No matter how old and inconsistent he gets, apparently Peja Stojakovic will always be able to light up the Suns. In what could have been one of those rock-bottom moments for the Hornets — national TV, no Chris Paul, interim coach, hosting a red-hot opponent who could conceivably drop 130 points on ‘em and get them booed out of their own gym — N.O. showed some heart and pulled off an upset win behind Peja’s 25 points, 13 boards and seven threes. It wasn’t the first time Peja has taken down the Suns on a big stage: Read More »
While struggling to understand why Matt Harpring was analyzing game tape on NBA TV this past weekend, it got me thinking about the Utah Jazz. Being from Denver, I don’t normally enjoy publicly praising Utah for any of their success. Still, credit due when credit earned. While Brandon Jennings and Ty “Mbenga Banga” Lawson are undoubtedly on top of the PG rookie heap right now, Jazz rook Eric Maynor is right behind them. Read More »
Beast of the Night:Danny Granger shot 50 percent (12-24) from the field and perfect (5-5) from the line on his way to 31 points, 2 threes, 16 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks and 4 turnovers. The double-digit boards were out of the ordinary as Granger seems to be dealing with a sore heel quite nicely. He’s still a DNP risk but his owners have to be enjoying the ride so far. 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 »
Beast of the Night:Manu Ginobili was absolutely rabid last night, exploding for 36 points, 4 rebounds, 8 assists, 1 steal and 4 blocks, while nailing 6 threes and turning the ball over just once in just 32 minutes of work. He shot 53 percent (8-15) from the field and 88 percent (14-16) from the line. His owners have to be praying that Tim Duncan and Tony Parker take their sweet time recovering on the sidelines. Read More »
Ask anybody who knows anything about basketball which player they’d choose to build a team around long-term, and most likely they’ll choose LeBron. (Others would probably say Dwight Howard, and other renegades might throw out names like Chris Paul and Derrick Rose.) But if you need a clear example why a lot of those same people who’d build around LeBron for the future would take a handful of guys over him when it comes to a one-time clutch situation in the present, look no further than last night’s Cavs/Bulls game … Read More »
Four matchups to watch on Thursday’s two-game schedule…
Chicago @ Cleveland: Luol Deng vs. LeBron James
For all the grief he took last season — getting the big contract, then promptly going into the tank with injuries and subpar play — Deng has been earning his money this year (17.8 ppg, 10.5 rpg). Read More »
Because the Jazz have the Knicks’ first round pick this year, they pretty much already have a good lottery pick in the 2010 NBA Draft. By the way their playing, they’ll have two lottery picks. At 1-3, the Jazz are off to their worst start in six years. In each of their three losses, they have lost by double digits. They blew a 15-point fourth quarter lead against the Mavericks on Tuesday night and were outscored 44-18 (29 of which were courtesy of Dirk Nowitzki). Read More »
There’s no other way to describe Melo’s juggernaut hammer to the face of an extended Paul Millsap than how our Aron Phillips’ twitter feed read 20 seconds after the fact: “Carmelo just ripped out Millsap’s heart!!!” I felt like I was watching the Temple of Doom or something. Love me some mile high skywalking.
