Since there were only two games last night for me to talk about, I’m going to use this little intro space to wish everyone a happy MLK Day. Obviously the holiday is a celebration of something much more important than NBA basketball, but I always appreciate the array of games that take place at varried start times throughout the day. Twenty-six teams will be in action tomorrow. Games start at 1:00 PM Eastern and won’t finish up until about 1:00 AM on Tuesday. I’m planning my 12 hours of NBA basketball out like this: begin with the Suns @ Knicks at 1:00. Move on the the Clipps @ Pacers at 3:30. The only choice at 8:00 is Orlando @ Boston, and then I think I’ll go with OKC @ LA at 10:30. I remember back when Stromile Swift played for the Grizzlies, he’d be on national TV every MLK day. Back in ’08 he did this. Here we are just three years later, and he’s out of professional basketball… enjoy your favorite players while you can.
Random Observations:
- Highlight Recap: Blake goes baseline and drops the hammer. Griffin uses two hands this time. Eric Gordon beats the third quarter buzzer. Baron Davis stuffs Andrew Bynum. Manu Ginobili makes Nene look silly. Manu swats Carmelo.
- Lowlight Recap: Lamar Odom tries to act tough, Baron Davis shoves him… and FOUR players get tossed. Why? It’s wasn’t a big deal because the outcome of the game was decided, but still, it was completely unnecessary to toss anyone, let alone two guys who did absolutely nothing. The league’s become a tad soft, and I don’t like it.
- I usually don’t do this, but i’m going to go there. Clippers: 99… Lakers/Officials: 92. Seriously, what a poorly officiated game this was, and it didn’t go both ways, either. Blake Griffin was getting shoved and hacked all night long and couldn’t buy a whistle. Four of Kobe’s six fourth quarter points came gift wrapped with bows and ribbons on ‘em. All of that nonsense makes this win an even more impressive one for the Clipps. Eric Gordon was the hero, he hit multiple clutch threes in the third and fourth quarters as he scored 30 points and played some solid defense on Kobe Bean. Blake Griffin had just two points at the half, but really stepped up late and finished up with 18/15. He wasn’t discouraged by the lack of whistles in his favor, and continued to attack down the stretch. He ended up manufacturing key buckets in the post against Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom, which was impressive to watch. I’ve got to give the kid props on his demeanor. Like I said, he had every reason to be discouraged. He had two points at halftime. The length of the Lakers and the lack of love from the referees made things tough for him. He shook that off, though, and came up big when he was needed. Another excellent showing from the young man. Ike Diogu was also a key contributer with 11 boards. He shot just 1-6, but his scrappy play in the paint earned the Clippers extra looks at the basket. DeAndre Jordan deserves a mention as well, he grabbed 15 boards, swatted a couple shots, and ignited the Clippers early with some powerful finishes at the rim. He only ended up with eight points, but I think six of them came in the first period. The Lakers normally use their size to beat up on opponents, but they were unable to outrebound the Clippers. LA’s other team grabbed five more boards overall and four more on the offensive end, which was huge, seeing as the Lakers took 10 more trips to the line than the Clippers did. Kobe led the Lakers with 27/9/5… Andrew Bynum went for 18/13. After the game, Bryant took a little shot at Pau Gasoft: “I think Lamar just had to make a stand, because up to that point, Blake ran through Pau. It wasn’t nothing personal. Blake just ran through us, and we didn’t have anybody who was going to put up a stand. I think that kind of turned the tide. We just didn’t put up much of a fight.” I saw Blake running through Odom. When he finally got going I believe it was Lamar who was guarding him, which is the real reason why Mr. Kardshian’s panties got all bunched up.
- San Antonio made Denver pay for their 27 personal fouls by knocking down 29 of 37 freethrow attempts in a 110-97 victory. The Nuggets fell behind about midway through the second quarter, trailed by 12 at the half, and never got any closer than nine over the rest of the game. Denver got 18 more looks at the basket than San Antonio did, but they couldn’t make them. Carmelo (5-17, 12 points) and company made 37 buckets on 86 tries while Tony Parker’s (11-15, 30 points) crew went 35 for 68. The Spurs also knocked down 11 threes in just 22 tries while the Nuggets bricked 10 of 16.
- Heads up: I’ve read on various basketball forums that NBA League Pass will be free from January 17th (today) through the 23rd. Take advantage of this offer if you don’t already have access to the greatest thing to ever happen to television.
- Chris Bosh has just dropped like 17 notches on my totem pole of respect. Check the quote that begins in paragraph four. Is he serious? Like you said, Chris, guys are out there hustling. Do you think Omer Asik really had time to analyze the distance between where he planned to dive and your leg before he hit the deck? Basketball requires quick decision making. If you really expect a guy to think twice about pursuing a loose ball because he could possibly collide with your leg… then you’re a whiney b!tch.
Quote of the Day: Sad news for Nets fans straight from Avery Johnson. Wait, do the Nets still have fans? If there’s a Nets fan out there reading this, leave a comment. Let me know that you’re still hanging in there.
“The team that you see right now? You’ll see this team in uniform Wednesday. See the team? You’ll see them Wednesday night. You’ll see the same team Wednesday night.”
Well that’s unfortunate. I don’t think anybody wants to see that team.
Photo of the Day: The Clippers attempt to play mind games with the Lakers…
“Hey, I bet they’d be totally mind-f@#ked if we came out the tunnel upside down! Let’s do it!”
As great an idea as that was, it couldn’t compete with the gymnastics of the Jets’ Braylon Edwards…
I don’t follow football, but I’m going to go ahead and assume that this guy is the NFL’s JR Smith. If this was NFL247365.com I imagine that his face would probably be in the header.
lol at Bosh for whining like a bitch…