A scene very similar to the one above occured 21 other times last as the Suns went 22-40 from long distance and knocked off the Lakers. Let’s see, what else… the Knicks and Kings have both dropped five straight. Kevin Love and Michael Beasley put up more big numbers. Matt Bonner went 7-7 from three-point land, and missed all three of his two-pointers. Matt Bonner would do that.
Random Observations:
- Highlight Recap: Serge Ibaka tosses DeJuan Blair’s shot. Serge Ibaka alley-oops over some dude’s back. Josh Smith dunks the oop from Bibby. J-Rich makes a spectacular spin move. Kobe throws it off the glass to himself. Courtney Lee one-handed oop slam. Jordan Hill throws it down. My personal favorite of the day: Chuck Hayes throws a pass between the legs of Anthony Randolph to Courtney Lee for a layup.
- The Phoenix Suns came up one three short of tying the NBA record for triples in a game set by the Orlando Magic in 2009. The Suns knocked down 22 of 40 attempts, Jason Richardson led the attack with 7 makes. The Suns upped the tempo and got the Lakers playing their style, allowing them to hand Los Angeles their second consecutive loss. Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom tore Phoenix up inside, going for 28/17 and 22/11 respectively, but when you’re hitting twos and the other team’s hitting threes, obviously the math just doesn’t work in your favor. Suns took the W by five.
- Speaking of three point prowess, how about the Red Rocket Matt Bonner coming off the bench and hitting 7-7 from distance? Bonner’s seven threes accounted for all 21 of his points and the Spurs beat the Thunder by 13. Richard Jefferson added 18 and has continued to play well for San Antonio. He’s averaging 17.6 PPG on over 56% from the floor as the Spurs have won six in a row.
- The Rockets have won two in a row, they beat the Knicks last night by eight. Neither team shot expectionally well from the field or from distance, but the Rockets were able to get to the line 36 times compared to just 24 trips for the Knicks. Not surprisingly, Kevin Martin took 11 of those 36 for Houston, and made nine of them as he dropped 28/5/4. The Knicks are sinking fast, they’ve lost five in a row and have to play in Denver on Tuesday.
- Michael Beasley went for 25 points and Kevin Love had another big double-double with 22/17, but the T-Wolves lost to the Hawks 111-105. Still, I think T-Wolves fans (if there’s any of you out there) should be feeling pretty good at this point. This is the third game in a row where Beasley and/or Love has played very well, and their developement is more important than winning games at this point anyway. Consider the two wins a nice little bonus. Unfortunately, Darko still can’t fall out of a boat and hit water, he’s 9-30 over the last three games. As for the Hawks, they were led by double-doubles from Al Horford and Josh Smith, who went for 28/10 and 23/10 respectively.
- With a six-point victory over the Kings, Detroit has won their last two games. Sacramento, on the other hand, has lost it’s last five. Last night they shot 2-18 from distance and 14-21 from the line. That’s not going to get it done. For Detroit, Ben Gordon continues to play far better than he did last season. He’s averaging 16 PPG and added 16 more last night. Rodney Stuckey led the Pistons in scoring, he had 17 with 7 dimes. Detroit shot 54% as a team and got 47 points from their bench.
Quote of the Day: Steve Nash keeps it real…
“We can’t walk it up the floor against their length. You see Pau against us, it looks like he’s playing with a nerf hoop on the back of someone’s bedroom door. So we had to make them play in transition, spread the floor and make it a game of speed and skill rather than size.”
I like how Steve keeps things in perspective, even after a nice victory against the defending champs. Channing Frye, Hakim Warrick, and Robin Lopez: you guys better step your games up. Steve isn’t pleased.
Photo of the Day:
“Hey, shut up! I figured out that it’s a good idea to play my good players, it just took me a few weeks! Can’t a guy get a break?”
