No one took any pictures of a guy shooting a freethrow, but this play looks like it could’ve resulted in an NBA foul. There’s almost some contact there, and it’s an All-Star vs some guy your average fan probably doesn’t even recognize (Earl Clark). I recommended this game in my weekly games to watch post, and I stated that if Orlando didn’t force the ball into the paint all night long, then I would do something drastic. Fortunately I don’t have to do that because the Magic layed off with the threes and fed the ball to Dwight. Superman Jr got 15 shots and 17 freethrows… 17 of 50 that his squad attempted. Knicks fans: don’t go all crazy on the refs, you guys were given 47 of your own. I predicted that a league record for threes attempted would be set in this game. That didn’t happen (NY did their part by launching 30, but Orlando only took 18), but the new season-high for freethrow attempts in a game was set at 97. That’s nine more than the next closest contest. Oh yeah, there were also five technical fouls and one ejection. Busy night for the officials.
Random Observations:
- Highlight Recap: Beware of the Brockness Monster! Chauncey Billups drops a flashy dime to Amare Stoudemire. Check back later for more from guys like Roy Hibbert, Paul George, and Tony Allen. Youtubers haven’t gone to work yet.
- The Knicks won the freethrow contest by three makes and eleven percent, but they lost the field goal shooting contest by 15 percent and the game by six points (116-110). Things were going swell for New York when they took to the lockerroom for halftime. They’d just dropped 37 in the second quarter and led by 11. Fortunately for the Magic, Hedo Turkoglu had been tossed for yapping at the officials from the bench a few minutes before the break. This allowed Quentin Richardson to get up off the pine and make a rare appearance. Q-Rich entered the game at the 4:48 mark of the third with his team trailing by 10. Thirteen minutes and thirty-six seconds later he had scored 10 points, grabbed five boards, and played much better defense than Hedo Turkoglu has ever considered playing… and the Magic led by six. Q was responsible for almost a quarter of Orlando’s offensive output during their 43-28 run that covered the aforementioned 13:36 time span. Turkeyglue went 0-4 in his 12 minutes before getting tossed with the Magic down by three. Just sayin’, Stan… The Magic have won two in a row since Dwight Howard (who had another big game with 30/16) publicly expressed his frustration with the way his teammates have been playing lately. Jameer Nelson came up big with 23 points in the second half… he probably played so well because there was no Gilbert Arenas to get in his way. Amare and Chauncey dropped 30 a piece to lead New York… Melo scored 25. Fun Fact: Dwight Howard became the youngest player to reach 7,000 career boards in this game. He passed Wilt Chamberlain.
- Coach Kuester and Rip Hamilton have apparently resolved whatever problems they have had with each other this season, because Rip saw 26 minutes of court time. Seeing as he went 4-17 and the Pistons lost… maybe the pine was the perfect place for him. Detroit lost to the Bucks 92-90 as they scored just 15 points in the fourth quarter. Jon Brockman picked up a start at center and gave Milwaukee 8/8 in 26 minutes. Brandon Jennings was the team’s leading scorer with 21 points on 8-19, which is a solid shooting night on his standards.
- Jose Calderon did 22/7/16 on 7-10 shooting and 5-5 freethrowing with three threes… and NBAtv left him out of their “fantasy five”. Are you serious, NBAtv? This is almost as bad as Tim Duncan making the All-Star game over Lamarcus Aldridge. Hey, speaking of epic fails, the Raptors didn’t have one against the Hornets… they actually won, 96-90. New Orleans continues to show that they’re nothing but pretenders with bad losses like this one. They’ve dropped 9 of their last 12, including Ls to Minnesota, New Jersey, and Golden State. As for the Raptors, they held a team under 100 for the first time in six tries (I probably shouldn’t give them that much credit… the Hornets tend to hold themselves under 100).
- Jason Kidd’s triple-double put a damper on Philly’s four-game win steak, which has now been snapped. J-Kidd did 13/10/13 as Dallas picked up their seventh consecutive victory (101-93). Jason Terry carried the Mavs home with 17 of his 30 in the second half… he was big in helping the Mavs weather Philly’s 33-point third-quarter storm. He scored nine straight for Dallas from 4:54 to 1:56 as the Sixers were making a run. Both teams left a bunch of points at the freethrow line with sub-50 percent shooting. Tyson Chandler left the game early after rolling an ankle, but I’ve not yet heard if it’s anything serious or not. Dallas is now within five games of the first place Spurs, who are missing Tony Parker and got blown out 109-93 in Memphis. I actually don’t think Dallas catches them, but it’s possible. I guess I’ll just give you a few numbers from that MEM/SAS game now and call it good. Z-Bo did what he do with 21/10. The Grizz shot 53 percent from the field, but did brick all five of their three-point tries.
- The Other Games: Kobe Bean Bryant and his 24 points led the Lakers to a 90-79 win over the T-Wolves at the Target Center. Kevin Love barely eeked out his 5 zillionth consecutive double-double (#47) with 13 points and 11 boards. Gerald Wallace did 14/10 for the Blazers, but Portland is now 0-2 with Crash in the lineup after falling 87-103 to Houston. Kyle Lowry, Kevin Martin, and Luis Scola all did their respective things with 21, 20, and 21 points. The Warriors were looking good about a week ago (won three straight over respectable competition), but they just dropped their fourth in a row (100-109 to the Pace Makers). Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry combined for 33 points on 33 shots. Danny Granger led Indiana with 27 on just 11 shots.
Quote of the Day: Manu Ginobili talks about how his Spurs match up with the Memphis Grizzlies…
“They are young and very physical and athletic, and we are not precisely that. We have to do better with our brains.”
Photo of the Day: Is this Jon Brockman or a prime Vince Carter in a Jon Brockman costume? I mean damn, this looks impressive…
