Deng drops a career high, The Kings make a big comeback, and the Clippers become the first team to reach four losses (I feel like the photo above really describes their problems better than my words can). Here we go, another day in the NBA…
Random Observations:
- Highlight Recap: Eric Bledsoe denies Tony Parker. Blake Griffin throws it down. DeMar DeRozan dunks on Sam Dalembert. Derrick Rose up-and-under layup. Linas Kleiza dunks on a few Kings. Tyreke Evans shows off his handles.
- Luol Deng and Derrick Rose both set new career highs last night as the Bulls put a beat-down on the previously undefeated Trail Blazers. Deng scored 40 points on only 19 shot attempts, and Rose dished out 13 assists (7 of them to Deng). Joakim Noah had his third straight double-double, and Brian Scalabrine was huge with two points off the bench. Lamarcus Aldridge actually had 33 of his own for Portland, he just didn’t get any help, as the rest of their starter’s shot just 9 of 30. The Blazers missed on all 14 of their shots from beyond the arc, Fernandez clanked six of them on his own. Funny coincidence: Deng’s previous career high of 38 points also came against the Portland Trail Blazers.
- Toronto choked away a 16 point second half lead and lost to the Kings by three. Barbosa air-mailed a three pointer that could’ve tied it, then the Raptors got the ball back and Kleiza missed a layup. Andrea Bargnani had a typical Bargs night with 28 points and 2 rebounds. Reggie Evans is yet to have a single-digit rebounding game this season, he snagged another 19 boards last night… I’m more impressed by the fact that he somehow managed to toss in six points. If you’ve ever watched Reggie Evans play offense, you know that six for him is like sixty for your average NBA player. Tyreke Evans led the Kings with 23/7/5, and DeMarcus Cousins had 16 points in just 17 minutes. Raptors coach Jay Triano called Cousins a “beast” after the game.
- It didn’t take Baron Davis long to sit out with an injury. Davis skipped last night’s game against the Spurs with a sore left knee, and the Clippers lost their fourth game in a row. Spurs rookie Gary Neal came off the bench and had 16 points on 6-10 including four threes. The entire Clippers bench only had seven points. Blake Griffin had another good game with 17/8 (he also blocked a shot, finally!), and Eric Gordon had a career high 11 assists. It’s time for the Clippers to ship Kaman and Davis elsewhere and just play the young guys. They clearly aren’t going anywhere this season.
- Some good news for Clipper fans: there is at least one person on earth who doesn’t consider LA’s other team the worst in the NBA. That person is Michael Beasley, who has placed his own Minnesota Timberwolves at the bottom of his power rankings. In other T-Wolves news, just a few months after being deemed “manna from Heaven” by T-Wolves GM David Kahn, Darko Millicic is supposedly in danger of being benched. This news comes as a surprise to exactly zero NBA fans. When Darko does get benched, because we all know he will, I pray that some reporter will remind Kahn of the “manna from Heaven” thing. I want to hear his response.
- Mike Conley will be receiving 8 million a year from the Grizzlies for the next five seasons. I guess his solid first week of this season was enough to get the Grizz to forget about his first three years in the league, which were filled with inconsistent play and were rather forgettable at best. I would’ve let the guy play out the season and allow his play to determine his worth, since the Grizzlies would’ve had the power to match any other team’s offer.
- Two other ’07 first rounders managed to get extensions just before yesterday’s deadline: Jared Dudley, four years, 17 million. I like it. Al Horford, five years, 60 million. I like that one too.
Quote of the Day: Marcus Camby is upset that the Blazers can no longer go 82-0…
“It would have been great to go undefeated but we lost tonight.”
Photo of the Day: Blake Griffin takes a nap in the paint as Timmy guides Manu to the basket…
