I hate per 48 minute stats. I don’t think I’ve ever posted one on this blog in the year and some odd months that it’s existed for. That being said, Gustavo Ayon (rookie PF for the New Orleans Hornets) averages 15.9 points and 12.6 rebounds per 48 minutes. Why have I made an exception to my no-bogus-stats rule for Gustavo Ayon? Because you need to take notice of this young man, and his season averages of 5 points and 4 boards in 16 minutes per don’t really jump out at you. In his last two games (both Hornets victories), Ayon has put up 13/9 and 12/12. The 13/9 came against the Jazz, who boast one of the league’s better frontcourts. While Utah trailed by a good margin for much of the night, I tuned in late to catch their final run. I like the Jazz, and seeing as they were playing the Jarrett Jack-less Hornets I’m figuring they’re gonna find a way to win. What I end up witnessing is the Gustavo Ayon show. This dude stuffs the sh!t out of a Derrick Favors dunk attempt on one end, then he goes down to the other end and hammers a two-hander on top of Enes Kanter, the Big Turkey. The block was one of his 3 on the night, and the dunk was his 6th bucket in just 7 tries. Anyway, that was on Sunday. Last night I notice that this dude has 12/12 in a win over the Bucks. I check out the highlights and I see him making a beautiful pass to a cutter for an easy layup. I’m not gonna lie… all I’ve seen of Gustavo Ayon are two short stretches of play and a highlight of a nice pass… but I’m impressed. The first time I ever saw him play was one of the very first games of his career, and let me assure you that I’ve never seen a man look so nervous in my entire life. A few weeks later and he’s out there collecting double-doubles, and looking very composed based on his late-game heroics against the Jazz. Gustavo Ayon, ladies and gentlemen; 26-year-old rookie from Mexico, award-winning player in the Spanish ACB League. Check him out. If you don’t feel like it, I plan to.
The Sacramento Kings certainly didn’t learn anything from the Toronto Raptors. Jeremy Lin only needed to score 10 points before taking a seat three quarters in as the Knicks absolutely trounced the Kings (100-85 makes it seem closer than it really was). Despite a slow night in the scoring department, Lin was still sure to give Knicks fans something to talk about. He took advantage of Sacramento’s defensive laziness all night long as he continuously located cutters and lobbed balls to Landry Fields and Tyson Chandler on his way to a career-high 13 assists. Lin really only looked to score very early in the game as Marcus Thornton put absolutely no pressure on him whatsoever… I think he had somethin’ like a couple buckets and 4 or 5 assists half way through the first quarter, and he just coasted from there. He easily could’ve scored more if he wanted to, but the situation simply didn’t call for it. Credit him for recognizing that. BUT, again, I can’t emphasize enough how little pressure was put on Jeremy Lin, and how awful Sacramento’s defensive effort was as a whole. It was so bad that, at least to me, it took away from the beautiful display of teamwork put on by the New York Knicks. I mean, the Knicks played an excellent game, they really did… their 25 assists on 39 made field goals indicate not only how well they moved the ball, but how well players moved without the ball… but Sacramento just looked so f@cking sorry in this game that it’s hard to really take anything away from it. Absolutely credit Lin and the Knicks for completely exposing Sacto’s lack of resistance from the three-point arc all the into the painted area, but just realize that this was one of the most pathetic defensive performances that I’ve seen all year long. As for Lin’s 6 turnovers, disregard plz. Most of them happened after the game was well in hand. I think he just wanted a triple-double.
Landry Fields recently matched his season high with 7 assists against the Craptors, and now he’s gone and grabbed a season-high 10 rebounds against the Kings. Poor competition, obviously, but Fields is stepping up right now. I gave Iman Shumpert his props after he played the best game of any Knick in the win over the T-Wolves, so now I’m simply showing Fields some love ’cause he’s been carrying his share of the weight as well. Those 7 dimes against the Craps were pretty important in keeping the Knicks within striking distance… remember that the clamps had been put on Lin during the early going in that game.
I was a little surprised to see Rockets rookie Chandler Parsons checking Kevin Durant in a game-deciding situation. Now that I’ve seen it, I can’t say I’m unimpressed. You may have heard that KD had, what was it, three chances to beat the Houston Rockets last night? H-Town simply couldn’t seem to come up with a loose ball, and I was shocked that it didn’t come back to bite them in the ass. Give Chandler Parsons credit… he fought through a screen and contested Durant’s initial jumper, then forced him to take an off-balance, hybrid floater/layup as the clock expired. He got caught up in a pick on the second of Durant’s three tries, but Samuel Dalembert had his back. Dare I say Dal made a smart play by quickly moving his ass all the way out to the perimeter to contest the long baseline jumper? I think I dare say it.
Speaking of Samuel Dalembert… the Rockets don’t win this game without him, but they damn near lost because of him. He came up with 12 boards and 3 blocked shots as he anchored a strong defensive effort, but he also shot 1-6 and had a signature “Dumbles” moment. With a minute to go and his Rockets down three, Dalembert decided it would be a good idea to fire a 15-foot jumper from the left baseline. It was a cringe-worthy moment indeed, but lucky for him none other than Kyle Lowry, the NBA’s premier six-foot rebounder, happened to be in the right place at the right time. Dal’s airball landed right in Lowry’s hands, resulting in one of Houston’s easiest buckets of the night. Sammy lucked out this time, but I still had to point that sh!t out. I’m actually hearing that Rockets fans have been very pleased with the play of Dalembert, but this goes to show that he’s still f@cking dangerous–and not in a good way–at the offensive end of the floor.
Kevin Love and my dude Nikola Pekovic completely annihilated the frontcourt of the Charlotte Bobcats. Love had yet another 30/10 game (+8 on the rebounds) while Pekovic threw his weight around for 21 points and 11 boards. Both Pek and Love actually had some unusual difficulties finishing easy looks around the rim, especially in the first half… so as big as their numbers were, they could’ve been even crazier. I suppose I should also mention that the T-Wolves trailed at the break, which was unimpressive… but Love, Pek, and the rest of the crew stepped up in the third (30-18) and put the ‘Cats to sleep. Nearly two months into the season, Boris Diaw remains fat.
Ryan Anderson made 7 of 10 three-pointers as the Magic picked up a good win over the 76ers. This was the third game in a row in which the Magic have gotten big-time contributions from three or four different players not named Dwight Howard. That sh!tty f@cking roster looks a lot less sh!tty when the threes are falling; nearly 46% is what they’re shooting from downtown over those last three games. Now, if they could only figure out what to do when it isn’t raining three-pointers. Oh, wait, that’s why the roster’s so sh!tty; that’s the only thing anyone’s any good at.
Box Score Observations: Tony Parker had 34/14 as the Spurs beat the Craptors 113-106. Why is this news? Because the Spurs have won nine in a row… six of which have been on the road, and five of which have been against teams that I would consider “good.” Kyrie Irving returned from bonking his head and dropped 22 points to lead the Cavs past the Pacers, who have lost five in a row. Andre Emmett, who recently became a member of the Nets, scored 4 points in 15 minutes in a loss to the Grizzlies. Emmett once scored 71 points in a Chinese game, which I happened to see because he was a teammate of Stromile Swift. Therefore, I will report most things that Andre Emmett does. Marreese Speights had 20/18 in that game, by the way. Rajon Rondo took 27 shots (made 15, 35 points) as the Celtics lost to the Pistons. I’m guessing that’s his career high in shots attempted? Interesting box from Phoenix: Josh Smith 30/17/7/4/3, Steve Nash 16 assists, Channing Frye 11 rebounds. Huh.
