Guy in the black shirt, you’ve been photographed in a pretty compromising position.
- Highlight Recap, Kobe Bryant Edition:
- Highlight Recap, Everyone Else Edition: Dwight Howard has a little fun with a Mehmet Okur shot. Turkoglu lobs to J-Rich. Manu Ginobili goes around his back. DeMarcus Cousins throws it in reverse.
- Lowlight Recap, Brendan Haywood Edition: Was this game not won by two points?
- Brendan Haywood was certainly an unsung hero for the Thunder.
- Maybe the Lob City Clippers should trade Chris Paul for Jason Kidd. Kidd may be as old as the hills, but still knows how to create a slam dunk…
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That was beautiful execution… Kidd set the whole thing up by fooling Westbrook. I know there’s more attention on CP/Griffin than there is on Kidd/Sean Williams, but still, I’ve seen nothing like this in two regular season games from “Lob City.” I’m gonna strip them of that title if they don’t convert at least three alley-oops tonight.
- Are all these technicals for hanging on the rim a point of emphasis this season? Sean Williams got one on that dunk you just watched, and I’ve seen three or four others in the early going. I’ve never been a fan of this rule, but at least it used to be enforced pretty sparingly. Now it seems like they’re just punishing guys for throwing down spectacular dunks. Not only do I think the rule is being enforced too strictly this year, I think it should be scrapped altogether because it’s un-f@cking-necessary. Think about it; an extended rim hang will penalize itself. I’ve never seen a guy swing on the rim and get back on defense at the same time. Let the motherf@cker do five chin ups while his man scores a layup at the other end if that’s what he wants to do; I’m sure the coach will come through with all the reprimands necessary and then some. Sometimes I think about the NBA’s classic moments, and how some of them would be tainted by a technical foul if they had happened in today’s era. I think the people in charge of the rules should consider this too. Take Shawn Kemp’s emasculation of Alton Lister, for example. Would the game be better off right now had that been considered a taunt? F@ck no! That’s an unforgettable moment that never would’ve been the same without the pointing. Unfortunately, we’ll probably never see a guy quite like Kemp ever again… but don’t discourage a guy like, say, Kenyon Martin from doing his best impersonation. Personality is part of what makes professional sports fun. We don’t want to watch a bunch of robots go through the motions. I guess I’ll stop now, but I could go on for pages about this.
- “If Kendrick Perkins hadn’t torn his ACL in game six……” -Steve Kerr. Really, Steve Kerr? Really? We’re still on this bullsh!t? Rasheed Wallace turned in one of his finest perfomances as a Celtic in that game. Andrew Bynum was a non-factor. The Celtics do not win the 2010 NBA finals with Kendrick Perkins, and they do not advance past the Miami Heat in the 2011 playoffs with Kendrick Perkins. Stop corrupting the minds of the people who don’t know better.
- “If the Thunder hadn’t turned the ball over 13 times this would be out of hand.” -Steve Kerr. Now that’s more like it, Steve! Kerr had this to say just before halftime (Thunder were up about 6 on the Mavs, but had taken 14 fewer shots), and I thought it was the perfect microcosm of Oklahoma City’s season thus far. Let me explain. The Thunder are 4-0, which makes it hard for me to say they aren’t off to a great start… but that’s exactly what I’m about to say. Aside from their easy victory over the Magic in the season opener, they’re yet to win a game by more than four points. They’ve out-played the opposition quite handily in each game, yet something keeps making these contests a lot closer than they should be. I think I’ll just cut to the chase: Russell Effing Westbrook may as well be suiting up for the other team. He’s shooting just 33% and turning the ball over 6 times a game. He’s been repsonsible for 28% of OKC’s turnovers and 36% of their missed shots thus far. To give all these numbers a little more meaning, let’s compare them to those of John Wall, who’s struggling mightily for the lowly Wizards. Wall shoots 32%, turns the ball over 5 times a game, accounts for 32% of his team’s turnovers, and is responsible for 37% of their misses. Like Westbrook, Wall is a young point guard heavily relied upon to produce offense. Unlike Westbrook, Wall leads a team full of young knuckleheads out to get theirs. Also unlike Westbrook, Wall’s team hasn’t won yet this year. Wesbtrook is in a winning situation surrounded by a great teammates…. he chooses to disregard them all too often, and he continues to get away with it. Point A) There’s no excuse for Russell Westbrook to be playing about as efficiently as John Wall for a team that has Kevin Durant on it. Point B) Yes, he’s point-guarding a team that’s 4-0, but Westbrook is not playing winning basketball. Point C) If Russell would just make better decisions when he has the ball in his hands and defer to teammates more often the Thunder would be beating teams much more easily. What’s it matter, they’re undefeated!, you say. Well, yeah, they are undefeated… but they could very easily be 1-3. I’m not trying to use math to disprove the fact that a win is a win… that’s not me at all… I’m just saying that Russell’s play is going to cost them (again) come playoff time if he doesn’t make some adjustments. And yes, I was watching the Dallas game. I did see him make some big shots when OKC needed buckets. Hell, I’ll even include one for you…
- Still, the seven-turnover performance supports point C. Had he made better decisions throughout the game then the Thunder would’ve beaten the Mavericks more easily.
- Dirk showed flashes of the 2011 playoffs and Vince Carter made a contribution… still not enough.
- Dallas did so many things wrong on the final possession… I didn’t even know where to begin, so I drew a picture.
- How bad are the New Jersey Nets? Bad enough to allow the Orlando Magic to extend an early lead with Dwight Howard on the bench. If you can’t compete with the Howard-less Magic, you can’t compete with anyone (except for the Wizards, apparently). The Nets lost 94-78 as they shot 37.7 percent in this one, and the only player on their active roster who appeared to pose any sort of offensive threat was the guy playing in his third NBA game. Watch out for MarShon Brooks; 17 points in each of his last two games… could be a sleeper candidate for ROY due to his situation.
- As I watched Jamal Crawford score 13 of his 22 in the fourth, I couldn’t help but think back to this…
- Last night’s finish between the Blazers and Nuggets (111-102, POR) wasn’t quite as dramatic, but fans who tuned in to watch the Knicks lay another egg against the Lakers missed out on an exciting game. The Nuggets are going to be one of the most entertaining teams in the league this season. I love this Andre Miller/Ty Lawson backcourt that they’ve been utilizing. Lawson seems to love it too… he’s putting up 22 PPG through three games.
- The Knicks scored 82 points. Tyson Chandler finished with 13/11, but the Lakers shot 52% from the floor and out-rebounded the Knicks 40-32. Amare Stoudemire went 4-17 for 15 points as the Knicks assisted on just 15 scores. Are we sure it was a good idea to amnesty the point guard in favor of a 14-million-dollar-a-year guy who averages 8/8 for his career? NY’s really counting on Baron Davis, and counting on Baron Davis has proven to be a bad idea since 2007. Just saying.
