was worried about he and Stephen Curry getting lit up by bigger guards, what did he think about skinny 6-1 Young Money carving ‘em up like Manny Pacquiao did Miguel Cotto? … Read More »
In some respects, you have to understand where Allen Iverson is coming from. Going back to Little League and all the way through intramurals or whatever level you reached in your athletic career, we’ve all been taught that the best players start the game. Of course, it’s a little different in the NBA: If a coach really wants his second unit to have more offensive firepower or defensive stability, he might put one of his best five players on the bench, which is why Manu Ginobili and Jason Terry are annually up for Sixth Man of the Year.
That said, there are some backups who — forget what the coach might be trying to do — have no business being backups. And it’s not always because they’re so great, but that the guy starting in front of them shouldn’t be starting. Who should be taking a seat? Read More »
During the ‘09 conference finals, Shaq showed up at one of Orlando’s home games against the Cavs, to the chagrin of a lot of people associated with the Magic. Last night Shaq was back in the building; this time wearing a Cavs uniform. Throw in the tension leftover from when Diesel was talking greasy about Dwight Howard and Stan Van Gundy last year, and you know the fans had a lot of venom toward Big Witness Protection. He played into it, too, doing stuff like leaving his hand in the air extra-long after a free throw. And the crowd was even more pissed when Cleveland walked out with a win … Read More »
Don’t let the fact that Chauncey Billups shows little emotion on the court fool you into thinking he’s any less fiery of a competitor than Kobe, Dirk, LeBron, Wade or any other big-time clutch player who punctuates his daggers by making funny faces. You have to be iceberg to have hit as many fourth-quarter threes and last-second free throws as Mr. Big Shot has hit, but you also have to have a fire inside you to show up in the kind of shape he does every year and bring it at the high level he brings it every night … After Chauncey (17 pts, 6 asts, 3 stls) made the go-ahead free throw with 0.6 seconds left in last night’s Nuggets/Bulls game, he missed the second FT on purpose, giving the Bulls only 0.3 to make a game-winner. Read More »
From worst to first, ranking the NBA through the first couple of weeks…
30. New Jersey Nets (0-7) — They’re dropping like panties at R.Kelly’s house in Jersey, with starters Devin Harris, Courtney Lee, CDR and Yi Jianlian all missing games with injury and/or illness.
29. Minnesota Timberwolves (1-6) — The only bright spot of this past week was Jonny Flynn outplaying Brandon Jennings head-to-head. And the Wolves still lost that game. Read More »
Although Dwight Howard was the one guy on the Magic who didn’t look like he should give his paycheck back after last night’s embarrassing loss to Oklahoma City, that didn’t stop the Thunder announcers from using Dwight for a punchline or two. “Superman has met Lex Luger tonight,” joked commentator Grant Long. His broadcast partner came in for the correction (”Lex Luthor“) but Long had made his point: Orlando looked nothing like a championship contender on Sunday, their second such alarming performance in the last four games. Read More »
