Random Observations:
- Highlight Recap: LeBron to Wade alley oop dunk. Ben Gordon goes all AND1 Mixtape on Serge Ibaka. Steph Curry gets a rare dunk. Steph Curry underhand dish to Wright for a dunk. Shannon Brown fastbreak slam. Daily Top 10.
- Lowlight Recap: Josh Childress is not George Gervin. After Charlie Villanueva hits a clutch three to give Detroit a lead with seconds left, the Pistons allow Jeff Green to score one of the easiest game winning baskets you will ever see (1:52). Steph Curry re-injures his right ankle.
- It appears that Dwight Howard has finally made some sigificant improvements to his offensive game. I’ve seen him hit more jumpers in his last two games than I have seen him hit in his entire career leading up to this season, and his post moves looked better last night than I have ever seen them look before. Unfortunately for the Magic, Dwight fouled out in 28 minutes, no one else did much of anything, and they lost to Miami by 26. Orlando’s other starters combined to go 4 of 30 from the field… yikes. Rashard Lewis had no baskets, and Vince Carter… do I even have to tell you what he did? He had one basket and then hurt himself. If I remember correctly the commentator said it was back spasms. Don’t worry Magic fans, you know he’ll be back for the November 2nd game vs. the Knicks. For the Heat, D-Wade led the way with 26.
- If you’re one of those people who drafted Dorell Wright to your fantasy team thinking he’d finally break out this season with the Warriors, you’re looking pretty smart right now, and I wish I was one of you. Wright followed up his nice debut game by scoring 24 points, grabbing 8 rebounds, and knocking down 6 threes. As a team the Warriors looked excellent once again. They shot 53% from the floor, 58% from three, and assisted on 32 of 43 baskets. Monta Ellis only scored 15, but he passed the ball particularly well (11 assists). The bad news for the Warriors is that Stephen Curry left the game after re-injuring his right ankle. Blake Griffin didn’t go completely bonkers like he did against Portland, but he did have another nice game with 14/10. GS by 18, 2-0 on the season.
- Toronto Raptors: best team in the East? Let me explain. The Raptors beat the Cavaliers by 20 points last night. The Cavaliers beat the Celtics on Wednesday, the Celtics crushed the Heat on opening night, and the Heat killed Orlando last night. The Raptors lost to the Knicks in their opener, but the Knicks lost to the Celtics last night. So basically the Raptors have defeated anybody who is anybody. Reggie Evans remains in beast-mode, he grabbed 14 more boards last night. My main man Sonny Weems had 13 points off the bench. Respect the dinos!
- October 29th was a top-notch night for dancing in the NBA. Watch as some guy on the Kings bench goes wild after Fransisco Garcia hits a three (2:01), and here is Glen Davis breaking it down after he scored an and-one. Neither of these fools have $#!% on John Lucas, though.
- Rajon Rondo not only recorded a triple-double as the C’s beat the Knicks, he set a new career high with 24 assists, and pretty much assured that my fantasy team will be winless going into week two (damn you, Rondo!). Wilson Chandler (on my fantasy team!) had another good game for NY with 19/6 and 4 blocks. Also in this game, Ray Allen scored his 21,000th career point.
- As you can see from the title of this morning’s update, the New Jersey Nets are on a roll! NJ beat the Kings by six, extending their winning streak to two games. The two-game streak to start this season matches the one they had last March, their only streak of the winning variety in the 09/10 season.
- The Houston Rockets have signed Erick Dampier to a one-year deal. With Yao playing only limited minutes and sitting out of some games completely, this is a good move by the Rockets. I feel like Houston will likely be a playoff team this season, and adding another big seven footer to an already solid frontcourt will help them get there.
- In case you forgot about Ben Gordon (which is totally understandable considering he has pretty much disappeared since leaving the Bulls), I just wanted to let everyone know that he dropped 32 off the bench last night. Unfortunately for BG it came in a loss to the Thunder at the buzzer. Jason Maxiell allowed Jeff Green to stroll casually into the paint for a game-winning layup (see the lowlight recap section).
- The rest of last night’s games: The Grizzlies deafted the Mavs by one, the Gay-Mayo combo went for 41 combined. The Hawks beat the Sixers by three, Al Horford (fantasy team!) had 20/12 on 9-11. The Bucks lost to the T-Wolves by 11, 21/10 for Super Cool Beas. The Pacers held on to defeat Charlotte by three. Stephen Jackson had a wide open look on a potential game tying three, but he clanked it. The Hornets beat the Nuggets by six, and the Lakers got a W over the Suns. Lamar Odom had 18 points and 17 boards.
Quote of the Day: Monta Ellis knows how he will play in advance…
“I know when my day is going to be good and when my day is going to be bad.”
With the help of his psychic talents, expect Moped to post a solid FG% (assuming he can resist the urge to shoot even on days where he knows it’s not going in. Probably not a safe assumption.).
Photo of the Day: Because I couldn’t find anything more interesting…
