Dare I say Lou Williams out-Kobed Kobe? And in Kobe’s hometown no less (well, the hometown Kobe claims. I don’t think Philly wants him). Obviously I’m over-dramatizing this–even the best miss shots and lose games–but f@ck it, I’ll jump on the hype train today. Here’s how it went down: Lakers up 88-86 with three minutes to go… the Sixers can’t come up with a defensive rebound to save their lives, and they kinda look dead in the water (Sixers scored TWO baskets in the first six minutes of the fourth). Excluding a tip shot and a last-second three that didn’t matter, only two players would shoot from this point on: Kobe Bryant, and Lou Williams. While Bryant went 1-7 in an ugly display of masonry, Williams stepped up and knocked down a catch-and-shoot jumper, and then a could-blooded triple, and finally a difficult runner over the out-stretched arms of Pau Gasol to make it a two possession game in favor of Philadelphia. Kobe followed the floater with his only make, and then stepped up to guard Williams himself. It was a huge possession… one that would either ice the game or give the Lakers hope. Lou went on to make his only poor decision of the stretch run, electing to settle for a loooong three. Fortunately for Lou and the Sixers, it didn’t matter. Kobe missed, and the unsung hero, Nik Vucevic, came up with the biggest rebound of the night. Vucevic actually collected two huge rebounds; he’d also come up with the ball after Kobe’s previous miss. I suppose you could say Lou Williams was Batman and Nik Vucevic was Robin. Batman finished with a team-high 24 points while Robin secured 6 big rebounds… sadly, that was also a team high. Final score: Sixers 95, Lakers 90.
I actually thought this poor guy was gonna start crying. He looked incredibly dejected.
The Clippers have likely lost Chauncey Billups for the season due to what seems to be a severe achilles injury. Billups was hurt in a non-contact situation late in LA’s 107-102 overtime victory in Orlando. Assuming that Billups is done for the year, Mo Williams will become the permanent starter and Randy Foye will be asked to fill his role off the bench. While Mo has out-performed Billups this season I still fear that this could hurt the Clippers quite a bit, at least until they can find someone to fill the gaping hole that’s about to be left in an already-weak bench rotation (the Clipps basically have all of their eggs in JR Smith’s basket now). That being said, I honestly didn’t like the way Chauncey was playing, and I don’t think this spoils LA’s whole season is they can just find a way to address that depth issue. As great a player as Billups has been over the years… he’s shooting 36% on 11 shots a game this season. Talk about his leadership and intangibles all you want, but LA’s got a leader in Chris Paul. They can overcome this.
If DeAndre Jordan didn’t realize that he has work to do yet, he does now. Although the Magic lost the game, Dwight was easily able to dominate the only other center in the league who’s really even in his galaxy both physically and athletically. Howard had 33 points, 14 rebounds, and 2 blocks to DeAndre’s 8 points, 8 rebounds, and 0 blocks as he fouled the young man right out of the game. The dumbest thing Jordan did was treat Howard as if he was any other center. DeAndre loves to leave his man to pursue opportunities to block shots, and it’s something he can get away with most nights due to the league’s weak crop of centers… but when you play against a guy like Howard you’ve got to treat him with more respect than that. Dwight got some easy opportunities out of those situations and pretty much owned DJ in every other possible way as well. Hopefully Jordan learned a thing or two from the whole experience. It may not seem like it, but this could serve as one of the more valuable experiences of his young career if he chooses to look at it in that light.
The Portland Trail Blazers lost a game that they didn’t really lose. Although they failed to secure important rebounds and come up with big scores down the stretch, they still should’ve beaten the Oklahoma City Thunder in regulation. Instead, the game went to overtime on a Kevin Durant layup that was actually blocked by LaMarcus Aldridge. Observe…
For the most part, I try to cut officials some slack. They have an extremely difficult job to do, yet they’re expected to be perfect, and no matter what they call they’re pissing somebody off. That being said, this call straight up sucked. It sucked. You know why it sucked? Because it was so f@cking close. So if it’s close, doesn’t that mean I should give the guy a break? NO! And here’s why: when it’s that close you allow the players to decide the outcome of the game. There’s no way you can convince me that Scott Foster was 100% sure he saw a goaltend there. No f@cking way. If you’re going to make that call in that situation you have to be ONE HUNDRED PERCENT sure. I’m talkin’ willing to bet a year’s salary on it. When the game is on the line, Scott Foster, you allow the players to determine who wins and who loses. I wouldn’t have even been mad at you had LaMarcus blocked the ball just a split second after it touched the glass and you swallowed your whistle. That would’ve been fine with me. That’s allowing the players to determine the outcome of a tight game. You can’t be sure, don’t blow the whistle. Remember the George Hill kick ball on Monta Ellis? An unfortunate finish indeed… but you may recall that I wasn’t mad at the officials. How were they supposed to tell that that ball was kicked? I couldn’t even tell until I saw the second replay angle. Aside from the fact that LaMarcus didn’t even goaltend this ball it’s the same sh!t. All I expect from you, officials, is that down the stretch of a tight game you will allow the players to determine who wins and who loses. Make the call if you’re sure… swallow that whistle if you’re not. Scott Foster, you were not sure. Especially not from that spot where you were standing. That’s like the worst possible angle from which to determine whether or not that ball had hit the backboard.
Since the Blazers actually won the game, shout out to LaMarcus Aldridge for dropping 39 points in an upset over the West’s top team. Durant can GTFO with his 33 31 points on 33 shots.
Knicks win again!
And against a half-decent team this time. What the f@ck is going on here? Well, apparently Jeremy Lin can do more than just math. He had 28 points and 8 assists in a 99-88 win over the Jazz, who were coming off of a momentous victory over the Lakers. Funny that the Knicks go and beat a good team for just the third time this season without Amare or Carmelo. I hope Mike D’Antoni is giving half of his game checks to this Lin fella.
Box Score Observations: The Washington Wizards scored a whopping 6 points in overtime. Good thing the Crators only scored 3. Washington won it 111-108 as John Wall scored 31 points. Linas Kleiza and Jerryd Bayless each dropped 30 for Canada. Look at Carlos Boozer… 24 points… oh, wait, he played the Nets. Nevermind. The Phoenix Suns beat the Atlanta Hawks 99-90. Steve Nash scored 24 points and dished 11 assists. DeMarcus Cousins had 28/19/0 as the Queens beat the Bumble Bees by a few. The Spurs got a dusty double-double from Tim Duncan (19/17) as they defeated the Grizzlies 89-84. The Denver Nuggets were hardly able to field a team, yet they almost beat the Rockets. Almost.
Lowlight Recap, Javale McGee Edition:
He’s not a knucklehead, though.
