The man who I like to call Curious George (I’m sorry, but the resemblence is uncanny) recorded 11 points, 12 boards, and 12… swats? That’s right, it was the NBA’s first points/boards/blocks triple-dip since Marcus Camby put up 10/11/10 on December 26th of 2007 CORRECTION: Dwight Howard put 30/19/10 on the Thunder in ’08 (sorry about that). Not only that, the 12 blocked shots are the most since Keon Clark swatted that same amount against the Hawks back in ’01. That was actually my favorite thing about this performance from Javale McGee… it gave me a good reason to write something about Keon Clark, and an excuse to embed one of my favorite videos on Youtube. Keon was inarguably the f@cking sh!t before drugs and alcohol ruined his career (he claims to have never played a game sober).
I am proud to say that I own a Keon Clark bobblehead. It’s one of my most prized possessions. Anyway, back to McGee’s game. While I give him all the credit in the world for swatting 12 shots–an amazing feat–I feel obliged to show you exactly how he went about racking up his 10th and 11th points. It wasn’t pretty.
Looks like he was taking pointers from his buddy Andray Blatche. I was watching the game, and Kevin McHale is right on the money… it was terrible. He blatantly forced shots that he had no business taking, he did a chin-up on the rim with his team down big with 20 seconds left, and the fact that all he cared about was his numbers was written all over his goofy-ass face. The 12 blocks make you think, “damn, this kid could really become a force,” but then you watch that clip and it leaves you adding, “if only he had it upstairs.”
Following the game, Javale showed no shame when it came to his stat-whoring: “That was the hardest one point I ever tried to make in my life,” McGee said. “It was crazy, but I got it. It was a dunk of relief.” Dude, ya lost by 19… at least pretend that that concerns you. Pull a Kevin Love and throw something in there like “it was cool, but I would’ve prefered that it came in a win” or some sh!t. I can’t blame a guy for going for a triple-double… it would be awesome to be able to say you accomplished such a thing in an NBA basketball game, but damn dude, just be a little more discreet about it. I feel like there’s almost an unwritten law when it comes to things like triple-doubles… it’s alright to chase a statistical accomplishment when a game is decided, but you’ve got to play it cool and be low-key about it. If you’re a center, don’t be out there trying to get the ball on the perimeter and take dudes off the dribble… you’ll just make yourself look like a jackass. And whatever you do, for god’s sake, don’t get a technical for excessive celebration in the closing minutes when your team is on the receiving end of a beatdown.
Tuesday was a pretty slow four-game night in the NBA, and I don’t think I’m going to bother with the full recap post. I really wanted to use my time to go off on this McGee thing because it was both hilarious and historical. I will add a few more notes, though…
- The Knicks lost to the Pacers… again. Tyler Hansbrough gave Amare 30 more big ones (including a MEAN dunk that you will see in the upcoming POTD post), and Danny Granger finished it off…
- The Knickerbockers have lost three in a row, are .500 since the ‘Melo trade, and are giving up 117 PPG over the last three. Defense…………….. there’s a reason why every championship team in the history of the sport has played it.
- The Hawks kicked the sh!t out of the Bucks, and the Blazers edged the Mavs 104-101. Dallas has lost four of their last six, five of which have come down to five points or less. The team that has become known for choking has simply been… choking. In the Laker game, Dirk threw a bonehead pass to Tyson Chandler and Jason Terry bricked a bunny. Last night, Dirk passed up a good look at a potential game-tying three in a transition situation, forcing him to take a tougher one out of the ensuing timeout. Combine this crap with the team’s recent history and it only becomes more difficult to have faith in these guys. Hey, guess who the Mavs play tonight? Golden State. Heh.
- I’ve been told that this is fake, but check out this Bill Walton Twitter account. Read these lines to yourself, and be sure to imagine Bill Walton’s voice speaking them as you do….
As a young boy I often wondered why a butterfly wasn’t called a flutterby. Now, I simply grin in amazement at all of life’s creations.
That right there is GOLD. I suppose I should add a photo to spiff this thing up a bit. Oh look, Benny’s done gone green…
