It was a happy Halloween for the Heat as they beat the Nets by 23 and laughed at them in the process. I’ll let you know what else happened in the NBA while you were probably out having fun…
Random Observations:
- Highlight Recap: Jason Kidd knocks down a three from beyond the opposite arc. DeAndre Jordan big dunk. DeAndre Jordan swats the crap out of Jason Kidd. KD crosses AK47 and slams it home. Russell Westbrook steals and slams. Cole Aldrich putback dunk (first NBA basket). LeBron two handed slam. LeBron one handed slam.
- For the past three seasons the Clippers have made offseason moves that make me wonder, “is this the year they get it together and make a run at the playoffs?” One week into the season it looks like this will be the third season in a row where the answer to my question will be “hell no”. The Mavs beat LA by 16 on Halloween, as they out-shot them by 13% from the floor. Blake Griffin is a certified beast, but he struggled last night going just 4-15 from the floor for his 16 points and 9 boards. Chris Kaman has looked pretty bad in all of their games. As a team they look like they have no plan offensively, it’s hard to watch. They have far too many possessions where they don’t get anything going until the shot clock has damn near run out, and they seem to come out and lay an egg in the third quarter ever single game. So basically, I’m still going to watch the Clippers because Blake Griffin is a highlight machine, but I’ve pretty much given up on them being any good.
- The Golden State Warriors played an entire half without shooting a freethrow as they got blown out by the Lakers. Lamar Odom was a Warrior-killer as usual with 16 points and 14 boards. Pau Gasol had 26/12/4. I threw the 4 in there because a couple of those assists were beautiful dishes out of the post which set up teammates for very easy buckets. The Lakers had the ball moving beautifully in the second half. The Warriors were without Stephen Curry and didn’t get much of anything out of anyone except for Monta Ellis and Dorell Wright (who is in complete beast-mode right now with his 19 PPG over the first three games).
- As I mentioned at the top of the post, the Heat went to New Jersey and beat the crap out of the Nets. The scoring was very balanced for the Heat: 20 for Lebron with 12 attempts, 18 for Bosh with 10 attempts, and 17 for Wade with 9 attempts. The rebounding on the other hand wasn’t balanced at all: 7 for James, 6 for Wade, and ONE for Bosh. Come on Chris, it was a Sunday afternoon, there’s fantasy owners out there who’s sanity probably depended on you grabbing just a couple of rebounds, and you go and get ONE. Terrible.
- Watch out for Paul Millsap, because he’s ready to beast on your squad. Millsap put up 30 and 16 on the Thunder, his second big-time double-double in a row, as the Jazz got it together and won their first game of the season last night. Utah’s starting lineup put up 95 points, and then CJ Miles came in off the bench and put in 21 of his own, nearly matching the Thunder’s bench as a team.
- LeBron James has appologized for “The Decision”, kind of. To be specific, he said that if he had to go back on it, he “probably would do it a bit different”. Ok, so maybe he does realize that the TV special was a bit over the top. Or maybe he just wants everyone to love him again so he can sell more shiney new shoes.
Quote of the Day: Please refrain from asking Kobe Bryant about his knee. Here’s what he told the last guy that asked him if it was OK…
“Yes, so leave me the hell alone about my [expletive] knee!”
Photo of the Day: I love Thunder fans! Keep in mind that they were getting crushed all night, but look, they don’t even give a [expletive]! Wait a minute, I’m not Kobe, kids aren’t looking up to me (yet), my swears can be published. They don’t even give a shit!
