It looked like they were about to blow another one, but Antawn Jamison was left open and knocked down a big three that gave the Cavs a two-possession lead with too little time on the clock for the Clippers to recover. Twenty-two seconds later, Cleveland was celebrating their first victory since December 18th of 2010. I’m happy for the fans, who have surprisingly continued to show up and support the team, but I’m extremely unhappy f@ckin’ pissed that we’ll never get to see the Wizards and Cavaliers battle to end their epic losing streaks. You see, this Sunday at 6:00 the Washington Wizards will be visiting Cleveland without having won a road game all season (0-25). Had the Clippers taken care of business tonight, each team would’ve been fighting to end a historical streak. Can you imagine the intensity? Sh!t would’ve been like game seven of the goddamn finals… but no, at the last second we’ve been robbed of the pleasure of witnessing such an event. Goddamn Clippers, this would happen to them. I’m kind of ashamed of my LAC bandwagon affiliation right now… no joke. They made me look bad tonight.
Random Observations:
- Highlight Recap, JJ Hickson Blocks the F@ck Out Of Blake Griffin Edition:
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Highlight Recap, Everything Else Edition: JJ Hickson wasn’t there to stuff this one. I thought the Clipps had it in the bag when this happened. And they still lost. LeBron lobs to Dwyane Wade, who nearly wrecks himself. Shannon Brown… are you kidding me? I want to submit this post before I go to sleep… it’s 4 AM, and I’m kinda tired, but most of the highlights aren’t uploaded yet. I’ll just tell you what to search for in the morning: Christian Eyenga had a sick alley-oop. CJ Miles finished a beautiful hanging layup. DeAndre Jordan had a nasty power slam. I’m sure the top 10 will have some stuff that I haven’t even seen yet.
- Lowlight Recap: Busted…
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I wasn’t kidding, it’s really over. Don’t believe me? See for yourself:
- That confetti was probably dusty as hell. As angry as I am, this really was a thrilling game to watch. It was a close one from the opening tip to the final seconds. Neither team ever led by double digits, and it took five extra minutes for Cleveland to finally secure the 126-119 victory. JJ Hickson got off to a great start with 17 first-half points, but LA stole the momentum at the half with five points in the last 10 seconds of the second quarter. That put the Clipps up by one, 53-52, and I wasn’t really concerned at that point. I started to worry when I looked at the score and saw Cleveland up six with three and a half minutes remaining. Could this really be the night that it would come to an end? Nah, it couldn’t be, I told myself. Baron Davis brought the Clipps back, and after nearly giving me a heart attack with some sketchy passing, rookie Eric Bledsoe ended up on the line with a chance to give LA a two-point lead at the 20 second mark. He confidently knocked both of ‘em down, and at this point I was feeling good. Then Mo Williams pissed on my parade with a tough stepback jumper. Tie game. Baron Davis had one last chance. He made an explosive move into the paint and got all the way to the rim, but he was rejected by JJ Hickson. Replay showed that it probably should’ve been called a goaltend, but it was way too close for me to be sitting here blaming the officials. If Youtube had the right angle of the play I’d show you the video, but they don’t, so just trust me on that one. OT was all Cavs for the first three minutes. They jumped out to a six-point lead, and at this point I was preparing myself for the worst. The Clipps would end up closing the gap to just one at the 44 second mark… then Jamison hit that three I was talking about in the intro section… LA never scored again. Antawn led the Cavs with 35 points. JJ Hickson added 27/14 along with four HUGE blocks. Boobie Gibson and Mo Williams came up big off the bench with 17 each. Blake Griffin led the Clipps with 32/13, although he had some trouble finishing at times (11-26 FG). Baron Davis and Randy Foye were both excellent with 26 and 23 points respectively. I’d basically sum the game up like this: neither team defended well, but the Cavs got stops when they needed them while making more shots. Looking at this game realistically, the outcome really isn’t that surprising. The Clippers aren’t very good on the road. The Cavs have come very close to winning against some pretty damn good teams lately (single-digit Ls to DAL, POR, and MEM over their previous four). This was a game that they likely came into feeling like they could win. The Clipps made the mistake of allowing them to get off to a nice start, which instilled some confidence. Combine that confidence with the amazing determination they had to win and you’ve got the recipe for… well, exactly what happened.
- From the AP’s MIA @ DET game recap: ”James took a moment early on to ask a heckler to lay off his family. A fan who said he was seated near the heckler said James was being taunted when he told the fan he could say whatever he wanted about the Miami star, but: “Don’t say anything about my family—be respectful or we’re going to have a problem.’” I know what you’re thinking… LeBron’s gonna do this guy like he did Chris Bosh’s girl (ROFL I love that video). Unfortunately, no. But he and the Heat did shoot 50 percent, have six players in double figures, and beat the Pistons 106-92 as they moved into the East’s top spot. Said Greg Monroe: “They’re good.” Why thank you, captain obvious. Care to enlighten us with any further observations? “They’re a defensive team, they’re a good all-around team, on both sides of the court they’re a good team.” Word? I had no idea.
- A flock of pigs just flew right by my bedroom window. Think I’m lying? Brook Lopez had a double-double tonight… his second of the season. That’s what I thought. Lopez’s 31 points and 11 boards led the Nets in a 94-89 victory over the Bobcats, who have now lost six of their last eight. Kris Humphries Kardashian contributed 15 points and 14 boards off the bench as the Nets outrebounded the ‘Cats 13-5 offensively, resulting in damn near 20 extra shot attempts (that also had something to do with a 13-5 edge in TOs). Said Gerald Wallace: “We didn’t come to play. We acted like we were the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.” Bobcats… #1… Lolz.
- Wanna watch a bunch of white guys struggle to score? Well, you’ve got two choices. You can watch Beavis and Butthead Do America, or you can watch the Milwaukee Bucks. I’d go with Beavis and Butthead because they make it really entertaining. The Bucks, on the other hand, shoot 36 percent, turn the ball over 18 times, and lose basketball games. According to the AP, Corey Maggette did have a “third-quarter scoring barrage”, but the Deer still lost to the Z-Bo-less Grizzlies 86-89. Money Mike (Conley) had 23/5/8.
- The Sixers shot 35 percent and scored 77 points against the Spurs… and won the game by six. What? As bad as Philly was offensively, the Spurs were apparently even worse. One of the league’s top offenses only managed 71 points on some abyssmal 33 percent shooting. Twenty-one of Philadelpha’s 77 came on the fastbreak, where San Antonio scored just five points. Jrue Holiday was one of like three players who shot well… he went 9-14 as he dropped a game-high 27. The Sixers are just three games under .500 and will play four games against a mixture of the league’s worst teams to close out the month of February. There’s a back to back against Houston and Memphis thrown in there, but Philly should be no worse than 29-30 when the month is over.
- The Other Games: Portland beat the Craptors in Toronto 102-96. LaMarcus Aldridge only had 37 points and 10 boards… I was a little disappointed. David West had 17/17 as the Hornets beat the Magic 99-93. Orlando clunked 16 of 21 threes and turned the ball over 16 times. You’ve gotta score some points to beat the Wolves these days… and the Pacers did just that. Indiana dropped 116 in an 11-point victory over Kevin Love (22/15) and company. Kobe went completely ham early, scoring 17 first-quarter points to help the Lakers build a 12-point halftime lead over the Knicks and eventually win 113-96. Kobe finished up with 33 points in just 29 minutes. The Knicks have fallen all the way to .500, and to be perfectly honest they’ve looked terrible for quite a while. Steve Nash’s 30th double-double of the season (18/10) helped the Suns spoil Tyrone Corbin’s head coaching debut. Ty’s Jazz were beaten 95-83 as Phoenix improved to 26-25 on the season. Somewhere, for the first time in 23 years, Jerry Sloan cracked a smile.
Quote of the Day: Raymond Felton… forever alone…
“He didn’t take my heart. He had a great game. He was hitting a lot of tough shots. But nobody takes my heart.”
Tough break, Kobe. Great effort, but it looks like you’ll have to settle for a friendship.
Photo of the Day:
Mom must be getting up there.