I too miss the days of the Seattle Sonics. I’m way too young to remember their Championship, and unfortunately I’m even too young to really remember the Shawn Kemp era, but I do have many great memories of staying up late to watch Chris Wilcox do stuff like this. I think it was Kevin Calabro’s commentary that used to make those dunks seem about 100x as exciting as they actually were, because I haven’t really cared about Chris Wilcox since Calabro left my League Pass along with the Sonics. There was also Ray Allen in his prime, Rashard Lewis before he did nothing but shoot threes, and a youthful Desmond Mason dunking in people’s grills. Back to the present day…
Random Observations:
- Highlight Recap: LaMarcus Aldridge alley-oop slam (he had like four of those in the game). Derrick Rose freakish dunk. Ronny Turiaf putback dunk. I guess that’s it… none of the other interesting plays that I saw seem to be on Youtube.
- Derrick Rose had 24 points and 14 assists, but it was second year Knicks PG Toney Douglas who scored 30 and led his team to their second victory. Douglas came off the bench and hit five three pointers and 9 of his 14 shots total. This game was full of great shooting, as both teams combined to go 25 of 43 from beyond the arc. Danilo Gallinari had 21 points at half time (24 in the game). Kyle Korver was on fire for the Bulls later on in the game, but by then it was too little too late. The Knicks led by double digits for most of the second half, but the Bulls did manage to get the lead down to nine with about four minutes left. Around that time Bulls fans began chanting “we want Rose!” …Derrick had spent all but the first couple minutes of the 4th on the bench, and despite the fans chanting, he was not put back in the game.
- Oklahoma City and Portland needed an overtime to decide the outcome of their game. The Thunder ended up taking it by one (it was really more like four because the Blazers got a meaningless three at the buzzer). Russell Westbrook came up huge on the boards with 11 rebounds. Six of those eleven boards were offensive, and a few of them were important plays late in the game. Westbrook also scored 28 points and hit all 10 of his freethrow attempts. Kevin Durant still struggled with his shot a bit (11-24) as he scored 28 of his own. KD’s jumper just hasn’t really arrived yet five games into the season. I’m sure it’ll come around pretty soon.
- Are you one of the many people who have always wanted to see a commercial with Dr. J, God Shammgod, Carlos Arroyo, and rapper Jim Jones in it? Well if you are, it’s your lucky day, because Converse went and made that commercial. Seriously, does it get any more random than that? In other sneaker commercial news, watch 10 Carmelo Anthony clones go at it as four more clones commentate, coach, photograph, and watch the event. No surprises in this game as Carmelo repeatedly scores on himself with ease.
- Samuel Dalembert has somehow tricked another NBA team into putting him in their starting lineup. I’m in Maine and I can hear people in Philly laughing from here. Must’ve been those 10 boards and 3 blocks on Wednesday. I personally wouldn’t play Sammy if he was the last guy left over 6’5 on my roster. The guy makes some of the dumbest decisions you’ll ever witness on a basketball court. I do not approve of this decision, and if I was a Kings fan I’d be a little perturbed. This move will put the uber-talented DeMarcus Cousins on the bench. Call me crazy, but I’m for putting young players with huge potential on the court. DeMarcus isn’t going to improve while he hangs out on the bench with Donte Greene, and his developement is more important than whatever Sammy D is going to bring to the table.
- Lamar Odom fantasy owners: Enjoy the numbers now, because Andrew Bynum is coming back soon and Phil says Odom will return to the bench.
- Reggie Evans breaks down KG’s “cancer patient” incident: Evans says he would love to see Charlie V get his wish of fighting KG in the ring. He also claims that he’s seen KG “get his ass whupped”, and went on to call him a “little chihuahua”. According to Evans, when talking trash on an NBA floor, diseases without cures are off limits: “A disease? Without a cure? … Like, ‘Oh, you’ve got AIDS, Magic.’ Come on, you don’t do that,” he said. So what is acceptable? Tell us, Reggie: “If a person says, ‘Oh, I had your wife’ — yeah, you can say that.” Good to know.
Quote of the Day: A little conversation between Ernie Johnson and Charles Barkley which I found kinda funny. This may not be exactly how it went, but you’ll get the point…
EJ: “The last time the Knicks were on TNT was November 29th, 2007. The starting lineup was Stephon Marbury, Jamal Crawford, Quentin Richardson, Zach Randolph, and Eddy Curry. They scored 59 points.”
Charles: “How da hell they get 59 points?”
Photo of the Day: Just send the Grizzlies to Seattle already…
