If you had Kevin Love playing for your fantasy squad last night, congratulations! If you were playing against Kevin Love last night, just shake your head and take the L like the Knicks did. If you live under a rock and still haven’t heard what happened, Kevin had the NBA’s first 30/30 in 28 years. In addition, Michael Beasley poured in another 35 points, and the T-Wolves won their second in a row. Gotta love the Knicks.
Random Observations:
- Highlight Recap: Blake Griffin dunk #1. Blake Griffin dunk #2. Deron Williams dunks it. Russell Westbrook steals and slams. DeMarcus Cousins throws one down (Bill Walton on the call). Daily top 10.
- Move over Rajon Rondo, your 24 assists are no longer the craziest statistic allowed by the New York Knicks this season. Kevin Love went and put 31 points and 31 boards on the Knickerbockers last night, the first 30/30 the NBA has seen since Moses Malone had 38/32 in 1982. So how did this happen? Well, the Knicks were actually up 21 points early in the third, but Love decided to take over. Kevin had 11 points and 15 boards in the period, and NY’s lead had shrunk to seven by the time the quarter ended. The T-Wolves then began the 4th with a 10-0 run, took the lead, and pulled away. Minnesota has now won twice in a row. Michael Beasley followed up his 42-pointer with 35 more. Amare Stoudemire got in foul trouble, leaving NY without much for frontcourt options. As you can see, Love took advantage. The Knicks have dropped four in a row, and the best team they’ve played during the losing streak is Golden State. With Amare’s slow start and their lack of frontcourt help, it’s not looking good for them right now at all.
- The Jazz have done it again! For the fourth straight game Utah trailed by double figures in the second half and came up with a victory. This time it happened in Atlanta against the Hawks, who have now lost four in a row. ATL’s inability to convert from the stripe really hurt them in this one. The Hawks made just 11 of 21 freethrow attempts. Al Horford and Josh Smith were the main culprits, they clanked 7 of 12 combined. D-Will had 24/10.
- Blake Griffin had 18/18, but his Clippers continue to find ways to lose. LA had a chance to beat the Pistons on the final possession of regulation, but Eric Gordon dribbled the ball off his leg. The Clipps missed 10 of 12 shots in OT and lost their fifth game in a row. Charlie Villanueva came off Detroit’s bench and dropped 30 points with five triples. The Pistons went 11-18 from beyond the arc while the Clippers were just 4-20. The Clipps also turned the ball over 21 times compared to 11 by the Pistons.
- Toronto got their first win in the month of November, beating Orlando by four. Andrea Bargnani had 27 (with his usual two boards), DeRoZaN had 26, and my main man Sonny Weems knocked down this huge three pointer. Dwight Howard had 25 points, but came up with just 8 boards and clanked 10 of 17 from the stripe. Orlando was somehow outrebounded by the Raptors, who are just 20th in the league on the glass.
- Kevin Durant made four straight buckets in the final 3:30 to lead the Thunder over the Blazers by two. Durant had 34 in the game, but he was not OKC’s leading scorer. Russell Westbrook had 36 with 7 boards and 7 dimes. Both teams shot very well in this one (around 54% for both squads), rebounding was identical (30 each), three point shooting was nearly equal… it was a very evenly played game. The Thunder did convert on five more freethrows than the Blazers, and that was key.
- Houston may have lost Yao Ming for a week, but they’ve still got Brad Miller. Brad dropped 23/8/5 and went 3-3 from beyond the arc last night in a three-point win over the Pacers. Danny Granger, who hasn’t scored 20+ since October, had another slow night with 17 points on 7-18. James Posey (forget about him? I did.) led Indiana in scoring with 19 off the bench.
- The other games: The Suns over the Kings by 14, 28/7/14 for Steve Nash. Dallas had six players in double figures and beat Philly by nine. Lastly, Gerald Wallace scored 25 and grabbed 14 boards as the Bobcats knocked off the Wizards by eight.
- Kevin Durant owns a van that I would actually drive. The damn thing has a refrigerator in it… that’s awesome. I like the Texas center caps on the rims, very creative touch.
Quote of the Day: T-Wolves coach Kurt Rambis on Kevin Love…
“Kevin had an incredible game. Those numbers are just stupid. I don’t even know what to say.”
Well Kurt, I guess if you really feel like these numbers are stupid then you can go back to playing Kevin like 25 minutes a night. He’ll still average a nice double-double, but no stupid numbers like 31 and 31. So stupid.
Photo of the Day: Losing to the Craptors, in photos…
