If you read yesterday’s random observations, you’ll recall that I mentioned three things remaining consistent for the Clippers so far this season: Blake Griffin beasting, Chris Kaman sucking, and third quarter leads disappearing. Two of those three things happened again last night in Utah. I’ll tell you all about it right after the highlights…
Random Observations:
- Highlight Recap: Dwyane and LeBron style on the Nets… again… and again… and again. Rough night for the Nets. DeMarcus Cousins throws it down. A variety of dunks from the Rockets/Spurs game. For the rest of the good stuff just see the top 10, they pretty much covered it for once. Check for Andre Miller’s nifty ball-handling and a rare dunk in traffic by Dirk Nowitzki.
- The Clippers traveled to Salt Lake last night, a place where they haven’t won since January 22nd of 2003. Hell, they’ve only won there once since 1990. Nothing changed last night, although the Clipps did force the Jazz to play two OTs before they beat them this time. LA was actually up 16 at the half (see where this is going?), but their lead was only three at the end of the third quarter. Utah took the lead about two minutes into the 4th, and some late-game heroics from Eric Gordon were required to send the game to an extra period (in addition to that dunk which evened the score, he blocked D-Will’s potential game-winner on the next play.) Unfortunately for the Clippers, Eric Gordon was just about all they had going for them down the stretch. No one else looked like they even wanted to take a shot… so when Eric Gordon left the game in the second OT with a shoulder injury, it was pretty much all downhill from there. Rasual Butler did manage to toss in a clutch three when it looked like the game had been lost, but it wasn’t quite enough, Utah took the W by two. Deron Williams had 30/8/7 including the game-winning layup. Blake Griffin was beastly once again with 16 points and 17 boards. Chris Kaman finally had a pretty good game with 23 points and 7 boards.
- NBA fans were given another overtime game last night: Houston and San Antonio needed extra time to decide the outcome of their matchup. The Spurs caught multiple breaks with Yao sitting out in addition to Aaron Brooks and Kevin Martin leaving the game with ankle injuries. The Rockets missed on three attempts to tie the game at the end of OT, and lost 121-124. Houston is the NBA’s last winless team, and at 0-5 they’re off to their worst start since 1999, when they also started 0-5.
- Carmelo Anthony was on fire from downtown as the Nuggets beat the Mavs by 11 in Dallas. Melo converted on all four of his three point tries and scored 27 points in the game. As a team, the Nuggets hit 13 of 21 from long distance compared to 4 of 15 for the Mavs. Dallas was killed by turnovers in this one. They had 21 of them as a team, Dirk had 7 on his own. Denver has won their last two games and improve to 4-2 on the season.
- The Hornets took their show on the road and won again. The Bees stung the Bucks (harharhar) and took a six point win. Every starter for New Orleans scored in double figures, led by David West with 25. Let’s talk about Drew Gooden for a second. Gooden had a very strong finish to last season, putting up great numbers as the starting PF for the Clippers. This year he’s starting for the Bucks, and aside from 15/11 on opening night, he’s done nothing to speak of. What’s wrong with this dude? In the first two games of the season he took 27 shots and saw about 51 minutes of playing time. In the rest of the games since then (5), he’s attempted 29 shots in approximately 90 minutes of play. So basically, he played normal starters minutes and got his share of shots through two games, then the minutes and the shots disappeared. Based on the fact that a lot the minutes seem to be going to Luc Richard Mbah A Moute, I’m going to guess that maybe Gooden isn’t D-ing up as hard as Scott Skiles would like him to? Skiles has always been a guy who will play the dude who brings it on both ends over the guy with more offensive talent. I’m going to have to check out a Bucks game to see what the hell’s going on here.
- The other games: The Heat torched the Nets 101-89. Wade had 29/10, Anthony Morrow came out of his shooting slump and dropped 25 for the Nets. Mo Williams had 28 as the Cavs beat the Wiz, 13/10/6 TO for John Wall. Portland beat the Craptors by 13, and Orlando knocked off the Bobcats by three. Dwight Howard continues to look good offensively, he had 22 points. VC left the game with a hip injury after slipping on a wet spot. Lastly, the Rudy Gay had his third 30+ point game of the season as the Grizz knocked off the Kings. Tyreke Evans had 30 of his own. DeMarcus Cousins struggled in his new bench role, going for just four points on 1-5 from the floor.
Quote of the Day: Stephen Jackson doesn’t agree with the 50 G fine he received from the league for verbally abusing officials, because he claims he said nothing to any official at all. Hmm…
“I walked off the court, upset about the outcome of the game. I guess they had a camera following me all the way to the tunnel, where I wasn’t even in sight of the referees, and read my lips. I guess I can’t talk to myself. I got fined for talking to myself.”
My opinion: If Jackson’s telling the truth here, this is completely bogus. If you’re not going to let players complain to the officials anymore, that’s ok, but you’ve got to let them complain to themselves. Basketball is an emotional game, you shouldn’t fine a guy for venting to himself as he walks through the tunnel after a loss to the Pistons. Losing to the Pistons should’ve been punishment enough… Jackson’s probably more upset about that than he is about the 50 grand.
Photo of the Day: Flight 23 6. I still can’t get used to that new number.
