Wedensay, December 21st, 2011… you were either there, or you weren’t. I’ve got a list of observations I made as I watched it all unfold, but there’s no way my words can bring this night back to life for those who missed it, or those who wanted to relive it from my perspective. I tried my best to do it, I really did. I feel like I’ve failed because that’s what I do; I’ve done it after every single game day since I started this blog over a year ago. I have my good and bad days, but never have I tried to re-construct an evening of NBA basketball and drawn a complete blank. After spending over an hour typing short blurbs only to backspace them, I realized that a crazy night of preseason basketball was going to be the one that finally got the best of me. I think those who witnessed it with me will understand… or maybe I just love the slam dunk so much that an otherwise forgettable night of meaningless basketball just proved to be too much for me to process. I was in a trance tonight, but not the kind I’m normally in where it helps me to bring my thoughts to life on this blog. It almost felt as if I’d rediscovered my favorite game–like I’m sitting here with this brand new passion for NBA basketball, yet I’m too new to it to gather my thoughts and turn them into a coherent recap of what I just saw.
Here are those notes I promised…
If human curling was an Olympic sport, Big Baby Davis would lead the United States to the Gold…
Dwight Howard has to have one of the worst supporting casts of any MVP-caliber player since LeBron’s Finals run in Cleveland. My god, if he’s traded, what an ugly scene it will be in Orlando for those couple of games before whoever they get is ready to play. This team litterally has no attack but to throw it in to Dwight, hope he can create a shot, and fire a three if he doesn’t.
LeBron James appears to have learned a new trick. Did you all see him repeatedly look the defender in the eyes before shooting the jumper without ever putting the ball on the floor? He did it three or four times in the early going. I don’t think I’d ever seen that from Bron before. Certainly an excellent option to add to his arsenal.
The Lob City encore did not disappoint. I can’t recall being this excited for a preseason game in a long, long time. I actually felt the need to calm myself before tipoff because I figured there was no way they’d live up to the expectations that Monday night’s showing created. I figured wrong.
The word that comes to mind when I think about watching this team is exhilarating. Exciting, yes, but so are lots of other teams. These Clippers are different. They keep me on the edge of my seat from start to finish… in the preseason. I’m afraid I’m going to short circuit once the real games begin.
The Clippers turned the ball over 16 times this preseason. This is after trading two starters for a brand new point guard. Is this real life?
When healthy, Jemaine O’Neal is still one of the league’s best shot blockers. JO was credited with 4 swats tonight in just under 12 minutes of play against the Craptards. I wish he could stay healthy so we could watch him and Garnett anchor the Celtics defense together. Imagine those two paired up in their primes… what a defensive duo that would’ve been.
Mike Sweetney wears number 60 because it represents his weight in tons.
“Imagine what a player he’d be if he ever lost 70 pounds,” said Tommy Heinsohn. Looks to me like he makes a fine Scalabrine replacement at his current weight, Tommy. Do it Danny!
If Kris Humphries didn’t nail Kim Kardashian and sign an $8 million deal in the same year I’d probably feel bad for him… but I don’t. Those two accomplishments alone are at least five times more than the average man achieves in a lifetime. It’s like he got to live two dream lives, even if one of them only lasted 72 days.
Terrence Williams did this…
…Von Wafer did this…
…and Jeremy Evans did this…
Fire all of those officials. How are you going to let them break the unwritten rule? Everyone knows you don’t call on offensive foul when someone gets dunked on like that. You just don’t do it. It’s morally wrong.
It’s now 5:04 AM and I’ve been up for nearly 24 hours… maybe I’ll add more later, but this will be it for now.
