I slept in this morning and I’m running short on time now, so this thing didn’t get the usual proof reading treatment. Hopefully it’s readable.
Marcus came into last night’s game riding a nine-game wave during which he’s played the best ball of his career, averaging 20 PPG on 49 percent shooting. The second-year swingman would take things to a new level last night as Golden State payed a visit to Arco the Power Balace Pavillion. Thornton missed his first two shots and hadn’t scored at the 8:00 minute mark of this first, but from that point on it was his night. He dropped 12 points in the final seven and a half minutes of the first as Sacramento jumped out to a 35-16 lead. He one-upped himself with 14 in the second, and added 16 more in the second half as the Kings ran away with it. I’ll save you a little time and add those numbers up for you: 12 + 14 + 16 = 42… a new career high for the young gun. Yeah, it came against Golden State, so it was probably a 30-point night against the other 29 teams… but that’s not the point. Thornton has been doing numbers since joining the Kings, and he’s really looking like a player. Back when he was traded I was offered a fantasy trade which was something like Marcus for Ben Gordon… I probably should’ve accepted that one. Maybe I could’ve been a consolation champ.
Random Observations:
- Highlight Recap:
- Marcus Thornton wasn’t the only one having a career night as the Kings beat the Warriors 129-119. Samuel Dalembert somehow managed to make 10 of 16 shots on his way to 27 points (along with 16 boards)… only in a Golden State game. New Warrior Al Thornton (good night for guys named Thornton) dropped 23 on 7-8. The Kings shot 56.6 percent from the floor, made 8 of 17 threes, and nearly doubled the Warriors on the glass.
- The Clippers @ Grizzlies game that I was all hyped about turned out to be much sloppier than it was spectacular. I’m counting 12 first-quarter turnovers, and a total of 35 in the game. Zach Randolph did what Zach Randolph does (30/12), but he was also doing all kinds of things he doesn’t normally do, such as holding Blake Griffin to just eight points on 4-10 and throwing down tomahawk slams (I’m serious, :35). The Grizz now lead the Jazz by two games for the eighth and final playoff spot out West, but they have to play Boston, Chicago, and San Antonio as March winds down. There’s also a huge matchup with the aforementioned Jazz in the mix. I really hope the Grizzlies get that spot for a couple reasons. First of all, they’ve agreed not to shave until they make a post-season appearance… and I don’t think anyone wants to see this ever again. Secondly, does anyone really care to watch Utah? Devin Harris and his floppery makes me want to gouge my own eyes out. Andrei Kirilenko’s European mullet is no longer funny… just bad. Throw the whole Jerry Sloan thing on top of that and I just don’t like this team right now.
- Speaking of the Jazz, they beat Philly 112-107 in overtime. Al Jefferson dropped 30/17/6, and each Utah starter scored 11 or more. The Sixers are slipping up a bit… they’ve dropped three of their last four, leaving them just one game above .500. They still hold a 5.5-game lead over the eighth place Pacers (how sad is that?), though, so it looks like they’ll be in the playoffs even if they continue to play sub-.500 ball.
- Nets fans got a little over excited as New Jersey beat Boston 88-79…
- I’m no expert on politics, but I’m pretty sure it’s important that the president has an ability to make effective speeches and arguements. Remember how much sh!t George W took for the way he talks? Imagine if the Little General was up at the podium addressing the nation. Sh!t would make America’s ears bleed. Anyway, Kris Humphries did 16/15 in his seventh double-double in eight games since the All-Star break. Brook Lopez, take notes. Boston is now just 6-4 since trading for Jeff Green and Nenad Krstic, but I want my readers to THINK before they go blaming everything on Danny Ainge. The Celtics have failed to reach 90 points in three of those for losses. Hell, they couldn’t even muster 80 in two of ‘em. You think Kendrick Perkins would’ve helped them put the ball in the basket? The Cs are fine… they just need to get everyone healthy. Nenad Krstic has been excellent, and Jeff Green has been pretty good too. It’s the old reliables who haven’t really been getting the job done lately. Paul Pierce scored just seven points on 2-10 last night. KG went 5-13 in the loss to Philly. Ray Allen sucked in the defeat in Denver. Rajon Rondo has been dreadful lately; the dude is 2-16 from the field in his last two games. These guys are going to get it rolling again and make a deep playoff run. Remember, they struggled in the second half of the season last year too.
- Speaking of Kendrick Perkins, he made his Thunder debut (6/9 in 20 minutes) as OKC beat Washington 116-89. KD dropped 32, Russell Westbrook did 18/12, and Daequan Cook got up off the bench and went 6-9 from downtown. The Wizards only took nine attempts from long range as a team, which was probably a good decision seeing as they missed every one of them. Props to my main man Trevor Booker for yet another nice game (14 points and 13 boards). I find it hard to believe that he scored four baskets and none of them were top 10 worthy. I’m going to have to go back into the League Pass archives and check that out.
- The Magic were in pretty good position at the half. The Lakers were struggling to score the ball and Orlando had built a 46-41 lead. Dwight Howard was effectively using his quickness and speed against Andrew Bynum, who is “very long.” Don’t worry, he paused it:
- It was all downhill from there (from a Magic perspective). The Lakers opened up the third with a 9-2 run and had slowly built a double-digit lead by the time the fourth quarter’s nine-minute timeout rolled around. LA ended up running away with it in the end, picking up yet another W (97-84). Kobe Bryant is still struggling with his shot (7-19), but I think I speak for all Laker fans when I say that it was good enough just to see him out there playing. How that ankle roll against Dallas didn’t result in severe damage… I have no idea. Andrew Bynum certainly didn’t shut Dwight down (22/15), but he was excellent himself with a career-high 18 boards and four blocked shots.
- The Other Games: The new-look Nuggets just keep on keepin’ on… five guys scored in double-figures as they picked up a 114-103 win over New Orleans. Miami got some revenge by beating the sh!t out of San Antonio 110-80. I feel like I should have something to say about this one, but I didn’t see it (normally I don’t regret watching the Clippers, but in this case I do), so I don’t really know exactly how this happened. Refer to ESPN, I’m sure they’ve got plenty to say about it. I can picture Skip Brainless flipping a 30-point win into a LeBron bash-fest as I type this. Chuck Hayes came up with a career-high 21 points in a 95-93 Rocket victory. I’m happy for Chuck, but Phoenix’s frontcourt should be ashamed of themselves.
Quote of the Day: Manu Ginobili feels that the Miami Heat are a pretty good team. Better than a second-division team from Asia.
“They needed the game more than us. They were more upset than us and they are a great team. We are not playing against a second-division team in Asia. We are talking about the Heat.”
Photo of the Day: I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen a photo that sums up a sloppy 23-point loss so effectively…
