The Grizzlies, who were coming off a loss to the Cavliers, had choked away most of their double-digit fourth quarter lead, and I thought for sure they were about to lose. To my surprise, they didn’t. The Grizz won by two and made it three Ls in a row for the Lakers. This is just the second three-game losing streak for LA since the Gasol trade back in ’08. Each of the other five games last night were won by nine points or more… not exactly the most exciting night in league history, but I’ll tell you about it anyway.
Random Observations:
- Highlight Recap: Amare Stoudemire takes the lob from Felton and hammers it. RJ throws it down, swings on the rim, and lands on David Lee. Rudy Gay stuffs Kobe Byrant. VC putback dunk. Josh McRoberts one-handed alley-oop dunk. Tyreke Evans spins and wins. Ryan Hollins swats Fat Baby. Vince Carter throws it down. The top 10 has a few more nice plays, check out Amare’s monster block on Kris Humphries.
- Kobe Bryant has taken 25 shots or more five times this season. The Lakers are 2-3 in those games. They’re 0-2 when he fires 30 or more. Settle down, Kobe Stans, I’m not blaming the losses on your hero… I’m just pointing out a statistic. Kobe detractors will argue that Kobe feels the need to enter hero-mode and kills his team on occasion, while his supporters will argue that when he launches 30+ shots in a game it’s because he’s picking up the slack for his teammates who were probably playing poorly. I’m not even going to get into that arguement, but I’ll tell you this: the Lakers are a much better team when it’s not a one-man show. Last night, it was a one-man show. Kobe took 25 shots, made just nine, and finished with 29 points. Pau Gasol took the second most shots (13). He made five of them and finished with 15. The only other double-figures scorer was Ron Artest with 12 on 11 shots. That right there is not a formula for a victory, even against an inferior Memphis squad. The Grizzlies got a season-high 28 points from Mike Conley and six blocked shots (including a block on Ron Artest at the buzzer) from Rudy Gay on their way to a 98-96 victory.
- The Knicks started a new winning streak by beating their rivals from across the river by 11. Brook Lopez had 36 points for the Nets, but only had five boards and is still yet to record a double-double this season. Amare Stoudemire had his second consecutive game of 35 points or more, and Raymond Felton pitched in with 21/7/10. Felton has been a monster over the last seven games, averaging 22.3 points and 9.3 assists. Stoudemire and Felton seem to be building some nice chemistry lately. Felton has assisted eight of Amare’s buckets over the past two games, and numerous times they’ve connected for an easy dunk. Wilson Chandler also beasted last night, he had 27/11/3 blocks.
- Rajon Rondo had a season-high 23 points along with 12 assists as the Celtics beat the Cavs by 19. Cleveland jumped out to an early lead, but it didn’t last long. Their starters made just 16 of 44 shot attempts, and aside from Ramon Sessions and Bobbie Gibson their bench wasn’t any better. Marquis Daniels and Glen Davis combined for 33 points off the Cs bench. Boston scored 60 points in the paint… Cavs coach Byron Scott called it “a layup drill”.
- Beano Udrih and DeMarcus Cousins combined for 44 points off the Kings bench, but it wasn’t enough to defeat Danny Granger and the Pacers, who are now 9-7. Granger played with the flu and had a season-high 37 as Indiana won by nine. Lets talk about DeMarcus Cousins for a second. Over the past couple of weeks he’s lost his starting spot, been kicked out of practice, and hasn’t played very well. He put up 20/8 in just 23 minutes last night. The points were a career-high. Said Cousins: “I’m mad and I’m frustrated about losing. My own opinion is I think different strategies should be used in the game. But I was playing selfish and it (the practice incident) was a good lesson for me. I learned from that.” He says he’s learned a lesson, and he backed it up by having one of the best games of his young career. If he can keep his head screwed on straight I think he’ll be a very good player.
- The other games: Big Benedict Wallets grabbed the 10,000th board of his career, but that didn’t help the Pistons get a win… they lost to Orlando by 11. Rashard Lewis actually did something… he had 20 points for just the third time all season. Wes Matthews had 26 points, but the Blazers dropped their fourth in a row, losing to the Philadelphia Suxers by nine. Portland has fallen to 8-9, and tonight they have to play in Boston. The Spurs improved to 15-2 by beating the Warriors by 20. Timmy D had a triple-double (15/18/11) and Manu Ginobili had 27 points. The Dubs turned the ball over 16 times.
Quote of the Day: Ron Artest on Rudy Gay’s block of his potential game-winning shot…
“It was well-executed. I learned something from that today. That was great execution. His close out was perfect. He closed out, chopped his feet a little bit. Stayed low, didn’t go totally for the head fake and recovered.”
He probably didn’t go for the head fake because when you made the head fake he wasn’t even there yet (2:55). Watch Kobe during this sequence. He begs Artest for the ball back as Ron makes a move that looks like something from a highschool girls JV game, then after Ron gets stuffed he displays his displeasure very clearly. Priceless. Hate to tell you Kobe, but it’s kinda your fault… you passed it to him. Yeah, you were wide open and Ron should’ve given it right back… but Ron should never shoot and he still does 8.6 times every single game. Gotta be smart enough not to pass it to him when it actually matters if he scores or not.
Photo of the Day:
